So for Easter weekend instead of going to Rome, we decided that we wanted to go to Corfu. Corfu is an island just off of the mainland in Greece. It is gorgeous there. We left early thursday morning and took a Coach bus down to the port of Ancona (it took about 4 hours to get there). Once we got to the port we got on the overnight cruise ship to go to igoumenitsa, greece. The ship was nice. The program that we went through bought out all of the seats on the boat so that we would have a place to sleep. But we were smart and decided to upgrade to a cabin on the ship which turned out to be a great choice. The cabin was real small, but what do you expect on a boat, atleast we didn't have to sleep on the floor like a lot of other people. The boat ride was about 13 hours and we arrived in greece early friday morning. But wait we were not done traveling yet. Once we got off the big boat we had to get on another smaller ferry which took us to corfu. That ferry lasted about an hour and a half. This is when the sun started to come out. After we got off the little boat we got on a bus for another hour. The bus ride was crazy. Corfu is very hilly; the bus was driving up there hills and twisting and turning the whole way up and down. The veiws were amazing though. The bus took us to the infamous Pink Palace Hostel. The hostel was built on a hill (shocking) and it had several building scattered all the way down to the water and it was pink (again, shocking). The hostel remninded me of one giant fraternity house, it was a constant party for the entire time we were there.
Friday afternoon when we got to the Pink Palace, we immediately went up to our room, went out on our balcony, looked at the amazing view of the beach, and then went right down to the beach. We spent a few hours relaxing by the water then took a taxi into Corfu Town and did a little shopping. We met some really nice Greek people. We talked to one lady who was telling us about Easter in Greece. She was saying that a lot of Greeks come to Corfu for Easter (which was really obvious). She was telling us about the parades that they have (some of which we got to see) and how on Easter it is tradition for them to smash pots outside of their windows. Then she proceeded to tell us that we were the first tourists that she has seen this season. We definately stood out too; we were the only ones in shorts and t-shirts, but whatever, we were hot. So after we finished shopping we met our nice taxi man and he took us back to the hostel. That night was apparently toga night at the Pink Palace, so we got our pink togas and got all dressed up and went to to the Palladium (their dinner/ night club at the hostel). The dinners were pretty good and the dining hall had a great view of the ocean. After the toga party we headed back to our rooms because we needed to get up early to get in line to sign up for the ATV safari.
Saturday morning we were second in line to sign up for the ATV safari. For those of you who don't know what an ATV is, it is a 4-wheeler bike. This safari was one of the highlights of my semester abroad. We drove up all of the hilly roads and got to see some amazing views of the island. We stopped about 3 or 4 times during our ride. One was to see a beach and relax for a while, then we at lunch way up on the top of a hill, then we made another stop where we got to look over the island, and our final stop was at a small cafe which had an ocean veiw. I am not going to lie, I was a little nervous at first to get on the ATV, but after about 30 seconds I loved it. There were some areas were we got to go real fast and other areas where we went off-roading...SO MUCH FUN. There was a point for about 20 minutes where I was lost by myself on a mountain in Greece, with no idea where to go. I don't want to explain the whole thing, but I met some nice people that pointed me in the right direction and I was able to meet up with the rest of the group and no one knew I was gone haha. Other than that it was unbelievable! That night we went back down to the Palladium for the same thing minus the togas. Sunday morning we rented kayaks and paddled around the island for a little while then chilled on the beach until we needed to start our journey back home. The journey back home started off a little chaotic and pretty much stayed that way til we got back to florence. We got on a super crowded bus to go to the small ferry. The small ferry was also super crowded and loud and hot. Then we got on our big ferry and they somehow messed up our cabin tickets, but that got straightened out so we were able to get our cabin again. Apparently that night there was a storm out at sea, (which would explain all of the rocking on the boat) so it took us a lot longer to get back to italy. And there were some big waves out there. Once we got on our bus we thought we were good but then we hit traffic and we were in it for a while, but all was good because we just watched movies and ate food. We got back in Florence at about 10 monday night to a home cooked meal courtesy of my housemate hannah!
Pink Palace Beach
View of the Island
Part of the Easter Parade
View from our room
Ferry ride
