We left the apartment around 10. Here’s the view from our balcony.
The weather forecast said we might have a couple of showers and a thunderstorm, but they decided not to materialize today.
Our goal was to explore the northern part of the island, so off we went. As we headed out our first impressions were somewhat bleak. Traveling on the main road we saw dumpsters overflowing with trash and closed storefronts dotting the towns we passed through. Everything seemed to be in a general state of disrepair and there was no real sense of an underlying Greek culture. Fortunately we decided to turn off the main road and explore the back roads leading to the coastline. What we found was just what we were looking for, picturesque villages, quaint harbors and inviting tavernas. And a lot of German and British tourists, but that’s beside the point. Below is a rough idea of our route.
We stopped at a couple of places to explore and take pictures. By the time we got to Agios Stefanos we were getting hungry so we found a wonderful terrace restaurant.
We basked in the sun while eating a delicious Greek lunch. We talked to a British couple sitting next to us who had driven from Cambridge to Corfu and are spending the summer in a rented villa.
We continued our journey and, at the British couple’s suggestion, stopped in Kassiopi which was a very cute town. Rick had a coffee and I looked in the stores.
Next stop was Sidari which turned out to be very honky tonk. We didn’t even stop.
We went up and over the mountains in the center of the island to get to Paleokastritsa which had a very pretty and interesting coastline. The switchbacks made us feel like we were back in Switzerland. While we were parking the car a flock of goats were herded through the parking lot.
Also in Paleokastritsa we saw a car with an US presidential emblem on it and a picture of Donald Trump in the window. Just can’t get away from him.
We had a little rain while driving and several times we saw very dark clouds, but generally it turned out to be a very nice day. It was about 65F, so not quite shorts weather, but a lot better than the weather we saw in Switzerland.
We came back to the apartment and had a very light dinner. Here are pictures from our day.
