A farmers’ lunch

All through our day out with Dimitris I tried to follow our itinerary on the map he had given us in the morning. Although I consider myself as a fairly good map reader, thanks to my friend C., the winding roads on Corfu Island and the unfamiliar road signs somehow confused me. However, looking at the map today I can more or less work out our route.

We started out towards the west, drove up into the mountains and stopped to admire some spectacular views: an old fortress stooped on a rock facing the sea, a turquoise sandy bay, …

However, before we knew it, it was noon and time to have lunch. Dimitris never asked us where or what we wanted to eat. We weren’t especially hungry given the sumptuous ‘all you can eat’ breakfast buffet at the hotel. Yet, we could do with a little something, some snack … and this is where Dimitris’ knowledge of the island was more than welcome. As I mentioned, he never asked us what we wanted to eat but took as straight to a road-side mini-market/bakery for a typical farmer’s lunch. Nothing fancy, nothing grand but straight forward healthy food.

The tavern (if that’s the name for it) was located in the back room of a small bakery. The place smelled of freshly baked bread and something ‘tangy’, which soon turned out to be home-made lemonade. We didn’t have to do anything; just walk onto the balcony to admire the view and shoot photos of the dreamlike bay down below and enjoy the moment. 

The haze you see in this photo lasted all through my short stay on the island.

By the time we got back inside – the place had a nice outside seating area, but the northerly wind from the Albanian mountains was too cold to enjoy a meal al fresco – our lunch was served. A large plate with a fresh lump of feta cheese, covered in local olive oil and oregano, black olives and, with on the side, a basket of home-made bread and for each of us a large glass of chilled home-made lemonade.

The lunch was not included in the tour (as we knew beforehand). However, there was no reason to fuss, because we each payed 3 euros, for a thoroughly enjoyable and fresh meal in unique settings. 

Back on the road – while waiting for one of Corfu’s notorious stop lights (more about that later) to turn green- Dimitris explained that our lunch has been an olive grower’s staple food for as long as there have been olive groves on Corfu.