We're in Corfu!

Hi Everyone!

It's been a while, we've been busy traveling to our next destination. Early the morning of the 7th we caught a train from Rome to Bari, it took about 6 hours. The Italian countryside was absolutely beautiful, lots of mountains and orchards. Oma would have loved all the colorful flowers we saw. After the train we caught a bus to the port in Bari so that we could catch our ferry. Along the way we met an Italian guy named Bruno... he was pretty interesting to say the least. He was 60 years old and had a brain operation at the age of 28 so he no longer had short term memory. Nevertheless, he was filled with interesting stories and philosophies about life. He had just returned from spending several months in India, a place that Sean and I hope to visit.

We chatted on the bus and then again at the port while we were waiting for our ferry. The ferry ended up being our least favorite part of the trip so far... It was eleven hours, all through the night, and we only had airplane seats. Our bums were sore from sitting all night and we couldn't get comfortable, not to mention that Jess is pretty scared of boats and this one made some pretty strange noises... The Greeks smoke so much, perhaps even more than the Italians! They were smoking in the restaurant on the ferry, but we sat in a room away from them. We got to Corfu in one piece, and then began the journey to try to find our hostel.

We couldn't figure out how to use the phone to contact the hostel to pick us up, so we decided to take the bus at someone's advice. We ended up waiting for the bus for over two hours, we had been warned that the bus schedule in Greece was not reliable- no kidding!!! But while we were waiting there were plenty of nice Greek people chatting to us and trying to give us tips. We finally caught our bus up to Pelekas, which is on top of a lush green mountain. The scenery on the island is absolutely beautiful, trees everywhere. When we got to the top of Pelekas we were told that there was usually a minibus that would take you from the top to the beach at the bottom.. however the minibus doesn't run this time of year. So we had to hike all the way down to the beach, with our big backpacks on!! It was pretty tough, probably the steepest road we have ever encountered, but we were both so floored by the scenery that we hardly noticed our poor aching feet. We got to the hostel and we were pleasantly suprised by the people and the location.

Our room is awesome, we got a private room with a balcony that overlooks the beach and a marble bathroom!! The people are very friendly and have offered to drive us into town etc. The view from our room is spectacular, and it was great to finally have a hot shower in a private bathroom! After cleaning up a bit we headed down to the beach, which was incredible. All you can see in front of you is the Mediteranean, and on either side are beautiful tree covered mountains. The sand is so soft, and the water is perfectly clear and blue. We have lots of pictures. We spent several hours at the beach, hopefully we will bring back a tan! It was really nice because there weren't too many people on the beach, so it almost seemed like we were the only ones there.

After the beach we hiked around our section of the island a bit, the roads are pretty windy and narrow and there are plenty of cool little spots looking on to small fisherman ports etc. More pictures! After our walk we headed back to the hostel, which also has a giant restaurant where the walls are windows overlooking the beach. We had a traditional Corfu meal of beef marinated in wine and garlic (soooo tender). We called it an early night, becasue we barely slept on the ferry the night before. We couldn't believe how many germans we had seen! Literally, everyone in the hostel other than us speaks german. They are everywhere! I haven't had the nerve to strike up a conversation yet...

Well, that's all for now,

We'll try to get back on the computer soon to tell you more about our adventures. Sorry no pictures today! Just wanted to let the moms know that we are safe!

We have decided to change our travel plans a little bit, instead of going to Kalambaka on the 12th to check out Meteora we are heading straight to Zakynthos for some more beaches. We have decided we really like the 'relaxation' part of the trip... We booked another night ferry for the 11th so we should be in Zakynthos on the 12.

Lots of love,

Jess & Sean

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