Cruising Log of Greece: Corfu & The Ionian Sea
Contributed by Jacques and Nita Steininger
Santa Barbara, California | June 2004
This is the log of our two-week reciprocal charter on POLO II, a 1999 Moorings 4-cabin Sun Odyssey 43 based in Corfu, Greece.
Corfu (Kerkyra in Greek) is in the Ionian Sea on the Western coast of Greece. It is a historical stepping stone between Greece and Italy. Brindisi in Italy is only 90 miles away. As such it has seen many conquerors from Antiquity to the modern times. The island people are friendly and open to visitors. Many of them understand English.
Unlike the Cyclades and the Dodecanese, the sailing is easy and the islands are not as crowded with tourists.
We stayed for almost a week on the friendly and beautiful island of Corfu, relaxing and waiting for our crew. Then we sailed down the chain of islands to Paxos, Lefkas, Kefalonia and back.
All prices quoted in this report are in euros, worth about $ 1.25 at the time.
Paris to Corfu
We flew Olympic Airways leaving Paris at 1:30 PM, arriving in Corfu at 9 PM after a short layover in Athens in the brand new airport specially built for the Olympics.
After picking up our Avis rental car, we drove to Gouvia Marina, a few kilometers north of Corfu town. Friendly Base Manager Vassilis was waiting for us. He took us to a local restaurant in Gouvia for a late dinner. His daughter Nadia and her boyfriend from Montreal also joined us for a drink. Vassilis has lived for many years in South Africa and speaks fluent English.
Our boat Polo II was in excellent condition and well provisioned. We didn't have any technical problems throughout the whole charter.
Day 1- Gouvia Moorings Base
Gouvia Marina is quite large. It is well equipped with a small supermarket, several coffee shops and other stores. More shops and tavernas are within walking distance in Gouvia. Many people keep their boat there year round. Since we had a car, we completed our provisioning in the larger Corfu supermakets, such as Carrefour, and at the farmers' market downtown. They all had excellent fresh fruits and vegetables.
Like many Mediterranean cities, Corfu has narrow streets and one-way traffic. The traffic goes counterclockwise around the old city. If you miss a street, you go around again which may take 10 minutes or an hour depending on traffic. In Corfu, they don't seem to pay much attention to No Parking signs and you park pretty much wherever you want as long as you don't block traffic.
In the evening, we went for a walk and dinner in the old town near the famous Spaniada (from the French Esplanade, or Parade Grounds). Dating back from the Napoleonic occupation, it has arcades like rue de Rivoli in Paris. At night, everybody goes there for eating and drinking. The popular drink is Nesfrappé, which is simply iced Nescaffé instant coffee that is slowly sipped over several hours.
In the back are numerous open-air restaurants and tourist shops.
Day 2 - Island Tour
On Day 2, we explored the northern part of the island, driving to Paleokastritsa and Sidari. The roads are well marked with signs in Greek and English. We admired the beautiful view at Paleokastritsa and took a small boat tour to visit the sea caves nearby.
We had an excellent lunch at a nice restaurant on the beach including moussaka, fresh fish, baklava and a good white wine.
In the afternoon, we drove up the mountain to Bella Vista for a superb view of the bay and monastery. However, the drive to Sidari was a disappointment, except for the superb rock formations. Otherwise it is a typical tourist town full of Brits on holidays.
Day 3 - Sail to Agni
On Day 3, we took a short sail up the coast to the delightful Bay of Agni, right across from the coast of Albania.
Vassilis had called the owner of Nikolas Taverna to reserve a table for us. Nikolas was very friendly and helped us dock at the small pontoon right in front of the taverna.
After a nice lunch of Greek salad and roasted lamb (23 euros for two), we anchored further out in the bay for a well-deserved siesta.
Day 4 - Touring Corfu
On Day 4, we explored the southern part of the island. We enjoyed the beautiful view of the island and monastery of Pondikonissi then went to visit the famous Achilleon villa of Empress Sissi of the Austrian imperial family.
In the evening, we went to meet our daughter at the bus terminal, arriving from Athens. The trip took her about 8 hours but it was interrupted by a couple of ferry crossings and didn't feel too long. At night again, we went to a restaurant in town and watched the European Cup soccer games on outdoor TV sets (Greece won the cup!).
Day 5 - Island Touring
In the morning, I went to the airport to pick up our two cousins who were arriving on a direct flight from Paris.
We spend the day retracing our island tour to show our favorite spots to our new arrivals.
Day 6 - Sailing to Mourtos
After grocery shopping in the open-air market, we left Gouvia for a relaxed sail (about 20 miles) across the channel to the little harbor of Mourtos on the mainland.
The small marina near the center of town is well protected and docking for the night was free.
Day 7 - Sail to Paxos Island
We left at 6:30 am to sail across the channel to the island of Paxos. We stopped for lunch at the small harbor of Laka. We couldn't find a place to dock and dropped the anchor in the bay for a leisurely lunch on the boat.
After lunch, we motored down the coast to Gaios, a wonderful well protected little harbor. We docked stern to among other boats from many different countries.
This was the only place where we had to pay docking fees but it was only 1.43 euros because our boat was Greek flagged. Boats from outside the European Union had to pay slightly more.
At night, we went for dinner at a nice restaurant in a family backyard away from the beach.
Day 8 - Sail to Lefkas
We left early to sail about 30 miles to the island of Lefkas (Leucadia). Leucadia is connected to the mainland by a narrow peninsula. In ancient times, a canal was cut through, which makes it technically an island.
We arrived at 11 am in time for the opening of the rotating bridge at the entrance to the canal near the old Turkish fort. The bridge is on the main road to Athens. It opens every hour to let boat traffic into the canal. If there are sailboats, the two end sections lift up to allow passage.
After entering the canal, we docked in the marina where we were warmly welcome by the Moorings staff. Lefkas is the second Moorings base in the Ionian Sea. It is a nice base but we prefer Corfu because the island is more attractive.
We rented a car and explored the northern part of the island, including a beautiful new monastery. We also relaxed on the beach on the western coast.
Day 9 - Sail down Lefkada Island
This morning, our daughter took a bus back to Athens to return back to the US. It is a much shorter ride than from Corfu.
Our cousins decided to explore the rest of the island by car and to meet us at Nidri, half way down the coast.
We first enjoyed a nice sail, then the weather turned cloudy as we were passing by the private island of Skorpios, owned by the Onassis family.
Arriving in Nidri, we found that the docks were full. We had to anchor in the protected anchorage and use our dinghy for the first time to go ashore and retrieve our crew.
We again had a nice dinner in a Greek-Tahitian (yes!) restaurant, while we watched the rain outside.
Day 10 - Sail to Fiscardo on Kefalonia Island
Day 10 was our only bad weather day. We left Nidri at 10 am and sailed under mainsail alone for 2 1/2 hours in pouring rain. It got a little rough in the passage between the two islands but nothing that our boat couldn't handle.
It was still raining in the afternoon after we docked in Fiscardo. Fiscardo was built by a French crusader by the name of Guiscard. It is a beautiful little town with pastel-colored houses and tavernas all along the harbor.
There is a nice walk through a pine forest to an old Byzantine-Norman church dating back to the 6th century and to an old Venetian lighthouse and a newer Greek one.
Day 11 - Sail to Preveza
Sailing back north from Fiskardo, we passed the West coast of Leucadia and crossed over back to the mainland to the large port of Preveza.
The harbor and marina were full of boats and, after going around in circles for half an hour, we side tied to a beautiful unoccupied ketch from England. We walked to the town and had dinner in a good seafood restaurant.
Preveza is the site of the famous naval battle of Actium in 31 B.C. between the Egyptian fleet of Anthony and Cleopatra and the Roman fleet of Octavius, who later became Augustus. After routing his enemies, Octavius founded the town of Nikopolis (Victory City) on the site.
In the morning, we hired a taxi for 20 euros to take us to the archeological sites. The friendly driver spoke only Greek and German, so we had only a limited conversation. We visited the Greco-Roman ruins, the odeum (theater), the large Byzantine basilica and the small museum.
Day 12 - Sail to Parga
In the afternoon, we sailed along the mainland coast to Parga, a small city with Venetian and Turkish castles.
The harbor is half a mile from the town and very small. We were lucky to arrive early and easily dock stern to on the rocks. We took the dinghy to explore the town and tavernas. At night, we got to town with the water taxi.
In the morning, we took a ride on the tourist train to see Ali Pasha castle, about 5 miles up in the mountain overlooking Parga. It was built in 1814 by Turkish troops besieging the French-held city and has spectacular views.
On the way to the castle, we admired olive tree groves and stopped at the picturesque village of Anthousa.
Day 13 - Sail back to Corfu
In the afternoon, we sailed about 30 miles back to Corfu, avoiding the ferries and high-speed hydrofoils between Igoumenista and Corfu.
After we docked the boat in Gouvia, Vassilis arranged for a rental car to be brought to us at dockside. We used it for our last night in Corfu and to go to the airport the next day.
After Charter Tour
After our charter, we flew back to Athens and rented a car at the airport for our final three days of vacation. Avoiding the city of Athens, we took the new highway to Korintos (Corinth) and enjoyed exploring the eastern part of the Peloponese Island.
Observations
This was a very pleasant charter with a good boat, easy sailing and friendly people everywhere. We highly recommend it.
