CasaPope: Greetings from Corfu, Greece!!

KASSIOPI, CORFU, GREECE(Mainly a bunch of pictures)
With our last resort-vacation (Majorca) being somewhat interesting and a bit of a learning experience, we decided to try something a bit different with our next one. Let's just say while I like my kid, it doesn't mean I like everyone else's kids, especially when on vacation. Not to mention the varied parenting styles across European cultures and the amount, or lack, of clothes dictated by such. I guess we really are just America prudes.

Anyway, we found a site called VillaPlus.com that vets and recommends privately owned houses in a few different countries and offers packages of air flights, housing etc all in one bang. After looking into it, James, my accountant husband, quickly realized that not only was the villa and flights for 3 people cheaper than just the hotel at a typical resort-type place, but we would have a whole house and pool to ourselves. We wouldn't have to worry about camping out at 6am to hold pool side chairs. AND we wouldn't have to deal with parents letting their 10yr olds run stark neked around the pool either. So while the idea of "staying in a villa" sounds a bit rich and pretentious, it really was just cheaper. Ask my accountant.

So we ventured to the Village of Kassiopi on the Greek island of Corfu and had an incredible time! The food was always awesome, the people were warm and welcoming. They loved Stella. One store owner even stopped Stella on the road and picked her up and carried her away. Lucky for us, the trusting parents, she only wanted to give her some sweets from the store counter! Another townsman, who James originally thought was drunk, but later confirmed was just REALLY friendly, would wave and yell to Stella as he met to greet her every time we walked in to the harbour. Even the villa's caretaker, Lola, brought Stella a little gift her 2nd time out. My favorite was the 19-yr-old French-Canadian-Greek Kid working at the Wave Bar who always stopped to talk to us on our nightly walks and enlightened us as to the origins of the summer festival.

It was nice to actually feel welcomed somewhere as a family and to have children greeted and treated as the blessing they are, rather than an annoyance like at so many other places.

It also was so typically Greek. Not overrun by tourists or American businesses, or in this case British businesses. The famous Greek island cats are EVERYWHERE. We'd see older women dressed in full black garb walking along the roadsides in and out of the village. AND we heard the goat herder coming down the road by our house every day with his herd to boot. Not to mention the Greek roads. We had about a 40 minute drive from the airport to our house up roads built for single cars really, but with blind curves every 200 yards or so, winding its way up along the mountains along the cliff-sides of the coast. Very unnerving. But I now know I can hold my breath for 40 minutes. Nevertheless, James did quite well managing without major (or minor really) incident.
To sum up, it's somewhere we'd likely visit over and over if we had the chance and time. :)

Kalamaki Beach

Not the most stable jetty. It does however lead out to Albania across the Ionian Sea there.

Stella is the little pink-striped blur. In a minute she's going to school the kid with the soccer ball as to how to actually use it.

There she goes kicking his ball. At Kassiopi Harbour on festival night

Lamb on the spit

gruesome a bit, but looks quite good too!

Church of the Panayia Kassopitra. The festival that was being held "celebrates the miraculous healing of a blind boy, called Stefanos, who had unjustly lost his sight for a crime he did not commit. After spending the night in the church his sight was restored and this miracle is celebrated in Kassiopi each year. During the morning there is a church ceremony, followed by a street procession often accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra and in the evening a Paniyiri is held in the harbour area." Taken from: https://www.kassiopi-holidays.com/corfu_map.cfm

Part of the ruins left of the Byzantine castle overlooking Kassiopi Harbour

Looking for boats coming in to the harbour

Kassiopi Harbour where we ate at one or another Taverna every night

We managed to find our little rental on the hillside while eating at the harbour one night.

Kassiopi Harbour

Corfu Town: Kinda like old town, but it's the main touristy town further south the coast from Kassiopi

so clear

Old Fortress of Corfu Town

Park overlooking Old Fortress

Loves her some slide time!

View from opposite side of Kassiopi Harbour looking at Castle on hillside

"Bye bye Kassiopi Harbour!"

Amazing water!

view from the house over the Ionian Sea and to Albania

Checking our her accommodations and making sure Monkey is ok with them.

Sunbathing

Stella Baby!!!

We learned "heated pool" doesn't really mean heated pool. Heated is a relative term in Greece. Basically, it meant the water was 3 degrees hotter than the ambient temperature, with the ambient temperature being in the low 60s. Stella didn't mind it though.