Freya & Us

We loved Corfu Town with its Venetian forts and architecture. It's lovely to wander the narrow streets and shops, lots are full of tourist rubbish but also lots of interesting ones, and of course, lots of bars and restaurants. To get into town we had to walk through the fort which is home to the music school and so we had music from above whilst on the boat - a great place to be - which is why we ended up staying for a week!

We went on a couple of bus trips to explore the island. The first was to Pelekas which is up in the hills with wonderful views from The Kaiser's Throne where Kaiser Wilhelm rode his horse for 360 degree views of the island. The other was south along the coast to Benitses which was a bit resorty but we had a lovely lunch in a taverna on the beach. In the evening we met up with Robin and Beccs from Miss Chips for another boozey evening in a really nice bar just off the tourist track and ridiculously cheap.

Lots of boaty chores were catching up with us and so we felt very smug after a very productive day before we attended out first Cruising Association dinner in Gouvia- we probably won't go again and we really couldn't understand the attraction of the very expensive marina! We had intended to move on the next day but it was a bit grey and so we thought another day in Corfu would be more fun!

We did manage to escape the next day and motored across to Mourtos on the mainland to spend the night in a stunning anchorage protected by a small island. After another short motor we reached Gaios on Paxos which is a really pretty town on a bay with a small island in the middle creating a channel all around.

The next day we totally fell in love with Paxos. We took a bus to Lakka and walked back to Gaios. For such a small island we managed to a walk a very long way following dirt tracks and mule trails through hills and olive groves. There were a lot of "look at the colour of that sea" comments (from Lorraine). It's absolutely beautiful!

The following day we'd planned to go for another walk but best laid plans etc! We had an early morning visit from the port authorities asking for money to moor. In previous years we knew there was a charge there in July and August but apparently high season has come early this year! As what she charged was more than the marina in Corfu with all its facilities and this was just a quay to tie to we thought this a bit unfair and decided to move on and so we've just arrived back in Preveza after a very mixed sail and tied up on the quay. The high point of the passage was when we were joined by a Hoopoe for a while. It flew alongside for a bit, then landed and rested on our companion way for a minute or two before flying off and staying alongside for a few minutes more.

The link to our map seems to be stopping people leaving comments on the blog, so I've removed it from these posts for now. I will be keeping it up to date so simply go to one of the special map only posts and click the link there to see it