Corfu

Forgive me for not posting in the last week, I have been in Greece, and without Internet until now!
Monday I found myself packing again, but this time only for a little more than a week. Tuesday morning Bruno drove us to the Soignies train station, where we caught the 10 o'clock to Brussels-Aéroport. Spiri, Andrea, and I checked in with Thomas Cook airlines, and all went well on our flight to Corfu. Stepping out of the plane was like coming back to Charleston, it is really hot here. Fortunately, our hotel has a pool and the Mediterranean is quite refreshing. After settling in and scouring the beach for live Greek music on Tuesday, we took an island tour on Wednesday hitting all the main tourist attractions. We saw an island monastery, the Achilleon Palace (loaded with history and beautiful inside and out), Corfu Town and it's grand square (largest in Greece, 4th largest in Europe), the mountain peak at 3,000 feet, Paleokastritsa Beach, late lunch at Bella Vista with a glorious view of Paleokastritsa Bay, and we even stopped for refreshments on the road looking over to Albania only a few kilometers away. The tour ended after a visit to a beautiful old Orthodox monastery. It was a long, but enjoyable day. Wednesday morning we caught the bus from Dasia and went to Corfu Town to the older portion, with architecture reminding me of Italy. We saw all the main sites and ambled the streets for a few hours. We were lucky enough to get to enter the Church of St. Spiridon and see his mummy entombed (most people were kissing the glass over his head and feet, but I just pretended). That afternoon I took a siesta and rested around the pool area for the remainder of the day.  Friday was pretty relaxed, we went to the beach in the morning before the flocks of Italians and Germans came to littler the beach after lunchtime. I proceeded to take a siesta after Friday lunch and then join Spiri and Andrea at the pool until dinner. That night the search was on again for Greek music with less success than on Tuesday, ending shortly after we arrived to watch the Zorba. This morning, Saturday, we woke up early before even the hotel breakfast buffet opoened in order to catch the 7 o'clock bus into Corfu Town. There, we bought tickets for a ferry ride to the mainland, at Igoumenitsa. From here we rode a bus to Ionnina to meet up with some of Spiri's family for a day of visiting family around the surrounding villages of Dodoni and Mandio. Spiri showed us around the villages and we saw the Mandio church and monastery, and took us out for luch at a local restaurant with authentoc Greek cuisine. This evening on our way back into Ionnina, we went to the worlds oldest known Greek theater in Spiri's hometown Dodoni, dating from the 3rd century BC. Now, we are taking reprieve from the brutal heat in Hotel du Lac, which as it so happens, is a five-star hotel, and consequently very nice. Here, I finally get internet.
Tomorrow we will visit the sites in Ionnina and return to Corfu up until our departure Tuesday.
Corfu is a truly beautiful island, and I am having a splendid vacation here! Photos will be posted in plenty sometime next week. Until then, I will be without Internet.
Kalinixta!