CORFU, GREECE: A SUNNY DAY ON THE IONIAN SEA!

Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Day 30/50
Corfu, Greece
72F, sunny! 

Ionian Sea  as seen from Corfu

Sleepy, sunny Corfu awoke to greet us this morning.  We opted to visit Corfu on our own, as we were here previously in November 2022. At that time, we visited the mansion of the last king of Greece that is now a museum and a couple other sites.  I mentioned then that I wish we had more time in the Old Town—and today we did just that!  Princess provided a shuttle into the Old Town (15 euros/pp rt) but we learned that a city bus from the same stop was 4 euros/pp rt. You can do the math on that! 

Achilleion Palace/2022

Greek Pottery: 4th/3rd c. BCE/2022 visit

Dining Room/Palace: 2022 visit

Fortress

Fortress!

We really love strolling through the narrow streets and passageways of the villages of Europe—and we are always looking for a café for coffee and some local treat. 

 

Electrical work like this

is fascinating

Fresh vegetables

Street scene

The permanent population of Corfu is approximately 100,000 residents, making it the third most populous island in Greece.  Corfu, known in Greek as Kerkyra, is the 2^nd largest of the Ionian Islands, sitting at the northwestern edge of Greece at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea.   The capital city is Kerkyra, home to roughly a third of the island's permanent population.  The island spans an area of about 235 square miles with 135 miles of coastline.

The Palace of St. Michael and St. George

now the Museum of Asian Art

Detail

The Corfu Old Town is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its Venetian fortresses, French arcades (Liston), and narrow cobblestone alleys shaped by Venetian, French, and British rule before joining Greece in 1864.  The economy is heavily driven by international tourism during the summer months, alongside local olive oil and wine production.

 

We   did our best to boost the economy!  One of our first stops was a shop we visited in 2022, and we recognized the same shopkeepers!  So many shops have creams and lotions and soaps made with pure olive oil, sweet treats with kumquats, baklava perfectly packaged, all kinds of olives also packaged well, and the usual kitchen towels, t-shirts, gold jewelry, and casual clothing made in Greece.  I do like to give a small gift to those who read the blog and we have stopped worrying about our luggage. We will purchase another bag and pay the price at American Airlines. We hope we can have our broken zippered Travel Pro luggage repaired so we are lugging them home, too.

 

Our first break was for coffee and a cinnamon sugar crepe, giving us more energy to keep going.  

Cinnamon and Sugar Crepe

It seems we are so hungry that we 

eat before remembering to take a photo!

Workshop: handcrafted 

olive wood

The craftsman himself

Granddaughter B2, in college, likes 

natural kitchen utensils

Later I discovered a shop that had sfogliatella and I am not going to pass that by. There were 3 different fillings to choose from: Biscoff, Lemon, and White Cream. I chose TWO white creams, TK chose Biscoff and Cream.  This is not exactly exciting news, but I will never pass up sfogliatella. If only Trader Joe’s still sold frozen sfogliatella—I must go to Europe to find them!  I promise this will be the last word on this favorite, even though we will be looking for it in Sicily.

It pays to look inside!

 

Sfogliatella on top, baklava on lower shelf

Closeup of sfogliatella

And we left the lovely Corfu--

Hotel Konstantinoupolis

est. 1862

It was a very pleasant day, and I think we are caught up on our rest. Our next stops are Kotor, Montenegro, and Split and Dubrovnik, Croatia. Four ports in a row with no 7:30 a.m. tours! We are on our own!

 

TK’s Takes: Only saw a couple cats, lots of dogs.  The Enchanted Princess is docked next to us and he can see our stateroom for our February 2027 cruise from our Island Princess stateroom. The weather was perfect today.   The clock turns back one hour tonight!

Where in the world are we?

You can see we are leaving

Athens, Turkey, Rhodes, Santorini,

Mykonos, and Crete behind...

 

RHODES, GREECE AND A COLOSSAL AMOUNT OF RAIN!

Monday, November 2, 2026
Day 28/50
Rhodes, Greece
71F, rain and more rain

Part of the fortress surrounding Old Town Rhodes

Today we met our Princess tour group at 7 a.m. for today’s tour.  TK told me it was going to be a very rainy day and he was 100% correct.  I did not take my DSLR camera, opting to use my cell phone camera today. 

Diana, our tour guide, greeted us and we were on our way on a comfortable bus.  She told us many things about the island, another one that TK visited in his U.S. Navy days (1968-1972) on the USS Columbus.

USS Columbus CG-12

Heavy Guided Missile Cruiser

Rhodes has a total island population of approximately 125,113 people, with about 50,000 to 60,000 living in its capital city, Rhodes. It is the largest of Greece’s Dodecanese islands, sitting in the southeastern Aegean Sea within 11 miles of Turkey.  It covers about 540 square miles.  The economy relies heavily on tourism, supported by local agriculture like wine, grain, and citrus fruits.

You have probably heard of the Colossus of Rhodes. We did not see it today because it no longer exists and no one really knows exactly where it was located.  

There are many interpretations of

what the bronze statue, 

Colossus of Rhodes, looked like

Ancient descriptions indicate this bronze statue of the sun god Helios was about 108 feet tall and was built between c. 294–280 BCE. The statue collapsed in an earthquake around 226 BCE.  The Colossus of Rhodes was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Evidence suggests it may have stood beside the Mandrakion harbor.

The island of Rhodes and Greece depend on tourism. Four million tourists arrive yearly by plane and about 600,000 arrive by sea.  It is Greece’s 4^th largest island. There are 8 military bases on the island. It is strategically located from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. For example, Diana said it was a one hour flight to Athens, Cairo, and Tel Aviv.

 LINDOS

Soon we were on our way to Lindos, a town about an hour from the city of Rhodes  known for its cliff top acropolis, ancient ruins, and scenic white houses.   While on the way we were stopped briefly because of a mud slide in the road.  Diana said the rain was very unusual. Rhodes generally has 300 days of sunshine. 

Acropolis of Lindos

Greek key pattern made with 

pebbles outside a home

Souvenir shop

Tower along a street in Lindos

Church

Another house

By the time we reached Lindos the rain was really heavy, in fact something like a flash flood. I consider myself adventurous, but I was not going to walk up and then down 300 wet marble steps with no handrails to the Acropolis of Lindos and the Temple of Athena in ruins. Neither was TK. 

Temple of Diana on the right side of the

Acropolis (highest point in the city), surrounded by a fortress

as taken from the bus

Lindos is such a quaint historic village, a labyrinth of interesting walkways and shops. Most of the houses, built by sea captains, have been converted to shops. Basically, the season is over October 31, but several places were open. Captain's House Café and Bar seemed like a great place to hang out while a few people in the group decided to visit the Acropolis.  Cozy, warm, and dry!

 

Looking inside 

Captain's House Bar

Great tasting pure orange juice!

Captain's House

Bed on upper right

Captain's living room

The oldest house in Lindos, the Captain's House dates from the 16th century. The handpainted ceiling is 400 years old. The 100 year old floor has over 100,000 stones, selected one by one and put in one by one.  Just remarkable!

We left Lindos to return to the ship, an hour away.  The flash flood had caused more mudslides, so the bus had to wait for about an hour while we waited for a road crew to clear the road.   I give the bus driver a lot of credit for his patience. 

Removing the mud from the road

Flooded olive trees

When we were on our way again, we noted the “flooded” olive tree groves.  The landscape has more rocks than I have ever seen except for Sicily on our way to the volcano Mount Etna. Free range goats prevailed!

There was a stop at Bonis Ceramics for a demonstration of unique art.  Three generations of artists specialize in these beautiful, handcrafted pieces, most with ancient Greek designs. https://www.facebook.com/bonisceramics 

Demo

Painting

Engraving

Fabulous pieces which I could not afford

All of the art is one of a kind

Back to Rhodes

The fortress surrounds the Old Town (Rhodes)

Inside the Old Town

Old Town Rhodes, a Medieval city

I think will suffice to say that the history of Rhodes parallels Greece, with Minoans, Mycenean Greeks, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Ottoman Empire, Italians, Germans, British, and finally back to Greeks.   Before we boarded the ship, we walked around the very well-preserved Old Town of Rhodes.  The fortress is breathtaking and encircles the area.  Since it was still raining hard with lightning we decided to return to the ship.  By the way, Rhodes is 11 miles from Turkey across the sea--Mehil said this same thing yesterday too!

 

TK’s Takes: Goats roaming the hills.  Cats all over. Raining cats and dogs.

A cat!

Where on earth are we?