Happy High Season

Well , I think I just missed a month! that happens at this time of year.

High Season! a time of mad driving, too much heat, too many scantily clad Italians on mopeds, too much noise, traffic, people...you name it...but still I love it. There is a buzz everywhere you go, a vibrancy an immediacy a life. Yes everyone is tired and gets crotchety sometimes but lets face it, in tourism, this is the time of year we all wait for...it comes hard fast and furious, spins us all around and then just as suddenly as it came...it is gone...like the swallows.

We, like everyone else are at full tilt right now. Trying hard to keep up, sleeping at every small often strange opportunity, missing the wonderful happenings in Corfu town. But it is great. We have had some really wonderful guests, the ice making machine is on overdrive, we manage an occassional swim...and the little everyday scenes one sees every day make me laugh out loud sometimes....Not at all bad I'd say.

So heads up and carry on! Enjoy the sunshine, the heat and the Summer Madness....it is all so fleeting , fragile and fun....gentle September will soon be back soothing our hot heads and tiredness....and I for one then miss the fast flashings of now....

Ahoy There!

Good evening from very hot Corfu

A very brief one tonight to say a big "Hello!" to everyone that has joined us so far especially to all those that come back to see us every year. It is always a pleasure to see familiar faces.

And "Yassas" to all the villa companies and their staff who send us some really lovely people and I hope enjoyed their day out with us the other day....and to all the cruise ship guests who find us through the maze of the internet....and the local agents who help us out from all the local resorts...Good evening everyone, and thankyou for joining us.

Happy Summer All!

Vanessa & Iakis

Full moons, cherries and hollyhock

Good evening.

It is that time of year when time goes so fast you can almost hear it fizz as it whistles past your ears!..

A vague sort of title tonight I know but one that sums up May and early June for me somehow. It is the most beautiful time of the year, despite the sometimes contrary weather.  There is so much to see, it is so green, so overwhelming somehow with the full velocity of Spring, and yet most of us that live here have so little time to just sit back and enjoy it.

No photos tonight as my computer is playing games on me so I will have to put something up later...I have lots of pictures of the magnificent full moons we enjoy here, reflected in wide expanses of gold upon the flat coal dark sea...but of course they never quite look the same on a screen as they do in real life...end up as little blurry blobs in a dark dull page....oh to be a real photographer!

Every year I also intend to take photos of the wonderfully voluptuous bright coloured Holly Hocks that line the curbs right now, over 2 meters high sometimes, haughty and proud...but I always seem to be charging about being busy, going somewhere...or more to the point each time I see them I tend to be at particularly dangerous bend in the road where stopping to take a photo is not really terribly sensible...and then there are the cherries.....I just love them.  They are only around for a short time but they are delicious....just gorgeous!...

Each month has its specialities, last month were the festivals and blousy roses, before that the amazing wisteria covering whole cyprus trees with its fragrant blooms, and the orange blossom and jasmine, the dancing fireflies....now it is 'the season' in (almost) all its glory.  The swallows are back nesting outside the front door, the tourists in colourful array enjoy the crystal blue sea and the elegant facades of Corfu town, the sun is warm though the breeze fresh. Each little passing scene is a treasure to catch...

So, from a rather whimsical me tonight...a big 'Hello!' to all those that have joined us so far and we look forward to meeting everyone else in the weeks soon to come....

 

Happy Easter from Corfu!


Happy Easter!

Easter in Corfu is one of the most wonderful events of the year with brass bands, choirs, pot smashing , fireworks, candlelit processions and thousands of visitors, largely from the Greek mainland who visit Corfu for her unique traditions, spectacular beauty, hospitality and amazing musical heritage. Anyone that has not been at this time of year really should come. It is fantastic.  The flowers are in full bloom, the weather is gorgeous and the Easter celebrations rival any such celebrations in Europe, if not the world.

This year it also coincides with the islands first major arrivals so most local people are working extremely hard either with  Easter guests or with imminent arrivals and very often, both.  So for us, as with most other people I know it was a rather rushed couple of days working hard to get things ready for arrivals whilst also whitewashing walls, spring cleaning houses and buying gifts and food for Easter Sunday at least. 

Not enough time for lamb on the spit this year...but we all made time for a great family day at home with good food, wine and excellent company...and Happy 90th birthday to my Grandad too...

Happy Easter Monday and here's to next year!


http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/05/05/corfu-packed-again-at-easter/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YzuV7hSRoU

Nautilus Daily Cruises, Corfu: Hello from Corfu!A very hurried 'Good evening' ...

Nautilus Daily Cruises, Corfu:
Hello from Corfu!

A very hurried 'Good evening' ...: Hello from Corfu! A very hurried 'Good evening' from the golden Corfu mountainside on a gloriously sunny late afternoon. I was ...

Hello from Corfu!

A very hurried 'Good evening' from the golden Corfu mountainside on a gloriously sunny late afternoon. I was hoping to put up a photo of  'The 2013 Launch' but it is on another computer...my only just updated (at great length)  phone...some fancy 'cloud' or other; in a nutshell...the photos are 'Elsewhere'...so I will have to upload or download or sync or such like to get them into the right place and then hopefully share with you in full colour one of the most stressful  (for me...Iakis is always remarkably cool and collected) days of the year!  Nautilus perched precariously on a trailer all shiny, scrubbed, and painted as good as new being gently manoeuvred into the sea in Ipsos generally with a small eclectic crowd of onlookers...none of whom are any where near as nervous as me!

As always she skimmed slowly into the crystal water with pure elegance and perfect timing (with the skilled driving of George and his able lorry) and within a few moments came that deep satisfying Bbbbrrrmmmm! as her two engines kicked in and Iakis took her off for her first spin.

It is ridiculously busy everywhere at the moment with Greek Easter just around the corner and all the people working in tourism (just about everyone) furiously painting and cleaning  trying to get everything spruce and pretty for the first major arrivals on Friday.

It is also just about the most beautiful time of year with all the flowers in full bloom, fireflies dancing in the dark quiet evenings the first wheeling swallows twisting and diving between the creamy buildings of the town and the wonderful new fresh warmth and promise that comes with every Spring....

Kali Arhi! as they say...'Good Beginning'

Good rather late evening,

I missed posting on 'Clean Monday', 25th March (both big celebrations here) and even European Easter!...my how time flies, and the Summer has not yet arrived....

I have discovered pinterest and Googleplus but am not entirely sure how they work...and I have seen a local expat pantomime, (one has to admire anyone that gets dressed up in silly cossies and performs in front of such an eclectic audience)...we saw a wonderful show of Greek dances in the most beautiful traditional costumes...I had no idea there were so many talented Greek Dancers and schools on the island...about 32 schools in various villages I think.

We also saw several bands in gale force winds on 25th March along with a slightly odd wreath ceremony with the local dignitaries all standing rather windswept and awkward to sombre brass band music and a group of about 30 students chanting something about closure of their university behind well over 30 riot clad policemen looking easily as awkward as the politicians. It left a rather odd sensation of an uneasy balance between old and new.

And Easter here, is yet to come....

Life is rarely dull on this vibrant little island, it houses many hidden talents  and traditions amongst its olive groves and ancient walls....and each year I am here, I discover a few more. The journey continues....

Good morning!

Hello again!

Happy Spring time at last!...it has been a very long wet Winter but today the sun is out and it is absolutely beautiful.  One always knows Spring is here with the arrival of Spyros, who for several years has helped Iakis get Nautilus ship-shape and sparkling for the coming season. Every year she is taken by trailer out of the harbour for servicing, maintenance work, and improvements. There is always quite a team helping out in both the dry docking and relaunching including George who is an expert lorry driver and guides Nautilus gently into the sea, Yiannis, the bulldozer driver and general expert who is always on hand to help out, Danilis the mechanic and several others who help with ropes, washing down etc. Plus of course there is me. I am always on hand with ample supplies of beer and souvlaki...and very often handed a paintbrush or hose to help out!

So. The whole island is gradually waking up from its long hibernation.  The curbs are lined with a myriad of multicoloured wild flowers and the sea, is calm, serene and the most wonderful luminous turquoise blue after weeks of battering and storms.

I hope that by later today we will have our new website launched! It has taken a lot of patience and time and I want to offer my sincere thanks to Jon from www.allcorfu.com for his excellent work in putting it all together.

We look forward to the warmth and bustle of Summer and to some lovely days out by sea!

Enjoy the sunshine, I think I will go out and do some gardening...it is far too nice to stay in.....

Happy St Davids Day!

Happy St Davids Day! and Kalo Mina from Corfu.



Hello there! the first of the month is upon us.  March. One of the most beautiful months of the year and one of the busiest for everyone here as we start to prepare for 'The Season'. 

After an exceptionally wet Winter the sunshine and warmth is welcome, the banks of wild flowers are already starting to bloom making one smile at each turn in the road, and the Summer will be here in a glance.

Enjoy the day, enjoy the Spring and 'Hello' to far away Wales. It shares with Greece a rare rugged beauty, a tradition and history of song & suffering, warm hospitality, wonderful hillsides and one of the most beautiful coastlines in Europe. 

Noswaith dda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LFxK003nlA

Well, good evening from Corfu! I imagine I should try and write something inspirational for this, the first Nautilus Daily Cruises blog!...All I can currently think of however is WHEW!...what happened to simply enjoying the real things in life?...so...this is our/my attempt to keep up a little with modern technology.  Iakis is far more sensible and concentrates on boats and fishing in the Winter.

So, Welcome to anyone inclined to read, I am not sure what will be the course of this latest stroll into the world of 'Social Media' but I am sure it will be fun. I will try perhaps to share with you the great privilege of  living in Greece, of being involved in a vibrant and sturdy community, in the joys and beauty that this little island paradise holds to anyone who chooses to visit and, I will try to be brief.  That is why I like twitter. It forces one to be concise.

With that thought in mind...Good night! from the currently wind swept mountains of Kerkyra with their wild  beautiful and all embracing views.  We look forward to welcoming you aboard Nautilus in the just beckoning Summer.....it comes around very fast once February disappears...