Day 22: Corfu, Greece

Sumner

Today we stopped at a Grecian island called Corfu. It is in the middle of the Aegean sea, as most Greek islands are. The first thing that we did is get off the ship. Profound statement, eh. You know I think that I’ve been around Canadians to much… Anywaay we had to tender from the boat to the dock. I was perfectly fine all the way but mom didn’t fare so well, she was very glad when the ride was over. Anyway we got out and our taxi guide was right there at the dock. His name is Spiero (I think). The first thing that we did is drive thought the town of Corfu and then drive up through a mountain village and to a great lookout point. Over this point you could see a large part of the island including Corfu town and the first mountain town that we went through. As well we could see our ship and a few islands off the coast. We then made our way thought the mountains seeing all sorts of nice villages. In one there was a church that was about three metres across at the front (a little more than 3 yards) and maybe ten metres deep (we kept on going and on the way Oma took a lot of pictures of the olive trees. You could tell which ones were and weren’t taken care of. The ones that were small and pruned were the ones at we taken care of. They pruned them because they produce bigger olives that way. The ones that were large and looked almost like a wad of vines were not taken care of and had small olives. It was kinda funny because the ones that weren’t pruned back and that hung over the street would drop heir olives and when the cars went over them it would make the roads very slippery. At home we have snow and ice to make roads slippery but there in Corfu they have olive oil to make their roads slippery. We hen arrived at another lookout from which you could see a beach. There weren’t any people on the beach. It was a great day for sightseeing because there was some cloud cover and it was just right as far as temperature. We drove through a few other villages one of which we got out of the car and walked around in. The streets in this town literally just footpaths. We wandered around for a little while and even had a conversation with an old woman. It was all Greek to us, all English to her. We did have one word in common, salad. Anyway we went in our way and as we drove a few time Oma got out and made some pictures of the olive trees. She made at least forty probably. Anyway we came eventually back down the mountains after going through some other villages and made our way way to the [PALACE NAME]. This palace was made for the Austrian queen or princess or something in the late eighteen hundreds and it was made in the neoclassical style. This style is a more modern version of the classical style. One thing that is different between this and the classical style is that on the columns are flat, they only stick out a few inches from the wall. Classical columns are not flush with the wall at all they actually have a purpose, to hold up the building, not just look pretty. It was neat going through seeing all of the statues and stuff and then we came to a wonderful terrace that, before all of the trees grew up to block the view, had a view of the ocean. We then made our way back to the car and then down to a little place where we stopped for the last view. This view was truly serene except for all of the tourist busses. From this point you could see the boat, a few islands (it was kinda funny because mom thought that our boat was an island, it almost is though it is so big. We could also see the monastery and the beautiful, blue ocean. It really was blue, no kidding, you always draw it blue but it really is greenish, well it would have even accurate to paint in blue for this scene. It was just so beautiful. I will hopefully post a picture of it sometime where I have free/inexpensive wifi. We also stopped at an old mans little shop where he sold his homemade wine, olive oil, his homegrown nuts as well as a few more products. Then we went on down the mountain to a monastery. Unfortunately it was closed. But then we made our way to a place where we could see an island called Mouse Island. On the island was a little monastery that is only accessible by boat. There was also a little church on an island that had a bridge leading to it. This spot was the second most photographed place in Greece. Second only to the acropolis in Athens. We then proceeded to the old town of Corfu. This area of the city started at the old castle and ends with the new castle. It was kinda funny how the guide pronounced castle, he said cast-ul. He had obviously read it in a book and learned it from that. Anyway the new castle was built about five hundred years ago and who knows how old the old castle is. It was getting close to the time at which we had to be at the boat so we just rode through the old town in the car and headed to the dock to get back on the boat.

    ~Sumner

Hannah

Today we had to wake up exceptionally early to get tender tickets. Tendering is when you have to use some of the lifeboats as transportation boats. (they are builst for both.) there was a long line for the boat, but we made it on. Mom got a little sick, but besides that the whole thing went fine. When we got there, we found our taxi/tour guide waiting for us. We got in the taxi fine and headed on our way. Our first stop was a lovely view of a pretty bay. And then we went to another bay. We had to stop quite a few times for Oma to take pictures of trees, trees,trees, and more trees!!! (And I am NOT kidding) We stopped in a quaint little town where the BIG buses don’t come. It was just us and the people that live there. It was REALLY funny because this old lady and us had a conversation about salad together. But the problem was , was that she spoke Greek and we spoke English. We spent quite a long time in the town just walking and enjoying the beautiful village. After we got to see the village, we haded to our next stop which was this lovely bay where you could swim in a blue, blue,blue water. You could see everything at the bottom of the bay. It was SO cool! After that, we went to a place where this guy named George makes and grown olives and olive oil. We got a taste some bread with olive oil and some yummy olives. After that, we went to a little cafe to try some Greek desserts. we had Baklava (that is the most famous dessert in ALL of Greece.) amd we had walnut cake (which was not very good, but I ate it) and we had cum quat cake. (that was my favorite.) After the little samplings, we headed back to the boat. It was a really fun day. When we were gettin into the tender boat, we saw Weda, our “assistant” steward. He is REALLY nice to me. We had dinner tonight and Jeff did a mafic trick. He had 3 cups and he poured water into one of them. He then mixed them around and told us which on had the water. He proceded to pour the water on my head, but nothing came out. So he mixed up the last 2 cups and asked us which did NOT hace the water, he them poured the water on Sumner’s head, but nothing came out. Finally, with the last cup, he poured the water on his head. And NOTHING came out. Cool huh? After dinner, I went to Club HAL. All we did tonight was watch a movie called SHARK BOY AND LAVA GIRL. I know, sounds wierd, but it is actually a REALLY good movie. Check it out !!!