August 26 – Cruise to Parga and Paxos

Another day of cruising.  The itinerary said that everyone should have a sea cruise when in Greece.  While that is arguably true we were expecting a bit more sightseeing and a little less cruising.

Another view of Corfu from the sea.

After two hours we arrive on the coastal village of Parga, on the Greek mainland.  

We arrived in time for lunch and hit a taverna recommended by one of the guides.  And then everyone hit the same tavern (which had other taverna’s on either side of it…mostly empty).  The food was good, the al fresco dining enjoyable, and the soft breezes enjoyable. 

After finishing lunch we walked along the beach front...

and then into the village itself.  

Everything was geared to the tourists…restaurants, ice cream, souvenir shops, and hotels.

Then it was time to reboard for an hour cruise to the small island of Paxo.  We arrived at the main town, Gaios, via a narrow channel.

Once docked, we boarded a bus for our optional tour.  The island is small and it didn’t take a lot of time to get to the other side.  We stopped at the small seaside village for Angelos, frequented by a number of major film personalities. While it was a pretty harbor there really wasn’t anything to see.  I think the main attraction was the film stars, of whom we saw none.

On the way back to Gaios we drove by a gigantic cistern/reservoir that is used for the water supply on the island.  The water level was pretty low.

We stopped at a panoramic overlook of the channel and harbor of Giaos.  It was really very picturesque as the channel basically ran around a small island. 

We walked a bit of the town but mainly we were interested in something to drink and to get some ice cream.  It is soooooo hot.

Then it was off for another two and a half hour cruise back to Corfu.  Basically, we had a 10 hour day that included an hour and a half for so for lunch, a half hour tour of Paxo, and 45 minutes of wandering in Giao…or about 7 hours of cruising to have a chance to eat lunch on the Greek mainland, have a snack on an island and get a total of about a hour of sightseeing in.  Neither of us were sure the time invested was worth the amount of time for sightseeing.  But both towns were very pretty so maybe so.

We arrived back at the hotel just as Jim and Phyllis were finished checking in.  After cleaning up we went next door for great pizza.