Corfu - the island of the peaks

To get to Southern Albania, as was my main goal, we took a TUI flight to Corfu - Kerkyra airport. The trip made much more sense than flying directly to Tirana North Albania, where Albania's only airport is situated. I would've been happy with just a 1-night stay, but Mom, who was a little apprehensive about Albania wanted to spend more time in the civilized Corfu LOL

Even though the weather was warm enough when we left Finland, the real tropical warmth was balmy to my heat-craving body. The arrivals - part of the airport was small, and we quickly got out to hunt for taxis to take us to the hotel. 

The airport of Kerkyra is close enough to the city, so we could've taken the bus, but as we weren't quite sure where the hotel was, taxi was a better choice in the middle of the night. The driver took us to the hotel for 17 EUR, which I think was rather hefty, but beggars can't be choosers. 

The taxi driver took us to the hotel, not the friendliest driver possible, but he knew the hotel. Hotel Europe was one of over 70 EUR a night, and I guess by Corfu standards, it was fair. At such a late booking time, I wasn't able to get a better price at any of the better hotels by the port.

But, if you want a hotel by the port (to catch the ferry to Albania), don't choose this hotel. It is very old and dated, and VERY noisy. However: credit to them; Mom had left some of her clothes in the closet when we left, and I had left my coat... They had held on to them, until I was able to pick them up on our way back to the airport, some 2 weeks later.

Oh, and an important reminder: DO NOT throw toilet paper down the toilet!! I guess it's one of the rules for visiting Greece. Well, the only other time I visited Greece was in Crete, so I don't know about the mainland. 

We were exhausted after the journey, and looked forward to a restful sleep, which didn't come. In my desperation, I had to resort to borrowing earplugs from Mom, that's how bad it was. The hotel didn't offer breakfast, but the older lady at the reception was kind enough to show us to the nearest cafe about a block away. Due to her kindness or the difficulty of speaking English... The cafe/bakery seemed to be mostly frequented by locals, as was the area of the hotel. Lucky for us, they spoke and understood good enough English so we could get our order in. For about 8 EUR we got a coffee, tea,  sandwich and a pastry. 

Our hotel was better situated for the port, and not the Old Town. It was about a 20-30 -minute walk to the Old Town by the seaside road. The difference in time was due to mother being a bit slower. She insists she walks at a normal pace, it's the others (myself included) that are walking unusually fast. I do have to give her props, never did she complain it was too hard on the uneven cobbled stones, or that we walked too much throughout the trip. She is a real champ! 

So our daily trek to the Old Town took us by the seaside/harbour, until we hit the New Fortress.

To us it looked mighty old, but it appears there's a fortress that's even older, hence the name. (Never got to visit the "Old Fortress".) Finally, turning to walk along the fortress, we came to the streets of the Old Town and all it's shops and restaurants. There were lots of touristy shops abound, with souvenirs, spices, woodwork, soaps and so on. 

We wondered around quite a bit every day, and after each day, weren't quite sure how to get back to the hotel. We knew that if we saw the fortress, we could find our way back, but it was more difficult than one could imagine... On the first night, we accidentally managed to find our way back, but on the second night we were totally lost. We asked lots of people, with the help of the map we had acquired from the hotel, and everyone gave us different directions. The GPS on my mobile didn't seem to be much help either. I guess google wasn't too familiar with the the zigzagging streets. We picked up a better map at one of the ferry offices, but that was when we were about to leave already.

Finally, a guy in a restaurant told us to forget about the map, and just listen to his directions. And just like that, we had a clear view of where to go. Just go to the main shopping street, take a left turn after M&S and follow the street, you'll soon see the fortress. In any case, I now definitely know who I've inherited my sense of direction from. Or the lack thereof.