Blogs from Ionian Islands, Greece, Europe - page 8

Sunday, Sept. 15 - A sea day This is the only sea day on this voyage and we enjoyed every relaxing minute, From now on it is port after port. To give us this sea day, the Captain slows the vessel and, at night, stops the engines entirely. We are in the Ionian Sea and cruising north to our first port, Kerkira, on the Island of Corfu. We have a leisurely breakfast in the dining room where I was able to snag a glass of milk with only two tries. Checked out my bill and noticed that my CCL shareholder credit had not been posted. Provided the Front Desk with the paper work and should see it on Tuesday. This has not been my best packing experience. I was undecided whether to bring my white slacks ... read more

This is a great place for a holiday. We'd like to spend more time here but no...it's Albania tomorrow, which we hear is really an interesting place to go to and we are looking forward to it. But, Corfu. Yesterday was a quiet one for us. We explored the old town again and struck a flotilla of cruise ships emptying out their cargo onto the streets of the old town just as we arrived via a bus. The bus trip was great because it took us through parts of the city we wouldn't otherwise see. And while Corfu is a tourist destination it doesn't have the infrastructure like hop on, hop offs that bigger places do so this was a good thing to do- public transport, can't beat it. We don't recommend being here when the ... read more

Can you believe we are on to our second round of visitors.... Time really flies. Before our friends arrived we had another truly splendid evening at George's. He was celebrating the arrival of his first grandchild - a little girl who is named Mavreta, after his late wife - and so put another lamb on the spit with all the trimmings.... Those of us who were there were invited to join in the festivities. And boy, was there a bunch of us...! What a time we had...the food was scrumptious and seemed to be unending. We were treated to a variety of tastes: the usual array of tzaziki, aubergine salad etc and then clam risotto, kokarestsi and of course the lamb... And naturally the liquid refreshment was flowing too.. (Especially for you, Donald...?) Once the feasting ... read more

After a wonderful week of relaxation, we returned to the boatyard for a gruelling day of work on the boat! Fortunately we were rescued and whisked back up the mountain to Panagula where we celebrated Kevin's Birthday at Marianthi's - again! We had a feast of Souvlaki, the hugest and most delicious, fresh garden salad and chips. And a few carafe's of wine too! The next day Lynne and I trudged up the hill to collect manure from Alexi's (the local shepherd) goat manure heap, so that we could fertilize her veggie garden. We learnt that goat manure is far better to use than sheep manure, because goats pick leaves off branches and therefore there are no weed seeds in their droppings. Whereas sheep eat grass and weeds and so produce weed-ridden droppings. I wonder how ... read more

This morning we caught the bus to Corfu Town. I got to go into a play area for a while where a found 2 leaves that I HAD to carry for the rest of the trip :) I saw lots of boats in the harbour, we walked round the old fort - daddy went to the top but I waited for him at the bottom with mummy. We had a wander around the old town and market, had some yummy crepes, but it was just TOO hot so we then went back to the hotel for lunch. Today we had lunch in the beach restaurant which was so much nicer then the buffet lunch...it was actually really nice. Plus we could eat looking at the sea, it was much calmer today then yesterday so if the ... read more