Corfu, Greece- Last Stop before Seattle

M likes to spend our last week before returning home at a lazy beach location. It doesn’t always work out but it was perfect for this trip. This trip through Eastern Europe did not have many beaches but the last couple of weeks has made up for that. Our week in Sarande, Albania was great and so was this last week on the beach in Benitses, Corfu, Greece. The ferry trip from Albania only took an hour and we were in Greece again! We had an Airbnb (with a pool!) just across the street from the beach. Another Airbnb that is recommended, although the couch could be a little more comfortable and the AC had a tough time keeping up with high temps… Benitses is on the calm side of the island so we had 8 days of really warm and calm waters. It was really hot every day (90’s), so we didn’t feel bad about not doing much besides eating Greek food in between our beach lounging.

We researched a lot to find the right part of Corfu for this trip. Benitses wasn’t perfect, but we were happy with our decision. We wanted a smaller beach town, but we wanted enough restaurants to give us some decision options every night for dinner. The Benitses beach was gravel instead of the sand beaches on the other side of the island. That was OK with us because the sandy beaches on the other side of the island had to deal with some big waves. We didn’t have any waves…. Our Airbnb didn’t have beach chairs or an umbrella for us, but we were OK renting at one of the beachside restaurants. The biggest issue with Benitses was that the road went right through town and the sidewalks weren’t the best. We got used to the short walks on this road to the grocery store or the restaurant row.

We didn’t just lay around all week. One day, we took the bus to the “big city” of Corfu town (20,000 people). Of course there were more than 20,000 people there that day because of the cruise ships and the summer time influx of tourism. We wandered around the kitschy tourist shops and made our way to the old fortress. Lots of great views amid the usual “layers” of history. The town was full of old architecture from many different periods. There are visible traces of Ottoman, Venetian and even French architecture. It was interesting but the mass of tourists made us take the bus back to our quiet town of Benitses right after lunch.

Last year we went to the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and didn’t really see the whole islands because we didn’t rent a car. We weren’t going to make that mistake again!, so one day we rented a car to see the rest of the island. Corfu is a little bigger than Whidbey Island in Washington state for our WA state friends. We rented a tiny car for $40 and spent the days exploring the beaches and towns all the way around the island to see if we can find a better location for our next trip to Corfu. Corfu is a beautiful island and has some amazing beaches. It also has a lot of fun driving around curvy hill roads over beachside cliffs. We saw a lot of big sandy beach towns but also a lot of small little beach towns in small bays. There is a lot to see and there is no way we were going to see all the beaches of Corfu in one day. It was a fun day but we were also excited to return the keys and head back to our calm little beach in Benitses.

We did return to Seattle for 2 weeks at Christmas and 2 weeks in April, but our house was rented out most of the year so we haven’t spent a night in our own bed since last August. We are really excited to return back to Seattle to see friends and family, but also to see our house again. It has been a long time. We have over-filled our summer schedule and are trying to cram a lot into our upcoming summer in Seattle, but with so many fun things that we’re excited to do. We hope to see as many people as possible while trying to enjoy our home at the same time. I’m not sure it is going to be a relaxing trip home, but that’s the way we like it. We can do our relaxing in Greece. And eat some good food!!!

We are coming home!!!! One night in London and then we will be back in Seattle. Hope to see everyone this summer.