This will be the year that we can claim we spent the 4th of July on a beach in Corfu! There was an early morning announcement on board, wishing all American passengers a Happy 4th of July, and the cooks had made huge sheet cakes decorated like the American flag.
The ship didn’t arrive in port at Corfu until 12:30pm, so we were able to have a much-needed lazy morning. When we disembarked, we picked up four MSC beach towels and headed to the taxi line. We had to wait a few minutes, and when a taxi arrived, several people converged on the driver. I had written down the name of the beach we wanted to go to (Paleokastritsa) because I couldn’t pronounce the Greek word. While the Russians were getting all worked up about where they wanted to go, I just showed the driver the paper and he said, “Ah, yes, get in the car. I can take you there!” The driver, Nicholas, had lived in Greece for 33 years, but grew up in Leeds, England. (A strong Yorkshire accent with an equally strong Greek inflection is just about the weirdest accent I’ve ever heard!). It was great to have a fluent English speaker though.
We spent about an hour and a half at Paleokastritsa Bay. The water was crystal clear but very cold. The girls loved soaking up the sun and relaxing on the beach; none of us ventured very far into the water. Nicholas met us again and drove us to old Corfu Town. We wandered the streets there for an hour or so. It was very quaint, with narrow, cobbled-stone, pedestrian-only roads, lined with shops, and an old fortress towering overhead.
By the time we arrived back at the ship, the girls and I knew that we were sunburned. I bought some burn ointment at the pharmacy on board. Hopefully that will help. We’ll have to stay covered up tomorrow.
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