コルフ島をレンタカーで回る Driving around Corfu island

友人のヨットに別れを告げて、コルフ島に戻り、レンタカーで島を回りました。コルフ島はメジャーなリゾート地のようで、頻繁に飛行機の離着陸が見られます。海を泳ぎながら着陸する飛行機を真下から眺めたのは初めてです。

After we left our friends' boat, we returned to Corfu island and drove around by rental car. Corfu seemed to be a very popular holiday destination. I frequently saw many aeroplanes taking off and landing. It was the first time I had seen airplanes just above me while swimming.

ダッシアのホテルを拠点として美しいといわれている島の北側を中心に回りました。たくさんのビーチがあったので、毎日何箇所かに絞って泳ぎました。なかでも一番のお気に入りは歩いて（か海から船で）しかたどり着けないビーチ（アジオス　ステファノスというところから歩きました）。暑すぎて歩くのはちょっと大変でしたが、海沿いの美しい景色が見られて、さらには人がほとんどいない美しいビーチで泳げて大満足。お勧めです。

We were based in Dassia and drove around mainly the north part of the island, which is said to be more beautiful. There were so many beaches that we chose the best ones to swim from every day. One of my favourites was a beach which was only accessible on foot or boat. We stated walking from Agios Stefanos and saw fantastic views alongside the coast, although it was too hot to walk comfortably. What's more, the beautiful remote bay was worth swimming in. I'd recommend it.

食事はというと、毎日トマトやアボカドなどの野菜にディップをつけて食べていました。みずみずしい野菜とギリシャのディップの組み合わせはこの暑い気候にあっていて最高です。タツキ（ヨーグルトときゅうりのディップ）、タラモサラダ（じゃがいもと魚の卵のディップ）（※日本のタラコといものサラダだと私は思っていたのですが、実はギリシャ料理だった・・・）、などなど。これに地元民の作ったお手頃な赤ワインを冷やして飲む（赤ワインをわざわざ冷やして飲んだのは初めて・・・）と、シンプルですが極上の食事でした。

Talking of food, we enjoyed fresh vegetables, such as tomatoes and avocados, with dips every day. The fresh vegetables and Greek dips were one of the best combinations for the hot climate there. We enjoyed 'tzatziki,' yoghurt cucumber dip, 'Taramosalata,' fish roe and potato dip, which I had actually mistaken as Japanese original salad with cod roe (pronounced 'tarako') and potato (pronounced 'imo'). Those simple foods became great meals with local reasonable red wine. It was the first time I had deliberately chilled red wine.

滞在中一度だけ雷と大雨に見舞われました。停電して、水も使えないのには困りましたが、雨水を汲んで来てしのぎました。後で聞くと別の地方では嵐で船が壊れるなど大変な被害にあった模様。まあ、そんな１日もありましたが、ほぼ天候に恵まれ（たまに暑過ぎましたが）、島を満喫できました。

During our two week stay, we had only one day when the weather was bad. We had torrential rain and thunder. That caused a power cut. It was a bit inconvenient not to be able to use water either, but we could draw rain water, so that was alright. Later we heard that the thunderstorm had caused a lot of damage in other areas, such as breaking boats. Anyway, we had almost perfect weather there, except for the sizzling heat and enjoyed Corfu island thoroughly.