The summer holidays are in full swing, and some of us have, or are about to, head off on our holidays. This year, I visited the beautiful Greek island of Corfu. This wasn’t actually planned, as I had booked to go to Tunisia. I was supposed to go on holiday just days after the tragic news of the terrorist attack came in, and it was a waiting game to see if I’d be jetting off on July 1 or not. After a few days, our supplier emailed to say we’d receive refunds. We got this email on the Monday and were due to go on holiday the Wednesday, so my friend and I spent all of Monday searching for a holiday. We came across a lot for Corfu, an island which both of us had always wanted to visit so we thought, “why not?” We opted to stay away from the party central, Kavos, as we’re both not fans of spending the nights drunk and the days hungover.
Off to Corfu!
After frantically having to get some euros together, pack our bags and sort out our transport to Gatwick, it was time to go! We actually set off for the airport on Tuesday night, as we decided to go for a 5am flight. I made a big mistake when holidaying last year, as I paid for a seven day holiday, only really to get six days. Our flight arrived just after midnight on our second day, so we really had wasted our first day. This time, we opted for an early morning flight, and our return flight to arrive in England at 2am. We were so excited on the plane, we’d actually made it to go on holiday. Although we had no idea if our super last minute holiday would be worth the money, we couldn’t care less. We were off to Corfu!
Upon arrival, we flew past the east coast of the island. Forget about the Alps: this was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. When we touched down, the views were still spectacular, as were the heat and the reality that we were in Corfu. One thing that puzzled me was when we stepped off the plane onto a shuttle bus to arrivals. Everyone from our plane were crammed into two little shuttle buses, thinking the building was quite some distance away. It was a ten second journey. TEN seconds. So, after over 24 hours of being awake, we were laying by the pool enjoying the glorious sunshine. I did have to retreat to bed a few hours later, as the lack of sleep was awful. It was nice to be in Corfu where we could explore the island. We knew that if we were in Tunisia, we’d have to stay in the hotel grounds, so it was nice to know that we had a lot more freedom.
Sunshine and scary drives
On the second day, we woke up feeling super refreshed. We headed down to the neighboring village, Benesis. I spent all day laying in the sun without moving, so by the time we decided to leave at 6pm to get some food, I was resembling a lobster. We finished off our day with a lovely pizza and some crepes. Mmm.
On the Friday, we decided to hire a quad bike. It’s a well-known way of travelling around the island, as it only takes three hours to drive from the top to the bottom. Good job I had my driving licence in my purse! We asked locals where to visit, and they all recommended Issos. The village in the south of the island is home to Corfu’s sandiest beach, so with my friend holding the map as I tried to navigate the Corfu roads, we set off for Issos. Driving on the right of the road was confusing at times, but we made it to our halfway point, a lovely beach called Messhongi. Somehow from there, we managed to lose the main road and end up in the middle of nowhere. We drove up a mountain and after about half an hour, we still hadn’t reached the top, the road was becoming narrower and the edges were looking a lot more dangerous.
It wouldn’t have been so bad, but our quad bike had decided to completely cut out on us and started to roll down the hill. I’d never been so scared in my life. We were panicking as we had no way of contacting someone and we didn’t know what to do with the quad bike. I honestly thought I was going to die, whether it was of dehydration, heat exhaustion or the quad bike rolling over the edge of the mountain. I was terrified. After a good 20 minutes of worrying, we finally plucked up the courage to carry on. We continued to drive up the mountain, sure it was going to end soon. When we eventually reached a turning that was heading back down the mountain, we were literally just rolling down the hill. As soon as we reached the main road again, we took the bike back to the dealer and he was persistent that there was nothing wrong with it! We decided to then drive back to our hotel, grab some more money and head up the road to the capital of Corfu, Corfu Town (Kerkyra).
We decided not to spend too much time in Corfu Town, as we knew we’d come back later on in the week for sightseeing. So we headed into the town centre, found a fabulous ice cream parlor where we had Happy Hippo ice cream, followed by Nutella ice cream. My friend was in heaven as she found a Pandora shop, and brought herself a beautiful Greek charm. We also found a Marks and Spencer, where I overspent a bit as I love M&S crisps so much.
The Kavos strip
Day four, we decided to head down to Kavos to see what it really is about. We caught a direct bus there which was super cheap, around 4 euros. When we arrived, we headed straight to the beach to catch even more sun. Kavos strip is bursting with amazing food places, a subway and lots of clubs. It felt nothing like we were in a different country, everyone around us were British and were fresh out of A-levels. Kavos was great, so we decided we would head back later on in the week before we left.
The next day, we headed to Issos, this time on a bus. The beach was amazing! I’d never seen a beach so sandy before, and the sea was super clear. I managed to fall asleep sunbathing! After this, we headed to Corfu Town again. We had the most amazing waffles and did some sightseeing. I fell in love with Corfu Town and am destined to return again one day. We caught a bus back just before 11pm. There was a pool party at the hotel when we returned, so myself and my friend showed everyone how us Brits dance!
Sightseeing and souveniers
On day five, the Monday. We didn’t have much planned. Firstly, we walked a few minutes up the road from the hotel to a little island called the Pontikonissi (Mouse Island). It only cost a few euros for the boat over to the island. You get a super view of the runway at Corfu airport! That little trip had only taken us an hour, so we then headed back to Benesis to try out some water sports. That was great! We were done with our activities by just after lunch, so we then headed back to Corfu Town. We picked up some souvenirs and went for a meal, followed by a McDonald’s. We sat at the table literally repeating “I can’t believe we go home in two days.”
Our last full day on the island was spent back down in Kavos. If you’re off to Kavos soon, please please please try Desperado’s. They have the tastiest ribs and chicken wings on earth! There’s a guy who walks along the beach selling iced water and fruit, and he walks along saying “Juicy Lucy, tutti fruity, ice ice baby” in the funniest voice ever. You’ll know him once you’re in Kavos! So we headed back a little early, as we had an Elvis night to attend and we still had to pack. We loved sitting by the pool, singing our hearts out to classic Elvis songs.
Our last day had arrived. We woke up feeling pretty sad, saying “this time last week we were on the plane here, and now we’re leaving tonight.” The whole day was spent laying by the pool catching the last rays we could. Then before we knew it, we were boarding the plane and seeing the last of Corfu for a while.
It was absolutely lovely to visit, and I’m pleased we didn’t stay in Kavos. There’s a lot more to Corfu than Kavos. It’s a truly beautiful island and the best holiday ever!
