Relax, and Party
Our trip from Zagreb to Corfu involved a slight detour to a third country, Hungary. After a seven-hour train ride to Budapest, we had a few hours to figure out how to get to the airport. Fortunately a train goes there from the station downtown, unfortunately it leaves from the other train station. So, we had to get some cash, figure out the trolley system to get across town, and get on another train. We got to the airport right before they closed the check-in counter, and got through security just in time to find out that the plane was delayed by an hour. Once in Greece, it was midnight and we thought the only option was an expensive cab ride across the island, but arrived at the hostel to learn that someone had been waiting at the airport to give us a free ride. What a long day.
At least there was some good news waiting for us there, a toga party was in progress. It seemed like a repeat of our first night of this trip, back in Ushuaia. This time we were a bit late to suit-up, but we did join the group and had a couple jugs of wine before finally going to bed. As it turned out, this was the common theme for our time on Corfu. We slept in every day, relaxed on the beach, had a few more late nights, and a few more jugs of wine. Our hotel had a great view of the Ionian Sea, and it was just a few flights of stairs down to a nice beach. The water was calm and the sunsets were colorful. We even found some volcanic mud in one of the rocky pools at the beach.
If swimming in the sea wasn’t good enough, the island also has a water park. We spent an afternoon at Aqualand with our new toga friends, wearing swimsuits this time. It wasn’t a huge place, but we had fun on all the slides and wave pool.
In addition to all the sitting around, we decided to get out and see a bit of the island and rented a scooter for a day. It struggled a little getting up the hills, and had a broken stand so we had to lean it against a tree to park, but it got us around and survived the day. We visited the main city on the island, Corfu Town, and enjoyed some good coffee and Greek food. Our trusty scooter also carried us past some other great views of the water, some vineyards, olive trees, and an old church built on the beach. It was nice to drive through the country side and enjoy the nice weather. We made it back to the hotel just before dark and in time for the home-cooked dinner the hostel owners provided everyday.
When the party was finally over, we had to scrape ourselves out of bed at 7am to catch the ferry to Albania.