Corfu photodiary - the best beaches and views (May-June)

Beautiful views and a big excitement

I was longing for that kind of sights and that amazing heat for so long! I waited (in)patiently for over a year and finally I'm here!. Yuhuuuu!

The moon and stars were so wonderful there!

Our friend. One of them :) All cats in Greece seem to have a kind of illness. I think because they drink water from swimming pools. That's way our friend always had fresh bottled water from as :)

 Corfu Town - the main town in Corfu Island

These lovely, light and narrow streets. I think I could easily used to living there and greetings my friendly neighbours from the window or a bench  (or plastic chair) standing all day and night in front of my house.

And of course I could sit in a cafe sipping my tea in a lunch time or whatever time. In Greece it seems that Greek people can sit in cafes all day long. In every time cafes and restaurants were full of people or at least have few clients just sitting and watching, never in a hurry.

Beautiful balconies. Greeks love flowers!

I've seen many uninhabited, old buildings, some of them almost ruins, especially in villages.

Beaches of Corfu

1. Porto Timoni (in Afionas )

In our way to double beach Porto Timoni. You better take swimshoes with you because it's a shingle beach. But thanks to the stones water is really clear.

There's no other way to get there, only this footpath. But it's worth this effort

From the hill you can see Agios Georgios Beach

That's why we all climb that hill

When you look at Porto Timoni from the hill, the beach on your left-hand side is less windy but the water is colder. The other beach (on your right) has warmer water and more beautiful sights underwater (my husband doesn't agree about the sights- you have to check it by yourselves :))

They swum from the Agios Georgios beach without fear. Wow!

Left-hand side beach (the cold-water one)

There is also a third beach and you can get there walking a narrow foothpath on the left (when you sit on the right -hand beach), but you can easily lose your way and get to nowhere (to an old, broken-down building) or to a wayside shrine in a small cave. I think is better to swim there. But there is nothing interesting and you can feel really lonely, like in "The Beach" film with Leonardo di Caprio. I had my eyes open there :D I've got a really big imagination :)

2. Paleokastritsa

You drive really nice scenic route

We didn't swim there. I don't remember why. Now I regret it. But maybe it's a good reason to go back there one day :)

Look like in "Jurassic Park" :)

Sandy beaches

It's really wonderful there. And a car park is free. At least in June when touristic season doesn't start yet :)

3. Liapades

4. cap Drasti (Drastis)

From here you can see 360 ° view, unfortunately the entrance was closed

But still, the view is breathtaking!

5. Sidari- Canal d'Amour

Holiday representatives say that you have to see Canal d'Amour without a fail, because it's so wonderful. Honestly, we had serious difficulty to find it, and when we did find it, we weren't sure if it was the original canal. There are two canals and after two visits we didn't know which one was the beautiful canal we were told. It wasn't so amazing it should be. Maybe we just didn't find it? Or maybe they haven't prepared it yet to a season because there were lots and lots of seeweads and nobody cares about it, even thought it was their main touristic attraction!

     Second beach in Sidari, a small one and not so crowded. Our favourite. Peaceful, not so wavy and with shallow water. Don't remember the name but it's on the left of Canal d'Amour.

6. Kasiopi beaches

our private beach :)

Small and hidden but really nice. And often empty so you can swim widout worrying about your stuff. Great underwater sights and quite warm water. The beach is hidden among rocks so there is no wind. A great place for swimming and sunbathing. It's windy at this side of the island but among these stones you can find warmth and peace.

Better wear your mask if you want to see what's hidden under water.

Kasiopi main beaches (three around the cape)

7. Agh. Stefanou Sinion beach and other shingle beaches

Main beach

          There is a footpath next to a restaurant on the left-hand side. You have to pass the restaurant and climb on a hill. Then walk for a quite long time to get to hidden beaches. Better go and buy some food and drinks and put on comfy shoes. And don't forget your swimsuit because there are some nice beaches waiting for you! If you are lucky, you won't see anyone else than you. Or a snake :) Or other creatures :)

 On the way to Kavos Gianopounda and Kavos Aria (we didn't get to the last one because I was so tired that I was afraid we wouldn't have strenght to go back)

You can have all this just for you

 

8. Arilla beach

      Nice and sandy, next to our village Agios Stephanos Gyrou. Best sunshine pictures took here. But water was quite cold. Many beaches on the west side of the Corfu Island have cold water.

9. Agios Stephanos Gyrou (our village)

9. Barbati beach

Small and crowded, but really close to Ipsos, my love :) Warm, clean water and nice views are its strengths

10. Nissaki beach

Wonderful views but dirty water. Blah!

I found there really nice small house on the shore. I was swimming and imagining it was my home :)

11. Kerasia

Looks like one of the beaches in Samos :) Quite warm water.

12. Agios Georgios

You can see Porto Timoni double beach from this hill

13. (Secret) Limni beach

That's what Internet has just told me. I had to check on the Internet because when we tried to follow road (and other) signs we got to other small beaches we didn't have marked on our map (better spend more money but buy more detailed map, not just 1:60000). So I'm not sure about the name of this beach. Maybe it's Liniodoro beach? After two attempts we just took some pictures from the hill. 

14. Ermones beach

     Looked nice but when you stepped to the water you felt it smelt not nice. Like in a toilet. But we managed to get used to it. And when we walked away to see when a mistery foothpath leads it was nice again.

     The foothpath led us to another beach but we couldn't go ther by foot. We had to swim :) So adventurous! We brought a dry sack with us, packed our things into it and swim. My husband with water mask, I had swimming goggles. When we were in midway the storm came so we had to hurry. We didn't take any pictures standing on that beach as a proof, because of the weather. We looked round and swum back. While we were swimming, it started to rain :) Fantastic adventure. I felt like a soldier on mission! When we were going back, all wet and tired, we were so happy :) And proud :)

Other people just looking. We were thinking how to get there :)

Quite dangerous but we had our swimming shoes with hard soles. It helped a lot!

15. Ipsous (Ipsos) beach

      On the east side of the Island, my greatest love, with breathtaking views, really warm water, among the mountains. You can see Corfu town while swimming. I made there some (almost New Year's) resolutions, very important for me. I found peace for my soul and sorted out things that made me angry or depressed. If I get off track I will always look at these pictures to get back and be happy again. 

     This beach looks like Miami Beach in Florida with palms, steet going along the beach and nice looking girls passing by (I was almost envious of their thin bodies, but there was too beautiful to think about bad things :)). We went back there three times, including the last day of our Greece journey. I named Ipsos Miami Beach and it will remain in my mind as Miami :)

I swum there for an hour and thought about my problems. And suddenly everything became simple and fixable. This view saved me and ridded my soul. I returned home as a new person.

Pantokrator Monastery in Palies Sinies

Mountain top. Surprisingly even.

Monastery

So beautiful!

On our way down we had to stop because we didn't want to burn brakes in our car.

     Corfu is a beautiful island and we spent really nice time there. In spite of the storm three days in a row, horrible roads with holes everywhere (I couldn't admire views like a normal passenger does because I had to concentrate on those stupid holes- we didn't want to pay for broken tyres) and naked men sunbathing and swimming as if nothing had happened. Greek people are so incredibly nice! I rested so much! I'm longing now for next year's vacation. It's going to be a long year!

We had many friends there :)

 

Nauka angielskiego idzie mi jak burza!

           Good news! Ledwo co wróciłam z wakacji a już dowiaduję się, że moja praca domowa na koniec roku szkolnego wylądowała u dyrektora generalnego, razem z nauczycielką. I to wcale nie dlatego, że dostałam naganę za ściąganie czy przepisanie wszystkiego z Internetu. Sytuacja była wręcz odwrotna. Dostałam 19,5 pkt na 20 możliwych! Moja nauczycielka czym prędzej pobiegła do dyrektora, aby oznajmić mu moje super wyniki w nauce i razem wykombinowali, że muszą dać mi szansę, abym mogła od razu wskoczyć na poziom C1- czyli zaawansowany. Oznacza to, że przeskoczę kolejny rok, omijając poziom B2. Oczywiście nic nie przychodzi łatwo- muszę najpierw zdać test, aby nie przynieść szkole wstydu. Tego niestety obawiam się najbardziej, bo jeśli pisanie i rozumienie przychodzi mi łatwo, tak z wymową kuleję. Zupełnie, jakby mój mózg drętwiał ze strachu widząc obcą twarz naprzeciwko. Gdy chodzi o luźną rozmowę, robię tak karygodne błędy, że powinnam ze wstydu zapaść się pod ziemię. Przekonałam się o tym na moim ostatnim zagranicznym wyjeździe, kiedy usłyszałam samą siebie, mówiącą: "he don't"! Toż to przedszkolak takiego błędu by nie zrobił! Ale mój mózg czasem odmawia współpracy w najmniej oczekiwanych momentach. Jeśli na teście poproszą mnie o wymienienie miesięcy- leżę! (Mam nadzieję, że nikt z nauczycieli International House nie zagląda na ten blog :))
           No cóż, wiem że nie będzie łatwo ale mam zamiar podejść do tego testu. Nawet nie dla siebie, bo mi to wszystko jedno, który poziom będę wkuwać, i tak prędzej czy później dojdę do C1. Zawsze powtarzam, że to życie zweryfikuje, na którym poziomie jestem. Ale chcę spróbować dla Kate, mojej super nauczycielki, która jak na złość postanowiła w tym roku wrócić do Szkocji. Zrobię to dla niej, bo uwierzyła, że mogę to zrobić. A jak się nie uda, nawet się o tym nie dowie ;)

           Tak więc z kompletnego zera i poziomu elementary (A1) w przyszłym semestrze zobaczą mnie na C1 (co będzie oznaczało, że przeskoczyłam już 2 poziomy w ciągu 4 lat nauki) lub B2, co i tak będzie dla mnie sukcesem. Nigdy bym nie przypuszczała, że tak szybko mogę zakumać cza-czę, skoro 10 lat nauki szkolnej w młodości nie dało żadnych rezultatów. Choć to głupio, muszę jednak to przyznać- jestem z siebie cholernie dumna!

            Oczywiście nie zwykłam spoczywać na laurach. Jeśli faktycznie mam iść na advanced to muszę przerobić samodzielnie B2, żeby nic nie stracić. Od czego w końcu są wakacje? Chcę, aby angielski wrósł w moją duszę tak, jakbym się z nim urodziła. Chcę więcej takich wpadek jak ta na lotnisku greckim, kiedy powiedziałam do mojego męża przy kasie "Do you have one euro?" Mam już na oku książkę McMillana Destination z poziomem B1 i B2, przemyśliwam też o kupnie książki wydawnictwa Oxford. Ale z tym drugim poczekam do września i sławetnego testu. Jeśli nie zdam, dostanę tę książkę za darmo :D

            Zatem do zobaczenia w następnym odcinku poradnika samodzielnej (no, prawie ;)) nauki języka angielskiego. Zamierzam się skupić na książkach do nauki i powiedzieć Wam, która moim zdaniem jest najlepsza. Już mam swój typ, ale o tym na razie ciiiiiiii :)