Okay, so I have been extremely annoyed that I couldn’t link to any pictures of Corfu.

I’ve been extremely annoyed in general, but more about that later.

First, pictures of Corfu! Because yes, for you, my five loyal readers, I will take up precious memory space in my netbook. I mean, I won’t post regularly, but I will take up memory space.

One thing I didn’t mention in our last post was how we got lost: we were trying to find the old fort, which we could see up on a hill above, us, and we just kept taking winding streets toward it. The shops got less and less touristy, until there weren’t any shops at all. We walked through a few narrow streets of houses and then ended up on a hill, wandering through a farmer’s market filled with gorgeous produce – including some beautiful eggplant, which I would normally not call beautiful, as it is on long-term ban.

The streets were full of older people, most of the women in black dresses.

A man with a shopping bag and a shrewd face stopped us. “You want to see the fort?” he asked. “It’s very beautiful.”

“Yes,” we said, “we’re trying to get there.”

He pointed us toward a winding path that went through a narrow doorway. We went through the back door of the fort.

I need to trawl through my mother’s and sister’s albums, but here are some photos:

This is a view of the rooftops from the fort.

More of the fort, plus our ship’s booty.

And the island from the Spinnaker Lounge, at the top bow of the ship, where we spent a great deal of time. We tried to be there every time we entered or left port, just to watch the ship come in.

Good heavens, I have so much going on in the background that it is crazy. Keep your fingers crossed for Good News.

Anyhow, for dear Richard, here is the ship we were on: Norwegian Jade. Some of the carpets were truly eye-searing. When we left on excursions we went out through “crew” areas, which were quite bare and all painted beige, as were all the crew areas that I saw when they were going in and out of doors. (And I ogled, let me tell you.) I would’ve been super interested to take a tour behind the scenes.

We landed at  Corfu, and this was the first day that my Giant Sun Hat was put to the test. I am extremely thankful for that hat, even if it’s brown, because without it I would’ve been a crispy critter.

Corfu was HOT. And we walked our feet to nubs. But for a first exposure to Greece, it worked out pretty well. A dude in a snazzy hat stopped us and gave us a map. We bought kumquat liqueur from a handsome baritone who taught me how to say thank you in Greek. Laundry hung from balconies, and the “new fort” is only 300 years younger than the “old fort.”

I made my sister take many pictures of unfamiliar plants. Later, I found out that the fragrant tree we stood under was a jasmine tree, which = hooray.

The new fort is apparently a dance club at night – a certain Mr. Dingo Jones would be over the moon listening to techno music from a lounge chair in a medieval fort.

We walked and sweated and took a bajillion photos – none of which want to link to this post – and then we stopped for some Greek food. This was the first of the places at which my sister acquired a boyfriend.

(again with the not-linking)

Anyhow, this was the first point at which tzatziki sauce was ruined for me forever. I mean, I make it with Greek yogurt at home! But apparently my mouth has special Delicious Receptors that are keyed to European dairy products, because I took to drinking milk  during this trip, on top of the alarming amounts of yogurt and cheese that I ate.

We walked and ate and walked some more, and then we hauled our smelly selves back to the ship. Day one: achieved!