Corfu 🇬🇷 Day 1

After a delayed flight, I tucked into bed at 2am 😳. I loved arriving in the wee hours and being able to drive through Corfu with very little traffic and get a glimpse.  The lovely hotel owner waited up to see me into my room - he also helped with my bike and bags as the luggage storage place understandably didn't want to wait 4hrs for me.  The smell of jasmine and the warmth and humidity felt like Qld.

I was up and out by 8.30 as I had to meet the baggage storage guy who came and collected my bags for a princely sum, so I negotiated a drop off in town 😂. I'm so glad I didn't follow through with my idea of cycling here as the roads are narrow, extremely busy and in poor condition.

I spent the day wandering the streets of old Corfu town.

The old fortress has quite a history, first built in the 1300's, damaged and renovated several times and it shows, as no attempt to blend with the original style.  It was fun exploring the ruined section, walking up to the lighthouse with views across the harbour.

 
The water colour is beautiful and I walked down to a marina and paddled in the warm water.

Old Corfu town is a series of winding streets with vendors selling their holiday wares, restaurants enticing patrons, fruit and vege shops, tour operators and thousands of tourists from all over the world.  It's hectic, crowded, alive, noisy and wonderful.

Prince Phillip was born at this palace 

I had lunch at the oldest family owned restaurant in Corfu and the zucchini balls were amazing.

Baclava flavoured gelati

At the new fortress, they were just shutting the gates for the day and I spoke to a woman next to me as we were both about to enter.  Carol from Blackpool and I spent half an hour wandering and she needed to chat as had just nursed her adult son and he had passed away from cancer.  she was having some R&R before going back to work and appreciated some company.  

We parted ways and I headed to the bus terminal and travelled to the south west part of the island where I will stay at the beach. I had a swim in the pool to cool off and then out for dinner.  

The timing was perfect as I watched the sun set from my balcony table.  The Greek food was lovely, wonderful service and a friendly couple from Bath at the next table.  A walk along the beach to finish the night.

So do i rent this Mr Bean car? 😂😂

I was planning on doing a boat trip to Blue lagoon tomorrow but they have all been cancelled as thunderstorms predicted, Wednesday now sold out and so hoping for a Thursday slot.
I have a quiet room and look forward to a relax over the coming days 😊

Budapest 🇭🇺 to Corfu 🇬🇷

 I slept well in my quiet spacious room, even temp all night and dark.  I woke and realised I was actually pretty exhausted.  I have been to Budapest before as part of a work trip and so made the decision to have a recharging kind of day.  It was raining outside and so I snuggled back in for a while and then packed my bags, and remembered to remove any flammable items such as gas bottle!

Reception held my bags and the girl helped me find a $2 shop to buy some bags to package my paniers into for the flight.

It was raining pretty heavily and so off I went to catch the underground train to the famous Szechenyi thermal baths for a day spa outing.  

I spent a few hours moving between the pools of different temperatures.  I prefer the outside ones in the fresh air.  Visiting the pools was a popular choice today and it was fun to hear tourists with so many different accents.

I caught the train back and wandered the streets near my hotel but wanted to leave time to pack down my bike.  

Glad I did as I had one stubborn pedal that wouldn't give!  

All checked in and having a bite to eat.  My flight was due to leave now but delayed 3 hours so an after midnight arrival.

I'm spending the last few days of my European visa at the beach relaxing.  Bike being stored near Corfu airport.