After a few hours, we donned our bathing suits and flip flops and headed down to the beach for a sea side walk along the coast and brief tanning session to the soundtrack of the waves. There, we watched the beautiful sunset before heading back up to the hostel for dinner time (our hostel included not only breakfast, but a 3 course Greek dinner every night). After eating, we returned to our room and decided to begin a book Corinne had been carting around since the beginning of our trip. Camille read aloud for almost an hour before we finally drifted off to sleep.
In the morning, we rose for breakfast before heading out to rent ATVs for the day. We got a quick lesson on how to use the vehicles and soon we were on our way, free to do as we pleased with a basic map of the island and a few recommendations on things to see.
Our first stop was a small village town. We rode through the weaving streets, wind in our hair, up to the mountaintop looking over the entire island.
From there, we descended to the nearby beach where we couldn’t help ourselves and went in for a swim. Afterwards, we laid in the sun until dry enough to continue our ATV journey.
Another beach stop took place before heading across the island to the main city of Corfu Town. It was a fun experience to drive on the main highway on an ATV (a legal street vehicle in Greece, apparently). We arrived in Corfu Town and toured the city’s different neighborhoods before stopping for a Greek lunch at a marina side restaurant. Afterwards, we stopped by the ruins of an ancient castle before heading back across the island to another beach.
The sun was setting and it was growing cold on our ATVs with only a light sweater. We planned the quickest route back to the Pink Palace and began our return which took longer than expected. Trying our best to ignore the cold wind and our numbing fingers, we finally arrived back and quickly ran up to our rooms, crawled into bed and did our best to get warm.
After some story time, we descended for dinner, another 3 course meal, and conversed with some of the more mature visitors at the hostel (rather than the spring break like enthusiasts whose sole goal was to get drunk). We finished the meal with discussions on plans to celebrate Halloween. The youngens were sporting some ridiculous outfits and had began the party so we went upstairs to change into our makeshift costumes and join the festivities. However, by the time we made it to the party, the others were too drunk with alcohol and flirtatious behavior to notice our presence. Being tired from our long day of ATVing, we had a drink or two then returned upstairs for a much needed night of sleep.
In the morning, we woke up early to shower and pack before check-out time. We stored our luggage and spent the day lounging around on the beach and such. We came across a praying mantis and spent a few moments figuring out how to reach the pomegranate tree across the way (we never came up with a plan that worked) before it was time for our bus into town.
The local bus, however, had been suspended for the season and we, along with some other girls from the hostel, had to make the hike back up to the Pink Palace with our luggage and pay the 5euro fee for them to drive us in. We had elected to take the night bus to Athens and boarded the full greyhound like vehicle and began our nine hour drive.
We learned two things on this drive: 1, Greeks do not believe in the “silent” function on their phones even if you are on a crowded bus at 3 am. In fact, the man behind us had not one, but two phones and was talking on one and texting with the other continuously. 2, a 20 minute stop for a smoke break is necessary every hour or so even if it means making the 415 kilometer drive into a 9 hour excursion. Anyway, we made it to Athens after a sleepless night.
I have totally been there with pomegranate trees in foreign countries; big beautious fruits dangling just out of reach wih no possible way of reaching them..... :(
ReplyDelete