Sunday, November 19, 2023
Port of Corfu, Greece/Ionian Sea
Aboard the Enchanted
Princess
Room Aloha
212
Sunny, 68F
(another gorgeous day)
An island of sculptures, gardens, and olive trees.
One of Greece’s gems, Corfu is only two miles from Albania in the
Ionian Sea. The seventh largest Greek island, it is about 40 miles long and 20
miles wide at its greatest width. In
Homer’s Odyssey, Corfu is where Ulysses is shipwrecked and meets
Nausicaa, he was nude, and she gave him a blanket (as noted in famous
paintings). I don’t know the rest of that story!
[Note: “In Homer's Odyssey, Nausicaa is a Phaeacian princess who discovers a
shipwrecked Odysseus sleeping on a beach, rouses him and enables him to
continue his voyage back to his home in Ithaca.” Thank goodness for Google]
Phoenicians, Roman, Venetians, the French (1797-1814), and the
British all conquered this Greek island, but Britain “magnanimously” gave the
island back to the Greeks in 1864.
It was the Venetians who destroyed the Parthenon on the Greek mainland
just after 1672, a temple that had existed for 4000 years. But the Venetians
did prevent the Turks from invading the island and they planted thousands of
olive trees in the rich soil.
To our delight, many stores were open. We were warned that most shops would be closed because it was Sunday, but with over 3600 people and possibly the last cruise ship for the season, shopkeepers needed to be open. I love walking around these Old World cities, the weathered sidewalks, signs of Venetian, Greek, and Roman architecture, shops, bakeries, cafes, and restaurants everywhere. To make it seem like we were sightseeing as well as shopping I did take a few photos.
TK makes purchases too, like honey and sesame seed coated almonds
and loukoumi [soft jellied, berry flavored candies]. He bought olives for
himself. They are so nicely packaged, vacuum wrapped flat, with a 2025
expiration date.
TK likes to shop too.
A restaurant called Rex called out to us. The moussaka sort of
looked good and the spanakopita-like dish had A LOT of spinach, so we opted to
share a Greek salad, so very fresh—with very fresh feta cheese, tomatoes,
capers, cucumbers, onions, and peppers, accompanied by fresh bread with olive
oil. The olive oil was wonderful, and I am glad that I stocked up. Just eating a salad gave us room to share a
spectacular ice cream filled baklava. Oh wow. I never even imagined such a
treat. The maître d’ told me that they make everything right there, including
the baklava. Just WOW! And I forgot to
mention that we found sfogliatella at one of the bakeries-we did not pass that up
either. Ann said we could have all the pastry we wanted.
TK at Rex
We were not far from the port, but 2 miles from the ship, so after
lunch and at least 30 pounds of bags—you think I’m kidding—we hopped on the
shuttle back to the ship.
After a bit of respite, we went to dinner for caprese salad, English
roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. The dessert was Viennese apple strudel, and
we ate that too.
By the way, this was an over 12,000 step day.
Now I know more about Corfu! Thanks! That baklava and ice cream!
ReplyDeleteNaussisca (sic) was a very active women with the men, enticing and tempting tirelessly. The olives and such sound wonderful, Fresh olives are sooooo good with tomatoes and feta, just yummy
ReplyDeleteI assume you brought another suitcase to fill. What about spices?
So far no spices, but at least they would be lighter! We brought 2 big suitcases plus carryon plus backpack. I'm still apprehenive, but will be offloading 12 books!
ReplyDelete