Candes Saint-Martin, my favourite spot in La Touraine.

Wednesday 19 August 2015

Narrow, narrower, narrowest

Before setting out on my solo trip to Corfu I had asked some colleagues who had stayed on the island before about the best way to see as much as possible. Most of them recommended renting a car and venturing out on my own, at my own pace and leisure. They all advised me to rent the smallest car possible. Otherwise it would not be possible to penetrate into the heart of the picturesque mountain villages. The country roads are notoriously narrow as in the past only pedestrians and donkey(carts) needed access. 

As driving a car is not my favourite activity, especially not on foreign and unknown ground, I never even considered this option. Dimitris’ taxi service, however, seemed like a nice alternative. And I wasn’t disappointed. 

He took us up into the mountains, along narrow, winding roads, that got narrower by the minute … His driving skills were just amazing. At some point I thought the rear view mirrors of his Mercedes were going to touch the façade of a house. But he cleared it beautifully, without even slowing down! 

Here are some examples of Dimitris’ driving skills. All these photos were taken from the passenger seat of the car.
 
 


 

 
 
 
To be fair, he didn't drive us down these steps ... but only because he didn't want to ruin the car's suspension ...

5 comments:

The Broad said...

Your pictures have left me holding my breath!

Bob said...

maybe a motorcycle with a side car!!! those ARE narrow streets. you made a wise choice to let someone else do the driving. in any event, very nice photos. you must be busy since you haven't posted in awhile. hope things are going well with you.

Carolyn said...

I'm enjoying your trip to Corfu. There's so much beautiful blue in your photos.

VirginiaC said...

Thank goodness you had an experienced driver like Dimitris for those narrow streets.
I may have given it a go myself if I had rented a car on the island.
I am really enjoying this trip with you.

Diane said...

We have a few narrow streets around here, it amazes me that the car actually gets through some of them. Steps though I agree are not much good for the suspension :-) Have a good day Diane