| Glenn's Corfu Journals 5-1-02 Today our plans included renting a car and driving around Corfu. We arose around 8:30 am in time for showers and breakfast before heading off. It was another beautiful day in Corfu with the sun shining and the beaches just calling our names. We rented a car for 18 Euros for the 2 of us for the day with a return time of 6:00 pm. We left around 11:00 am or so and headed off for our driving experience in Greece. We had read about and had been given suggestions on what to see around the island, so off we went. Our first stop was in Pelekas and a chance to visit another beach near there. The drive, especially in a new place, much less in an unfamiliar country, was interesting and different. We took the backroads which provided less traffic than the major highways would have, so that gave us the time to enjoy the scenery as we drove. The beach was just another beach with not much else to say about it than that. Next we were off to Paleokastritsa and, near there, Angelokastro (A castle). Now we are talking!!! We stopped into the town and the beach of Paleokastritsa. At the beach we ran into another couple that I had seen at the Pink Palace yesterday. We mentioned that we had seen them and chatted about our travels and a little about the Pink Palace. Mark and Monica were from Canada and were traveling around for 6 weeks in Europe. Monica had family in the Czech Republic that they visited with before renting a car and driving around Europe. We then took the drive up to the monastery for a better view of the surrounding area. Erin took some great photos while we were up there. We then took the drive over to Angelokastro which included more than a dozen switchbacks as we made our way around the mountains and somewhat narrow roads. On the way, we stopped into Lakones to have lunch and check out the views. Sure enough, we ran into Mark and Monica just sitting down to lunch at the same place we had stopped. We had lunch together and shared a few more stories before heading back out towards Angelokastro. Angelokastro was an old castle along the waters edge used as a fort in protecting the mainland from attacks by sea. You could see for miles in every direction. We also ran into Mark and Monica here, but they opted not to take the hike up the 400 or so steps to the castle. Erin and I took the hike as we are young'uns and needed the exercise. We spent some time at the top of the castle and exploring before heading back down. You don't walk uphill that far and not spend some time on top!!! It was getting to be 5:00 pm and we didn't quite know how long it would be to get back to the Pink Palace, so we started our way back. We also had to plan for some "I'm lost" time if required. On the trip home we used more of the major roads and were back in Agios Gordis just before 6:00 pm. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up for dinner, enjoying dinner, sitting around the restaurant/bar area chatting and playing cards with Mark, Monica, Angie, and Carela before heading off to bed around midnight. |
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| Sightseeing at the Castelangelo |