Charming Corfu

Sunrise en route to Corfu
We awoke early today to a beautiful sunrise.  Our last stop in Greece, Corfu (Kerkyra), was today and it was completely charming.  Corfu is an island in the Ionian Sea, and forms the margin of the nation's northwestern frontier with Albania.  For people of our era, the 1981 James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only has a number of scenes filmed in Corfu.

The Old Town of Corfu city is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The old city's architectural character is strongly influenced by the Venetian style, coming as it did under Venetian rule for a long period; its small and ancient side streets, and the old buildings' trademark arches are said to be particularly reminiscent of Venice.  We'll let you know if this is so after we visit Venice as our last stop on this cruise.

The first part of our day was a 30 minute coastal tour by boat.  The primary focus was four caves along the ocean in Paleokastrita. 

The Blue Eye cave
Myths and legends accompany a number of these caves and our guide told us a few action-packed stories about pirate raids that forced fleeing villagers to seek refuge in the island’s caves. For sure, it is hard to imagine bluer water than what we saw, including the "Blue Eye" cave which has a bright blue area formed by coral of that color.

After the cave tour, we went on a walking tour of the old city.  When it concluded, we had about 30 minutes of free time before the bus returned to the ship, so Cheryl and I broke away from our eating pattern on board the ship and had lunch at a local restaurant.  The fare was mussels in cream and a piece of fried cheese - both were delicious.

We're back on board early afternoon and, in Ohio, that means nap time.  Tonight we sail from Greece for a day in Kotor, Montenegro as we move inexorably toward Venice.  Thanks for following along on our adventures and watch for our post tomorrow!

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