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Monday 9th April 2012
Weather: Rain … with the odd sunny spell!
What a disappointment when we pulled back the curtains this morning. We’d arrived in Corfu and it was pouring down with rain. We left it as late as we possibly could before going down to breakfast in the faint hope that the weather would brighten up a little.
It was still drizzling a little when we decided to brave it and go ashore. We walked to the port gates (only 5 mins or so) and then caught the shuttle bus into Corfu Town. We headed off into the narrow streets to try and work our way around to the Old Fortress.
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We must have missed the main shopping street as we ended up walking down some very narrow alleys and the map was not much help. After 10 mins of aimless wandering around in the back streets, Jon spotted a clearing in the distance and we headed for that … and from here we could see the Old Fort in the distance.
No admission charge to look around the old fort – apart from some old garrison buildings that now held the Archives for the Island, most were just ruins, including the chapel where Price Phillip was christened.
You did get however, some great views over the town. We wandered around the walls to the right and followed the sound of the music. An orchestra were rehearsing in the old pillared building. Looking up the cliff you could see the Acropolis (Lighthouse). We then walked around the other side of the fort which had great views of the mountains in the distance (with snow on top) and also the coast line in the direction of where Azura was docked.
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We walked under a rickety gazebo that was just laden with purple Wisteria. Gorgeous – although Jon’s nose told him it was kick-starting his hayfever!! Black clouds were once more racing towards us so we started to make our way back to the ship, just stopping to by a fridge magnet and a couple of postcards for Callum’s Journal. We kept our fingers crossed we would make it back before the heavens opened.
The rain started before we got back onboard … we’d timed our arrival to perfection. Just five minutes to spare before the Main Dining Room lunch service finished. Jon and I had the mushroom fulled croissant whilst Callum went for the Ham and Chorizo Sausage salad which was devoured pretty quickly and of course he couldn’t resist pudding!.
The usual routine followed in the afternoon. Callum wanted to go to Kids Club so Jon and I once more went to The Planet to read. The sailaway was cancelled because of the rain and the Captain announced we would be encountering strong winds in the region of 35 mph so things may get a little bumpy.
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We’d opted to dine in XVII again to try the alternate menu. We were sat by the window at the back of the restaurant with a view over the ship’s wake. It was certainly looking a little choppier than we’ve seen before and the glassware in the restaurant was chinking away nicely!
Jon had the scallops for starters whilst I opted for the smoked salmon. For main course, we both opted for the sea bass and made a wise choice of white wine this evening. The ship was lurching to the left and right in quick succession and diners were frequently diving to stop their wine glasses from toppling over. Midway through the meal, the captain came on over the tannoy. The forecasted 35 mph winds were in fact in excess of 55mph with a 4 metre swell. Interesting meal though … fine dining on a rollercaster … not sure if that would take off back home.
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For pudding, I had the Expresso Popping Candy Dark Chocolate Mousse and Jon went for Cheese and Biscuits with a glass of port.
By the time we’d finished our meal, we’d noticed the little blue bags had made an appearance on the handrails (and quite a few were missing the white bags inside too!).
We’d arrived in Kids Club about 10.15 to collect Callum and were surprised by how few children were left. We were even more surprised to find out that they’d merged Beach Hut and Frontiers and the 10 or so that were left were the ones with the sea legs. So many children had been affected by sea sickness that parents had to be called to collect them early. Quite a few of the ones left had sickness bags beside them … just in case!
Callum was very spritely but was soon rocked to sleep by the ships motion.
