ARILLAS: FAVOURITE SWIMMING SPOTS IN CORFU

Arillas is first on my list of favourite swimming spots in Corfu.

The beach is soft and golden.

The water shallow at first, then gradually deepens at an inviting pace.

The colour ranges from sea green to translucent turquoise, with Ionian blue shimmering all the way into the Mediterranean Sea.

Pure clay is offered by the shore line for a good detoxifying body cleanse, before entering the sparkling saline waters to neutralise what is no longer needed.

On the mermaid map of Corfu Island, Arillas beach sits on her brow.

The mermaid’s ‘third eye’ for some.

Respectively, the atmosphere can feel transcendental, mystical almost.

On the far left and far right of the beach, nature devotees set themselves free.

Smiling faces and knowing eyes are greeted with an open heart.

The water in Arillas tends to warm up later in the season, exposed as it is to open Mediterranean currents.

The main beach has its share of sun beds and umbrellas but ample space is available to those that prefer the touch of sand.

Arillas beach also features wheelchair access, public showers and a boardwalk along which you sit and marvel at the scenery.

A central stone jetty with one of the best bench locations in the world, has become somewhat of a trademark.

Practicalities set aside, the scenery from Arillas beach touches the soul. It rises it up and lets it linger in the heavens for a while, lest we remember who we really are.

Like the hero Ulysses before us, who crept ashore this ancient island of Scheria battered and bruised, this is a place to meditate, to reconnect to our authentic selves and to transcend whatever it is that has been weighing us down.

Offshore, Gravia, the dragon island, reminds us we are sitting on the Micheal – Apollo axis as it travels across Europe all the way to Ireland.

Othoni, the north western most frontier of Greece, is last in the distance of a number of islets in view of Arillas beach. Ulysses’ boat that turned to stone by Poseidon’s wrath, is the triangular shaped rock in the midst of them all.

The sunsets are also unequivocally mythical with the energy rising to global heights. What a backdrop to one’s spiritual practice on the beach.

From Bali to Byron and back again, this place makes my heart sing like no other!