Another Greek Epic - Paleokastrítsa, Corfu

Paleokastrítsa on the island of Corfu, is there a more beautiful place on earth?

One of the first to fall for its charms was Sir Frederick Adam, the British High Commissioner to the Ionian islands in the early 19th century. Paleokastrítsa's appeal lay in her deep wooded slopes, blue sea and bathing beaches but the problem was the relative inaccessibility so Sir Frederick had a road built to the village, with the ostensible purpose of erecting a military convalescent home there. It was never built but Sir Frederick found it a lot easier to take his regular picnics in Paleokastrítsa.

The artist, Edward Lear (1812 -1888) certainly thought so and immortalised it in his watercolours HERE.

In Prospero's Cell (1945), Lawrence Durrell described Paleokastrítsa as having the most beautiful view in the whole of the Mediterranean and we think so too, having just returned from our fourth visit.

The rock on the right of the photo above is said by the locals to be the petrified ship of Odysseus.

Anyway, first things first. After dabbling with a package holiday earlier this year, this time we were back in our comfort zone, travelling independently, flying with Ryanair and using Booking.com for our accommodation. Three days after getting home from Glastonbury we walked to Walsall station and caught the express train to Birmingham International. We'd planned to meet our friends Claire and Gareth who were flying to Prague later that day, but they'd got caught up in roadworks so it was beers for two in 'Spoons in the departure lounge. Our three and a half hour flight arrived on time and the driver of the taxi we'd booked before leaving the UK was waiting when we landed (the flight arrived too late for us to catch the bus). Like many young Greeks, Demetri was a metalhead and, after asking first, played us a medley of his favourite bands, including Greek black metal band, Rotting Christ. Our drive up to Paleokastritsa must have looked like a scene from Wayne's World, with us tearing through the inky black night headbanging to Metalica. 

Twenty minutes later and we'd arrived at what was to be our home for the next fortnight, the strawberry pink Elena. Travelling with just hand luggage, it took less than five minutes to unpack and, after the madness of Glasto, we spent our first evening quietly drinking wine on the balcony, listening to the mechanical hoot of the Scops owls whilst pine martens cavorted below us. 

Our room was on the first floor....

....And this was the view from our bed.

Oh yes, talk about a surprise, when I booked Elena I had no idea it had a pool. Normally we'd steer clear of swimming pools but this was fresh water, cleaned daily by owner Demetrius and - the very best bit - none of the other guests used it! Although we swam in the sea every day, an evening swim before heading out for the evening was absolute bliss.

We'd breakfast on locally grown fruit, juicy pears, sweet black grapes, nectarines and apricots so ripe we could tear them apart with our fingers accompanied with thick Greek yoghurt and forest honey collected from hives located on the mountain slopes behind us. 

Of course made friends with lots of cats. This is Ariadne who took a liking to Jon's shorts.

We spent most of our time doing what we do best, basking in the sunshine and cooling down by jumping off rocks into the crystal clear waters of the Ionian. 

When we weren't baking ourselves one of Paleokastrítsa's many secluded beaches you'd find us in Acapulco.

To describe it as snack bar does it no justice at all. 

I loved jumping off the rocks and swimming to Liapades, the beach on the left of the photo above. 4 km by road, it's less than a 20 minute swim away. If anyone had suggested I'd do that a couple of years ago I'd have called them mad. I'm not sure where my lifelong fear of swimming in deep water went, I became a mermaid after reaching 55!

Being up in the mountainous northwest of the island, Paleokastrítsa sees some incredibly dramatic skies but luckily these ominous clouds only hung around for half a day.

Nestled on the top of the cliff, the Oceanis was once a thriving hotel boasting commanding views of the Ionian sea. This once grand hotel used to be busy all year round as holiday makers headed out for the sunshine in Corfu, but around 15 years ago during the Greek recession, the hotel closed its doors for the last time. Taking advantage of a gap in the fence we had a sneaky peek around.

Probably not everyone's idea of sightseeing but we can't resist a derelict building.

We visited Paleokastrítsa's Corfu Aquarium for the first time. Opening in 2019, the 6 euro admission fee includes a guided tour and use of the sunbeds on the main beach but the highlight of my trip was being allowed to cuddle a python. 

We were mesmerised by this beautiful octopus, how anyone can eat one is beyond me.

The map said that the aquarium was a 35 minute walk from Elena but us being us, after exploring Oceanis and stopping to chat to every cat we encountered and snap a billion photos, that half hour walk took more than an hour!

Paleokastrítsa nights are low key, after Glastonbury it's just the way we like them. With the evening temperature rarely dipping below 30°C it was all about staying hydrated and being mesmerised by the sunsets.

Favourite hang-outs included Elia Taverna, owned by the same family as Acapulco and where we are greeted like old friends.

Spiros Taverna, where it turned out we'd missed out on dining alongside Ralph Fiennes by a week (HERE). Amazingly Jon resisted the meat and shared the amazing vegetarian mezzes instead. I'm not sure what Ralph ate!

Cactus, where George has a mind boggling collection of vinyl. The soundtrack is Northern Soul and Rare Groove with plenty of 1970s disco & British indie thrown into the mix, the Greeks love their music! They do a fabulous vegetarian gyro. 

Many an evening we'll pop in for a sunset drink and end up staying all night. The music and the vibe is just magical plus you get to cuddle a cat.

Other than a rum and coke at home the thought of cocktails leave me cold - give me an ice cold pint of lager or a glass of rustic red any day of the week - but this year I discovered The Corfiot made with the local kumquat liqueur and deliciously sharp and thirst quenching...Yammas! And before you moan about plastic waste - that's a paper straw.

The Paleo Disco shut down twenty years ago!

La Grotta, the coolest spot on the island since 1960....

 Paleokastrítsa is halfway up a mountain so access to the sea involves negotiating lots of steps....it's not the place for anyone with mobility issues, pushchairs or prams and high heels are a definite no-no.

There's 183 steps from the La Grotta bar back up to the road. Do excuse Jon's language, you can't take him anywhere.

The food of the gods! No ultra processed food served here, everything's local, seasonal and f*cking delicious. 

As I mentioned, we decided to forego the checked baggage, opting for Ryanair's new Priority & Two Cabin Bags option : A small personal bag (40x20x25cm), which must fit under the seat in front plus a 10kg bag (55x40x20cm) to be taken onboard. I wore a cotton dress, straw hat, a pair of knickers & my flatform walking sandals to travel in and packed four other cotton/linen dresses, a pair of cotton shorts, an Indian cotton shirt, a cotton tunic, a scarf, two bikinis, a cross body bag & an embroidered clutch, leather gladiator sandals and some pool slides. We kept toiletries to an absolute minimum - four bottles of once-a-day sun protection decanted into six 100ml bottles and shared between us, a bar of soap, eye make-up remover wipes, disposable razor, toothbrushes and paste, a Lush shampoo & conditioner bar. I packed mascara, an eyeliner pencil, tweezers, creme blush, a single eyeshadow, one lipstick, magnifying mirror and had a gel manicure so I didn't have to fuss around with painting my nails. Along with my Ereader, mobile phone, three pairs of earrings, six bangles, two necklaces and rings my bag weighed in at 6kg.

Saffron linen maxi by Beaumont Organic (£3, clearance charity shop, 2022) with Moroccan-made leather clutch bag (British Heart Foundation, 2016)

 

1970s House of Lavinia maxi dress (bought from the Salvation Army for 75p in 2010)

Star Mela embroidered cotton maxi (£5 online bargain!) with leather comfort sole gladiators (bought last year)

Pink City Prints block printed cotton "Tango" maxi (cheeky sale buy, last seen in Halkidiki back in May) worn with a woven straw bag (handmade in Crete, bought from Banardos in 2021)

Dilli Grey "Yasmin" block printed sundress (bought last year and worn in Rhodes) 

Star Mela embroidered blouse (£2, charity shop find) worn with Devotion Twins woven Greek cotton shorts (Athenian designer label which retails at £90, second hand price - £9!) worn with my Teva Universal Midforms - waterproof, vegan, recycled fabric, lightweight and adjustable - the best travel sandals ever!

Star Mela embroidered cotton tunic (£5, eBay) 

Lord Jon's travel bag also weighed in at 6kg. He travelled in a long sleeved Breton tee-shirt, his denim flat cap, Veja trainers & a pair of shorts and packed five short sleeved & two long sleeved linen/cotton/rayon shirts, two more pairs of cotton shorts, two pairs of swim shorts, his Teva sandals and pool slides. As well as half the decanted sun protection he took a razor, blades, some painkillers just in case his knees played up (they didn't!), his phone, a straw trilby, Ereader, waterproof camera and a MP3 player with headphones and the rucksack given away free with The Guardian at this year's Glastonbury.

We bought Greek cotton hammam towels and a parasol from the village mini market on our first day, took them to the beach every day and left them in our apartment when we left. 

With the exception of his denim flat cap, Tevas and the crossbody leather bag, bought in Rhodes in 2021, all Lord Jon's wardrobe was charity shopped.

Believe it or not we eventually managed to tear ourselves away from this view to explore a little further afield. Stay tuned for where we visited next. I'll try and squeeze everything in before we head off to our next festival - six days and counting!

PS Thanks for your comments on my Glastonbury post. I'm sorry I've not had time to answer you all individually.