One day in Corfu: lost and found

The road goes ever on and on… At least the road we’ve chosen towards Corfu’s west coast seems to. Ignoring the speedier straighter route to the south west, our ultimate goal for the day, we’ve been winding our twisting way up hillsides, switchbacking ever closer to the little village of Pelekas.

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It’s a snapshot of timeless Greek life: little old ladies in black dresses wandering alongside old men in blue caps or chatting to their friends outside shops and cafes. Sudden gleams of sunshine yellow buildings among the white, houses clinging impossibly to the hillside in endless pastel shades faded by the sun.

And tiny streets, just wide enough for one car to squeeze through as I snatch glimpses from behind the wheel – and wish for more time to stroll through, camera in hand, soaking it all in.

Check out my complete guide to Greece with kids here

For now, all my concentration is on not scratching the gleaming blue paint of the Mini Cooper I’m driving, the hire car provided free for the day as part of our all-inclusive stay at Ikos Dassia resort. If I manage to return it in equally impeccable condition, I only have to pay for petrol. Having driven in Greece before, I’ve taken out the extra insurance though!

Olive trees dot the landscape, pines shading the roadside as we emerge unscathed and head down to the coast road to cruise along the beach towards Agios Georgios south – there are two Agios Georgioses on the island plus an Agios Gordios to add to any potential satnav confusion.

Perhaps that’s why, when we find ourselves at the bottom of an improbably curving road, the Ionian Sea sparkling deep blue into the distance to Italy far over the horizon, we discover the coast path we’d been aiming for doesn’t exist. The tarmac stops at the sand. The only option? To turn around and retrace our sinuous steps back up the circuitous mountain road.

My six-year-old, strapped into her child seat in the back, is not impressed. On the plus side, I get another look at Pelekas on the way back through.

It might not have been the journey we intended: using a combination of the satnav, Google maps and optimism, sailing past tiny forks on the road which turned out to be the turnings we wanted, we take perhaps the longest route available from our base on the east coast, just north of Corfu Town, to our goal on the opposite side of the island.

Even once we reach Agios Georgios, we find a totally deserted stretch of sand down rickety steps from a string of little tavernas, most closed by the end of October when we visited.

The rising cliffs above the beach are wonderfully dramatic and we don’t need to share our paddle with anyone… but I’m convinced (correctly) that it’s not what we were really aiming for, and order everyone back into the car.

Eventually, we succeed and celebrate finding Issos Beach, another stretch of golden sand, with an ice cream – there are loungers and people parascending, their rainbow bright canopies vibrant against the sky until their graceful soaring ends with a gentle splash in the waves.

It famously appeared in a Bond film, although the beach which Roger Moore wanders along in For Your Eyes Only has changed somewhat since the movie was made.

At one end lie protected dunes, grasses swishing gentle in the breeze off the sea, and we wander slowly along, spotting driftwood and debris from the water, temporarily collecting interesting odds and ends (including a couple of spikily fuzzy little pods) before scrambling up the sandy slopes, pausing on rocks to gaze out to the horizon once more and inland to see if there’s a glimpse to be had of Lake Korission with its flamingos. Perhaps if we squint very very hard…

Visting the lake had been on our original plan for the day but thanks to all the detours en route and the equally convoluted directions to get to an accessible point (excluding the one our map insists exists but that we can see simply isn’t there), we decide flamingo-spotting will have to wait for another day.

The same goes for the Achilleion, Empress Elisabeth of Austria’s ‘summer palace’ – I’d been in two minds about just how exciting it would be for a six-year-old. The magic word ‘princess’ always helps sell things to Minnie, but it can’t compare to a beach: particularly with two new-found friends to share it with.

But I couldn’t regret not coming directly here and packing our day. What’s travel without the chance to discover an unexpected adventure, to follow a path because it looks intriguing (or even because you missed the one you should have taken), to swap the chance to tick off attractions for stumbling across a hidden spot by chance?

If only I could have taken the road north as well, into the wilder green of Corfu. If only I had longer to stop, to experience, to discover. The eternal lament of the traveller… and the eternal answer. We’ll just have to come back.

Check out my complete guide to Greece with kids here, as well as more things to do in Corfu Town with kids

PIN FOR LATER: ONE DAY IN CORFU

Disclosure: The Mini Cooper was provided by Ikos Dassia (available to all guests) where my stay was partly courtesy of the resort for review – I paid for several nights plus flights myself, as well as the petrol for the car. I chose our route (not always very well!) and was under no obligation to write about our day out, or even to take the car out at all. All opinions and ability to get lost in a paper bag are my own.

Achilleion and boat at sea image courtesy Depositphotos, all other images copyright MummyTravels

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