Corfu: the island where you stay.

13 Things That Made Me Feel Not Greece, But Myself

Don't expect organization from Corfu. Expect softness , light , quiet smells , an unexpected outlook on life . The island doesn't offer a route - it unfolds a notebook in which you suddenly start writing something.

Here are 13 things I wrote into mine.

1. The sea as a state

In the morning it is green, in the afternoon it is glassy, at sunset it is like tea with honey. Sometimes it is smooth, sometimes it is rough, like fabric. I have learned to look at it without a goal - just to be.

2. The grass that never dies

Corfu is the greenest of the Greek islands. Here the meadow silence ripens. In January - fogs, in June - mint, in August - dry sage underfoot.

3. Kumquat

A citrus that grows only here. It is bitter like nostalgia and sweet like jam made from it. You can smell it, eat it, or take it away in a bottle.

4. Olives are not food, but a tree

The olive tree is like an animal here. It creaks as you walk past and may be older than the village. Its wood is used to make spoons, amulets and prayer beads.

5. Landscapes that heal

On the way to Paleokastritsa I stopped at a random cafe with a view. I sat down and couldn't get up for an hour. Sometimes care is just a panorama that no one is rushing .

6. Achilleion Palace

It is almost empty. But in its garden live the muses. Especially one - Terpsichore , the muse of dance. I do not dance, but next to her I want to move softly and slowly.

7. Monastery on the hill

There are several monks living there. And a lot of flowers. The view of the sea from here is like a prayer without words.

8. Beaches - wild and honest

We got to one of them by boat. No cafe, no shade. Just rocks, sea and freedom. I was left there alone for 4 hours.

9. An island where everything is close by

Bays and villages are like notes in a notebook. Everything is nearby: the market, the monastery, the beach. You just choose which page to open today.

10. Airplanes at eye level

The airport strip is right next to the water. The planes land like seagulls. This is the moment when the sky becomes very close.

11. Serpentines and goats

You turn, you think, "I'm lost." And then there's a goat with a bell, dusty lavender, and the road again. Life turns and comes back, just like you.

12. Love

Not touristy, not romantic. But the kind that doesn't make noise, but simply is . Like the breath between two people who are happy being silent together.

13. Darrell

He wrote here - simply and funny. And thanks to him I understood: the main thing is not to look for the house in which he lived, but to enter the state in which he wrote.

📖 In my notebook, Corfu begins not with a map, but with a question: "What if nothing else is needed?"