Agios Georgios

The Corfu most visitors know is the summer one when weeks of hot sun and dry days have turned the grasses dry and yellow, and killed off most of the ground level vegetation. But in October things change.

The cooler weather and rains of September and October create new fresh grow of wild flowers and grass. Here a wild crocus, one of many, pushes its delicate new growth into the cool air of an olive grove. Many roadsides are carpeted by tiny wild cyclamen.

Even the previously bare ground beneath the olive trees is now a carpet of green

and new grass appears in dried up clearings equalling the greens of England and northern Europe.

However towards the end of the month Agios Georgios is beginning to close down for the winter. The last week of October can be a dreary time for the shop owners as their customers gradually vanish and the roads become quieter and quieter. Like migrant birds in the English autumn, the last tourists are gathering for the final home flights, although not on the overhead telephone lines but at Corfu Airport !

For the local shop owners now begins the long task of packing up the unsold goods until next May when flights restart.
Hotels suddenly become empty apart from the hotel staff whose work is not yet over. After the last meal, restaurant furniture is moved aside but a few lounge chairs remain while the very last 2 lonely guests wait for their transport.
And then they too have gone.
The hotel owner wanders round the quiet empty rooms with his head full of thoughts. He goes to check how the swimming pool is emptying and now at last has time to go for a dip himself. As the water slowly drains away he sits in the shallow water in silence, contemplating the season gone and the ones to come, until he realises he is 'high and dry' !

The huge clean-up and preparation for next season has already begun. The painters are starting the task of redecorating the many rooms. There is much to be done.

Agios Georgios is a summer phemomenon. Almost all residents are summer visitors who return to their real homes for the winter. Agios Georgios becomes very, very quiet for the winter months.

Back home next year's holiday brochures are being studied and bookings made.

Roll on May!