Not much narrative today, because I’m behind on time. Maybe I’ll come back and detail this out later. We got out the door at 8 this morning, a record, by eating a snack in the room (iced coffee, pastries from the store from last night). We have a few good sized climbs of the day, and got the first one out of the way before stopping for a real breakfast in Agios Georgios.
After breakfast we pretty much biked (or pushed, in a few spots) the remaining miles to Corfu Town (known in Greece as Kerkira), arriving about three. On the way in to town we passed the port and stopped to pick up tickets for our ferry to Albania in two days. Last ferry of the tour!
After checking in at our hotel, Rachael hustled us down to a nearby beach for a wonderfully refreshing swim. Amazing that it’s only a ten minute walk from our hotel in the old city.
It wasn’t all that much fun biking here actually, but Corfu Town itself is amazing. We’re taking a rest day tomorrow to wander around and gawk, so I’ll save the city photos for then.
One of our host’s many cats saw us out this morning.
Near the top of a thousand foot ridge south of Agios Georgios. We’re climbing the easier side. Once over the saddle, we’ll plunge straight down to the sea.
The best results of an exercise in futility - probably took thirty shots of these, and this is the clearest image I came up with. These butterflies (the Cleopatra butterfly, Goneopteryx cleopatra) were prolific at the summit, beautiful, and impossible to catch with their wings open. When they alight they immediately fold their wings and expose just the green underside, looking like leaves.
We took the ‘easier’ route for the twenty miles from Sidári to Corfu Town. Still a pretty tough ride, but manageable. Unfortunately, also busier with much worse traffic. That’s your choice on Corfu, it seems - pretty tough primary roads with unpleasant traffic and mountains of roadside trash, or impossibly tough quieter routes through beautiful villages, almost no traffic, and mountains of roadside trash.
Our hotel is in the heart of congested, tourist-mad Corfu Town. Our host spooked us at first when he suggested that we lock our bikes to a rickety gate outside, but after some thought agreed to let us store them under the stairwell inside the hotel.
In Corfu town, passing through Saint Nicholas Gate (part of the 16th century Venetian fortifications) to Falaraki, a tiny beach just outside the walls.
On the way back from our dip in the sea, we pause to look across the city walls. Corfu Town is really beautiful - come back tomorrow and see for yourself.
An interjournal challenge: who captured more birds in their photo: Scott, with these swifts from the window of our hotel in Corfu Town; or Jen, with her swallows in the Hitchcock Nature Center in Nebraska? Could someone please complete the bird counts and let us know?
