Adriatic Cruise – Corfu, Greece

For our last day on the Adriatic coast, we decided to take another excursion tour.  This was the last day of the last cruise for the season, and as we approached, our tour guide was saying goodbye to all the Thomson crew members that she knew.  This lady was awesome, a classic Greek mom.  She had a bossy attitude with a genuine kindness that she showed everywhere we went.  She was older than us, probably in her 60’s, and kept referring to the group as her children, even though the average age of the tourists were probably higher than hers.  “Come my children, follow me,” she would often say.  She was agitated by a competing French tour group and went off on their guide in French, so that the other tourists would know what she was saying about him.  Classic! 

She could talk about Greece and Corfu for hours and she knew incredible amounts of detail about various parts of the island.  She first took us to a monastery and showed us around the beautiful grounds.
Girls in traditional costumes greeted us at the monestary:

Inside the church, where plenty of incense was burning:

One of the many monastery cats strolling the patio:

Tile and vines at the monestary:

A monastery cat enjoying the veranda:


After the monestary, we went to one of the beaches nearby and she gave us some time to stroll leisurely along the beach coves and we even skipped some stones off the calm, clear water.
Paleokastritsa Beach:

Us on the beach:

Back on the bus had us driving through small towns and villages along the mountainous terrain Corfu.  One of the towns had its road blocked for a parade and monument dedication.  Turns out, we were there on a national holiday, “No Day,” commemorating the day that Greece said no to Italian dictator Mussolini, who wanted occupy them in order to gain a military advantage during the Second World War.  We got out of the bus and saw a band perform, dedications read, and wreaths laid at the monument in the town center.
Wreathes laid at the local war memorial in celebration of "No Day":

After we got back on the bus, we went to the highest point of Corfu and stopped at a café for some baklava -  delicious.  The view from the café was breathtaking.  On our return journey to Corfu Town, we stopped at a lookout and got a nice view of the some islands and the local airport where we would be taking off from later that night.  When we returned to the ship, we bummed around for a few more hours before boarding the bus to the airport for our flight back to England. 
View of Corfu island from Bella Vista:

Local islands:

They cruise was a success!  The service of Thomson employees was superb; they made our vacation amazing.  After arriving back at Luton Airport, we made the drive home and got to see our Cooper once again.  I think we’ll go on another cruise sometime before we leave England, maybe to the Fjords of Norway… we’ll see!

~Blake