Corfu is a great little Greek Island that has many things going for it:
–>A great water park that, on a hot Tuesday in early June, had lines about 3 people long. It had many more water slides than Wild Waves and way fewer people. And if Piper didn’t put on a swimsuit and leave her shaded chair, she at least took off her winter coat/security blanket by 4pm. Kyla, Wes, and Dwayne got as waterlogged as possible, and my knee was allowed the lazy river and wave pool, under the direct supervision of Dr. Dwayne. However, I read a book and didn’t tear off my leg, so it was still a wonderful day.
–>An Old Town with terrible parking but great shops and cafes, and a living history museum, depicting late 19th-century upper-class life with freaky automatons, which delighted me.
–>Beaches with terribly pebbly beaches (seriously, do I have to go to Whidbey Island to get some decent sand this year?). But what they lacked in sand, they make up for with turquoise water, hot sun and toplessness. (Poor Wes and Piper.)
–>Cooking classes! This was a long one, where we met a small group in Old Town for market shopping before driving out to the host’s home out in the country. We made some traditional Greek dishes in the outdoor kitchen, and then feasted on the front deck. At 6 hours, it was a bit too long of a day for the kids, sitting around and talking news and politics with new friends from Greece, Germany, and the UK, but the food was good. Dwayne coveted the olive press ruins in the back yard and the kids had 6 semi-feral cats and 3 kittens for entertainment.
–>Tavern Tripa, a place in a small old town with questionable parking options that served traditional Greek food family-style, with music and dancing. It was similar to the one Dwayne and I enjoyed in Cyprus, and the kids didn’t hate it. I felt like I sneaked a little culture into their dinner.
–>A fun little aquarium & reptile house that was passionate about local marine life, and let us hold their friendly python.
We got a whole week in Corfu, putting the finishing touches on our tans and enjoying living in a (VRBO) house again. But once the general details fade, I think Dwayne will vividly remember the worst thing about Corfu: driving. Generally, the roads were even a little wider here than in Sicily and Sorrento, but Corfu was missing Italy’s reluctance toward vehicular homicide. His opinion was cinched on a road Google Maps was convinced was a viable alternative to our cooking host’s home. I would have taken a picture of it, but I was too busy with the passenger’s window down, touching the sides of the walls two inches from the car door to help Dwayne navigate getting within a half-inch of the buildings on my side so he had enough room on his side. This road was NOT suitable for anything wider than a pregnant donkey. But again, a brag. Dwayne didn’t get a scratch on that car, and I would have sworn (oh, and I did swear) there were parts of that street that were narrower than our car.
More fun than “Can You Survive this Greek ‘Road’?” is still the “Does Denise Like Beer Yet?” game.
Corfu was for storing up energy and good-knee karma before our last week on our Big Adventure, split evenly between Athens and Istanbul. Oh, this is going to be good!
Needopedia 