Birthday Bliss

First of all...thank you, thank you, thank you for all the kind birthday wishes :) I do appreciate your thoughts and warm wishes!

If you are feeling wary, tired of working, like you need a vacation; and might experience pangs of jealousy from reading about the most wonderful day(s) ever, please stop reading now.... OK, now where to begin??

We arrived on the beautiful island of Corfu on September 28 at 5pm and were greeted by Paul in his friendly Sunrock shuttle. Corfu town is bustling and cramped, and while it looked enchanting from the sea as we approached, I was just as happy to leave the hustle and bustle and head for the hills.

About 15 minutes later, with my heart in my stomach thanks to Greek driving (which even this Englishman has adopted), we arrived at Sunrock...a lovely hostel tucked back from the road overlooking the sea. We were greeted by other backpackers who had accepted work in exchange for room and board at the hostel and enjoyed the view from the roof-deck while waiting for Madelena to show us to our room....our clean, bug-free, beautiful room with a real bed and a balcony overlooking the sea. We must have appeared as little rag-a-muffins who had never seen a hotel before the way we kept commenting about how nice everything was, our eyes as big as saucers. First order of business? The sunset - of course! I can not wait to upload these photos!!! This was most certainly the most incredible sunset I have ever seen....on the water...in Greece...while sitting on the beach. The sunset alone was enough reward for my hard work and endurance of so many other things on the farm! But this was just the beginning.

After the sunset we took hot showers :) I haven't felt that clean in AGES, and it was absolute bliss! Weeks of grime just melted away...I was a new woman! We also ordered a half liter of homemade wine from the hostel and proceeded to relax until dinner - included in the price of the hostel!! We drank a lot of wine during our stay in Corfu...and I have to say, the Greeks have some pretty good stuff...just stay away from the Retsina ;) Our first night, the employees (working for room and board) outnumbered the guests and most of them were American. We had a good time chatting, enjoyed some pretty decent food and were invited to the beach for a bonfire. We contemplated going...but then thought about the clean warm bed waiting...no music playing, no dogs barking, the sound of the waves crashing, a good night rest almost gauranteed... and we succumbed to our need for rest. Aside from the mosquitos buzzing in our ears, it was fabulous!

September 29...my "golden birthday"...we slept in, had pancakes for breakfast (included - nice amenities at this hostel!) and made our way to the beach. Pelekas beach...small, uncrowded, and relaxed. We soaked up the sun...ate baklava soaked in honey...drank good wine...and just relaxed. It was absolutely heavenly! We heard there was a "mud beach" nearby - also a nudist beach, but the mud part outweighed the nude part, so we decided to venture over. We found the beach, but did not see the mud...it was a bit disappointing, but we vowed to ask again - we figured we were just in the wrong place - and try again the next day. So we went back to our beach and relaxed some more - rough day, I know. About 6pm we decided to head in to shower and then watch the sun set. Again - hot showers...ahhhhh.... We watched the sun set from the beach - it was lovely, but there was a layer of clouds above the horizon that blocked most of the sun's disappearance into the sea. We did catch glimpses of the bright pink sun, however, and the colors in the clouds above were a nice gentle pink. We ventured in to the dining room and had a delicious meal! We even had a shot of uzo after dinner, which was disgusting, but when in Greece! A few more travellers had arrived, so we took some time to talk with new people and get this - relax some more ;) Bliss I tell ya, Bliss!

The next morning we asked again about the mud beach. Nikki told us that it was, indeed, the nudist beach we wanted and that we just needed to go into the sea and dig around for the mud. OK - second try....we scaled the steep, dirt "path" to get down to the tiny, secluded beach. Leaving our inhibitions and our clothes on the beach, we waded into the sea in search of mud. After a few minutes of feeling around on the shallow, sandy ocean bottom, we felt the smooth mud we were in search of. After gathering enough to cover us from head to toe, we retreated to the beach and began the transformation to sea creatures. We caught a few odd glances, but were otherwise ignored. As we sat on the beach to dry, we could feel the mud tighten on our skin and watch the mud turn from a deep gray-green to a light greenish-gray. It was sooo cool ;) After washing off in the sea (at least we thought we'd washed it off until we dried and could still see faint shades of mud all over us) we returned to the other, more modest side of the beach and relaxed (if you can believe it) for the rest of the day. At this point, we decided to stay another day. Neither of us needed much convincing from the other that this was a good idea. It was something we needed...something we'd earned...something so obvious.... Well, our one extra day turned into two because there were no ferries to Italy that next day it turns out...oh, shucks! ;) Corfu, and Sunrock in particular is a fabulous place to rest, relax and rejuvinate.

I'm sorry to leave you all in such a rush....and I will indeed get back to our last days in Arta next time, but my time is up. I'm due on a ferry to Brindisi in about an hour. We're travelling through Brindisi...taking a train straight to Napoli, where I hope to get back online. Soon, in any event.

So thank you again for all your love, thoughts, wishes and comments. I leave you now, fully rejuvinated and ready to take on Italy! Bring on the Gellato ;)

Hugs!
Lorien