In September 2017 my best friend from college Molly and I took a two week trip to Greece. Our first stop was Corfu, so we arrived on this beautiful island very jetlagged, and a little hungover in Molly’s case. Our first stop was to drop our luggage at the Airbnb and have a hot shower. We forgot that “on the 4^th floor” in Europe actually means “on the 5^th floor” for us Americans, so we were pretty beat from hauling our luggage up there. We got ourselves together enough to venture out to dinner and went to Salto wine bar. I cannot recommend this place enough! What an amazing find for our first day! A little off the beaten path with views of the harbor, this place had amazing food, the owner was so helpful in suggesting wines, and basically put together a custom tasting for us to try various types of Greek wine. We spent a couple hours there just sipping wine and trying the various food dishes, a great way to end our long day of travel.

After sleeping for 14 hours (including through construction on the building next door) we awoke refreshed and ready to check out the town. The town of Corfu is fairly small and definitely walkable to the tourist sites. We opted not to rent a car and check out the rest of the island, which meant we took a more leisurely approach to exploring Corfu as we had several days there.

We wandered around town taking in the sights and scoping places for the evening time. For lunch we went to Pane e Souvlaki which was highly recommended in the travel blogs I’d read prior to the trip. It definitely lived up to the hype! Cheap, fast, great people watching since it was in the square, and super tasty. After lunch we did more wandering and had a midafternoon drink at a place by the harbor. The harbor of Corfu houses some mega yachts, so we had lots of fun guessing how much per week each of the yachts cost (spoiler: waaaaay more than we would ever pay! The most expensive one was $800k a week!) For dinner we went to Cavalieri roof garden. This is (obviously) on the roof of the hotel, and has amazing panoramic views around the city! We got here around sunset which I would highly recommend. While the food was not the best we had, the views were definitely worth a visit to this spot.

After dinner, drinks took us to this fun spot built into the hillside with various terraces of tables. Here we tried our first grappa, which was quite the experience, more of a harder alcohol shot that’s home brewed this was definitely not our thing! Luckily we had lots of wine to wash it down with!

On day 3 in Corfu we felt much better, and got up much earlier than the previous day. We decided to go and explore the old fort that sits up on a hilltop overlooking the harbor and the city. The walk up there was not bad, it looks like a long way but there are multiple places to stop for photos as the path winds up the hill. Well worth the small entrance fee, the views from here were spectacular. There is a small restaurant inside that we had lunch at, and were able to sit on the patio and take in the harbor and fort (can you tell we had a thing for the harbor? J ). As it was hot we decided to take a dip in the sea. We found a spot locals were swimming down by the harbor and rowing club, and took a dip there. The water was amazing, a little cold at first but perfect after 30 seconds. That evening for dinner we went across town and had dinner down on the water. That evening we had a couple drinks and packed for the next stop on our trip…Meteora!

My 5 favorite things in Corfu:

1. Walk around – I know this sounds silly, but we found some amazing little streets and cafes just wandering and getting lost, which were my favorite spots.
2. Make the “trek” up the fort – As I mentioned above, it looks way worse than it is. There are cool signboards along the way to give you some history, and the views alone are worth it.
3. Eat at Pan e Souvlaki – Seriously this place is amazing, and a fun meal, you’re in somewhat close quarters with the other diners, but that made it fun.
4. Salto wine bar – Ask the owner for his recommendations, it does not disappoint! The relaxed ambiance, the great food, amazing wine, all makes for a wonderful time.
5. Swimming – You can go in the harbor or there are several swimming clubs you can pay an entrance fee too and get access to chairs etc. The water is warm and refreshing after a day exploring the town.