Corfu by Paul Proctor

by Paul Proctor

We got off to a good start . Monarch had seated us sensibly . We had a slight delay but it was due to a small baby on board being taken ill, but that was not the airlines fault. Our hire car was what suited us.

 We found the Villa Armandos easily . It certainly would not suit the infirm . Cosmos had warned in their brochure about the steps. They were steep but it was worth it ,the views from the Villa are stupendous.We could see over to the Greecian mainland on the left and straight ahead and on the far right Corfu Town. When the sunset at night and it was dark you can see the lights along the shore all the way to Corfu town and the boats and cruise ships going up and down.

The villa was very clean, big and airy ( pity you still cannot flush paper down the toilets in Corfu but the cleaner emptied the little bins every two days) The weather was very hot and they had not had rain for four months. After the first night the children were finding the bedrooms hot so we paid the extra and had the air conditioning on in the bedrooms and we all slept like logs every night. The pool was the best we have ever had . It was big, the water came right to the top of the pool , the shallow end  was about four feet deep and the deep end about 7 feet , the water lapped over at the deep end and cascaded like a waterfall the width of the pool a few feet down to a kind of trench.It was beautiful.

The first night we walked down the very very steep road to the shore to eat in the Taverna . After the meal we could not had walked back so we enquired about a taxi but the owner insisted on driving us home himself. After that we ate out at different Tavernas every night (except the night before we came home) . We just booked our table each day and the owners arranged to pick us up and take us home every night . I did not have to drive at night the whole week . It was great. I could relax and enjoy the wine. The only draw back was the wasps and hornets who dive bombed the tables day and night despite burners on them. Evidently the Goverment could not afford the pesticides this year for the farmers to spray around the fields.

I had taken plenty of Euros which was very lucky as it made us very welcome everywhere we went  as most of the shops and resturants did not like credit cards (a lot had signs saying no credit cards accepted atall).

It was difficult getting the younsters out of the pool but we had a few outings :- There were quite a lot of facilities at Nisssaki . One was for them to paraglide from the jetty at Nissaki and I enjoyed  videoing them from the speed boat .It was funny seeing them run down the jetty like ducks on water until the parachute opened up . Another day we hired a boat for a day ,again from Nissaki, and took ourselves on a trip up the coast nearly to Kassiopi .We were at sea from 10.30am untill 5pm. It was quite an adventure , we got stuck on a sandbank about a kilometer off shore and it took me a while to get us off. The sea was blue and like a mill pond and of course it is not tidal.We all got a sun tan that day. Other days we visited Paleokastitsa (which was not as quiet as our little Nissaki) and Corfu Old Town with its Collonaded cafes and, roads and roads, of shops.We went to a Bouzouki night at the local Taverna and the girls danced all night with the Greek dancers and then on the last day they forced their Mum to go with them on an inflatable rubber Sofa pulled by the speedboat . I was in the boat to film the three them as evidence.

On the last day we said goodbye to the owners , found the airport easilly ,dropped the car off and then had to battle through the usual chaotic Greek check in queues which spilt out of the air- conned buildings onto the road outside. The Greek staff were very officious but the English reps from three travel agencies were very helpful to everybody. The flight back was ready to taxi early but we were boxed in by a Swiss aircraft but even so we arrived back at Gatwick on time.

We took a lot of photographs still and video and I had attached a some of our shots in low quality hoping they would come over easily but my server times me out so I have sent them separately.

We had a very very good holiday, the girls said it was the best . Everything you had arranged was just right . Thank you for arranging it four us.