To Alba or Not to...
Place: Agio Gordis, Corfu Island, Greece
To Alba, or not to Alba, that is my current question.
No, I'm not talking about Jessica Alba (if it's her, then the answer is definitely yes, si, da!), I'm talking about Albania.
This is my second day in the Greek Island of Corfu and I am not even ready to leave yet. Even though Corfu is not located in the Aegean Sea (as most Greek islands are), it is one of the most popular Island destinations in Europe. Since it is on Greece's northwest coast (Ionian Sea), not too far from southeastern end of Italy (the heel of the "Boot"), many backpackers make a stop here on their way to Italy or to Athens.
I am staying at "Pink Palace," the famous 20-something backpackers' party hostel/resort complex (unfortunately for me) at Agio Gordis, at the west coast of Corfu Island. After a long night's bus from Athens, with a bus full of horny Spanish teenage girls (who, I doubt, understand much English), I arrived at the Hostel on Sunday morning around 7am. There are still drunk people, wearing pink toga, (later I found, they have "toga party" every Saturday night), wandering around the 24-hours bar and reception area.
I was sort of lucky. They assigned me a single room, with a double bed (instead of dorm room with other guys) for 25 Euros/day. Dinner and breakfast are included. The room is also next to the swimming pool and not far from the beach.
I went to take a nap and did not wake up until 4pm! I was supposed to travel to Corfu Town (the main town of the Island) to find out
ferry schedule to Saranda, Albania. But now it was too late to make a trip into town. The last bus had gone. (A taxi would cost 20 Euro). And I did not want to go to town early in the morning, with all my heavy belongings, and find out that there is no ferry to Albania on the next day.
So I decided to stay for another night.
Sunday night (July 9th) was also the night for the FIFA world Cup Final in Berlin, Germany. I watched the Final with a huge group of backpackers in the Hostel's TV room. The game felt quite lackluster to me since neither team scored in the whole 120 minutes' game and the winner had to be determined by penalty kicks. Italy won. Whatever. It was an anti-climax match anyway since both my favorite team, Brazil and Germany, were already eliminated in earlier stages.
Well, at least for years to come, I can tell people that I was in Europe, watching the World Cup Final with a group of European youths when it was held in Europe (heh) in 2006...
Today (Monday) I went to Corfu Town and found out, yes, there are two companies operating ferries to Saranda every morning. It is as expensive as I read, 15 Euro, each way (plus 10 Euro entry visa fee for everybody). I also found that Ionian Cruise company operates a daytrip to Albania everyday for only 25 to 28 Euro (cheaper than roundtrip ferry fare). With the daytrip, you can choose to go to a ancient Greek site at Butrinti (a UNESCO site), possibly the best archeological site in Albania. Now this daytrip sounds appealing.
I know a "daytrip" is absolutely not a good way to know a country. With a daytrip to Albania, I will be also not able to make it to Albanian capital, Tirana. With my LP Guide, Tirana is 8 hours' bus ride from Saranda. It is a long drive (even it is only 290 km), and I heard Albanian highway is among the most bumpy in Europe (wow, the bumpy memory of Cambodian highway now come back to haunt me...) Tirana is not a very pretty city anyway. So...
Should I just stay longer for Corfu's beach and sun?
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