The whole reason for my travels this time have been to get to Greece and specifically the islands. I had done My Family and Other Animals for O level and as a result had got into Gerald Durrell in a big way reading many more of his books.
So when I arrived by ferry onto Corfu it was one thing ticked off my bucket list. I tried to find somewhere reasonably priced but it seems impossible in this part of the world in August – peak season. I settled on a rather nasty place in Liapades which still cost me £50 a night.
In order to get around the island, a motorbike was essential so the next day I got up early and got hands on a 125cc scooter for 35 Euros a day and set off north. Driving up into the mountains afforded the best views of the island and on top of the escarpment you can see the coast on both sides of the island as well as the mainland.
The bike performed better on the back roads so I decided to programme in a rural route to my phone which was mounted on the steering wheel. This took me through olive groves and through charming sleepy hill-top villages. I stopped I one olive grove and listened to the birds and bees around me and though maybe Gerald Durrell had been here before me looking for beetles or birds nests.
I continued north on my Corfu odyssey to Sidari and Rhoda – both very touristy – and then down the east coast towards Corfu town. Happily this route took me past the place where the Durrells used to live and so I took my bike downhill to Kilami Bay.
Here I found many tourists and yachts including super yachts bobbing on the water. The White House is now a restaurant and I didn’t visit but I sat in the shade and read my book and tried to imagine what it would have been like in the 1920’s when there were almost nobody else here but the Durrells and the villagers. It’s a shame but I guess inevitable that if you write a book set in a little-known bay on a small Greece island and it becomes globally popular, then that paradise is lost.
The second day I decided to go into Corfu historic old town. This was a mistake as the traffic was bad and I was a little unsteady on the bike. I got shouted by two Greek men – the first I’m not sure why but the second because I went the wrong way up a one-way street. I only realised this afterwards though because someone had stuck advertising stickers across the no-entry sign. Hardly my fault!
Corfu old town was not anything special – perhaps it was because I had come from Kotor and Sarajevo and Dubrovnik – but it is only worth a visit if you want to waste your money on the tourist tat available for purchase at every turn. I know it’s the peak season and the Greeks have been missing tourists because of the pandemic, but there is a underlying feeling that they don’t care who you are just how much money you’ve got. There’s not much smiling going on here.
I escaped up into the mountains and took narrow lanes and even rough tracks. When you get away from the coast, Corfu is charming and the pace of life slow and villages full of old men sitting under trees or at cafes chatting to each other.
It’s a much better option to stay in the interior for a holiday but a bike or car is a must or you will be stuck with no public transport except from the major towns.
Surprising things about Corfu:
- The mountainous in the centre are big.
- It’s very close to the mainland
- The beaches are pebbles not sand.
- People working in tourism seem care much about tourists – just their money.
I am happy that I have been to Corfu and achieved my long-held aim of getting to the Greek islands. It was extremely hot and sweaty and the locals were not as friendly as I expected but apart from that, it has fulfilled my expectations.
