Corfu is one of the hot spots for tourism in Greece, but we were hoping it would be on the quiet side today as a lot of places are shutting down for the winter. Our campground is closing on Sunday until May 1. We looked at treating ourselves to a hotel here, but the one we were looking at is closing tomorrow so it was not available. What we didn’t count on was cruise ships.
When we arrived in town the place was rocking with tourists! It turns out that after we arrived on our ferry yesterday afternoon three cruise ships came into the port. The number of people were just short of overwhelming, so we decided to head into the non-tourist part of town to visit a soap factory Ton had read about.
Patounis Soap Company has been making olive oil based soap using the same process since 1850. They have a small factory off of the main street in Corfu and are open for visitors. While we were there a German family was also visiting and asked for a tour so we tagged along. We got an explanation of the process and got to see the soap in the molds before they are cut into individual cakes. The process had not changed much since 1850 and the bars are still hand stamped and cut, and packaged in brown paper with twine. We enjoyed seeing how they made the soap and purchased a few bars for ourselves and for gifts.
On our way back into the old town we stopped by a coffee shop for a short break and a pastry. After our short break we headed back into town, and it was empty as we had imagined it would be when we arrived. It turns out all three of the cruise ships were sailing about 4pm and everyone had gone back to their ships.
Ton was very happy as she could move around taking photos and window shopping without fear of being trampled. We spent the next couple of hours just poking up and down streets and alleys looking at interesting shops and nice churches.
We have visited a lot of Catholic and Protestant Churches during our rounds in Europe, but this trip we have moved into lands belonging to the Orthodox church which we are not that familiar with. The difference in the style of the church, and the artwork is striking. The Orthodox churches seem to be smaller, and more austere than the western churches. I’m not completely sure about smaller because we have not visited a large city yet so the size may be a function of the size of the cities we have visited. The contrast is interesting between the western and eastern churches. The art work seems to be focused around images of saints in a fairly stylized manner.
There are also painted metal icons which are often on display. I have noticed that in addition to lighting a candle in front of the icon people will actually kiss the image.
We ended our day by walking down to the edge of the water and having the local Corfu beer. Ton had a Red Ale and I had a Pilsner, they were both excellent. As we were sitting there the cruise liners all began to pass by on their way to their next destination.
When we arrived at the campground we had a message from Delta Airlines. Our flight home is a KLM flight from Athens to Amsterdam, and a Delta flight from Amsterdam to Portland. KLM has decided to rebook us on a flight from Athens to Amsterdam that leaves 30 hours after our flight from Amsterdam to Portland. We called Delta and the lady explained that KLM will probably fix it, but until 10 days before our departure Delta can’t do anything to rebook us. She said just to watch for updates and hopefully KLM will come up with a better alternative that does not involve time travel. If they haven’t before November 3 we can then give Delta a call and they will fix it. Ton and I laughed and decided to enjoy ourselves and see what happens.
