A Tale of Two Hotels
Photo © Rob Jones
Coming away from Corfu this time, I decided to spend a night in Corfu Town.
Being normally based on the north of the island, I haven’t spent a huge amount of time in the island’s capital - known locally as Kerkyra.
And I loved it.
I was staying in a beautiful hotel - a risky spontaneous booking without knowing where it was or what it was like, but it turned out to be a jewel.
Nestling next to Mon Repos, the birthplace of the Duke of Edinburgh, it was a stone’s throw from the breakwater with spectacular views of the town and citadel. Frequented by fishermen and late night swimmers and people just gossiping.
The hotel - The Mon Repos Palace Hotel - had an ‘Empire’ feeling … panelled walls, and old-world feel with exemplary service. Understated and yet clearly a modern building.
I sadly wasn’t there for long, but enjoyed what felt like a luxury experience in my room, with a sunny balcony, a little pool and a big breakfast taken on the terrace overlooking the mill pond Ionian sea.
And it’s close to the airport. 20 minutes walk in fact. Not that you’d know, though you can wander round to Kanoni to view planes (looking down on them) coming in steeply to the airport. Very exciting.
Then back to UK and a stay in Huntingdon for one night before trekking back to Bangor.
And … what a comparison.
I stayed in a hotel, though I won’t actually name it because it was ‘fine’ and yet …
Temperatures much lower than Corfu obviously and cuisine was more pub than a la carte.
Photo © Rob Jones
I was amused by the sign in the bathroom, which while certainly was risk averse, was also grammatically correct. The water may be hot … but it wasn’t. So I had a refreshing cold shower despite running the taps for an eternity. The view was into an internal courtyard although to be fair it did have an ‘olde worlde’ feel.
I enquired about access to the building if I wanted to go for an early morning run, and was told it was a bit hit and miss, as I need to take my phone and call the night porter to get in and out after 11pm and before 9pm.
And, it was twice the cost as the hotel in Corfu.
Wrong, I know to make comparisons like this. But when you add it to the general over pricedness of just about everything in this country (£5 for a sandwich with barely anything in it), trains that arrive late or not at all, and the general run-downness of everywhere.
What’s to become of us.
R
