In this fine edition, I’ve been taken to the incredible Greek Island, Corfu. After Barcelona, this is the spot on everyone’s mind. Covered in beaches and as warm as Oz, those lucky enough to be joining me on this tour we pretty excited. As a traveller, if you don’t spend every day sight-seeing and making the most of the day, you feel incredibly guilty, and the day is usually destroyed. People come to Corfu for the opposite reasons. For a place to chill, and do nothing without a care, Corfu delivers. Because there are no touristy attractions here, it’s possible to just sit on the beach all day, or simply go for a scenic drive without a care or the feeling of guilt. We all knew we were in for a good couple days, but it turned out to be much more.
At the beginning of the tour, we had three different tours on the bus, and after Nice, we lost one of these tours to another group. It sucks that everyone had just become comfortable with each other and everyone was friends. Waiting for us on arrival to Corfu was that group. Despite our short time together, and short time apart, it was an emotional and awesome reunion. It was good to hear some stories like one chap who decided to scrum a fire extinguisher, setting it off and come off 400 Euro less, or another chap who pissed himself, and then proceeded to sit on a couch.
An optional activity that was offered to us was “George’s Boat”. Anything that includes sitting in the sun, lunch and a tour group full of friends - in bikinis - is a winner over me. For 35 Euro, I was expecting something sensational. What was delivered was far more than I bargained for. The information given to us was that we were going to be cruising over to some section of the Island famous for the water sports, and that George is loveable and creepy. Tara described George as the creepy uncle, and I couldn’t have put it better. If we weren’t warned, George may have been somewhat scary, but since we knew before hand, the man came across as geniously hilarious. As soon as we got into Corfu, we set up camp and walked to the beach to be picked up by George.
The first thing that many of us noticed was the boat’s logo. On the cabin door of the boat was a big sticker of two people in the ‘69’ position. Shortly after, the deck hand walked past wearing the boat’s singlet. The back of the singlet features George’s boat, and about 10 people involved in a huge orgy. Apparently in the day, this is what George’s boat used to be like. Moments after we left the beach, I felt a wave of relaxation come over me. Burning up in the sky was a scorching sun, and it felt so good. Unlike Australia, Greece has a thicker ozone layer (or so I’ve been told), so even after spending 5 hours in the sun, on the water, I still came away with nothing more than a better tan.
There were heaps of options to choose from at the water sport place, but all were insanely expensive. It’s not every day one has the opportunity to go para-sailing, but it’s not every day it’s going to cost 60 Australian bad-boys either. Two Canadian lads from the tour decided to have a tandem para-sail, and I was fortunate enough to sit in the boat and take some snappies. One of the activities was the banana boat, where the banana is dragged along by the boat. It could fit 10 people, and we managed to fill it all with people from the tour. It was incredible fun, and painful when you fell off. Another activity I signed up for was the inflatable tube thing. Ben and two others from the tour also went for the inflatable’s, and so all four of us went at the same time. It was awesome fun smashing into each other and observing everyone’s reactions. Some of the noises that came out proved to be enjoyable also.
For lunch, George kept it simple by making ham and salad rolls with hot chips, olives and his own (almost 100% garlic) Tzatziki. It was gorgeous! We then discovered we could buy alcohol on the boat, and the beer was quite cheap, so to further relax ourselves, we got on the piss. After another 45 minutes of cruising around the island, George stopped at a lovely little pebbly beach, and before we could ask where we were, our mobile cook for the tour had taken off her top and leapt into the water. Then, before I could comprehend what had just happened, all the girls on the tour were running around topless, jumping into the water. All the chaps looked at each other and knew what needed to be done. Ben lead the way by cupping his manhood, and plunging himself starkers into very clear and cold water. I saw this activity as a great bonding session for the group as everyone felt comfortable enough to jump in to this water minus their clothes. After more beer, Zorba dancing and national anthems, the boat stopped for one last swim, and then we were taken back to our beach.
Later in the night, Tara took us all to a little chilled out cocktail bar that overlooked the beach. Having never consumed a real cocktail, it was a rather exciting experience. Benjamin had a Pina Colada, and I had to hook into the Jamaican Banana. For only 70 Euro, one could also purchase a Vodka and watermelon, which is basically watermelon juice, with vodka, served in a watermelon. One old chap did purchase one of these, and with the willing help of the group, managed to consume it all.
We were fortunate enough to spend a further two days in Corfu, and so eight of us decided to rent some cars. I couldn’t have thought of a better way to see Corfu. By having our own transport, we could visit whatever beach we wanted, and we were free of any time limits. It sounds frightfully boring, but I believe our day spent lying on the beach, doing nothing at all, was exactly what we needed.
Everyone had put their name down for the Greek Dinner and Dancing night, which was another optional activity organised for us. For some reason though, it was cancelled, which I find to be most unfortunate as I was looking forward to the traditional plate smashing. Instead though, we all put in 20 Euro and, being in Greece, had a Toga party. Many of the chaps decided on the traditional style of nothing underneath, which Big Ben and myself decided to join in on. It was a free feeling. Who-ever made the punch done a really good job, because it had no flavour of alcohol to it, and therefore I was chugging it down like water. Tara organised some drinking Olympics which included smashing down beer, punch, wine and the dreaded Ouzo. I’m still embarrassed by my egg and spoon race attempt. In my group, I was the first to go, and before the race had even started, I’d already broken two eggs. That punch turned me into a walking wreck, and I remember a good 50% of the night. I haven’t heard of anything I may have done with possible regrets, so I think I’m safe.
Greek drivers are crazy. On our last day in Corfu, we all decided to drive our hire cars through the city, to get to a really nice beach that was recommended to us. Our car was following, and the one in front being driven by Andy - Some champion from Melbourne - decided to turn down a little alleyway. This alleyway turned into a brick road. This brick road turned into a pedestrian road. This pedestrian road seemed to have no exit. For about 30 minutes, two little white rental cars were narrowly dodging dogs, old men and waiters from restaurants. We somehow made it out of this Greek maze and were on the way again.
So far in Europe Benjamin and myself had only seen one sandy beach, and even that one was pretty shit. They love their pebbles here, but the pebbles suck. To walk into the water, one must endure all kinds of pain and ridicule. This beach was different though. With the sun out and blazing, super fine sand and not too much wind, this one reminded me a lot of the beaches back home. Still in the Greek frame of mind, all the girls decided to rip off their tops and give their beauties a bit more of the Greek sun. Our group proceeded to sun-bake for the day and before long, I found myself running into the water starkers with a chorus of laughter and applause from an appreciative audience. My little stunt was very invigorating and I felt alive and refreshed. I encourage everyone to have a little streak somewhere, the human body is a beautiful thing. I recall a few other girls having a dip that was skinny throughout the day also.
One of the girls, Katie (Who happened to be the one to start all the nakedness off), was dared to walk into a supermarket with her boob out, pretending she didn’t know it was like that. She pulled it off marvellously. So marvellously in fact, that the old Greek guy who served her came running out to tell her that she should re-arrange her clothing. I thought this act was highly commendable and we all found it hilarious.
This morning we’ve left Corfu and we’re currently on another ferry. On arrival we get on a bus, eat the best gyros in the world and then drive to Athens. I do hope all the riots are over. It will be interesting to see how the city has been affected.
Bye!
Was it the crazy Canadian who lost his pants again? ha ha!
ReplyDelete