- liveletroam
Oh the kitties we'll see - Corfu
Updated: Jan 12
Cat lover's view when traveling
Corfu
Greece is known for its strays, and I knew when arriving I would get some closer encounters of the fuzzy kind. When talking to my sister about what I thought of Corfu, I responded, "It was a cat cafe masquerading as a gorgeous island." I knew I was in for some cat time from the start when we checked in to our Air Bnb and we saw some playful art on the rooftop. Above is one of those local strays we talked about in Episode 15, who joined us on our balcony.
After some dinner recommendations from our host, we headed to our first meal and we were greeted by a small black hungry kitty. I gave her some of my meat and some nice pets. Eric buckled after pleading not to give her all my meat and joined in when he saw how sweet she was. (I was wearing him down).
So why the picture of a dog on a cat blog? There was also a stray dog wandering about. We watched the interaction between him and our server. He politely came up to the restaurant doorway and the server said a few words and went into the back to get something. The dog waited patiently. As I am watching this I realize this is a routine and my eyes start welling up at the pureness of the moment of the dog patiently waiting. I said to Eric how good of a boy he was to wait outside as the server brought him some treats. Eric encourages my tears, even more, knowing I get emotional on rare occasions and mostly for animals. A few moments later the man came out with a pile of meat scraps from the kitchen on a piece of foil. He placed it outside on a nearby sidewalk and the dog happily dug in. Tears ran down my face at the scene and the goodness of the people of Corfu.
In the trio of pictures above you can see Paulie (named after Paulie Shore).
The Grill Bar and pool at Argo apartments were so peaceful and once again I could see the server adores the cats as well. Paulie came back to us 2 times after being fed to play once at our table and another time at our lounge chairs. Paulie liked to play and was very frisky. He played with my pant leg and later on, pulled on my shirt to request some play time on the lounge chair.
My favorite moment was when he jumped up to Eric's chair and he exclaimed "What do I do?", as Paulie rubbed against his leg and laid down. I told him while laughing he will not hurt him, just likes to rub against his leg hair and wanted some pets and playtime.
We continued to enjoy our time in Corfu and discovered new cats everywhere we turned. At the secluded beach across the street, there were a few strays who accepted pets as payment to swim in their waters. When swimming I could see the black and white one jump up on one of the local's laps and he petted him adoringly. YES! Corfu people love their kitties which made me love Corfu even more.
At any given meal I expected a fuzzy greeting. At Spiro's Taverna after our James Bond Day Trip, we met 2 grey kitties when the meat came, pictured in the 3rd one above. They accepted a few pets and then left. I named them "Chew and Screw".
Exploring Corfu's Old Town we stumbled across a gorgeous sweet pale cream kitty. She approached and let me give her some pets. We decided to hit an archaeological museum and were greeted by a fierce protector who meowed disapprovingly at all that entered. I laughed at the crankiness, as the museum staff told us, it was his feeding time and he was hungry.
Pictured below is a new breed of plant while exploring an old church while visiting the airport bridge.
We saw so many kitties during the week we were in Corfu. I appreciated that some of these cats were cared for, but understand that feral cats in Greece are a concern. My wish is that communities find measures to properly handle feral populations and that we all can continue to enjoy cats and all their quirkiness.
About the author:
Christy is an artist/creative spirit & blogger/podcaster with a passion for many things especially the arts, nature, and weird things around the world.
#naturewildlife #Greece #cats