Trip to Paleokastritsa - The Rugged East Coast of Corfu

On the North East side of Corfu lies PaleoKastritsa, (Pronounced ' Paleokastreetsa') one of the most highly recommended places to visit while on Corfu.

To get there, we sped along roads across the island from Gouvia with really lovely views until we arrived at PaleoKastritsa which is really the edge of these dramatic cliffs.

There are grottos, beaches (many only reachable by small boat), a small marina, and many cafes and hotels carved into the cliffs with views that are truly fantastic.

We stopped at the top of one of the grottos and could see many young people at a cafe called "The Grotto" carved into the rock at least 100 steps down.  Below was a popular swimming hole and a rope the daring can climb to a good 50 foot dive into the sea.

Next, we ventured up a road which took us to a spit with an old church and great views up and down the coast.

We could see some umbrellas way up high on the cliffs to the north so we decided to try and find them.  Up a very twisted road through a village named Lakones, we arrived at the 'Golden Fox' which was a restaurant, cafe, swimming pool, and a few shops up top for tourists.  What a view!!  We could not only see up and down the beautiful east coast of Corfu, we could see right across the island to the west with the Adriatic and Albania in the background.

After a nice lunch, we continued along the most exciting road.  Rob says he has never done this many switchbacks in one tour.  We saw incredible olive groves, tiny villages and popped out at Prinylas which gave us a view of the entire top end of Corfu looking across to the small islands to the north, Othoni and Erikoussa (where we stopped on our way here from Montenegro).  

We passed through Pagi, a small village where filming was done for the 1981 Bond film, For Your Eyes Only.

We made our way along intending to get back to the marina to meet the fellow helping us with our limping water maker motor.  We wondered if we would have trouble as the gas light popped on and there was truly no sign of people let alone a fuel station.

As we passed through a tiny town, we saw a small auto service shop and they directed us to fuel.  Whew!!!

We continued along switch back after switch back until we emerged through the mountain to the west side of Corfu. The road was straight from here and we could actually see all the way to Corfu town from where we were part way up the mountain.  

Once back in Gouvia Marina, we enjoyed a capuccino and some ice cold water at the Skipper's Cafe.

                Cappuccino before leaving Gouvia for Paleokastritsa

    Checking email...

                Paleokastritsa!!! - Young people swimming off the raft with the Red Roof below

  View from St. Nicholas Church - The white dot to the right on the water is a sail boat

  Rob amongst the green - This Is unique to Corfu as the other Greek Islands are quite arid and dry

   Locals

  Another amazing bay

                 

One of the Beaches reachable by land 

                Tripper boats take visitors to the bays, grottos, and caves

                The view from the road on the way to the top of the cliff

  Lakones Village

                The view from the top - Taken from the Golden Fox Cafe

                Nice Pool with a view

                View back across the Island - You can see the Adriatic on the other side of the Island and the mountains of Albania in the distance

                 

The Beach and Tripper boats in the centre - Marina on the left with the Breakwall

                Rugged Coastline

                View from Prinylas - Othoni in far background

                Erikoussa in the background beyond the Island  

  Vatonies Village

                Olive Groves we pass by on the twisted mountain roads

  Pagi, where the Bond Film was made

                Almost back at the Marina - Check out Grandma driving her scooter!

  Road into the Gouvia Marina

                 

Map - Palaeokastritsa is circled, follow the twisted orange roads north to see where we drove

Touring Old Korfu

Wednesday, August 27, we decided to start to really spend some time seeing this interesting and very large island, Corfu.  (Known here as Kerkyra)

As we left the marina, we spotted a cricket match as there is a cricket pitch and a croquet pitch right here on the property.  There is a very strong British influence here and has been since the 1800's .  Many Brits still holiday here and we even saw a "Marks and Spencer" shop in town.

Our next stop was a scooter ride through the town of Corfu which is always pretty exciting.  Rob concentrates on driving while I navigate as the drivers here are absolutely crazy.  They have surely learned their driving techniques from the Italians who live in Rome.

We found our way to the Old Fortress which is on the tip of a peninsula next to Old Corfu Town.  It was very beautiful and we were very surprised how quiet it was.  It seems the tourists are more interested in shopping for 'nick-nacks' in town.

We wandered around the fort looking at the old buildings, barracks, and cannons and saw a sign directing us to the sailing club.  Curious, we followed our way around the fort, down a set of stairs and around a corner to find the Corfu Sailing Club.  It is a lovely club nestled right in under the giant walls of the Old Fort.

We went inside and met the Club's secretary who gave us a club birdgie and a shirt for Riley from a regatta they had just hosted.  

Surprisingly, the only way into this club other than arriving by boat is the way we got there, climbing stairs and through old archways and following the gravel paths through the old fort.  Rob and I agreed we would not want to have to haul much gear to a boat here!

As we left the Corfu Sailing Club, we walked by the old British Barracks of the Fort.  To our delight, amazing music was coming from inside.  A violin and a pianist were playing beautiful music from separate rooms and as we rounded the end of the building a fabulous jazz trio was playing some wonderful tunes.  This is the Ionian University Faculty of Music.  It was great a really neat venue for a Music school.

As the sun set, we arrived in Old Corfu with it's lovely old churches, architecture and of course, souvenirs.  

Greek wool slippers, hand made linens, honey, kumquats, olive oil, olives and sea sponges are the main items offered here.  There are also many interesting cafes and ice cream is available every few metres.

As we finished sharing an ice cream and had decided it was time to head back to The Lodge, we saw a parade of young people in their traditional costumes marching through the streets.  Good fun and another lovely day in Corfu!

                  Run about to be scored at Gouvia Marina Cricket Pitch

                View of the North side of the Old Fort - St George's Church and the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club underneath the Fort on the Water

                St. George's Church inside the Old Fort - Built for the Brits when they occupied the Fort around 1840

     Beautiful Place 

                Optimists having a water fight as there was little wind to sail - Could have been the Port Credit Yacht Club!

    Wooden Cannon from the Late 1700's

    Bell Tower and buildings within the Fort

   The perfect shade of blue sky

  Entrance to the Corfu Sailing Club 

                Corfu Sailing Club

                View of Corfu Sailing Club under the Old Fort - The White Building is the Faculty of Music for the Ionian University in Corfu

     Cool Light Fixture in this Cafe in Old Corfu

     Greek Wool Slippers

  Hand Made Linens

Shopping in the Tight Streets of Corfu - The Stone Tiles are very shiny from all the foot traffic

  If you look above all the shops, lovely churches and bell towers are all over the Old Town

Ice Cream  - The Pomegranate one is Decorated with Pomegranate Arils

        Traditional Greek Costumes 

   Fabulous Church we saw as we left Old Corfu

                Rob on the Scooter we Rented 

First Few Days in Corfu...

After a wonderful dinner and long sleep, we began our adventures in Corfu.  Corfu, is the english word for this very famous Greek Island which is part of a group of Islands known as the Ionian.

The largest of the Ionian it is 100 Km long and very busy with resorts, cruise ships, and villas.  It is also known by the Greeks here as Kerkyra also spelled Kerkira.  There are at least two names for everything here and then there is the traditional greek spelling.  It is very easy to get lost in Old Corfu as the streets are in Old Greek and it is hard to determine where you are!

Sadly, we discovered as we finished the delivery from Montenegro to Greece that something was not quite right with our water maker.  So, we have employed an expert here to try to figure it out.  At the moment it looks like a bad pump but we will learn more by tomorrow.

We also discovered the boat bottom needed diving so we hired another fellow who took care of that.

We are fine with staying here for a few days to get things organized and all the systems on The Lodge up to par as there is much to see and experience on Corfu before moving on.

We also noticed the bottom needed cleaning and as usual there is always more laundry!

We did manage to find our way to Old Corfu last night.  What a phenomenon this place is!!!  We have not seen so many tourist stores and people in our travels so far including Rome!

The most unusual thing I stumbled upon was a "Fish Spa".  Clients actually pay money to dip there feet and shins into an aquarium full of tiny fish that attach themselves like leeches and eat the dead skin from your body.  Yes.... Folks are paying money to do this.

I took a photo of a couple from Rome who were enjoying the fish spa when I walked in.

We only spent about an hour in Old Corfu as we were ready for dinner and sleep but will return this afternoon to do some more exploring.

Who knows what we will find?!

                Taken from the back of our rented scooter while driving to Old Corfu.

      This is a crazy place to drive!  I think they learned from the Italians in Rome how to drive like this...

  Rob in the Scooter Line up - There were streets and streets and streets just like this - We got in further than most by following some locals

Walking in Old Corfu Town

  Market in Old Corfu

  The Fish Spa....They look happy having their feet nibbled on by all those little fish!

                One of Many tacky T-Shirts - Most too rude to show here...

    Amazing how street after street is full of these shops all selling virtually the same things - Sponges, slippers, T-Shirts, Honey....

                View From Kontokali Bay Resort where we enjoyed a great lunch on Wednesday.  Just an hour after I took this photo, the heavy NW winds blew through and brought 20+ knot winds and cleared out the sky.  The Temperatures dropped significantly which was a great relief from the heat we have been experiencing all through the med! - See below...

                Now we can see Albania and the sea is churning up - The attendents scurried to lower all the Umbrellas!

                View from Kontokali Bay Resort looking toward the north east part of Corfu

  Map of Corfu.  We are just north of Old Corfu in Gouvia

                The Gouvia Marina - Kontokali Bay Resort and Spa just beyond the marina

Albania is in the background across the Adriatic