Day 5: May 4, 2015 - The Island of Corfu

Al had been to Santorini and Mykonos before but she had never been to Corfu so we decided to do a tour excursion. We had to meet our tour guide by the bus station at 9:15 so we were up and eating breakfast by 8:00. Once the ship had docked, we were able to get off. We found our tour and got on the nice, air-conditioned bus. We booked the tour through Costco and were on the Shore Excursions Group. We first headed to an old monastery in Paleokastritsa that was about an hour drive away. While we were driving through the city, we saw how the economic downfall was starting to affect the city - there was garbage and graffiti everywhere. Our tour guide gave us her opinions on the matter as well as we traveled to our first stop - she was not a big fan of the government and how they have been handling it. As we got closer to the monastery, we had a beautiful view of the coast. In Cory's intelligent words, "The water is shining like pixie farts!" Even though I'm not really sure what pixie farts look like... it was beautiful water.

Once we got to the monastery, we got off the bus and the tour guide took us a little tour of the church and the gardens. It was very small and smelled like cats. We may have bailed out on her schpeal a little early and chilled in the shade... on our way back to the bus, Dad found Coke (the cruise only had Pepsi) and bought a drink he thought would be similar to Dr. Pepper - ya it was definitely NOT Dr. Pepper...

We got back on the bus and headed to an old Achilleion Palace. The tour guide bought our tickets and we followed her inside. We started off listening to her tour of the palace but got bored quickly and decided to explore it ourselves. We walked through the different rooms. There was a huge painting of Achilles dragging Hector through the streets of Troy, that was super cool to see.

We went outside to the gardens. There were a bunch of super cool statues, including the famous one of Achilles.

Cory and Dad found a lizard - it was hilarious! Cory started imitating the lizard while Mom jumped on Al and freaked out. Our group was still in the palace so we walked down to the little shop and got some souvenirs and snacks.

We got back on the bus and headed to the Corfu Town, the city part of the island. We didn't even try to stay with the group this time - we had to find a bathroom for pregnant Jess and thankfully found one at a McDonald's. While we were waiting, Cory pointed out some ancient sex calendars and playing cards for my entertainment - thanks? Dad and Cory went exploring the Old Venetian fort during our last few minutes on the island.

We headed back to port - we had to be back on board at 3:00. We went through security, and got back on the ship. The weather was perfect for sunbathing so we all got our swimming suits on and headed up to Deck 12. We discovered nachos and chips and salsa. Al, Mom, and I tried out the pool - it was super cold! I'm pretty sure they got the water from the ocean because it was really salty and cold. I got a little sunburnt...

We got some crepes for dinner and we were a bit exhausted from our day and the sun so we headed to bed. Overall, Corfu wasn't my favorite but it was beautiful!