Wednesday, 21 June 2017

June

June is a glorious month, now we can sit out in the garden
enjoy the roses



and pick our own fruit and vegetables.




White foxgloves have seeded freely 
all about the place.

The chard has gone mad
and it's all rather chaotic.



Just how I like it!

Saturday, 10 June 2017

Corfu Town

Back again for a wander around Corfu Town. It always pleases, with it's lovely old buildings showing the influence of France and Italy.
We were not alone in wandering the streets,
these musicians were attracting a good crowd.
It's also a good place to sit and watch the world go by.
(Although these girls seem more interested in their phones.)



No surprise that this restaurant is called 'Bougainvillea. '
And what a fabulous tree!
We walked down a favourite street 
(it has a great little bakery!)
New to us  was Casa Parlante, a townhouse near the Liston that is now a small museum. For an entry fee of only 5 euros we were tempted inside to learn about life in a 19th century nobleman's house.
Items in the dining room demonstrated all the various influences of the country, Corfu only having become part of Greece in 1864 when it left the British Protectorate. There was English china and silver, Italian glass and objects from other countries.

The count was reading his papers in French and Italian. (His servants understood only Greek.)
In the sitting room we were given a glass of rose liquor  - delicious. Had it been for sale we would have bought a bottle but our charming young guide said that it was made only for the museum.
The staff traveled onto town each day with provisions from the country estate.

Another foreign import, an English sewing machine with a royal image.
The door by which the servants came and went from Casa Parlante was cut very low making it necessary to bend down. This, the guide told us was to remind them of their status within the house.  On that rather sobering note we left the museum (upright!). It was five euros well spent!

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

Paleokastritsa

On our recent holiday in Corfu we hired a car and revisited some of our old haunts. We drove to Paleokastritsa in the late afternoon to look around the monastery. 
It sits on a rocky outcrop 
above the straggling tourist town
and provides a lovely viewing point.
Locks denoting love have spread from the bridges of Paris!

Someone with green fingers had obviously moved in since my last visit because now the place is awash with flowers!



A strange flower forms a canopy over the path to the shop and museum.

The courtyard is a mass of blossom.





The chapel entrance.
Every corner beautifully tended.

Of course you can't impress everyone!