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Monday, September 30th - Vatos to Paleokastritsa - 12,194 km
I do not see Gregory or Brian in the dining room of the hotel this morning. It is just as well if Gregory is upset with me, though there seems to be no justification for it if he is. The good thing about travel is that I can just move on and leave unfriendly contacts in my dust. It’s not what I want but there is no point dwelling on dead ends. If one doesn’t make some kind of mood he lose the opportunity forever, but there is nothing lost if it doesn’t work out.
I am heading north today, but not that far. I want to see Paleokastritsa before I leave Corfu. It is perhaps the most famous part of the island for its beauty. It is less than 20 km from here but I leave early to get there before noon. There is supposed to be a lot to see in the area.
There’s a road that runs behind the cliffs that Gregory and I were rowing below yesterday. It follows a dry, flat valley that isn’t that scenic. It bends around the ridge of mountains separating me from the sea and eventually brings me down to the water at the village of Liapades. It has a nice beach but not much else. To get to
Paleokastritsa, I climb out of the town in the opposite direction and return at a higher elevation. Here the road splits. The upper road climbs the mountainside about the rocky coast to the village of Lakones. I take this road first to see the oft-photographed panorama of the Paleokastritsa area from the this vantage point. It is a beautiful coast, comprised a several small bays and rocky outcroppings. Lakones itself is another small village with non-descript buildings that are worth a photograph.
I return to the split in the road and follow the lower fork down to Paleokastritsa itself. It is even small that Lakones, if seen as a real town. Mostly, it is hotels and rental apartments. I find one I can afford, though it is more than I have paid in Vatos. I unload my bags and change into my street shorts. The strip along the bay
only takes five minutes to walk but the road continues west to a rocky headland a little more than a kilometre further. At the top of the headland is an ancient monastery called Angelokastro. The road continues down to the end of the headland where it breaks into a series of jagged rocks.
There is a second headland jutting out from the town and on either side and between them are three inviting bays. Inviting, that is until the weather turns. The wind
picks up and the clouds move in. A few drops of rain hit me and I continue to climb around the bays. There are not many people out in boas today. When I return to the village the beach is mostly empty now too.
I was hoping the beach would attract young travelers, like in Sagres, where we could meet, hang out and share living quarters, or like Matala on Crete full of young backpackers, but it isn’t that quaint or appealing here other than the setting. The tourists who come here are families and older straight couples into themselves. It won’t be easy to meet anyone.
The weather is turning. If it would remain beautiful, or even dramatically stormy, I might stay another day or even head for the north coast, but it is dull and not at all enticing. There is a medium priced restaurant with an assortment of local and foreign foods and I sit here by myself eating pasta in preparation for tomorrow’s ride back to Kerkyra. There’s nothing much I feel like doing tonight, but I don’t want to do nothing. I sit on the beach alone, except for the occasional tourist walking their dog. They pass and nod a polite hello and then move. Time for me to do the same.
PHOTO 1: the road heading north from Parelia
PHOTO 2: bluffs north of Liapades
PHOTO 3: a truck in Liapades
PHOTO 4: view of Paleokastritsa from above
PHOTO 5: Paleokastritsa harbour
PHOTO 6: Angelokastro
PHOTO 7: blue cave near Paleokastritsa
PHOTO 8: white cliffs and sea stacks
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