How I love the Greek islands! They are so beautiful, simple, inviting, cozy, close!
Simply the perfect vacation, especially in the summer months!
So how did we end up vacationing in Corfu during such a crazy time that our country is going through?
The truth is that we wanted to spend a weekend in Israel, at the Dead Sea,
but the accommodation prices were so expensive that we decided to check out the alternative
option abroad and that's how we came up with the option to vacation in Corfu,
about a two-hour flight from Israel, cheap/reasonable accommodation prices for this time
of year (September).
So in record time (just a few days before the trip) I planned and booked everything.
The only thing I wanted to book and didn't book in advance was a cruise to a magical place
called Paxos and Antipaxos.
I was worried about paying in advance and that our flight might be canceled because of the
security situation in Israel, and since I didn't pay in advance for the cruise,
I didn't guarantee our place on the trip and thus missed the most recommended trip to Corfu.
No big deal, we'll have to get there again.
So when prices in Israel skyrocket and a hotel costs about 2000 shekels per night, we change direction
and fly to celebrate a birthday (for me) in Corfu.
The flight was booked from the Italian company Neos website, I had not flown with them before.
It was a bit difficult for me to find a luxurious hotel within the budget I had set aside for myself,
and the hotel I wanted was occupied on some days, so I split the accommodation into 2
places. The first two nights in an apartment located about 15 minutes from the old city, and two nights in a hotel in another area.
If we had more days to travel in Corfu, I would plan a rolling trip (and not a star trip)
and change hotels as the trip progresses or simply
settle in one place and not move away from it to other areas (but this is not something that suits my travel style).
Car – It is worth booking a small, automatic car. I recommend booking a car from the website here.
When we took the car, we extended the insurance and we were quiet in that regard.
Link to car rental here.
Now comes the trip planning stage, and I don't have much time to do it.
If you booked a car from another site and you want to find a cheaper offer,
you can enter your rental details on this site and they will find you a cheaper offer, go here
The first day of the trip
Day 1 – A comfortable afternoon flight from Tel Aviv to Corfu, we landed with only 2 trolleys,
one for each person,
That way we didn't have to wait at the landing waiting for our luggage
We went straight to pick up our car (a new Hyundai i30) and drove to the
beautiful old town of Corfu, we found parking without a problem (usually there is a parking problem there
but there is a parking lot (parking cost about 5 euros), right next to the entrance to the old town,
every time we parked we sent ourselves the location of the car on WhatsApp,
and we went for a walk.
The old town of Corfu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city is large and you can
walk around there for hours. After being impressed by the place and the relative quiet there
I am amazed by the quiet in a crowded place), we sat down to eat and after eating we went
to the apartment, where we met the owner who gave us a key and welcomed us.
*Please note that the roads in Corfu are very narrow and some of them are winding,
drive slowly and carefully and give way.
We rested a bit in the apartment and in the evening we went out for another tour of the old town,
which takes on a different atmosphere when it gets dark and the bars open.
We sat down to drink at a bar with music, did another walk around the city and
went back to sleep. Good night!
היום השני לטיול
Today we were supposed to go on a cruise to Paxos & Antipaxos,
if we had gone it would have been perfect.
I will tell you that we tried to go on this trip on another day but the weather conditions did not allow it!
And trips scheduled for the following days did not go.
It was probably the last day of the season, when they sailed to Paxos and Antipaxos..
Instead we drove with the car we rented towards the north of the island.
Not before we jumped into the stunning bakery that is not far from our apartment.
There are beautiful and delicious desserts, sandwiches,
bagels and other pastries that you can eat there and you can take on the road..
We drank coffee, ate something delicious and took a bagel for the rest of the day.
This is the bakery:
Our trip begins in the village of Kassiopi.
We parked the car outside the city center and walked to the sea area,
where we sat down to have a light drink and eat a toast, in front of the lovely view.
While sitting in the restaurant there, we saw people going in a certain direction
and others returning from there,
We realized that there was something interesting there and we also went in that direction,
after about 5 minutes of walking we saw a viewpoint from which you can see the beaches of
Battaria and Kanoni.
Stunning beaches with beautiful blue water, almost like in Thailand.
So we got back in the car and drove to Bataria Beach,
it's very difficult to find parking there because the place is small and unorganized,
We parked the car at a nearby restaurant called Castro,
We went into the restaurant when we finished our visit to the beach,
ordered a salad, chips and a drink to justify parking there (-:
The beach is small, beautiful, simple and the water color is dreamy.
We went in for a swim and enjoyed the view.
There is another beach nearby but we liked this one better so we chose it.
After sitting in the restaurant, we continued our trip and drove to Sidari Beach,
which is located right in the village of Sidari, and from there we walked to the
Canel Amor, a special and beautiful place.
The beach itself is a bit muddy and the water is not clear,
but the whole place is impressive and worth a visit. We got there on foot through the
Canel Amor Village Hotel.
From there we continued to Agios Georgios beach
(it was difficult to find the place via Waze and we asked people along the way),
on the beach we went to a point from which
they take a boat, we paid 25 euros per couple for a 5-6 minute boat ride each way to Porto Timoni,
*note that the last boat returning from Porto Timoni leaves there at 17:30, so plan your
arrival time accordingly.
What is Porto Timoni? A stretch of coast that is divided into two sides of the sea,
with vegetation and rocks between them, from the beach you can go up to a point
An amazing view from which you can see both sides of the sea and the whole place from above,
a 4 minute hike.
Worth it.
This experience reminded us of a similar place in Thailand.
We didn't have much time in Porto Timoni so we only went up 2 minutes
to see the place better from above and went back down to wait for t
he boat that would take us back to Agios beach.
From there we drove back to our apartment, rested a bit
and went out again to spend the night in the old city and have dinner there.
Good night!
The third day of the trip
Today we are vacating our lovely apartment and traveling to an area called Ploeksteritsa,
but first of all we stopped by the stunning bakery to drink coffee,
eat a pastry and buy something delicious for the road.
From there we drove to the village of Makardas, I read about this village in an organized tour program
but the truth is that when we got there we saw a quiet and quite remote small village
that we didn't understand what to look for there.. We didn't find anything
of interest there and continued on our way to the Anglokastro fortress.
Today is Saturday and the entrance to the fortress was free
(usually the cost is 3 euros per person). We climbed about 172 steps to the top
and from there we watched the amazing view of the Ploeksteritsa area.
After admiring the view, we went all the way back to the car
that was waiting for us in the parking lot below..
From there we continued to a cafe located in a place no less amazing than the fortress.
Name of the place: Dolce coffee, on the way there we saw the buses that transport
groups of travelers who come to the area on an organized and guided trip.
We sat in the cafe to eat a delicious breakfast alongside the amazing view!
From there we continued to "La Grotta Bar",
it's a bit difficult to find normal parking there and park on the side of the road,
going down quite a few steps to get to this special bar,
which overlooks the water, surrounded by rocks and cliffs and in the middle of a springboard.
A lovely place worth a visit. We sat there snacking on chips,
drinking beer and enjoying every moment.
From there we drove to the hotel to check in.
The hotel was located not far from the bar (about a 20-minute drive), we got our
beautiful and clean room, rested a bit and went out to have dinner at a nice taverna,
which is not far from the hotel.
The fourth day of the trip
We wanted to go on a trip today that we missed on the first day of our trip
(a cruise to Paxos and Antipaxos) and even made a reservation for this trip through
a travel company's website, but the weather did not allow for a cruise,
it's already the end of the appropriate season and when it is no longer possible
to do this trip in the fall and winter.. Too bad! We will have to do another trip to
Corfu because this trip is a must-do trip.
Because of the cancellation of the trip, we had an unplanned day
free up and it turned out to be Sunday, a day when most shops are closed.
So after a great breakfast at the hotel
We got ready and went to a nearby beach bar called "Malibu Beach Bar",
paid for 2 sunbeds and drinks and sat there for a few hours by the sea
Sunbathing, occasionally we went into the sea to cool off and
went out again in the sun to dry off and sunbathe..
After spending time at the beach bar we returned to the hotel to rest and later
we went to the Ipsos promenade (Ipsos Marina), sat there to eat, took a
walk along the promenade by the sea and returned to the hotel to sleep,
tomorrow is the last day of the trip.
The fifth and final day of the trip
Yesterday at the hotel we met a man whose flight (an Israir flight)
was canceled due to the security situation in Israel.
This morning we met them at breakfast and they told us that they had booked a new flight for tonight,
our flight.
So we were happy that our flight was valid and we didn't worry.
After breakfast we asked to extend the check-out time, paid an extra
40 euros and went for a walk in the old city,
in the old area and in the area where there are new stores and brand stores.
After a long walk through the streets of the city we sat down for a drink.
We did a little shopping and went from there to Jumbo
(which is not far from the first apartment where we were for the first 2 nights of the trip).
After some shopping at Jumbo (we only have a trolley for each so you can't go crazy with shopping),
we returned to the hotel and at the entrance there.
We met the couple who had purchased flight tickets for our evening flight.
They told us that this flight was also canceled for them!!!
We did not receive any cancellation notice from Neos Airlines.
We checked the airline's website and there was no update there either. Crazy!
We still vacated the room, went to the airport and returned the rental car,
at the airport we saw that the flight was canceled!
Together with other Israelis who were also surprised to see this, we looked for possible alternatives,
We took a taxi to the bus station from where we could take a bus to Athens
(including a ferry, about 6 hours drive)
But there we were told that there was no place on the nearest bus.
There were no flights either.
So I consulted with a friend, who is a travel agent, she booked us a morning
flight to Athens and we looked on Booking for a hotel that would be not
far from the airport (in the old city).
We booked an apartment in an apartment hotel and went there by taxi,
the owner of the apartment was very communicative and available and explained to us from a distance
How to get there and how to enter the apartment. We settled into the apartment,
went out to have dinner, the evening got really cold, which we haven't had all week.
After we ate we went back to the apartment to sleep, and in the morning we got up early and took
a taxi to the airport. 10 minutes drive 15 euros (this is the minimum
you pay for any trip, the shortest).
Day Six - An extra day that was not planned in advance
This morning we flew (first class!) with Aegean to Athens,
where we were supposed to sign up for the El Al and IsraAir waiting lists
and hope there would be seats on a flight back to Israel…
We waited at the Athens airport for very long hours, on the first 2 flights there
was no room and on the third flight to Israel it was our turn to purchase a ticket, pay for our
flight tickets and quickly run to the boarding gate, where on the flight board it was
written that the boarding time would be updated at 7 pm
(the gate was supposed to open around 5:30 pm)..
Another delay.. and when the gate opened, a missile attack on Israel from Iran began
and we experienced another delay. The airport in Israel was closed to flights and not long after reopened…
Flights that were already on their way to Israel at this point – landed in Larnaca…
When we got on the plane, we took off around 11:00 PM… A hard and tough day,
but the main thing is that we return home safely.
Thus ends our special trip, with a twist in the plot at the end, but not too bad,
the main thing is that we traveled, experienced and enjoyed ourselves and got to celebrate
Rosh Hashanah
this year in our country with the family. Thank God and Happy New Year!
If you find any mistakes in my English – please write to me, thank you.
כתיבת תגובה