June 27, 2004
I'm back!
I'm back from holiday, and from the insanely busy week that followed it.
The holiday was two weeks on the island of Corfu with my family. I wouldn't say it was a restful time - chasing after my two young nephews ensured that - but it was certainly good to be away from home and not thinking about work and other stuff 24/7.
We rented a villa for the two weeks, complete with swimming pool which, by the end of the holiday, was as warm as a bath. From the pool, we had this fantastic view across Corfu, and we could see Corfu Town in the distance. We also hired a couple of cars - one of which was a Fiat Scudo, which was great fun to drive (especially on the long and winding cliff-top roads). This meant we got to see quite a lot of the island. I have to say, I found Corfu to be one of the nicest places I've ever been.
In total I took well over 500 photos, so I won't post them all here, I'll just put some of my favourites up. The rest are all online, but I pay for bandwidth so email me for the URL.
During our first week, we went on a day trip on a boat that consisted of sailing north up the eastern coast of Corfu, until we found this secluded beach where we stopped to swim and have a barbecue. On the way back, we stopped at some caves where we hopped out of the boat straight into the sea for a swim.
In the second week, we took a longer boat trip to the islands of Paxos and Anti Paxos, where we again got to swim off the boat - here, in the most beautiful blue-green sea I've ever seen. The whole coast of Anti Paxos is riddled with caves and coves, with some stunning scenery.
One of the most surprising things about Corfu was how pleasant the capital (Corfu town) was. Clean, atmospheric, crammed full of winding streets, great little shops and with hundreds of birds swooping overhead. The view of the old fort from the top of the new fort was amazing, especially near sunset, with the Greek mainland looming in the background. I really loved it.
I was definitely glad I went for two weeks. The sunshine, food, swimming and atmosphere were just what I needed, and several people remarked when I got back that I was looking a lot healthier than when I went. I certainly feel it. Now I just need to make sure I stay that way. And I need to book my next holiday!