On our penultimate day in Corfu, we were up with the sparrows.
On a mission to make the most of a day where our Mum really just wanted to relax by the pool after we made her walk for days, my brother and I booked ourselves onto a boat tour that would take us over to the Greek mainland – taking in the coastal beauties Sivota and Parga and ending up at the famed paradisiacal Blue Lagoon.
So, under a dreamy peach sky at an hour that shouldn’t exist with not even the cicadas for company, we were ready and waiting outside the Nikos supermarket for the coach to pick us up and take us down to the port at Old Town where we could join the boat.
But it was not to be. We waited and waited, then we waited some more, for a coach that never came. I eventually managed to get hold of the tour company who looked into it and realised we accidentally hadn’t been booked onto the trip from their end. She was so apologetic and offered us a full refund and said she could put us on another tour that was leaving later that morning, complimentary.
I took a little convincing (needed coffee) but we decided to go for it! So we headed down to town for a spot of breakfast as we waited for their shop to open at 9am to arrange everything. Over a full English and several coffees, we watched the little town slowly come to life as the morning ambled on.
Once everything was sorted, we still had some time to kill before our boat docked, so we went for a little wander around Kassiopi. I don’t have a picture but we became hypnotised by an octopus in the harbour. We must have spent a good 15 minutes watching it crawling happily along the rocks on the seabed before wafting away somewhere out of sight. I had never seen one in the wild before, they’re really quite enchanting!
After enjoying the prettiest morning, we made our way to the boat, boarding and finding seating in a socially distanced manner as best we could. We went for the top deck as it was open air, which seemed safer and also views! We had to keep our face masks on until the boat was out at sea, then off we roared down the east coast.
First stop, Kalami.
I couldn’t resist a dip here. I felt like a mermaid dipping in and out of the blue.
We made several brief stops throughout the day at spots like this one so we could fling ourselves into the turquoise waters, over and over again, under the blazing sun.
The water was to die for.
Next stop was Nisaki Beach, one of the loveliest of the whole holiday.
Once we’d shored up, we couldn’t get into the water quick enough.
This was right after I’d rescued a wasp that was floating on the surface of the water. I mounted it onto a rock and carried back to land, he dried off in the sun and flew off quite happily. If only I could spend the rest of my days like this, saving wildlife then basking in the surf like a clam / sphinx.
We had a spot of lunch at the Yiannis Taverna on the beachfront, where I spent so much time being terrorised by wasps that the couple behind me actually congratulated me when I finished my fish! If you’ve seen the Michael McIntyre sketch, I’m definitely a ‘total panicker’. Never a dull moment!
It was so unbelievably beautiful I could have spent the entire day there, but we were to be heading back home, with one final stop along the way.
A small, deserted island with a little bay for the boat to nestle into – strong Castaway vibes and a joy to swim in.
After the most gorgeous day, we arrived back in Kassiopi, fetched Mum from the shade of the olive tree where we had left her what felt like a week ago, and headed once again to Casiopia Greek Taverna. We gorged ourselves on a mind-blowing starter – a bowl almost overflowing with shrimp saganaki, which none of us wanted to end.
For my main I had a king prawn linguine.
Followed by another generous, complimentary helping of yiya’s orange pie for dessert, which we all found room for.
It wasn’t the day we had had our hearts set on when we left the room at 6.20am, but it really was just the most perfect example of a disappointment working out for the best, which, in my experience, they always do.
Thanks for reading! x
