Wednesday September 25th, 2013 Corfu, Greece

Another beautiful day in the Adriatic. Today we stopped at the Greek island of Corfu which is the northern most of the Ionian Islands off the west coast of Greece - to the west lies Italy and Albania is to the east, which is apparently within swimming distance - though I didn't try it, anyway Albania is full of bandits. Having visited Corfu back in 2010, we decided to have a slow day just hanging out in Corfu Town. 

After the short shuttle bus ride from the ship into the old part of Corfu Town the first impression is one of dilapidation and decay, but in a somewhat quaint way - with a touch of gratuitous graffiti. We knew immediately we were in Greece - the two orthodox priests in full garb doing their tourist trinket shopping were a dead giveaway.

We followed a group of local women into a beautiful old church where they were going to take part in some kind of orthodox ritual that involved kneeling in front of what looked like a wrapped-up corpse in a very old glass case, then kissing a succession of icons that were attached to the alter. When visiting places of worship, it's always a fine line between feeling like you are intruding into a deeply personal space but wanting to learn from their experience - we tried to be as discreet as possible as it looked like we were the only tourists in the place.

Sandra feels very strongly about following the local customs when visiting places of worship, so she insisted on buying and donning a headscarf prior to entering the church. The convenient headscarf shop right at the entrance to the church was, well, very convenient.

Corfu, like most of the islands in the Aegean, went through a succession of owners, Romans, Ottomans, Venetians, French, British and finally Greek. The architecture of the island reflects its historical background, particularly the French and British influence; it's the only place in Greece where cricket is played each week on a nice pitch at the edge of the old town. There is also a nice wide pedestrian French-style boulevard called The Liston which is lined with shops and cafes whose setting areas extend out to the edge of the cricket pitch. 

We wandered the obligatory narrow alleys lined with trinket shops, bars and cafes - stopping along the way to buy a pen and a fridge magnet, our contribution to the local economy.

The wi-fi service on board the ship is simply atrocious; weak and intermittent signals, dropped service etc. Salt is further rubbed into the wounds by the continuously running infomercial playing on the TV in the cabin which touts the brilliance of the internet service aboard ship. Really, these days, there is no excuse for this pathetic service, and I shall be expressing this opinion to Cunard upon my return. 

Anyway, this situation led us to hunt for an internet cafe in Corfu - so as we trawled through the alleys, we tried to find the perfect spot; smallest number of smokers, wi-fi, clean-looking, busy with locals eating real Greek food - oh and an assortment of baklava for dessert. Needless to say we did not find one place that checked all of these boxes - so we had to split our requirements in two: one for lunch and one for baklava and wi-fi.

At the "Cafe Restaurant Central" the little waiter talked us into a shared plate of Meze - basically an assortment of Greek food, this was accompanied by a fresh tomato and cucumber salad and cold drinks. 

The salad was simple, fresh and excellent. The Meze plate could have fed the Trojan Army - it was huge and consisted of authentic moussaka, tzatziki lamb kebabs, roast pork, roast chicken, fried cheese and baked cheese (so far, all authentic) - topped off with a pile of french fries!

The lamb kebabs were juicy and delicately flavored, charred on the outside and soft in the middle - Sandra even ate one, and she does not generally like lamb. The roasted meats were a bit fatty but very authentic and the fried cheese (I know this sounds strange) was chewy and tangy. Moussaka is one of my favorites and it did not disappoint. That's the food review done.

We did our best but left more on the plate than we ate - it was very tasty.

There was no wi-fi service at the "Central Restaurant", and we needed to upload the blog, so we picked one of the many cafes that offered internet service, The Black Cat Cafe, down by the Old Port and near to the shuttle bus stop. The cappuccino was once again excellent - this is something they just seem to know how to get right in this part of the world; a thick and creamy head that can be gently stirred into the rich strong espresso at the bottom of the cup - outstanding. Baklava is one of Sandra's personal favorites - thin layers of Philo pastry interspersed with honey and pistachios makes for a sweet, sticky, and messy dessert. We had no idea the servings were going to be so big; one piece would easily have fed us both - and we said as much, but as we were leaving, I noticed that we'd both managed to demolish most of our pieces. I plan on ordering from the Spa menu tonight.