Corfu

Croatia was amazing, but getting from there to Greece was one of the most complicated things I’ve ever had to do. If you look at the two countries on the map, they are quite close, and originally I thought I wouldn’t have a problem getting to Corfu from Split. It’s just down the Adriatic after all.

I was wrong. No buses, trains or ferries go there.

After a lot of research I discovered that the cheapest way (and easiest, if you’ll believe it) was to take an overnight ferry to Italy, and then another overnight ferry to Igoumenitsa in Greece, and then another ferry from there to the island of Corfu. Two days later when I finally arrived I was (needless to say) exceptionally grumpy and tired as hell, and to boot I had no place to stay. The first thing I did was sit and have a coffee. Once I could feel the caffeine pulsing through my veins I managed to locate an internet café so I could find a hostel to stay at and how to get there. Luckily, I chose well, and Spiros, the owner of the hostel, came and picked my up in his beat-up old van at the dock and took me home.

My first impression of the hostel was not good, I admit. I had only seen couples around the place so far, and as a single traveller having a hostel full of couples basically means you’ll be doing everything alone and going to bed early. Granted, I’ve met some really cool couples who socialize and party with everyone, but the general rule is that they keep to themselves. On top of the couple thing, midway through my shower I noticed I was not alone. There was a massive, 4-inch long grasshopper in there with me. I got out of there pretty fast, and if anyone was around they would have witnessed quite the scene: Me, naked and soapy, running for my life out of the stall. After that, I decided a siesta was in order.

Things greatly improved when I awoke and met a girl named Lisa, from Melbourne. She assured me that the hostel was wonderful and that most people were, in fact, single travellers who loved to party. She was right, and as it happens, that hostel in Corfu became by far the best hostel I’ve ever stayed at. Magdalena cooked everyone in the hostel two authentic, organic Greek meals a day for free. Everyone ate together which meant we all got to know each other very well, and dinner was always followed by several drinks. The hostel itself is situated in the side of a rock-face, overlooking a perfect beach. This beach was virtually unknown by tourists, so it was quiet and clean. This also meant that there was still quite a bit of greenery and natural growth on the island so it felt very lush. On our daily hikes, we would pluck wild figs from the trees and eat them along with peaches and almonds and pomegranates and grapes. There was wild Thyme, rosemary and bay leaves growing everywhere, and some of the olive trees have been growing on the island for hundreds of years. There was also a nude beach near by, that was had clay-mud layered underneath the sand and we would make trips down to it and rube the clay all over ourselves and make our skin lovely and soft. I was lucky to have stayed there and I really felt that the hostel enabled me to experience the real Corfu and what it had to offer.

The day after I got there I met another lovely girl named Emma, and her, Lisa and I got on quite well and decided to continue travelling together after Corfu. They were both planning on going to Santorini, and I had already been, but they convinced me to go along and continue our adventures together!