Marathons and Sprints

  Pretty much a day in / around the hotel not fodder for a blog so combining a couple of days so as not to ramble on for no reason. Breakfast, sun lounger, reading, swimming , balcony, eating yada yada Our sole activity today was a walk up to the Lekuresi Castle, we'd seen it from the sea on the way into harbour, and it certainly could see us, and pretty much all the surrounds down to Butrint.  No surprises that it became a key lookout point for the Ottoman Empire (someone has been asking about the Turkish influence) and constructed in the 1500s to defend against the Venetians. Our purpose for visiting was strictly peaceful, we like to find viewpoints on our travels, and this was the one. Plus the way our friendly waiting staff advised us against walking simply threw down the gauntlet. This was a mere pimple to some of our previous ascents, and asphalt all the way, no chance of getting lost like ... well just about everywhere ... but Wales, Sardinia, the Lake District  Wi...

  Thought we'd fit a holiday in on our holiday, and what better place than the ex british protectorate of Corfu.  The Greek / Albanian historic connection is strong, but can throw in a bit of British influence on this one too, as mentioned previously, some strategically important staging posts around here.  Plus a buoyant cricket scene apparently.  Conspiracy theorists in Albania (particularly Elvis of Elvis bar fame) feels it is also a western plot to keep the tourists going to Greece rather than Albania due perhaps to those established historic/military ties. The Greek / Albanian geography though is another thing altogether. We are pretty much a handful of miles from the mainland border here in Saranda ( it has been pointed out (cheers Haydn) the Northern Epirus question which I think is low level bubbling at the moment is something that has had quite a strong territorial disputes in the past - another Balkan country anyone if at some point in the future neither...