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We arrived in Brindisi on Saturday night, and after being ripped off as usual by the taxi driver, we got to the hotel. Ian had called ahead and reserved a 26 euro a night hotel - an unheard of low price so far in our European travels. The quality corresponded to the price, but at least we had our own room and a double bed.

We decided to venture out in search of food around 11 pm, fully expecting to have to settle for a late night slice of pizza or sandwich. Not so much! Turns out all the Brindisians (of all ages - babies to seniors) were out in force for their stroll at 11 pm, and restaurants were hopping. We ducked into Giuseppe’s, a below ground level cellar type of restaurant. After waiting about 10 minutes for the harried waitress to acknowledge us, we got a table by the door. Things improved from there however! We were pleasantly suprised at the menu prices, with none of the mains costing more than 10 euros. We opted to share the antipasto di casa platter, some gnocchi, a salad, dessert, a 1/2 litre of wine and 3/4 litre of beer. The antipasto turned out to be 12 (twelve!) different tasty snacks served on individual plates, tapas style. The gnocchi were swimming in a delicious blue cheese sauce, and the wine was surprisingly drinkable. About an hour into our meal, we were amazed to see four adults with two babies in prams come in! The babies were wide awake and another group of people cleared out, allowing them to get a table right away. Our bill was a very reasonable 28 euros.

Sunday morning we left the hotel at 10 am, leaving ourselves 1.5 hours to make the 11:30 am ferry to Corfu. We followed our map and walked to the ferry terminal only … no ferries! We asked a well dressed older man to tell us where the ferries to Greece were, and he laughed at us! We were (of course) at the wrong ferry terminal - the Greek ferries were another 5 km or so away, an unwalkable distance since it involved the highway. The man decided he’d give us a ride since otherwise we’d never make it. How nice!! What we hadn’t realized was that the clocks had sprung forward that night for daylight savings … so when we squeaked into the ferry terminal it was 11:30 already! Fortunately the ferry was waiting for an 18 wheeler which was running late as well, so they radioed ahead and let us buy tickets … only, not to Corfu! Turns out the Sunday sailing does not stop in Corfu and it goes straight to Igoumenitsa on the Greek mainland! And of course being a low season sailing, the restaurant was not open on the ferry so we survived on water, juice and chips from the ferry bar.

What’s more, Greece is 1 hour ahead of Italy. So by the time we sailed into Igoumenitsa, it was 8:20 pm. We asked at the purser’s desk and were told that the next (and last for the night) ferry to Corfu would leave Igoumenitsa at 8:30 pm, from a different ferry terminal about 500m away. We rushed to the front of the disembarkation queue and force-marched to the other terminal, only to find that the next ferry was at 9:15 pm … lotsa time!

So after a whole day spent on the ferries, we got into Corfu at 11:00 pm. Fortunately the very nice people from Sun Rock Hostel were waiting for us and picked us up at the ferry terminal. They even saved us some dinner left-overs. Unfortunately, Corfu has had some unseasonably cold weather and there were piles of still solid hail on the shady sides of the road even this morning! Our room was freezing, but we slept a good 12 hours underneath 3 blankets.

Thus begins our Greece adventure - we’ve been very lucky. Let’s hope there are no further mishaps!