CORFU

Two weeks ago yesterday we went to the island of Corfu, Greece during our Mediterranean cruise. There were several excursions of the island that we could take, but we chose to do the 4X4 tour.  27 MANUAL gear, Suzuki Jimmy's with 54 people headed out in tandem from the port.
Before we start our tour, I should point out that Corfu is a very green, lush, mountainous island situated on the Ionian Sea. Start your engines.....

We drove along the main coastal road for a short time then turned onto a small village road. Eventually we started to climb the moutain road which at times was a single lane. It twisted and turned at hairpin angles as we climbed up and up, passing several traditional, and extremely picturesque Corfu villages. It should be noted that we travelled on the EDGE of the mountain and often there were no guard rails. I was so taken with the views that I barely noticed, however Mike, my husband and talented chauffeur was fairly quiet during the trek up the mountain....he was concentrating and his right hand and foot got plenty of exercise with the gear shifting. There was a scout 'Jimmy' heading the pack and the driver would report to the lead car via walkie talkie if there was traffic approaching from the opposite direction. All 27 of our group of Jimmys would stop in tandem, perched on the mountain road at various hairpin turns and wait for the oncoming traffic to pass. 

As you can see, this village road is extremely narrow. These are the original roads built several centuries ago, when the horse and cart was the only mode of transprotation. Several villagers would wave and clap as we drove by.

I took a number of pictures while climbing the mountain, but each spectacular view would disappear  no sooner than I had it in focus. The above pictures are all taken from a moving car.

We had a pit stop in a beautiful village near the top of the mountain road. We were treated to a plate of homemade meatballs, homemade sausage, fresh tomatoes, olives and cucumbers, fresh homemade bread all washed down with homemade wine and ouzo. It was absolutely scrumptious. It was 10:30 in the morning.

The following photos were taken in this same village. We had a half hour to walk around before we headed back to the Jimmy's. Not a bad idea as some of us had to walk off the homemade wine and ouzo.

I could have taken hundreds of photos of this quaint Corfu traditional village. There are several cultural influences in Corfu. The Romans, Byzantines, French, Turks, Venetians and English have all played major roles in Corfu's colourful history....which could also explain the diversity of the the architucture and building materials seen during our journey.

Helllooo!! how spectacular are the colours of the Ionian Sea?

And now we are back in the hustle and bustle of the port...Corfu Town, the capital of Corfu ...so very different than the unique moutain villages.

I so enjoyed our day in Corfu. Thank you for joining me. Please leave the keys in the ignition....