The island of Corfu lies just off the Greek mainland and is not far from Albania. The water surrounding the island is filled with dolphins which follow the ship periodically. Corfu has an old town with the typical narrow streets and old buildings. There are lots of churches which are Greek Orthodox, naturally. There are many shops selling everything from natural sponges (they dive for them in the local waters) to knock off Prada purses. No, I did not buy any. We went to one of the local beaches in the morning. The beaches are full of rocks and the water wasn’t that nice. Our beaches are much nicer. After a few hours we came back to the old to stroll and shop. There were several other cruise ships in town so it was crowded but manageable. Corfu is definitely not one of the prettier Greek islands but the people were nice to us. The taxi rides were quite expensive as was the merchandise but we are still glad we visited. The Greek economy is going down the toilet and the residents seemed a bit desperate for business but I thought everything was overpriced so I didn’t buy anything to help them out. Other people were buying, so no guilt feelings here. Tonight we leave for the Med and Barcelona. We will go through the Straights of Messina and pass Mt. Etna.