After a leisurely morning on the ship, we were to arrive in Corfu about 12:30 PM.
The captain announced we would be staying three hours later in Corfu than scheduled, but then we ended up being delayed getting off the ship by about an hour.
Cheryl decided to spend the day onboard enjoying the ship, and Laszlo planned to go out on his own around 2:00 PM.
Everyone else departed the ship together about 1:45 PM with a general plan of going to the beach, although some spoke of first seeing some sites in town.
By this point in the trip, we had come to realize that trying to get more than a handful of people moving in the same direction at the same time can be slow going, as coming to a consensus takes time.
Julie didn’t want to take a chance of missing the best part of the afternoon transporting to the beach.
To reach the Bay of Paleokastritsa, which we heard had the most beautiful beaches as well as some decent snorkeling, Julie grabbed one of the waiting taxis, pointed to a map and told the others we would be going there with Jay and Amy.
We said we would love to have everyone join us but understood if they would prefer to do something else.
The cab driver quoted 40 Euros, and we didn’t try to find any other rate, worried that if we didn’t act, we might miss the chance when other cruisers began swarming the taxis, as happened in Santorini before we decided to just take the bus to Oia.
Corfu is definitely the greenest of the Greek Isles we visited, which I understand is due to Corfu receiving about three times as much rainfall as the other isles.
This, however, was a bright, sunny day with temperatures in the eighties.
We enjoyed a quiet ride on the winding road through the lovely countryside. Our cab driver made few comments but efficiently delivered us to our beautiful destination.
Old Greek dead dudes, as Bill and Ted would call them, like Sophocles and Homer (not Simpson) wrote about the gorgeous Sirens whose alluring songs tempted sailors to abandon caution and crash their ships on the rocks of Sirenum Scopuli where they lived.
While I don’t think Corfu was the Sirens’ home, it is hard to imagine more tempting, craggy rock-lined beaches than at the Bay of Paleokastritsa.
There are actually two bays with beaches separated by the main drag.
The larger beach attracted more people, including several modern day Sirens sunbathing topless.
We went to the smaller of the two beaches, which our cab driver told us would have better snorkeling.
The sea was surprisingly cool. We expected warm water similar to the Caribbean or Hawaii, but this water was cold enough to give me chills if I didn’t keep swimming.
I suppose this shouldn’t have been shocking, since our previous swim in the Aegean Sea by Santorini proved to be cooler than the waters off the Dalmatian Coast in Dubrovnik, but I didn’t think I would wish I had brought a rash guard to stay warm swimming on this trip.
The coral and underwater vegetation is generally muted shades of brown and green here, so it isn’t surprising that the fish trying to blend into their environment were also mostly undistinguished in color. Still, swimming in the turquoise sea around the craggy rocks was refreshing.
Jay and I enjoyed hiking through the crags along one side of the bay, catching some different views of the scenery.
There were boats pulling innertubes, banana boats and something that looked like an inflated easy chair from a dock in our bay.
The larger bay had cave tour boats that go in and out of some small coves.
It all looked fun, but we passed on boat rides this time.
As the afternoon flew by, it soon became apparent that the others had sought a different path.
Eventually we decided to head back to the port town.
At a café between the bays, we ordered a taxi.
While we waited, the kids made it clear that they preferred to head back to the ship so that we could have dinner at our usual table.
A few minutes later, a jovial and loquacious cab driver arrived with our chariot…okay, it was a regular taxi with a price of thirty Euros for the return trip.
As we drove, he spoke lovingly of Corfu and everything we were missing.
He couldn’t believe we hadn’t asked him to take us up the hill to the monastery above Paleokastritsa Bay, or to a scenic viewpoint called “God’s Balcony” when we were right below it.
We told him about the Crete quest, and he said how much he liked people from Crete.
He said many of the people of Corfu were Venetians or Europeans from other areas that had arrived in Greece later than citizens of Crete.
When we told him about drinking ouzo, he asked if we had mezes (essentially appetizers) with the ouzo, saying there were many bars that served only different kinds of ouzos and mezes.
He gathered his fingers together and kissed their tips, spreading his fingers as he took his palm-up hand away from his lips, a gesture he repeated frequently as he described delicious cuisine and beautiful sites of Corfu we were missing.
I asked how much extra it would be to swing through the town and point out some sites, and he agreed to ten Euros, but the kids insisted on returning to the ship for dinner, so we passed, although I still paid him the extra ten because he really made the cab ride special.
We learned later the others had taken a bus to a closer beach and then gone out to dinner in town.
We picked up Cheryl and enjoyed another wonderful dining room experience despite our half empty table.
Nobody missed the ship, and we dutifully headed for the Trivia game, in which we had been humiliated (and rewarded with key chains) the previous night.
Did I already mention that we won this night?
I guess I did, but perhaps I should remind you: WE WON!
After the longest losing streak in our Trivial history, the hostess finally asked the right kind of bizarre questions.
The previous night, questions about sports photos found us floundering, but this night asked questions about topics with no particular point or significance, which is our specialty.
Leatherette baggage tags….ooohhhh yeah!
We all went to the 42nd Street Theater to see Spectrum, a quartet of tuxedoed singers, perform “A Tribute to Motown and R & B.”
Several of us were in the front row center, and when Spectrum did their Temptations-influenced dances to the catchy melodies, we did our best to keep up, prompting them to give us props from the stage.
They asked for a man in the audience to stand up and say something about loving his woman.
Now of course I would have stood up and made a spectacle of Julie had she been next to me, but she was sitting in the “mature” section next to Rollie and Cheryl about 2/3 of the way back in the crowd. Rollie, between the two ladies, stood up and received the microphone.
He proceeded to speak for about fifteen minutes about his first date with Cheryl and how it was impossible to get him to utter more than a few syllables before meeting her.
I must say, she changed his life! He paid her a nice tribute and received a big round of applause.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the show, and being fired up by all those great Motown classics, we were ready for Rock-A-Rokie.
As inspired as I felt, I couldn’t bring myself to sign up to sing in front of a crowd. Considering that twenty years ago I used to carry a guitar with me and serenade unsuspecting people almost everywhere I went, perhaps I changed even more than Rollie.
Gina and Cheryl did eventually drag me up to join them on a song, but my microphone didn't work, and I can't say I was upset about that.
Thinking about this late night out, I just realized I forgot something that happened the night before at the Rock n’ Roll Dance Party.
There was a twist contest, with Jered and Amy selected from the dance floor to be one of three competing couples. Amy backed out, so the hostess brought in a woman to replace her. Jered didn’t win, but got a T-shirt for participating.
The captain announced we would be staying three hours later in Corfu than scheduled, but then we ended up being delayed getting off the ship by about an hour.
Cheryl decided to spend the day onboard enjoying the ship, and Laszlo planned to go out on his own around 2:00 PM.
Everyone else departed the ship together about 1:45 PM with a general plan of going to the beach, although some spoke of first seeing some sites in town.
By this point in the trip, we had come to realize that trying to get more than a handful of people moving in the same direction at the same time can be slow going, as coming to a consensus takes time.
Julie didn’t want to take a chance of missing the best part of the afternoon transporting to the beach.
To reach the Bay of Paleokastritsa, which we heard had the most beautiful beaches as well as some decent snorkeling, Julie grabbed one of the waiting taxis, pointed to a map and told the others we would be going there with Jay and Amy.
We said we would love to have everyone join us but understood if they would prefer to do something else.
The cab driver quoted 40 Euros, and we didn’t try to find any other rate, worried that if we didn’t act, we might miss the chance when other cruisers began swarming the taxis, as happened in Santorini before we decided to just take the bus to Oia. Corfu is definitely the greenest of the Greek Isles we visited, which I understand is due to Corfu receiving about three times as much rainfall as the other isles.
This, however, was a bright, sunny day with temperatures in the eighties.
We enjoyed a quiet ride on the winding road through the lovely countryside. Our cab driver made few comments but efficiently delivered us to our beautiful destination.
Old Greek dead dudes, as Bill and Ted would call them, like Sophocles and Homer (not Simpson) wrote about the gorgeous Sirens whose alluring songs tempted sailors to abandon caution and crash their ships on the rocks of Sirenum Scopuli where they lived.While I don’t think Corfu was the Sirens’ home, it is hard to imagine more tempting, craggy rock-lined beaches than at the Bay of Paleokastritsa.
There are actually two bays with beaches separated by the main drag.
The larger beach attracted more people, including several modern day Sirens sunbathing topless.
We went to the smaller of the two beaches, which our cab driver told us would have better snorkeling.
The sea was surprisingly cool. We expected warm water similar to the Caribbean or Hawaii, but this water was cold enough to give me chills if I didn’t keep swimming.
I suppose this shouldn’t have been shocking, since our previous swim in the Aegean Sea by Santorini proved to be cooler than the waters off the Dalmatian Coast in Dubrovnik, but I didn’t think I would wish I had brought a rash guard to stay warm swimming on this trip.
The coral and underwater vegetation is generally muted shades of brown and green here, so it isn’t surprising that the fish trying to blend into their environment were also mostly undistinguished in color. Still, swimming in the turquoise sea around the craggy rocks was refreshing.
Jay and I enjoyed hiking through the crags along one side of the bay, catching some different views of the scenery.
There were boats pulling innertubes, banana boats and something that looked like an inflated easy chair from a dock in our bay.The larger bay had cave tour boats that go in and out of some small coves.
It all looked fun, but we passed on boat rides this time.
As the afternoon flew by, it soon became apparent that the others had sought a different path.
Eventually we decided to head back to the port town.
At a café between the bays, we ordered a taxi.
While we waited, the kids made it clear that they preferred to head back to the ship so that we could have dinner at our usual table.
As we drove, he spoke lovingly of Corfu and everything we were missing.
He couldn’t believe we hadn’t asked him to take us up the hill to the monastery above Paleokastritsa Bay, or to a scenic viewpoint called “God’s Balcony” when we were right below it.
We told him about the Crete quest, and he said how much he liked people from Crete.
He said many of the people of Corfu were Venetians or Europeans from other areas that had arrived in Greece later than citizens of Crete.
When we told him about drinking ouzo, he asked if we had mezes (essentially appetizers) with the ouzo, saying there were many bars that served only different kinds of ouzos and mezes.He gathered his fingers together and kissed their tips, spreading his fingers as he took his palm-up hand away from his lips, a gesture he repeated frequently as he described delicious cuisine and beautiful sites of Corfu we were missing.
I asked how much extra it would be to swing through the town and point out some sites, and he agreed to ten Euros, but the kids insisted on returning to the ship for dinner, so we passed, although I still paid him the extra ten because he really made the cab ride special.
We learned later the others had taken a bus to a closer beach and then gone out to dinner in town.
We picked up Cheryl and enjoyed another wonderful dining room experience despite our half empty table.
Nobody missed the ship, and we dutifully headed for the Trivia game, in which we had been humiliated (and rewarded with key chains) the previous night.Did I already mention that we won this night?
I guess I did, but perhaps I should remind you: WE WON!
After the longest losing streak in our Trivial history, the hostess finally asked the right kind of bizarre questions.
The previous night, questions about sports photos found us floundering, but this night asked questions about topics with no particular point or significance, which is our specialty.
Leatherette baggage tags….ooohhhh yeah!
We all went to the 42nd Street Theater to see Spectrum, a quartet of tuxedoed singers, perform “A Tribute to Motown and R & B.”Several of us were in the front row center, and when Spectrum did their Temptations-influenced dances to the catchy melodies, we did our best to keep up, prompting them to give us props from the stage.
They asked for a man in the audience to stand up and say something about loving his woman.
Now of course I would have stood up and made a spectacle of Julie had she been next to me, but she was sitting in the “mature” section next to Rollie and Cheryl about 2/3 of the way back in the crowd. Rollie, between the two ladies, stood up and received the microphone.
He proceeded to speak for about fifteen minutes about his first date with Cheryl and how it was impossible to get him to utter more than a few syllables before meeting her.I must say, she changed his life! He paid her a nice tribute and received a big round of applause.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the show, and being fired up by all those great Motown classics, we were ready for Rock-A-Rokie.
As inspired as I felt, I couldn’t bring myself to sign up to sing in front of a crowd. Considering that twenty years ago I used to carry a guitar with me and serenade unsuspecting people almost everywhere I went, perhaps I changed even more than Rollie.
Gina and Cheryl did eventually drag me up to join them on a song, but my microphone didn't work, and I can't say I was upset about that.
Thinking about this late night out, I just realized I forgot something that happened the night before at the Rock n’ Roll Dance Party.
There was a twist contest, with Jered and Amy selected from the dance floor to be one of three competing couples. Amy backed out, so the hostess brought in a woman to replace her. Jered didn’t win, but got a T-shirt for participating.
