| Erin's Corfu Journals 4-29-02 Monday we got up and checked out of our hotel in time to catch a 10:30am train to Brindisi, but found we had remembered the time wrong and had another hour to wait. So we picked up some groceries and waited a bit, then took the 1 hour ride up to Brindisi, arriving right around 1pm. Brindisi is a pretty small town, and as scrupulously clean as Lecce was dirty. It had neatly ordered and carefully manicured streets with trees and bushes and flowers all along them, leading to the port. When we arrived at 1pm, it was to find that all the shops and travel agencies and ferry brokers were shutting down for the afternoon, opening again around 4pm. With our heavy packs, we didn't want to walk much, so we found a place for lunch and sat outside for a couple of hours before getting bored and wandering around anyway. We also made a point of stopping to call my sister, who had her birthday that day back home, but had to leave a message instead of the real thing. We finally found a ferry broker open a little early at quarter to 4, and bought our tickets to Corfu. The boat would leave at 8pm and arrive the next morning around 6am, they said. We bought the more expensive tickets for berths, so we could sleep, as it was cold enough out that deck tickets didn't sound fun for the night. We still had a while to wait to go to the dock, so we checked email and sat in a park outside for a couple more hours. Finally we caught a free shuttle over to the ferry docks and checked in, then had to wait another hour to board the boat. While waiting, we talked to some of the other backpackers we met waiting. Nick and Laura were another couple traveling for several months, and we were amused how much we experienced in common by traveling as couples, as opposed to two same-sex friends or singles. We also met Caroline, a sweet lady from South Carolina who was in her last few days of traveling before returning home. She is a true southern lady, and her genteel warm personality and southern accent captivated everyone she met. We were on the same boat, so after boarding and storing our packs in our berth, we met up again with Nick, Laura, Caroline and a couple of the other backpackers to watch the sunset, then headed to the restaurant for surprisingly good and reasonalby priced dinner. Afterward the couples adjourned to the lounge to talk, while Caroline, exhausted from a long couple of days of train rides & a whirlwind day in Rome, headed off to sleep. We also found out that the port of Igoumenitsa would be the first stop of the boat at 7am, and Corfu wouldn't be until 9am, so we weren't as concerned with getting sleep early. However, we were all more tired than we'd thought, and quickly found ourselves saying goodnight. |
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| A view of Corfu Town's portside hotels and residences |