Happy Birthday Mama--From Malta to Venice with the Family Day 9--Shop til you Drop in Corfu

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After everyone had such lovely experiences with the drag-on, drag-off tours yesterday, Mark and I decided to skip Corfu Panorama and just do our own thing. To be fair, the Watkins did the Corfu Panorama tour and said it was quite lovely. But we still did our own thing. With Mom. Which meant we shopped Corfu! This also means my husband is a saint.



Mom had called before we even went to get breakfast and asked what we were doing. We told her we were striking out on our own and she asked if she could join us. Of course! Mark was getting a little work done (the Wi-Fi was actually semi-cooperative which is about the best that can be expected) and we didn’t leave the cabin for breakfast until a little after 10. Guess what? They stop serving at 10. However, cruise ships being what they are, there was a little coffee bar set up next to the Internet Café and we trekked down there to get a light breakfast. Mom was in the Café so she emailed and we ate and after a quick trip back to the room to brush teeth and pick up the hat, off we set.



Regent ran a shuttle bus from the dock to the town center. We got off the ship and to the bus stop at 11:10 and the shuttle was leaving at 11:30. Perfect! The bus pulled up in very little time and we sat in the air conditioning which was refreshing as today was guaranteed to be HOT! We took off right on time and made the 10-minute drive into Corfu Town. The bus dropped us off by an old fortress which we took pictures of but opted not to visit. It was quite a climb and with the heat and all, did not seem like such a good idea.



We strolled through a park and over to the first set of shops. Mark was carrying his pink plastic bag from the ship and I was relatively determined to find him a better bag today. The first store had lots of backpacks but most were very girly (Owls!) or bohemian (Not exactly my retired Air Force Officer hubby’s style.) Mark had gone outside to stand in the shade and I waved him in. I showed him the two options and he chose the one with pockets on the side for drinks. €29. Sold! We had seen one in the port of Naples, not nearly as nice and €55 so this seemed like a deal. The man at the cash register showed us that you can roll it up into a waist pack as well. Very cool. He took his bag outside and I went in search of Mom who was in the shop next door. They had these really cute small Greek houses that I filed away. I kind of figured we’d see the same stuff in all of the shops but in case we didn’t see those again, I would stop there as we made our way back to the bus.



The first shop we were in had lots of “deals”—like Michael Kors bags for €45, Ray-Ban sunglasses for €18 and Beats by Dr. Dre for €28. Knock offs? Ya think? Mom, never one to pass up a deal, started asking for a Chanel bag but, alas, never could find one. At a sunglasses shop across the street, Mom said, “Oh! Let me see if she can fix my sunglasses!” She’d lost a screw to her glasses in Malta and had sewn them together, quite skillfully, as it turns out. This shop had Ray-Bans and Gucci sunglasses as well—but they were under lock and key. Cheapest glasses I saw were €100. The woman struggled and struggled and struggled to undo Mom’s stitching but finally did. Popped a screw in, tightened it down, told her she should buy better quality sunglasses and then said, “No charge.” Kind of her to fix the glasses and offer, undoubtedly, sage advice. Since I am a total sunglass loser, (literally, I lose sunglasses all the time) I would imagine she would not be too excited about the quality of my glasses either.



We continued down the narrow cobbled streets, stopping in shops along the way. I saw a shop that carried honey (my new obsession) and stopped in there to buy a jar. We wall went in and tried the kumquat liqueur which is the local specialty drink. To me it tasted like slightly less bitter cough syrup. Honey looks delicious, though. My main goals for the day were to find a light-weight white blouse/jacket sort of thing that I could wear to keep the sun off of me and to find a shot glass for Nicole who does my nails and said she needed a shot glass from Greece. Mom’s goal, after getting her sunglasses fixed, was to find a band of some type to put around a hat she likes to wear. She had one but lost it as we were getting on the ship—the band, not the hat. So in and out of shops we went, poking here, looking there. Mark, new backpack in tow, mostly stood outside in the shade. I found my jacket (Greek linen, very light and comfortable), a couple of crosses for our wall, some salad tongs and a t-shirt for Nick, the world’s cutest grandbaby. I was wrong when I thought every shop would be the same. There were food-stuff shops and leather shops and olive wood shops and wine shops and jewelry shops. There was quite a bit of big chunky bead jewelry which Mom likes. She finally found a shop that sold leather necklace strips and pearls and bought 3 strips and 9 pearls so that worked out. All of the shot glasses I had seen (and I hadn’t seen many) had “Ioand the sun was blazing. We found Mark, who had spent much of his time in Corfu standing outside in the shade, sitting outside on a partially shaded bench. He gave that seat to Mom and said he was going to go down and see if the bus was there. Sure enough it was so the rest of the wait was in air conditioned comfort. Ahhhh!



After we’d been on the bus for about 10 minutes, the Watkins came on board. They had had a great tour, as I said earlier, including a visit to a Byzantine monastery. Katie was wearing shorts and a tank-top and they had to wrap her up in a skirt and shawl before they’d let her in. That picture was funny! The said the views and scenery were spectacular. I think there is a bit more to Corfu than there is to Zakynthos. Still, as nice as their tour sounded, it was fun to hang out with Mom and have a leisurely day.



Got back to the ship, ordered cheese and bread from room service and sat on the balcony enjoying that with a glass of wine. Really lovely! Went up to the pool for a bit and read my book (the last in the Selection series—young adult dystopian fiction. Think The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games) and hung out. Mark swam and sat in the hot tub. I went downstairs to shower and get ready for dinner and, not long afterward, he joined me.



Dinner tonight was at Prime 7 which is one of Regent’s signature restaurants, still included but reservations necessary. Michael’s birthday had been the day before but this was the night we could get a reservation so that’s what we did. The menu is quite large—literally, almost hard to hold—and extensive with an emphasis on beef and surf and turf. They also have a locally procured fish of the day which tonight was branzino, a small fish also known as the Mediterranean sea bass. We had had this once before when a take-home chef cooked an amazing dinner for us and the branzino was spectacular. I asked if I could order surf and turf but instead of crab legs or lobster, get a small portion of the branzino. That will be no problem at all, our helpful waiter said. I ordered melon balls in triple sec, clam chowder (which was delicious!) and the customized surf and turf. The portions at the Compass Rose are quite reasonable. I could eat about half of each plate. The portion sizes at Prime 7 are HUGE! When my main plate arrived, it had a 6-ounce tenderloin with two pieces of branzino along with vegetables and potatoes. I hardly made a dent. The branzino was lovely and really, I should have just ordered that.



After dinner we went to the comedy magician show (Jack is a magician and said it was okay but not very original) and then to Galileo’s. The show band leader, it turns out, is unfortunately down for the count so there was recorded music tonight but not live. The DJ came on later and that was fun but after a day of walking and heat, it was time for bed.



Tomorrow—Albania. I never knew I wanted to go to Albania. Not sure I still do but I will!

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