Yesterday morning we were up at 3am to catch our flight to Corfu. Everything went well until we got to passport control, where the Greek official had apparently never seen a Swiss residence permit before, and I guess I can’t blame him for that. He decided to ignore mine and stamped my passport. These stamps are a pain. They allow you 90 days in the EU, and you have to make absolutely sure that you get an exit stamp on the way home to prove you haven’t overstayed. As Swiss residents we are supposed to be exempt from all this nonsense, but the rules aren’t universally known, and it isn’t wise to argue the toss with border guards, as these guys can seriously ruin your day if you annoy them. However, when Val presented him with her permit he decided to ask his boss what he should do. Val was then allowed to enter Greece without a stamp, and to the guy’s credit he called me back and cancelled my unwanted stamp. Woohoo! I had arranged for a taxi to pick us up and before long we were on our way.

We have rented a flat by the harbour in the village of Kassiopi, on the north east coast of the island. View from our balcony when we arrived.

We did a bit of shopping and found a nice place for dinner in the village square, before returning to our flat for drinks. Kassiopi is quite enchanting after dark.

This morning we had a walk around the harbour. There is room for a few yachts here, but it isn’t a major harbour like the ones we are used to further south.

The coastline is a series of small beaches. This one also had a nice cafe where we paused for coffee.

There are lots of bars and restaurants around the harbour, so we should be in for a nice couple of weeks here. It’s hot!