short trip report: Corfu
 

It came as a tip from a work colleague, and it lived up to the ‘hype’: Stratigo Apartments, Kalami Bay in Corfu. Despite my love of the Greek Islands, Corfu was never on my list of ‘must sees’, but once shown the photographs they acted like a magnet.
Kalami Bay sits on the North East Coast of Cyprus, sandwiched between two glorious fishing villages: Agni Bay and Koulouria. The walks and views around Kalami are breathtaking – the climb takes your breath, and the views of the coastline and across to Albania are ones I will never forget. And if this wasn't enough, there are the apartments. Rooms right on the beach, with only a vine shaded terrace between you and the sea. The apartments smell of lemon blossom, and fresh lemons can be plucked from the trees growing next to your verandah.
The caretaker, is a lady full of smiles and quietly attentive and keen to display her fishing technique; she uses the jetty just outside the apartment to haul in octopus from sea to pot in minutes. Next door, an old fisherman in his brightly painted boat displays the many fish he has caught that afternoon.
There are three tavernas in Kalami: my favourite Thomas’s is feet away from the Taverna, a bit further on is the Kalami Bay Taverna, and then the White House where the Durrell’s once lived. All are on the beach, but the White House is the most romantic setting but served my least favourite meal.
Even more romantic, are the evening boat trips to the three tavernas in Agni. A fishing boat collects you from the jetty outside the apartment and sails you off into the sunset and after 10 minutes drops you off at one of the restaurants. Agni Bay Taverna I enjoyed the best, Toulas Taverna is the most expensive but serves up their famous seafood rice dish and surpassed my expectation. The third taverna is Nikolas which was extremely good on atmosphere and food.
What are the downsides? It is very quiet – but that is why we went there. The beach is shale but the apartment supply you with beach recliners as part of the price. The wine is expensive in comparison to other Greek Islands.
Anything else? Corfu Town is an absolute delight with its ancient alleyways and plenty of places to get lost.
There has only been two places I said I would definitely return to; one is in Turkey, and the other is Kalami Bay. Who should go there? Older couples in search of peace and romance – heaven.

I enjoyed reading your report as it was a little like going down memory lane.
I loved Corfu too - but I went in college - riding mopeds all over the island and enjoying 5 course meals for $5 - in the 80's.
I remember the beautiful views as you pointedd out. YOur apartment sounds lovely! I can just smell those lemons!!

I remember the olive trees and the little old ladies trying to sell them to us in a Mason jar! It was my first time to a nude beach too! I was the shy American who kept her bikini on.

Thanks for sharing your trip!

This is a lovely report but I'm thoroughly confused and perhaps you would enlighten me. Did you go to Corfu or Cyprus?

Thanks for the report Steve, glad you enjoyed your trip and was also gald to hear that it was quiet.

The report was the last thing I wanted to read. I think I mentioned before that the last time I was in Greece was 25 years ago. I have spent 3 weeks (in fact longer than the holiday will last) trying to sort out two weeks for next July. It's our first in the school holidays and villas have truned from £600 (in our usual May) to £3000 for sheds.

We have trawled through Corsica, Malta, Gozo, Galicia and finally settled again on Sardinia. Your report just throws more confusion. Other than the lack of sandy beaches, i think that it is exactly what we are looked for.

Thanks mate!

The style of your writing makes me want to go there also. It sounds fabulous. I know some of the cruise ships stop there. Did you run into hoards of tourists anywhere?

I don't think that I have ever read a report that has encouraged me to visit, more than this one!

Oh, my goodness, sounds so delightful. Can you give us more info on how to get to these apartments?? I have never been to Corfu, but would love to go.
What is the weather like in winter there??

Oh,Steve, another thing: How did you fly to Corfu?? and was it from the States or from Europe or from someplace else?

Wow, what a lovely report for what seemed like a wonderfully quite time on Corfu. Samantha Brown I believe made a stop there where she was on a Mediterranean Cruise where she spent a day there. I remembered thinking while watching that I have to visit there one day. After reading your trip report, I definitely have to go. I'm with taconictraveler, please provide us some more details.

jdc

This brought back a lot of memories from Corfu, (I guess that the Cyprus reference was a slip of the keyboard and brain). We went there a lot in the 80's and 90's, the last time being when Princess Diana died.

Agni Bay was always our favourite and best to visit when you hire a boat and tie up at the jetty outside Nikolas's Taverna, IMO the best of the three. The food is excellent and in a sublime setting. We still have a blown up picture of the place on our wall.

You've reawakened a desire to go back again.

It seems others realize that this is about Corfu even though it's tagged for Cyprus and the location is mentioned as being on Cyprus and the Durrells lived both on Corfu and Cyprus, hence my confusion. If this is really about Corfu, perhaps Steve, you could have the editors change the tag to Greece and your wonderful report could be found by others looking for info on Greece.

The tagging is becoming strange. I have posted recently but the system seems to tag threads with anything it feels like.

Areas of Corfu with its cypress trees are like "Tuscany by the sea", whether that is a good or bad thing, you can decide for yourself.

Thanks for the correction - I do keep calling Corfu - Cyprus (I meant Corfu) I think I will re-post under Greece later as I dont know if it is possible to contact the editor to change the Tag. So apologies in advance, if you revisit the same old report.

As far as when to visit, my choice would be early June. Even in late September the paths are full of wild cyclamen, and in June the flowers would be more prolific. They have a short season May to end October. October can be wet. We went late September, and although it is unusual, we had two days of rain and then a mix of sun and clouds, but not enough to 'dampen our spirits'. There wouldn't be much life in the resorts over Winter.

We flew from the Uk. We are lucky (in some ways) to live near Manchester where EasyJet fly cheaply to Corfu.

Corfu relies on its tourists (as well as olive oil), but Corfu Town apart, there weren't hordes of them.

Here's a link to the apartments, but don't hold your breath for a response they write under the rule of :Greek Maybe Time.

http://cvpcorfu.com/stratigo.htm

Steve - I sent a message to the editors for you and asked that the tag be changed to Greece. You can do this by clicking on the yellow triangle.

No need to re-post and better if you don't since you'll lose the responses you've received.

Thanks adrienne, no sooner said than done.

Thanks a lot Steve. The rooms on the beach look just wonderful and I've put them on a list for our holiday next year. We considered Corfu for our holiday this year but the prices in August (only time we can go) were huge! I'm planning to book much earlier this year when the flights are cheaper.

There's only one aspect that I would worry about for us with the rooms you stayed in, so I'll ask - we have a little girl (4 years old) - do you think that in Summer there would be a few other kids around or is it a very very quiet place? normally we go to small towns where there is a village square and we find that the local kids congregate there in the evenings - it's nice for her to be able to interact with other children at some stage in the holiday. If it's a very small place I'm guessing that there's nothing like that. You might not have any idea, but I thought I'd ask just in case.

Jane

Hi Anne
I'm not convinced that this particular resort is suitable for young children; it is very quiet. There were a few (not many)children there but much older than 4 years. The beach isn't very good for sandcastles. There are larger resorts that families are drawn to on Corfu, but I'm guessing you've researched these. August will be very hot in Corfu. Sorry to sound so negative.
Good luck.

Jane

Corfu's holiday accommodation is centred round the various resorts that dot the coast of the island and I don't think they have the small village square setup that you are looking for.

You might be better looking for a hotel or apartment building with a kids club for your daughter, usually available through one of the big tour operators.

Try Tui (Thomson in the UK) or Thomas Cook.

Thanks Steve and Lifeman. I know it will be hot in August, so I figured if we could just run out of the door into the sea wouldn't that be lovely!

We tend to stay away from the kids club scene for our own sanity (although we have done it once before). A good sandcastle beach would be a plus though, and while we don't want somewhere touristy it sounds as if Kalami Bay might be just a bit TOO quiet. I'll put it on the list for an adult holiday, if we ever get one of them again :-)

I've been vacillating among Greece, Italy, or Germany for my next European trip but this report (and others) and recommendations from a few friends have helped make that decision easier - it's Greece (first time to Greece).

Now to logistics. My preliminary itinerary includes Athens, Delphi, Meteora, and a few Cyclades islands. How easy/difficult would it be to include Corfu in the mix? Flight from Athens (or elsewhere) or boat from the mainland?