By Angela
"Lazing on a beach in hot sunshine, dipping your toes in the sea to cool down and eating in the local tavernas for two whole weeks."
If this is your only idea of a holiday when visiting a Greek Island, or in this case Corfu, then you may not have considered a winter visit. Many of us have visited Corfu (or any other Greek Island for that matter) and thought what it must be like in the winter? When all the tourists have gone, how do the local people live in the winter when they have their Island back to themselves?
These two questions occur to me during every visit, and this year I had the opportunity to find out. Graham and I recently bought our own property in the village of Kendroma above Agni Bay, and with our own apartment to stay in, it made the accommodation situation easy for me. However there are plenty of houses available for winter rental with heating, which is definitely required during the winter months. My visit was for six weeks, through the whole of November and beginning of December, maybe this was not the worst of the winter months, but it certainly answered my questions and showed me Greek life.
I would mention that I spent this time on my own and without transport in an old traditional Greek village, very close to the sea and not far from our favourite Agni bay. Of course the three Tavernas on Agni beach were closed and I did not see a Taverna for miles around that was open, but I did on many occasions have Agni beach all to myself, apart from a few cats. On really nice sunny days, especially on Sundays, there would be a few of the local people down on the beaches fishing off the end of the little piers and many little boats on the sea, all trying to catch some fresh fish. Fishing seems to be a very popular sport at the weekends when no-one is working and the beaches and rocky coves are all free from tourists, but then perhaps even the fish are more laid back and easy to catch when the tourists are not around! It was quite warm sitting in the sunshine and there were many sunny days, not quite sunbathing weather, but I did on the warmer days see people swimming in the sea.
Our village, like most of the little Greek villages, is on a bus route, so getting into Corfu town is not difficult, but the bus service is limited and the last returning bus is about 2.30pm in the winter months, so visiting Corfu town has to be in the morning but there is time enough to shop before catching the last bus home and anyway the shops close at 2.30pm.
Of course cooking becomes an essential part of life with no tavernas and no transport to go further a field. There are some tavernas open which the local people use, mainly at weekends. most of them are in the larger resort areas such as Kassiopi and Acharavi especially, and of course Corfu town, but without transport not even those are available.
I had brought with me a book about Greek olive oil which contained recipes. This proved very useful, the dishes were delicious and simple to cook, I just had to make sure that I stocked up on plenty of herbs and spices, the vital ingredients to tasty Greek dishes. You can also find some very tasty recipes in the Corfiot magazine in the winter editions, if you come without a book. So no ready meals, frozen pizzas, or takeaways, just real Greek home cooking and very enjoyable it was. For someone who does not like cooking at home, I really surprised myself.
I visited the local Kafenion, where I suprisingly found many essential food items for sale. The local bakery is down the road in the next village. On Wednesday and Saturday the vegetable van arrived in the village square and I would walk up and sit in the warm sunshine with the older Greek ladies and await its arrival whilst admiring the stunning views towards Corfu town (on one or two occasions I had to do this in the rain, but it had no effect on the views, they were still stunning!!). The ladies would greet me and try to tell me the names of some of the vegetables, I just wish my Greek was better and I could have chatted with them. One Wednesday even the fish van came, they pointed him out to me and explained that he was selling fresh fish, so it was not difficult to get supplies and trips to the town were not needed very often.
If you bear in mind that you have to cook for yourself in the winter months, and buy the produce, this takes up some of your time. Visiting friends and people you may have met in the summer is also very enjoyable because they have time to talk and spend time with you and people who would normally be very busy in the summer are at last taking it easy and much more relaxed and they make you so very welcome.
My Greek neighbours are very friendly and they also made me feel very welcome, although their English is limited and my Greek even more limited, we were still able to convey a friendliness and I never really felt alone. I am sure, should I have needed help in any way they would have been only too pleased to assist.
A hobby or an interest of some kind makes a winter visit even more fulfilling such as painting, writing, reading and weather permitting, walking and the all popular fishing. Even just relaxing and taking life easy in general can be fulfilling and an escape from the hectic life and work at home. I had no television and I did not miss it, although it is available in some of the winter lets. I will of course confess to my one piece of technology that I did have and that was my PC!! (well just how do you live without one in this day and age!!!) I was helping Nathan with his winter update on the website, which made my visit very interesting and occupied some of my time. Websites, PC technology and communication, are of my indoor interests and hobby, however, without it I really feel I could have still filled my time with the other interests that I have mentioned. Of course not many people would visit alone, and with such warm and friendly hospitality, not all of my time was spent alone, but with a partner or companion, even some old fashioned games would pass away the dark, cooler evenings, I had to play them on the PC!!
It is an excellent time of year to walk, and I spent many hours walking the coastal footpaths, visiting many beaches that I had seen so busy and full in the summer months. You can have every beach on the North East coast to yourself if you are lucky, but you may find one or two people around on the good days. I also walked up into the hills, where it is far too hot to walk in the summer and the views are fantastic. You can see so much more of life on foot than in a car. Walking up into the hills is a fantastic experience, it is nothing like the hard work it is in the summer heat and it is surprising how quickly you are high up into the mountains exploring the quiet and in some cases deserted mountain villages, a part of Corfu that some people never get to see.
So next time you wonder what it is like in the winter, save some of those well earned holidays and give Corfu a try in the winter months. I do believe that if you love Corfu, the countryside, reading, writing, painting, fishing, the simple things in life and all that nature has to offer, then you would really love a winter visit.
