Corfu

Monday 26^th August

The rush in the morning is to get to breakfast and get all the food before 10am, as that’s when the main breakfast is cleared away. After that there are just pastries outside. While getting my coffee I discovered why I can rarely find milk to go in it, and have to get little sachets instead. Once again the machine was empty of warm milk, but there were a couple of jugs of it there. By the time the woman in front of me filled up 2 mugs with warm milk (for cafe latte?) there was not much left to dribble into my coffee. A consequence of too many Italians on board ship!

We met up together at 11am to set out. In typical involved European style we first caught a port authority shuttle bus to the edge of the port. Next we bought a ticket for the MSC shuttle bus to the centre of Kerkyra (having arrived at the upstairs desk 5 minutes too late to get one). This involved slow filling in of forms by the man at the desk. I think if he’d had 3 pens and we’d filled it in ourselves, the process would have been speeded up!

The shuttle bus dropped us outside the old fort so we wandered inside and took photos. None of us felt like climbing to the top! There was lots to see at the base of the fort.

We sat and cooled down with a cup of coffee at the Liston, which is supposed to be THE place to have a drink in Kerkyra.

Next, of course, we wandered the shops. We saw some beautiful gold jewellery, and even some of the cheap jewellery was in good taste. The streets of Kerkyra are narrow and filled with shops and restaurants and many little photogenic spots.

A palace by the Esplanade is now a Museum of Asian Art. We did not go inside, but enjoyed the architecture and the way it framed the views.

We got back to the ship at 4pm, in time for afternoon tea and a rest before dinner. It was the Italian night, so at dessert time we had the Tiramisu Parade, with waiters parading the dessert to the sound of ‘Funiculi Funicula’ and the entertainment staff organising a conga line through the restaurant while the diners waved their red, green or white napkins.