Greek Journal Part IX

Greek Journal: 5/13/2005-6/8/2005

Summary: DenveràLondonàAthensàLeptokaryaàLitochoroàMt. OlympusàLitochoro àKalambaka (Meteora) àIguominitsaàCorfu TownàCorfu TrailàIguominitsaàZorganian Villages, Vikos Gorge and Mt. AstrakaàAthensàLondonàDenver

5/28/2005: On the Corfu Trail, Corfu: To get back on the trail with out going back up to Stavros we took the day off and buses back across the island to the west coast town of Glyfada. Glyfada is a small beach resort that is located at the termination of a steep canyon road that drops off at the sea. We spent the day relaxing, reading, eating and trying to figure out how to find the Corfu Trail in the morning. Since it was still “off” season in Greece the resort was very quiet, but the staff was great and the food excellent.

View of the sunset from our room in Glyfada on the west coast of Corfu

5/29/2006: On the Corfu Trail, Corfu: For breakfast had some tomatoes, kasseri cheese, orange juice and bread. Headed up the steep winding road from Glyfada and at the top of the hill were rewarded by finding a CT sign on a tree. Followed a road for 4-5 km until we came to a steep down hill trail to Myrtiossa Beach. In 1937 British author Lawrence Durrell wrote a book about his experiences on Corfu Island called “Prospero’s Cell” in which he described Myrtiossa Beach as “the most beautiful beach in the world”. From the trail high above the beach we could take in the full picture. A short strip of while sand was framed by cliffs on either end and the turquoise Ionian Sea stretched from the sands westward as far as the eye could see. The most beautiful beach in the world? I don’t know, but I would willing to put it in the running. We stopped on the beach long enough to recognize that it had at least become a popular nudist beach.

Just past Myrtiossa we came to an old, and mostly abandoned church, nestled in oak trees and surrounded by olive trees.

Not seeing a CT sign or people we continued on the most used track through the olive groves. The trail climbed steeply up and away from the coast, but still seemed like the right way to go. The track turned in to a small road and finally crested high on the coastal range with great views back to the ocean. The views were fine, but we had not seen a trail marker in a couple of hours and it was decision time. Deciding that we must have missed a branch in the trail that traversed the coast line we descended back from whence we came and then headed north on a likely spur. 45 minutes and about 500 ft down the trail we came to a dead end on a cliff overlooking what truly may be the most beautiful beach in the world. From what I could tell the cove and beach were nameless and rarely if ever visited by humans. Unfortunately we had been wandering the coast for hours, it was hot and we were low on provisions. After admiring this wonderful setting for a few minutes we started back up the trail to summit hoping to see a trail marker we might have missed on the way down.

The beach below the end of the trail

We headed all the way back up to the top of the range where we had been three hours earlier and just as we crested the trail we ran in to a small group of trekkers with a guide. These were the first trekkers we had encountered since we started the trail almost a week ago. We asked the guide where the Corfu Trail was, to which he replied, “No one does that trail. There are so many signs missing it is impossible, and by the way you are on the trail”. The great part of it was that I had no appointments and no where special to be and wandering around olive groves on a Greek island on a beautiful day was not a bad way to spend some time.

We headed down the road with renewed energy and were shortly in the town of Vatos. We refueled with some cool drinks, fresh fruit, cheese and bread and reexamined our plan for the day. Our planned destination of Liapades was many hours away and having already walked more than five hours on a sore foot we opted for a closer destination. Ermonas was just an hour up the trail and on the map looked like a quiet beach town. When we arrived were not disappointed. The town and resort sat in a protected cove with a nice beach and a view of the sunset. We got our beach front room for 35 Euros and then treated ourselves to a fresh fish and calamari dinner at an open beach front restaurant.

Sunset as seen from our restaurant seat on the beach in Ermonas.

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