The hotel we stayed at was right on the beach, a good torpedo kick from the balcony might almost land one in the water. Greece is pretty laid back, and we were told everything here is in 'ish' time... so for example, when a shop says it opens at 10... it's tenish.
We headed into Corfu Town (the centre of the Island we stayed on), and walked around the streets and markets for a couple of hours. Every European city has been the same so far, with the amount of people on the street hassling you to buy stuff, but Corfu wasn't so bad.
The few days we spent in Corfu were really good to just to relax in the sense that there isn't a million buildings to see, or walking around to see heaps of sights and so on.



Corfu
After awaking the next day to a nearly empty hostel, we decided to lounge about, watching a few movies in between a stroll to the shops via the beach across the road. Unfortunately, because we weren't 21, we couldn't hire a car to drive around the island, as many others did.
For the evening, I went to a local Greek restaurant, complete with a wide assortment of Greek dancing and plate smashing. The cuisine was as expected, and included some nice feta triangles (no spinach and ricotta), and some of the best lamb I've tasted in a while. After getting in on a bit of dancing myself, I retreated back to the table for some watermelon, and we were on our way out.
The next day was spent on the boat of a middle aged Greek man as risque as he was round. The drive around Corfu on his boat, which was complete with incredibly satisfying tsaki, ham and salad, was interesting to say the least. George's ability to make seemingly normal things sound sexual, and collection of vulgar rhymes was enough to be amusing in a cringe-worthy fashion. But all part of the experience, I guess.
An early night back at the hotel prepared us for the ferry towards Venice, for which we had to get up at 4:45am to depart for. It also prepared us for Venice in general, and the abundance of mosquitoes encircling the place, as I awoke mid morning to discover my mosquito repellent I had bought the previous day as a result of a few bites, seemed to act in more of a 'add fuel to the fire' manner... and resulted in one of my arms resembling a cricket bat polka dotted with red cherries. Ahaha, so good.
Anyway, I was well prepared for the early wake-up and lack of sleep (LMC, yeow), and recovered in true 'Mark Style' by going to sleep as soon as I boarded the ferry, and sleeping until the middle of the afternoon. It appeared everyone else had the same idea, and as I woke up to get a late, late lunch, others started appearing from their slumber.
A few hours and a couple of meals later, and I had settled back into bed, prepared for the 7am ferry. Ferry cabins seem to be the best place to sleep of late, and this time was no exception, as I woke up extremely well rested and ready to continue on my travels.
I spent the day at a place in southern Italy called Gartaland, Italy's biggest theme park near the lake from which it takes its name Lake Garta. The entry fee was a bit steep, especially considering we had to depart by 2:30pm in order to make it to our next stop, Verona, on time.

Gartaland
Verona is the city in which Romeo and Juliet is set to be based, and one of the most interesting aspects of the city is the balcony from which Juliet is said to speak those famous words (Oh Romeo...). The entrance from the street towards this balcony down a laneway is littered with graffiti in the form of various love notes and so on.



Verona
After leaving Verona, a short bus ride later brought us to the campsite on the outskirts of Venice, and port of call for the next couple of days. Whilst the city centre consists of many canals, it was quite easy to navigate via foot, with the majority of the city being easily accessible via a series of footbridges.
After a suprisingly mosquito free night, I got up pretty early, and caught a small boat into the centre of Venice, for a day of exploring. After having a look at a glass making performance, I started to explore the rest of Venice. As I said earlier, the city itself is pretty easy to navigate by foot, and there was a fair bit to look at, amongst the network of small alleyways and markets. Stores selling pizza and gelato were aplenty, so my hunger was kept well at bay.
As the day rolled on, we made our way back to the Piazza San Marco, before making our way back across town for a gondola ride throughout the canals of Venice. The gondola ride was pretty much as one would expect, except the guy driving ours kept getting distracted by his mates and would continually come close to crashing our gondola into the sides of the canals.





Venice
Back at the campsite, and we demolished a few games of my newest and highly satisfying purchase Uno, before crashing into bed ahead of a mammoth bus trip to Vienna, Austria the next day.