On Tuesday morning (July 3rd) we dinghied over to Corfu Town from the anchorage and looked for a place to park Baby Nimmie. The nearby marina/yacht club had had reports of no longer being managed so we were reluctant to leave it there untended for several hours. The sea moat around the old Fort hadn’t completely silted up so we went down it to see whether we could leave her there. There were various huts along the side of the moat with small local boats moored up so we tied up about half way along and climbed the stairs to come out by the entrance to the fort.

Corfu has been heavily fortified over the years by its various ‘occupants’, especially the Venetians who built two forts. The ‘Old Fort’ is right at the end of the channel looking across to Albania and you can imagine the guns protecting both the town and the waters below. We walked up to the lighthouse at the top of the hill to find magnificent views across the channel. It was blistering hot though so we were glad that we had got there in the morning before it got even warmer!

The fort houses various exhibitions including Byzantine mosaics and paintings as well as water colours by a local artist.

On our way out, we looked across to check on Baby Nimmie only to see that the gate half way up the stairs was locked! Oops. We went for a closer inspection and it had been locked but luckily it was easy enough to open. Phew!

The town itself has large gardens, wide Italianate boulevards and even a cricket pitch. The narrow streets of the old town could have been anywhere in southern Italy with the marble cobblestones.

We wandered round for a hour or two but then decided to get back to both the dinghy and Nimmie and have lunch on board. We went back into town in the evening to find a bar to watch the England v Columbia World Cup game as our tv can’t pick up Greek digital tv apparently. (It was fine in Italy but clearly our 8 year old tv is getting past it!) After the game, we had celebratory drinks at the rooftop bar at Hotel Cavalieri, even though it was past midnight. Lovely cool breeze and still very warm.

On Weds morning we left our anchorage to go searching for beach bars. Liz had read about a lovely one a few miles north of Gouvia so we went back on ourselves to have a look. Unfortunately, it didn’t even look open despite the beach looking very nice so on we went. Next stop Mouse Island opposite the Durrell’s Pink House and right under the flightpath to Corfu Airport! After taking some pictures (you can’t actually see the Durrell’s house from the sea), we then went on to find the Achilleion Palace. Sadly, again we couldn’t see it as it was behind trees.

Our evening stop was the delightful village of Petriti on the south of Corfu. We anchored in 4m of sand and turquoise water and within ten minutes of getting there, we had both jumped in the water to cool off and check the anchor. The water was so clear that you could see that it was well dug in.

We had heard good reports about the Panorama taverna about half a mile from the anchorage so we took the dinghy for a drink. The place was an oasis of calm and tranquility with lush gardens, hammocks, terrace and dockside tables. We decided to try their own wine (very good) and some calamari and tzatziki before retiring back to the boat for our main meal.

This morning (Thursday), we took the dinghy over to the town to do some food shopping. We had only meant to pick up some bread but the local supermarket was excellent and cheap so we ended up getting two 3 litre flagons of local wine, some swordfish, fruit and bottled water (that they were selling for €1.50 for 5 litres). This afternoon has been spent chilling on the boat having done a few chores but mainly watching the antics of people anchoring. The French (as usual) don’t bother to slow down when dropping the anchor and then look baffled when it drags. One British boat came in and politely asked if he was too close. We said no but he re-anchored anyway. Having said that, he re-anchored closer to us but at least he asked!

This evening we tried a couple more tavernas in Notos (about half a mile away) for a sundowner or two before going back on board to have the swordfish with salad and a nice bottle of cold, white wine.