A Greek Epic - Booze, Food, Fashion & A Road Trip

Meet George, our red Panda. There were loads of rental companies to chose from but when we spotted George Michael Car Rentals it just had to be done.

If we'd had more time we could have caught a bus to Kérkyra and jumped on one of the many long distance buses which connect to the island's interior but, as we only had a week, hiring a car for the day was the best option and at 40€, a lot cheaper than taking a taxi. Jon just had to keep muttering under his breath..... drive to the right, drive to the right.

Armed with a 1990s guidebook and a free road map from George Michael, we set off with a vague plan of touring the mountainous Northern region and checking out some of Corfu's well known tourist destinations to see how they compared to Paleokastrítsa.

Reaching the interior involved negotiating the perilously steep Trompeta Pass, which would have been bad enough in normal circumstances but driving on the wrong side of the road in front of a open truck full of uncaged live chickens hopping around and sporadically making a bid for freedom? Memorable to say the least!

At the first chance we got, we rewarded ourselves with an iced coffee and what a spot we chose, a hip cliff top bar called Seventh Heaven offering a spectacular view over Logas beach, known for its crumbling sandstone cliffs and clear turquoise waters. 

 Refreshed and ready for more we continued our climb through the mountains, stopping at the pretty rural village of Magoulades, virtually untouched by time. 

The strangest thing about this place is that there's a massive German torpedo slap bang in the centre of the village square. How and why is a mystery but as the inscription reads 1964 it has nothing to do with the war.

In fact I can't find anything out about the village at all but did discover an amazing village house for sale (HERE)..... if ever I needed an incentive to get the parental home sold! 

We passed through Sidari with its all you can eat Chinese buffets, Indian curry houses, Irish Pubs, sports bars, John Smiths Bitter and copies of The Sun on sale and, missing a turn somewhere along the way, ended up in Rhoda on the seafront where we dodged mobility scooters, read signs advertising bingo nights, pool and darts and All Day English Breakfasts. Our guidebook recommended the "unspoilt, Corfiot village" of Agios Stefanos for lunch but in the years since publication the village had developed into a fully fledged tourist resort and a Sunday Roast Dinner at the Beer O'Clock Pub failed to appeal (I don't eat roast dinners at home). Back to the map.

We continued to Kassiopi and had lunch in Taverna Levanda, a pretty whitewashed restaurant on the way to the harbour, surrounded by planters filled with flowers in all shades of purple. Now I'm home I've Googled it and discovered it's one of the top rated restaurants in Kassiopi (one thing I don't do on holiday is go near the internet).

Jon had the wild rocket, cherry tomato and Parmesan salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar and, as Parmesan isn't vegetarian, I stuck to a Greek salad. They came with a basket of bread, lavender butter and freshly made tapenade (olive pate). 

Kassiopi is renowned as a hip and happening party town and although we saw posters for UV & foam parties and Jägerbomb promos, on a sunny afternoon in mid-June it was a pretty place to wander (presumably the clubbers were still in bed).

We admired the remains of the Byzantine fort overlooking the town.

And stood in the footsteps of Pliny, Cicero and the Emperor Nero, all of whom are said to have sailed from Kassiopi harbour

We found a cat, basking languidly in the shade of the village's Byzantine church which had closed for the afternoon. 

We continued on to Kalami, best known as the home of Laurence Durrell's White House, made famous in Prospero's Cell.

The White House is home to an upmarket taverna and hotel and a beautiful spot although, as expected, heaving with tourists with crazy busy traffic throughout the village.

(Above) The White House in Lawrence Durrell's time and (below) on the day we visited.

We made our way back via The Golden Mile, aka the neighbouring resorts of Ipsos & Dassia, giggling at the fact that our clothes were older than the hoards of British teens who flock there.

Having explored a large part of Corfu we decided we'd made the right choice by staying at Paleokastrítsa. 

So how did we fare with the 15 kg luggage allowance? Just fine. I wore all five of my dresses (one of which I travelled in), my lace shawl (to visit the monastery) and both bikinis, my massive straw hat (not pictured), both pairs of knickers (flesh coloured and god ugly but pretty necessary under a see thru' frock), my Scandi clogs (which I wore to fly in thus saving on our baggage allowance), my silver Birkis, some metallic rubber flip flops (essential on those Greek pebble beaches) and all of my jewellery. 

From left: Uninhibited gingham maxi, Dollyrockers maxi, Sears, New York maxi (all vintage)

Printed frill top bikini (which, funnily enough, I'd admired on a website weeks earlier only to find it for £2 in a charity shop a few days before we left), an Elizabeth of Australia cotton halterneck maxi, a canary yellow string bikini and my Grecian-style rainbow stripe beach dress.

Jon wore both pairs of shorts & swim shorts (although there's only photographic evidence him wearing one pair), all five shirts and travelled in his skinnies and tee shirt.

From left: Tsunami print camo shorts (charity shop), Diesel embroidered shirt (from a car boot sale at least 15 years ago), tropical print swim shorts, pink tailored shorts and a hand loom Granddad shirt  he bought in India back in January.

A Zara cotton granddad shirt and Gabicci silk shirt (both charity shop buys) and a block printed cotton granddad shirt (bought in India). He wore both pairs of Birkenstocks (one with toe posts and the other without, to lessen the chances of blisters) and travelled in his trusty desert boots.

Other than food and drink we bought nothing (I'm sure there was stuff to buy but we tend to avoid shopping as we do so much of it for a living), we used up most of the toiletries and sun cream we packed and came home with a bag weighing in at less than 10 kg.

Food! I've already written about our self catered breakfasts and picnic lunches. We had lunch out twice during the trip and in both cases it was salad (and beer!) In the evening we ate at around 9.30 pm, like the locals. Greek tavernas aren't big on vegetarian main courses which was no bother as we ordered a few hors d'oeuvres and shared them, although I have to give a shout out to Gran Aladino who, on discovering I was vegetarian, insisted on making me a whopping plate of vegan gyros with chips, pitta bread, salad and hummus whilst Jon tucked into lamb kleftiko (he ate lamb gyros another night whilst I had a grilled veg starter so big I struggled to finish it). Over the week we dined on roasted aubergines, stuffed tomatoes and peppers, white beans gigantes, aubergine salad, cheese salad, mushroom sagnaki, courgette fritters and oven baked feta. Our award for best meal of the trip went to Flavor (photo below) whose griddled wild mushrooms in balsamic vinegar and croquettes made from white Kefalotyri cheese served on a courgette, broccoli and carrot fritata might possibly be the best Greek food I've ever eaten. No wonder it's is consistently voted the top restaurant in Paleokastrítsa.

Our favourite place to eat and conveniently located in an olive grove a short walk from our apartment.

Booze? Hell, yes! We bought a litre of Albatross white rum (made in Greece & not bad at all) from the supermarket on arrival (13€ ) along with a big bottle of light cola. We usually called in to the supermarket on the way from the beach and bought whatever beer was on the 1€ shelf which we drank on the balcony after a shower. With dinner we had beer (always Mythos) and the same in bars. We tried the local kumquat liquor - you'll see them growing everywhere in Corfu - mixed with Metaxa which wasn't as horrible as we thought it was going to be. The supermarket also sold locally made red, rose and white chilled wine on draught (4.50€ a litre, bring your own bottle) which we never got round to trying, after all, its good to have a reason to go back. 

Right, I've got a festival to pack for, a million blog posts to catch up on (I had an internet free weekend) and a team of workmen arriving in less than an hour. See you soon!

Linking to Patti and the gang for Visible Monday.