Corfu

Back on the boat, time to head South to where it might be warmer and less rainy. Chugged all afternoon, chugged all night, chugged all morning until stopping a couple countries later in Greece. No stopping in Slovenia or Croatia or Bosnia-Herzegovina or Montenegro or Albania, though that would have been interesting as there are places there rather less heavily travelled than our programmed destinations. We will get one stop in Monténégro, but later. (Blogger is helpfully adding accents to some of my text, because it knows how to spell better than I do. Only, it cannot be taught that, while, yes my account is in France, no, I am not blogging in French. So just bear with the bits of nonsense.)

The weather here between the island of Corfu and the Greek Mainland is not much better than it was farther north. (ok, now what gives? Earlier, when I typed "south", it was corrected to "South", and even just now I had to uncorrect the correction. But when I typed "north", north does not get capitalized. Who is in charge here?) But wait, I was talking about the weather.

On board we have a daily Schedule* and it tells us all about the stops we'll be making and the tours we can reserve and what events are planned on board, and at what times all of that happens (especially, what time do you have to be back on ship before it leaves you behind). In there, there's weather, and today's sea conditions are listed as "Heavy". You wouldn't know it unless you go check out the Wind* on the top decks. Inside where it's nice & cozy and the beverages are pre-paid, nothing moves at all. Bring on the gales!

Here we are, setting foot on Corfu, at Kérkira. We had just a couple hours to look around, so we walked around the port and the headland and the town. Not really time for the museum unless you headed right there, or to hike out into the hinterlands. Just enough for a taste. The cruise is like a sampler; you do a quick check to see if you might want to come back for a real visit some day.

It's a pleasant stop, with lots of parks and layers of history on the headland.

The town was fun to walk around, with throngs of people all out doing their business. You could tell the people off the cruise ships, but there were lots of locals as well. This being our first stop in Greece, all the stuff in the shops looked new and different and unique - get that nice handwoven tablecloth now, because you'll never see its like again.



We finished our tour with time for tea before catching the shuttle back to the ship. There's a long park on the waterfront, lined with hôtels and restaurants, and we had a pot of tea there. No time for dinner, alas (and too early for it). The platters of fresh seafood being served around us look and smell delicious. I hope in future sorties we'll be able to taste more of the local wares. Dining on the ship is okay, but it doesn't compare to real restaurants you find on your own.

* Schedule gets a cap. So does Wind. It's not even a French thing to capitalize nouns in mid-sentence. That's a German thing. So stop it.