Colourful Corfu

This June we visited Croatia, Montenegro (post here), Albania and Greece. We went to Corfu by boat from Albania’s Sarande. Before this trip Greece represented me certain sun, teen parties and great beaches. My husband had never visited Greece before and it was sixteen years since my last time. I knew that this time I could see it from a very different perspective than me and my best friends all those years ago.

We booked a hotel from Benitses which was about 30 minutes from Corfu town. It was a tiny village, many restaurants compared to its size and a convenient beach. One thing worth mentioning is all the souvenir shops that actually sold some nice stuff, hamam towels and cute handmade bowls without any touristic text on them. So of course I needed to buy bowls for our bath room and they were a lot easier to carry than the carpet I had bought earlier in Montenegro 😊.

We have done many roadtrips over the years for example in Hawaii, California and Nevada, many countries in Europe, New Zealand and Australia and Greece was by far the cheapest place to rent a car. We couldn’t believe it was only 20 euros/day and it covered all the necessities, insurances and a child seat. Navigators they didn’t however have but there aren’t that many roads anyway on the whole island so it was nice to have a proper map to look at. We thought to rent a car just for a day but ended up having it for the whole time as we calculated that the bus from Benitses to Corfu town would cost about the same from three of us and it was so much easier just to drive there.

Corfu town was so lovely! I couldn’t focus on much more than to take photos of all the cute details, flowers, food, turquoise Mediterranean, charming elder people, colourful alleyways and laundry hanging from the windows. I totally fell in love with the old town the minute I saw it. And you know why it’s not a wonder though? It was built under the Venetian rule and I guess that was the familiarity with it. We have been to Italy every year for about eight years and this was the first summer for a long time not heading there. I was kind of missing all the things that I love about Italy and I couldn’t find the same vibes on the Balkans so I was very satisfied to finally get to see this stunning town and feel the Sicily spirit in it.

Then about fooooood! Oh my goodness how good the food was! We didn’t eat anything but the traditional Greek dishes and we really loved them all. All the stifados, gyros, souvlakis, moussakas, keftethes and dolmadakias. They were just too delicious. Even our daughter who is sort of selective loved all the food she had. I guess it was also the attention she got in the restaurants that she enjoyed. There were two places that really got our hearts. One was in old town of Corfu called Bellissimo. Food was really tasty and it had a nice little quad and traditional decoration. Another one was totally different, Angela’s Tavern in the middle of nowhere, which we found as we were driving around the island. It was a family-run place in Pentati. They didn’t have any menus, the owner just took you to the kitchen to look at the oven and decide from there what to have. We decided to try them all and let me tell you, it was as yummy as it gets! After the lunch they gave us oranges to take with.

Besides the beautiful beaches and gorges there are many quite interesting places to visit as well. One of them is Achilleion Palace, which was built by Empress of Austria, Elisabeth who’s also known as Sisi. I love the story of Sisi and the fact that she used to love Corfu made me like the island even more. Another place worth to visit was Kaisers Throne in Pelekas just for the lookout point from which you can see almost the whole island. No wonder the German Emperor Keiser Vilhelm II used to come there to watch the sunset.

Corfu is the place where you can have a city getaway and a beach vacation on a same trip. Corfu town is just so astonishing! I’m sure you would enjoy it no matter who you’re travelling with, there are everything you need whether you’re going with the family, friends or as a couple. And if you’re not already coming from Albania, go there as well at least for a day. I’ll tell you later why.

Memorable moments in Montenegro

Our previous trip abroad was a tour of the Balkans. Our initial plan was to go just to Montenegro and Albania but because we couldn’t find affordable flights to and from those, we decided to fly to Croatia and fly back from Greece. So all we had to do was to plan the route from Dubrovnik to Corfu. We flew to Dubrovnik and spent a couple of days there. We actually had a dinner there with our Australian friends (not planned to be there at the same time!) After that we took a bus to Kotor, Montenegro, and from there we drove to Durres, stayed in two places in Albania and then finally took a boat to Corfu, from which we flew back. I’ll get back to rest of the places later, but now we’ll focus on beautiful Montenegro.

We came by bus from Dubrovnik to Kotor. The distance is only about 130 km but a bus trip took 4.5 hours instead of 1.5 that it was supposed to. Well it was a great opportunity to get to know the elder lady who sat beside me and my daughter. She was Croatian and was going to a funeral of her sister-in-law in Tivat. She had lost her husband earlier this year too and was devastated by the losses. She also told us proudly about her daughter who had got married to a German and lived happily in Munich at the moment. She talked to my daughter as they’ve known each other for ages and we all were in tears as they hugged at the bus station as we had to jump off. You know those moments that you share with someone and never meet again afterwards. To me travelling is all about those memorable encounters with strangers. People who manage to impress you one way or another in a short time. People who you can have a proper conversation with without even speaking the same language. 

Kotor bay is all that you could possible imagine of Montenegro, absolutely breathtaking, mountains rounding clear waters and impressive walled old towns. Kotor, however is not a best destination for beaching but to enjoy the views and have nice grilled food. It is also a great place for budget travelling as you could still find accommodation with a seaview only 30 euros/double/night.

One thing that has made us laugh after the trip is our daughter who still keeps saying "bammmm bammmm" as she was amazed and shocked by the voice of big church bells while having the dinner one night in old town. She says it espesially when eating pizza, so it really made her a big memory trace.

If you want to go to Montenegro but your dream spot is more about swimming and sunbathing, then Budva is your place-to-be. It is Montenegro’s biggest beach destination on the Adriatic coast. The beaches are so pretty, whether they’re small and more intimate ones or bigger and busier ones, your choice. The old town of Budva is rather small but worth visiting with its little shops and pizzerias. 

One day we took a boat from Kotor to Perast, little town on the Kotor bay that is just stunning. We spent there just a day but it became my favourite spot in Montenegro. It had a Capri-like feeling though it’s not an island. You can see all the nice restaurants right away as you arrive from the sea and many colourful boats parked here and there. It is absolutely charming with its rustic houses and green ivies on the walls. On the way to Perast we also visited the place called Our Lady of the Rocks, which is a cute little island with a church of the same name.

When I think about Montenegro in whole, my first thought is the view from the balcony. The moment in the morning when you have barely open your eyes and the view is so amazing that you're not really sure are you still dreaming. That's how divine it is.