Last week I told most of the story of our week in Corfu. This week we are going to get to the end.
So on the Friday evening, our amazing hosts had booked us a table at a local restaurant: Archontiko Restaurant and bar.
It was a drive away, so Cam couldn’t drink unfortunately, but it was worth it. The drive was a very twisty road up a steep hill and the restaurant was right at the top. We arrived when it was just about to get dark – and a little while before we were due, so we took seats in the bar area. The bar was beautiful, a stunning garden and lovely carved wooden tables and chair. Plants, trees and a pond tinkling quietly in the background – a delightful atmosphere.
After a while we were shown to our table where the view was amazing – being on top of the hill the views are stunning the whole way around the property, although the seating areas are mostly on one side of the hill – if you arrive earlier in the day, the views from the car park are just as spectacular.
Immediately over the balcony railing was an orchard of olive trees, carefully cultivated so as not to obscure the view.
The mountains behind me looked glorious as the sunset even with the smoky haze we’d had most of the week.
Beyond the orchard was another mountain range and – not showing clearly in the photo – we could see a bay and the ocean in the distance.
We were delighted with our table, a beautiful backdrop for what was to be a delicious meal – Cam was able to sample another local dish and I enjoyed another fish dish.
We ‘shared’ a bottle of wine (I drank most of it) and finished off with a tasty apple dessert (for me) and coffee (for Cam). The sun set as we ate and provided one last amazing view before our drive home in the dark.
Saturday
Despite a reasonably late night and heavy meal, we slept well but were up early to put our room to rights and pack. This was the day we completed the second half of our island tour.
We first navigated to Cape Drastis – a documented viewing point and apparently beautiful beach. Unfortunately, the guidebook had neglected to mention quite how far from the car park the beach was, so a with Wednesday, we weren’t able to make it to the view completely:
Having eaten down the fridge before the end of the week, our next stop was breakfast (basically brunch by the time we found a place with parking).
The Sunrise Taverna gave us another great view over our meal, and a cool drink in the shade from what was only a slightly cooler day than we had had all week.
After our meal, we drove up to Palea Perithia – and old village that was abandoned in the 1940s (or 50s) and only started its regeneration just before the turn of the century.
The drive to this spot was hairy to say the least, especially the last past, and there was evidence that we were in a location that had been hit by the wildfires – in fact we were told over lunch that the fires had reached the valley around the village but only one property was severely damaged.
That was when things started to go a little downhill: we had planned to stop in Kassiopi and look at the castle, but being changeover day – and a more touristy spot – the town was rammed, not only was there nowhere to park, we could barely navigate the streets with the number of pedestrians ambling around unobservant of any traffic. Opting to skip ahead we continued on to Corfu town, hoping to park there and eat – maybe see the Venetian Fortress before returning the car and heading tot the airport. We had received numerous updates during the say informing us that our flight would be delayed (by 1 hour initially), but to attend the airport at the normal time.
Arriving in Corfu town, it turned out that everything was closed for the day – shops in the town centre; we were unsure about how to access the fortress, so had found a parking spot and wandered as far as we could before having to head back to the car.
We were still early for the car drop off, so we drove a little further south and sat in the shade for a while – I drunk a cold beer that had been in a cool bag all day and miraculously stayed cold. Then at last it was time.
So we drove back to the car rental place, were dropped at the airport having been taxied through the first rain we had seen all week – great thundering rain accompanied by lightning and the works.
The airport was packed – at least for the time being, no flights were taking off. By this time the update was saying a 2 – 43 hour delay on the flight and we were there two hours ahead as advised, so it was looking like a 5 hour wait for boarding.
Once through airport security it was clear that we would not be able to manage – there was no seating and the non-Schengen area was full of Brits (and folk heading that way) sitting on the floor. Now while I am just about able to get up and down off the floor, there is no way Mr W could sit on the floor, or stand for 5 hours. So off he went to haggle his way back through and arrange a special assistance wheelchair (totally justified given his own requirements: had it been the normal wait time, we could have managed, this was not the case.
He returned with a wheelchair and an escort, who negotiated for us to go through passport control to the gate and wait with the handful of other people for whom Departures was not a viable option. We found comfortable seats in the bar and settled in – with at least five hours before the flight and three hour in the air, plus transfer time at Gatwick –
we felt there was long enough for Cam to enjoy one glass of something cold and fruity.
Accompanied by the only gluten free food in the airport (and a family bag of peanut M&Ms - not in shot) we enjoyed our drink(s for me) while we waited.
When we finally landed in the UK – despite the delay – there were no steps available, so it was a further 1 hour before we could disembark plus a 20 journey through customs and back to the car. So, having landed at 3.55am UK time, we arrived home at 6:45 am UK time (8:45am Corfu time) A full 27 hours after we had woken the previous morning – not counting the 20 - 40m naps we each had on the flight. And this was before the ‘glitch’ that caused chaos at Gatwick airport that weekend.
In spite of the rough ending to our week, we had a truly wonderful time and are very much looking forward to our next trip!