Relaxing and Chilling-Greek Island Style

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I was jarred awake this morning at an ungodly hour by the sounds of someone in my room yelling at me to wake up. "30 minutes until docking" he was yelling. The nerve of this guy to enter my cabin unannounced to wake me up. I was still able to hear him as he went down the hall yelling at all the other passengers to wake up. Not wanting to be left behind, I quickly ran in the shower and gathered my things. We docked in the port town of Igoumentisa. From here, we were to catch another ferry that would take us to Corfu town. It was still dark outside and everyone was still half asleep as we were disembarking. We walked along with our suitcases to the port terminal where we were to kill the next 2 hours before catching our next ferry. Everyone quickly gobbled up the seats in the waiting lounge and spread out to catch up on some sleep. Not much sleep was to be done as the seats were horribly uncomfortable and hard as a rock. After realizing that we were not at the correct spot, Matt lead us to the other side of the port terminal where he would have a few taxis waiting to take us to the correct departure point. Apparently, the ferry that we were waiting for was departing in 20 minutes. When the first taxi arrived, we packed as many suitcases as possible into the trunk and squeezed as many people inside as possible. The taxi took off speeding down the road like a bat out of hell. When people realized that the correct departure point was not very far, some of us started to walk. It only appeared to be a brisk 5-10 minute walk away. Not wanting to walk this early in the morning, I got into the second taxi. Once dropped off, those who were already there hurried to remove the suitcases from the trunk so the taxi could speed back and pick up the others. Everyone managed to arrive just in time to catch the ferry. This second ferry ride was only about an hour and it was jam packed with people. Luckily, most of us were able to find a seat to crash in. It was still somewhat early in the morning when we finally arrived in Corfu town. From here, we caught a private coach that would take us to our hotel. The sun was shining brightly and was already a bit warm. It was definetly going to be a nice day to relax by the pool. We drove for about 20 minutes uphill in a residential part of the town. The driveway leading to the hotel was quite steep and the coach wasn't able to make it all the way up. He managed to take the coach about halfway up the driveway before we all had to get off and drag our suitcases up this steep driveway. Once inside the hotel, the rooms were not yet ready but breakfast was just about to be served. No one was prepared for how awesome the breakfast at this hotel was going to be. After horrible breakfasts of bread and juice in Italy for the past week, most of us were starting to get used to it. The breakfast here was buffet style with a wide variety of breakfast dishes, cereals, fruits, and juices. Needless to say, everyone took full advantage. After breakfast, our rooms were assigned and I lucked out again. I was able to get a room all to myself. After about 2 hours of resting, Matt took those of us who were interested into town for the afternoon. After being dropped off, we were free to roam around and do as we pleased. By myself for the first time on the trip, I just decided to wander and do some shopping. Corfu town was a labrynth of narrow alleyways with small cafes and shops. It was easy to get a bit lost amongst this maze but since it wasn't very large, eventually you would find your way out. I eventually made it out onto the main street where I continued my window shopping. There were quite a few stray dogs in this town that would just wander and lay down anywhere, including the middle of the street. After walking along the waterfront, I started to get a bit bored. My craving for American fast food started to set in which led me to the Mcdonalds. Here they served Mcgyros, Mcdonald's version of Greek food. I probably should have tried this but settled on a filet-o-fish and fries. After the Mcdonald's trip, I sat at an outdoor cafe and ordered a Bailey's latte and scone to pass the time. Our meeting point was just off the main square. Lesley was here already waiting so we sat around making small talk while we waited for everyone else. Finally, the coach arrived and it was back to the hotel to lounge around.

After dropping off my things in the room, I made my way down to the poolside bar. Just like a resort, you were able to charge food and drinks to your room as long as you paid before you leave. This could be quite dangerous as I tend to lose track of how much I'm spending. I hung out at the bar with Sandra, Andrea, and little Sara before making my way down to the pool. Slowly more people started to trickle poolside and enter the pool. There was another Contiki group staying here and we met some of them poolside. While me and Amanda were swimming around, some guy from the other group came up to us and started chatting. I don't remember what his name was but he was Perth, Australia. He was amazed at how close knit most everyone in our group appeared. This guy seemed awfully chatty, and I think he was trying to hit on me. The rest of the afternoon and into the evening was spent going back and forth from the bar, to the pool, to lounging poolside. It was a perfect day for just sitting back and relaxing. A day of rest that most everyone desperately needed. Dinner tonight was just as impressive as breakfast. They had a wide variety of dishes to choose from as well as soups, salads, and dessets. As with breakfast, most everyone engorged themselves. Nothing big was planned for this evening. Matt was going to take us down to a bar via the local bus. Most everyone had good intentions of going out but it turned out to be about 10 of us. Many people just wanted to stay in and call it an early night after such an early morning. Matt, the Aussie Gossip Crew, Rob, Sara, Claire, Roz, Erin, Patrick, and myself all walked down to catch the local bus at the bottom of the hill. We were dropped off in town where Matt led us threw a winding maze of back streets and dark alleys. We all started to wonder where he was taking us when all of a sudden we arrived at this really trendy outdoor bar. The bar was pretty quiet as it was only about 10pm. We all tried to order some drinks which proved to be difficult. Our server spoke very little English and some of the girls were ordering drinks with very specific instructions. Eventually we all got our drinks and chatted the night away. Roaming dogs seemed to be the norm in this town as 3 stray dogs wandered into the bar and seemed to take a liking to our group. It was a pretty low key evening. Around 12am, we all decided to return back to the hotel for our big day tomorrow.

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