Highlights Cruise Day 8-Island of Corfu, Greece
I took the Viking excursion bus to various Instagram-able sites and a guided walking tour of the Old Town (everything is an old town in Greece). There are special rules (of course) for when and where buses can park. What’s best for tourism isn’t always a good thing for the locals, so there is a balance to be struck. After the ship got underway at 5:15pm, there was a BBQ with live music around the indoor pool. The acoustics made my teeth rattle.
Embrace the paddle
No one looks cool on a cruise ship tour
Notable Items
The Viking Daily edition for Corfu included this helpful phrase:
> Παρακαλώ πηγαίνετε με στο πλοίο
> Phonetic: Parakaló pigenete me sto ploio.
It was supposed to be Greek for Please take me back to the ship, but might have translated to My Hovercraft is full of eels (Monty Python, Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook sketch)—How would I know?
The 0830-1130 bus excursion took us to some sights for pictures, disgorged the passengers for a walking tour of the old town, and gave us spare time in that area from 1030-1130 before returning to the ship. Regarding sights for pictures, I learned on a visit to Paris that there are books for identifying all the Instagrammable sites in many cities (I’m sure I arrived late to that party). The books make it easier for you to capture pictures that everyone else is posting (that’s not a bug, it’s a feature). That’s like being the 1025th person to comment on a blog or news article. At that point, no one will be reading it so you’re only posting for yourself.
Corfu has been occupied by multiple powers since historians started writing things down: Corinthians, Athenians, Romans, Venetians, French, British, and Germans. The Ottomans tried for a long time to join the club, but had poor meteorologists (castle assaulting in a storm never works out). Pirates came and went periodically, but just to pillage, so their cultural impact was low. The bus passed Roman ruins, but they just looked like someone’s unfinished root cellar to me.
When released on my own, I walked around the narrow streets, souvenir shops, cafés, and bakeries. The guide informed the group earlier that many buildings have head sculptures on the façades. They weren’t decorations, but for warding off evil spirits. How did that work? “Don’t inhabit this place, we’ve already got ugly-looking creatures.” It would appear that Christianity didn’t completely displace paganism.
There was a “BBQ” in the pool area with music after the ship got underway. I investigated, but didn’t remain. First, without trying to be too snobby, I don’t consider just any outdoor food preparation a BBQ. If there isn’t open grilling and giant clouds of acrid smoke burning your eyes when the wind changes, it’s not a BBQ. I acknowledge that these things are risky for a cruise ship covered pool area, but don’t go calling it a BBQ! It’s cooking outside the kitchen. Calling it a BBQ is just marketing. Second, the acoustics in the pool area made the musicians sound like they were playing in an aircraft hangar. It was unsettling.
In the lounge, where I took refuge from the cavernous acoustics of the not-a-BBQ, a server asked if I wanted anything. Did I? This was a challenge. I didn’t want anything with alcohol. Unlike George Thorogood, I don’t drink alone (or 800 strangers). We could make you a mocktail (except they charge for it; I wasn’t on the drink package). I felt like Clarence the apprentice angel when he goes to the bar with George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life (I’ll have a flaming rum punch.). I kept it simple and asked for tonic water. The closest I came to “flaming” was the lime wedge.