NOVEMBER 11, 2022 : We spent the night in Koukouli in a stone house on the mountain. Today we were going to Corfu, and to make sure we reach our ferry in time, we woke up early. The view from the house was beautiful – a heavy fog covered the valley. We would need to drive through the fog on the mountain roads – it was sure to be slow going.
We first drove south, back to Ioannina, and from there got on the highway west to Igoumenitsa – a town on the west coast of the Greece mainland with a ferry harbor.
As we drove up to the port, our ferry was just arriving. We watched the passengers, cars and trucks disembark. An amazing amount of vehicles came out of the ferry – there were dozens of them including many huge trucks.
It was basically a free-for-all – only drivers are allowed in the cars, so all the passengers disembark from the ferry and wait for their driver. The cars and trucks exit, and there are no designated lanes for anything. Passengers walk in the same places that the cars drive. In addition, taxis arrive in the opposite direction to pick up people. There was also no line for cars getting onto the ferry. We were scattered all over the port and came to enter from all different directions. A very different experience from other ferry rides, where everything had its proper lane.
Another difference on this ferry, was that it only had one entrance that was also the exit. Other ferries, you enter on one side and drive off on the other. Here, after you drove onto the ferry, you needed to turn the car around, so you would be facing the proper direction to drive off the boat. Even the huge trucks also needed to turn around inside the ferry.
The ferry ride to Corfu from Igoumenitsa was a little over an hour. For the first part, we were accompanied by a large group of seagulls. They would catch the breeze alongside the boat, and literally glide next to us. It was pretty amazing to see.
The way was beautiful – you had the mountains of the Greece mainland on one side, and the mountains of Corfu on the other. As we approached the island, we saw the old fortress of Corfu dominate the skyline. Corfu city was an elegant group of pastel colored buildings. It was a very enjoyable ride.
In general, the Corfu we saw was probably a very different place than what most tourists see – we were here off-season and most everything was closed. In the main city, about 50% of the shops were shut for the season, and even some of the attractions were closed until summer comes. The main draw on Corfu is the beaches and now the beaches were deserted. As we drove past coastal resorts, everything was shut for the winter. On the other hand, nothing was too crowded, and the roads were mostly empty. We also had some rain, but that can happen any time of the year.
We would spend the next three days exploring Corfu. Instead of writing what we did each day, as I have been doing for this trip up to now, I divided our time in Corfu into two blogs . The first “Jewish Corfu” is about the sites we visited for Wandering Jew. The second is “Corfu Sightseeing” about the tourist attractions we visited.
Looks so beautiful!