For our long Easter weekend (Thursday to Easter Monday), my house and I chose to visit the island of Corfu, Greece. We stayed at a hostel called The Pink Palace, which seemed more like a tropical resort than anything. The only downside to this trip was that I would be missing both of my classes on Thursday (huge bummer) and a little more than half of the weekend would be dedicated to traveling there and back. We booked this trip through Bus2Alps and met at 9am to board the bus waiting to take us to the Ancona port. Ancona is just east of Florence, a four hour bus ride away, on the coast where we would board a huge cruise ship. This ship took us on a fifteen hour ride south along the Italian coast to the international port of Igoumenitsa, Greece. It was a bit uncomfortable sleeping since our indoor "airplane seating" reservations got messed up from all the chaos of the Greek Easter. (Fortunately we were rewarded for their mistake with cabins on the way back) Since not all the airplane seats were taken I passed out for an hour or two in one of them before coming back up to the outer deck to find my friends and look for a different place to spend the night. We found an open floor one deck down to set up camp for the night.
Friday
We awoke the next morning to a recorded voice overs the speaker basically telling us to get the hell up and get ready to get off the boat. From there we walked through "customs" to the domestic port to take a much shorter (hour and a half) trip to Corfu. The last leg of the journey was a thirty minute bus ride to The Pink Palace (aka paradise). We handed over our passports in exchange for keys to our rooms for the next two days. The rooms were very nice; much nicer than you would expect for a hostel. There were three beds to a room so I stayed with Dave and Vinny. We had our own bathroom/ shower (uncommon in a hostel) and a balcony that overlooked the beach/ sea (definitely rare for a hostel). We did the quickest bathing suit change job ever and ran down the hill straight to the beach. We each bought a celebratory cold beer or two beach side, set our towels down, and just relaxed at the beach for awhile. I was starving so I ordered a gyro at the beach before going back to our room. We waited in line forever to pick up our pink togas for the Toga Party that night before heading to dinner. After attempting to fit ourselves in our togas a few different ways, we eventually managed to get it right.
The dinner was unlike anything I had ever imagined from a hostel either. We were seated at a table on the 2nd floor of the Palladium and waited to be served. Surprisingly the food was very good. We were handed two plates and a bowl of "soup" (I think it was gravy though). One plate consisted of a traditional Greek salad and bread, while the other plate included pasta and meat. The Toga Party that night was actually the first I had been to and probably the most fun one I will ever go to. I danced like a fool for awhile in my pink toga, until they cleared the middle of the dance floor for a special presentation. They had us sit down in a circle for a really cool Greek show. They started by playing traditional Greek music and two men began dancing for awhile. They lit a ring of fire around themselves and one dancer picked up a table with a chair on top with his mouth. They brought out plates and a huge pot of red liquid called Ouzo, a Greek alcohol. The men made their way around the ring of people and began smashing plates over our heads and pretty much baptizing us in Ouzo. We tried to get as many plates smashed over our heads and down as much Ouzo as possible. Once we left the club (the first floor of the Palladium), we went to the hot tub to relax. The Pink Palace had a huge hot tub, more like a small pool. It fit a lot of people so after the club the hot tub more or less turned into the after-party.
Saturday
On Saturday morning Drew woke all of us up because we had to sign up early to get on the booze cruise. The ship was not big so there was very limited space, about sixty or seventy passengers. We did not want to miss our opportunity so we got up, put shoes on and went downstairs to wait in line. A common theme we noticed this weekend is that you must be very patient with the Greeks. Just because they invented order and democracy does not mean they are well-organized in the present-day. Again, as with the togas, it took forever to get through the line but was well worth it once we boarded the ship for the booze cruise. I ate a good sized breakfast; another impressive meal at the Pink Palace. They actually cooked hot food so I grabbed a plate of ham, cheese, and eggs. They let us go up multiple times so I keep getting more until I was full. We ate our breakfast in the sun, on the deck overlooking the sea. At 2:00 it was finally time to walk out to the booze cruise and climb aboard. We were all very excited and ready for an adventure at sea.
The first instructions we were given is that we would all be shotgunning a beer to start the voyage. Each person bought a beer and had one of the bartenders gash a hole into one end with a good sized dagger. (Very unnecessary but very cool.) Our first stop on the cruise was a 40-foot cliff, which we would have the option of jumping off of. That was about the only safety precaution the crew took the whole trip: making the cliff-jump the first stop so everyone was still sober for the difficult climb and dangerous jump. Once we arrived they told us to jump out of the boat if we wanted to cliff-jump. Without even thinking I jumped into the beautiful blue, but frigid water. I swam as fast as I could to the base of the cliff to get out of the icy sea. The bartender was not kidding; I would agree the climb to the top was more difficult than having the nerve to jump. Once my foot found the underwater ledge, I pulled myself onto the edge of the base. The rock had great grip, although it was tough to find places to grab and get a foothold on. I held onto whatever I could and pulled myself up the rock pretty quickly. Luckily I swam to the base quick enough that I escaped the huge traffic jam at the bottom. The only people ahead of me was the bartender/guide and Dave. Dave led the way after our guide told us what to do and we got to the top with a lot of time to contemplate what we were about to do, before the next person made it up. Once people did get to the top we noticed a few of the girls had cut themselves up pretty badly on the cliff. We could not stop shivering because it was very windy at the top after getting out of the water. Not to mention we were almost shitting ourselves. We were instructed on how to jump and the ideal way to land. Dave went first and I followed right after. I told myself this was the easiest way down. The top of the cliff hung over its base on the side we jumped from so I wasn't worried about hitting anything except for the bottom. And the water was so clear that it was a little scary to actually see the bottom. What an adrenaline rush! I collected my sandals and swam back to the boat to watch everyone who was behind me. I felt great after and was happy I did it.
The second stop was a tiny secluded beach surrounded by a steep cliff all around. We got out here to lie in the sand and play some drinking games. Our final stop was a bat cave where we were supposed to go cliff-jumping off a lower ledge but apparently we didn't have enough time so we only ventured in for a little bit then backed out to head back to The Pink Palace. Dinner was the same deal as the night before with good food. We went back to the Palladium to go to the night club again too.
Sunday
I spent my Easter Sunday relaxing on a beach in Greece. It was not your typical observed holy day. That's not to say I didn't soak in the sun and the sea and peacefully thank God for his creations. I got up in the morning hoping to sign up for quad rentals. Unfortunately they were in high demand and we did not have a chance to take one out for the day. Relaxing on a beach in Corfu was not a bad alternative to my original plan though. Vinny and I swam to a buoy far out in the sea once we got too hot. The water was still cold but tolerable while we were swimming. It was strange to be able to see the bottom the entire way out, even when it got deeper. It was a very refreshing swim to say the least. Some of my friends went on the booze cruise again, which was hilarious to watch them come back and tell us how crazy the second day was. From the looks of it everyone was much drunker than the day before. It was time to get on the bus and head home now but Vinny and I wanted to jump in the Greek water one last time. We yelled to the cruise captain, who was cleaning up the boat, to throw us beers! He threw us some cold ones and we cracked them open and made our way to the hot tub to warm up. We were in a rush and it was a much better alternative to showering. We quickly packed up everything and sadly left our paradise at The Pink Palace. Anyway after another 26+ hours of traveling we got back Monday night. It was much nicer having a cabin room to sleep in on the cruise back.
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