Leaving Pelekas Beach, Corfu, Greece

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Well friends, it was a sad day leaving Pelekas Beach in Corfu. We camped at Gouvia Bay on the East Coast and then rented a car to tour the island since I have no faith in Mark's scooter skills (sorry darling). We drove to Sidari up North but too touristy and the beach wasn't as nice as some we had seen. We lucked upon Pelekas Beach on the West Coast of Corfu and fell in love! I've been to Thailand and India and I've seen amazing beaches but this beautiful sandy beach with it's crystal clear water ranks on the top...not a lot of tourists...and the best lodgings I've ever had.

The Rolling Stone...remember it folks...it's a bit like Shangra-la. The Lonely Planet review says, "The psychedelic windchime on this joint's massive terrace is the most active thing in this atmospheric 70's kickback" and they ain't telling no lies!!!

Themis and his wife Ira run the Rolling Stone 50 meters from Pelekas Beach and have two beautiful daughters, Nikki and Danae. The story goes Pelekas was a big hippie hangout in the 80's which eventually dried up as hippie/backpacker hangouts do. It's a smallish beach so there was room for only one big hotel. Pelekas Village is a mean hike up the hill and the hippies would hang out there for days after making the trek up from the beach - they'd hangout, get stoned...drink a bit...the usual. At anyrate, things died down and now it's a small beach with a mix of people. Young, old, German, English, Singles, Couples, Families....and lots of Greeks...but still not too crowded.

It's really the community though and that's what makes it so special. Just a small beach community with a couple of smallish hotels two snackbars and one eatery...that's it. After London, Paris and Italy it was great to just do nothing....17 days of nothing!!!

We worked on our tans, got drunk on ouzo, cooked up breakfast and dinner in an outdoor kitchen...killed a load of mosquitos (I've gotten quite good) and just got to talk to people other than each other. Funny people....Burt from Holland who proclaimed we were the first Americans he'd ever met. John and Ally a dashing couple in their 40's who have 5,000 skydives between them. Spyros...the old hippie spouting off on the hippie days and how they would go from Pelekas to Ios to Goa. So much wonderful stuff. I had been warned on my first morning that I would never want to leave and it's true. I would go back in a heartbeat!

Mark had been wanting to finish his open water dive class which we were able to do the final days of our stay. Our dive guide, Angeliki, was wonderful and introduced the phrase "po po" which meant...."awh...that's too bad". Our last day of diving came and I awoke to thunder and lightning....I sat there thinking, "Does a good girlfriend have to dive with her boyfriend on a day like today?" Well....yes....a good girlfriend must do what she must do. I was a bit worried though and we called Angeliki who said,"The sea...it is perfect!" Great. Fun Stuff. Luckily it cleared up and we did two dives, Mark was certified and though I was cold at the end of the day (hence the sweater I'm wearing in the photos with Angeliki, Olga and Markos) I loved every bit of it!!!

Eventually life goes on so we left yesterday for Patras which just had a 6.5 earthquake the day we bought our ferry tickets but since we were going to Nafplio we saw only the docks and the train station.

So on we go through Greece to explore. Rejuvinated by our time in beautiful Corfu.

More next time,

Andrea

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Photos

Griggs at Dawn
Ferry to Corfu with only 3 hours of sleep! Ain't he handsome???

Greek Show
Gouvia Bay dining.

Corfu
Happy...still working on my tan tho!

Rolling Stone
This is Themis our hero! Owner of the Rolling Stone in Pelekas Beach

Nikki and Danae
Rolling Stone darlings

Diving Corfu
Olga, Angeliki, me and Marcos