Mountainous Taverna Bill - 15th August

Today we had planned to go to Kassiopi which is just round the coast. They are the ruins of a Byzantine castle on the headland which we wanted to look at. The drive was beautiful, around the north-east tip of Corfu but when we reached Kassiopi, they were in the throws of their Ascension celebrations and it was impossible to get into the town. We decided instead to head up to the top of Mount Pandokrator as the views of the island are meant to be stunning. We took the road through the village of Spartilus. It was a strange trip as the roads up to, and through, Spartilus are thin, windy and badly kept but suddenly you arrive at a stretch of road funded by the EU which is wide enough for 2 cars with newly laid tarmac; followed by another really cruddy bit of road through several villages to the summit.


The approach to the mountain is rather spoiled by the array of radio masts on the summit but the views are certainly spectacular.


We headed back home for lunch and an afternoon of relaxing and swimming.


Chris has been saying that he wanted to eat at a restaurant we have passed every day which looks much less touristy than most of the places round here. We decided we would eat there this evening. When we arrived, Chris asked for the menu and the guy gave us this spiel about how it wasn't a tourist place and they only had one copy of the menu in English (translated as 'tourist prices'). It was a little more expensive for the main courses but we all chose what we wanted. I was really please to see that the Stifado was made with rabbit.

The guy then suggested he would choose us some small starter plates, which if we didn't like them, we wouldn't pay for them. of course they were delicious! The main courses arrived and we all cleared our plates. This is the first meal that Alex has polished of entirely, without a single complaint. In fact Chris pointed out that Alex's plate couldn't have been cleaner if he'd given it to Neo to lick – yuk.

By the time the starters and the bread had been added on to the bill, it was huge. We will be eating at the apartment for the rest of our stay!