Prior to this trip, we always had a strong bias towards Italy, but each visit to Greece or a Greek island has warmed us more and more, on several counts. The people are friendly. The prices are reasonable. You don't get hassled and they accept the Euro, which at least is a currency where there aren't 3 zeros on the end of each banknote – and they do a good sour cherry juice!
A decent night - though Paula did have a slight relapse with a coughing fit in the early hours!
An early visit to the HC but only a parfait and an orange juice, then a wander out to the free shuttle bus that took us all of 400m to the port gates! Along with Col and Jude, we boarded the local shuttle bus that took us directly to Corfu Old Town, for a modest €1.50 each, one way. Harking back to the 2011 World Cruise, the Princess arranged shuttles at a flat $7 a time received a lot of criticism, so on this cruise, we have no complaints about the transport to town and so far, haven't resorted to using a taxi either. Maybe confidence in the Euro as an easy to understand currency helps and the local bus services, generally taking Euros, whether service buses or shuttle buses, makes relying on taxis less attractive. Many of the taxi drivers are not keen on the shorter trips either, preferring to want to negotiate for several hours.
At Corfu old town, we simply walked across the road from the bus stop and like Rhodes, we were straight into the old town. After so many stops and so many narrow streets, we now have to refer to our photographs to recall each stop. Col and Jude are on a similar time clock to us so it wasn't too long before we found ourselves on the edge of town, ready for a sit down and a drink. Two iced coffees, a (not very good) strawberry milkshake and an orange juice was €14.10, so again, not cheap, but a nice place to sit and apparently, very clean and modern toilets.
We turned left and headed past the palace (I think it was a palace – or maybe a civic building of some sort) and towards the water at cliff top level. Occasionally, you come across the tiniest of beaches and as always, a spot of whale watching. A steady walk back down the hill and back into town again for a while. Col and Jude stayed around for a bit longer and we caught the shuttle back to the ship.
My eyes were very tired (or was it caffeine withdrawal again?) so a little nod before a light lunch in the Horizon Court (just missing out on the last of the shepherd's pie), washed down with two glasses of lemon squash.
After a cabin break, it was time for a caffeine hit and a chat to Marion and Norm as usual. I think they have a reserved seat down there for the afternoons.
We found it a bit warm outside on deck 11 and when I looked, there were none of our group out early, so we returned to the cabin and missed sail away. Our telephone couldn't have been working or I forgot to check to see if there were any messages, so we were the only ones at dinner.
One of the (many) good things about our table mates is that if they are dining elsewhere, they always pass the message along. With just the two of us, we were out really early (very nice lamb chops tonight) and bumped into Alex and Terri out on deck 14 and chatted to them for ages, before tiredness caught up with us and we headed for the cabin – early again. Probably not a good policy, as the clocks are back one hour again tonight, so we'll try and watch "The Kon Tiki" expedition, but once I lie down, I generally nod after a short while anyway.
Dubrovnik tomorrow. A new country for us and another walled city, so we are just doing the casual thing again, with the main city apparently about 30 minutes away.
It is also formal night tomorrow, somewhat surprisingly, on a port day, the night before a sea day and two days before the disembarking passengers leave us in Venice. We have an overnight stop in Venice 25th/26th August but the changeover is day two.
Rumours are rife as to what is going to happen on the return, with such wilds ones as going via the Panama Canal or round Africa. All very mischievous of course, but the fact remains that some of our ports could still be affected and it may be a really long run of sea days after Malta, even going through the Suez Canal, but no doubt, there will be an announcement after Venice when the 800 new passengers have boarded, even though there are several getting on/off in Rome.
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