The Path to Paleokastritsa
White-washed walls, blooming bougainvillea, sea breeze wafting through the streets...these were the Greek Island gems that greeted us our first moments in Corfu. We departed the ship early, really early in fact, and headed straight for the car rental office to pick up our teeny-tiny Aveo for a day of island exploring. Having been to Mykonos and Santorini on previous cruises, I was familiar with Greece and its incredibly beautiful towns. But this day was devoted to finding prime beach real estate. It wasn't a surprise that we were rewarded with gorgeous scenery all along the way.
We had our sights aimed on Paleokastritsa, a sweet seaside village on the Northwest coast of Corfu. Its most notable attributes? Steep slopes of olive groves and citrus orchards, ocean caves, and turquoise coves lined with seafood restaurants and resort life. It's no wonder Paleokastritsa has long been considered one of the most beautiful areas of Corfu, and we were dying to see every square inch of it! But before we could dip our toes in the Ionian Sea, we had to make our way through some perfectly Greecian hillside villages. With just an arrow pointing to the "Path to Paleokastritsa," we began our journey.
I honestly have no clue the name of this small village (still kicking myself about that one, although it could be Makrades, maybe??), but it was just about as quaint and rustic as Greek villages come. There was a woman sweeping her front doorstep who started up a conversation with us as we made our way along the stone streets. Her words were all in Greek and we understood next to nothing, but she was full of smiles and seemed happy to have new faces exploring her quiet town. She pointed us towards the town's museum, a building with one room covered in old photos of every event the village had ever held. The pride in her eyes as she pointed to this photo and that photo, explaining each as quickly as she could. Even though the language barrier had us struggling to express our own thoughts, it wasn't hard to understand how important this village is to her and her family. The slow days, the simplistic living...it made me ache for a small village life of my own.
We spent a good hour just wandering around, snapping photos and chatting with our new friend. As our tummies began to rumble, we quickly decided that instead of walking the whole way down to the beach, we should hop in the car and park closer to the ocean. Ease of travel was wisdom we gleaned from our time in this serene island village. In our final moments here, we experienced another awe-inspiring vista of Paleokastritsa and its beaches, making our count a whopping 4 stunning vistas viewed in just a week's time (with 7 more days to go!). Collecting those "pinch me" moments...there's nothing quite like it!
More from Paleokastritsa to come!
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