ASIANOVERLAND.NET WINTER EUROPEAN DAY 19/192:  CORFU, GREECE

Corfu is a large, hilly, scenic island, and the best way to see it is on a motorbike, so we hire motorbikes to have a look around the island. Corrie is 18 and hasn’t driven a car or ridden a motorbike yet, but is fearless and is prepared to give it a try, following me around a tight hairpin bend. She hit the brakes to slow down but the brakes weren’t there – it was the accelerator, so Corrie’s motorbike hit the stone wall to prevent vehicles sliding down the cliff, went over the handlebars and ended up down the cliff on the beach. Great ride around the island of Corfu though, up the mountains, monsatries and great sea views.

We camp at Camping Dionysus at Corfu, where all Top Deck crew and punters are welcomed like long lost brothers and sisters, with copious quantities of Oozu, retsina and Greek food.

Dionysus is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking and wine, of fertility, orchards, fruit, vegetation, insanity, ritual madness,  festivity and theatre in ancient Greek religion and myth. He is also known as Bacchus, the name adopted by the Romans; his wine, music and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself, and Camping Dionysus showcases his powers with copious quantities of alcohol.

His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms. Evidence from the Mycenaean period of Greek history shows that he is one of Greece's oldest attested gods.

Wine played an important role in Greek culture, and the cult of Dionysus was the main religious focus surrounding its consumption. Wine, as well as the vines and grapes that produce it, were seen as not only a gift of the god, but a symbolic incarnation of him on earth. However, rather than being a god of drunkenness, the religion of Dionysus centred on the correct consumption of wine, which could ease suffering and bring joy, as well as inspire divine madness distinct from drunkenness. Performance art and drama were also central to his religion, and its festivals were the initial driving force behind the development of theatre.

Our 1980 Trip Book reads

“DAY 19, 30/12/80 CORFU (DAY 2)

Just about everyone pissed off on motorbikes or mo-peds. Nothing much to report except Corrie’s distinctive motor-bike style – uses fences instead of brakes to stop, and dismounts over the handlebars instead of on the side. This originality earned Corrie the Dale Award for 5 minutes (1st person to get him twice).

However, in an unprecedented move, a late nomination for Rowena’s paralysing performance with only half a bottle of Ouzo was considered more worthy. Dale to Rowena (also for the 2nd time).

Girls took Gold, Silver & Bronze Dale Awards for the day: Vicki took the Bronze for her double chuck apres Ouzo.”

↑ Day 191 ↓ Day 193