Today I am excited to bring you a guest post by one of my favorite bloggers...Kayleigh of The Way I Wanderlust. I have been following her blog for the past year and am constantly inspired by her love of travel, down to earth personality, and self-described "gypsy soul." She dreamed about living in Australia, so in 2012 she and her husband picked up did just that. She dreamed about backpacking through Europe solo, so she traveled for a year including spending five months volunteering at a horse ranch in Greece. A traveler who follows her dreams and has a soft spot for animals? Clearly a girl after my own heart.
Hi fellow Dreams in HD followers, my name is Kayleigh and I blog over at The Way I Wanderlust. My blog is mostly about fulfilling my wanderlust with endless adventure, my life and the way I like to live. When Molly asked me to take over her lovely blog for the day I was flattered. We seem to have a mutual love of travel, especially the lovely Tuscan region of Italy. I really love all her travel posts and it makes me reminisce about my time travelling through Italy. Today I would love to share with you my fabulous experience living on the island of Corfu, Greece.
I spent five months living on a horse ranch/riding centre. Originally I was only going to stay about one month before continuing on to the other islands but I just fell in love with everything about Corfu and I couldn't bare to leave so soon. I randomly found The Silva Riding Centre online when I was looking for places to volunteer at in exchange for room and board. The centre is located about 10 minutes outside of the town of Corfu sitting right on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Not only is the surrounding area picturesque but the actual property is so large that you feel like you are in your own little magical world.
I worked 6 days a week if you could even call it work. Basically I fed, rode and played with horses all day long. I also helped out in the lessons when I was needed, mostly leading around the younger children that were not yet old enough to ride completely by themselves. Apart from being a training centre the Silva Project also rescued unwanted and abused animals, usually horses and dogs. It was heartbreaking to see the condition that most of the animals were brought to us in but helping them recover and watching them transform as the months went on was heartwarming. I wanted to adopt every single one and bring them home with me.
In my free time I would wander around the island taking pictures, walk into town with the other volunteers to enjoy the outdoor markets and coffee shops. We had private beach access on the property so at night if it was warm enough we would head down and sit around a bonfire watching the stars. I loved getting to know all the other volunteers, everyone was there for a reason such as a much needed vacation, a break away from the world or where there to simply get to know themselves better and figure out what they wanted out of life. These fellow volunteers became my family over those months and dinner was always a large, loud event with wine and dancing continuing into the early hours of the morning.
I will forever cherish my time here and would love to go back one day. I honestly could of spent the rest of my life here content to forever be a volunteer but after five months I did start to feel that pull to move on and experience something else. I would recommend Corfu to anyone looking for a peaceful island getaway. The locals are so friendly and welcoming, we were always invited to festivals and special occasions. The few from the beach is worth the trip alone and the food is to die for.
Thanks so much for taking the time to learn a bit about me and my travels. If you would like to learn more or connect with me head on over to my blog. I recently just spent a year in Australia and am now back in Canada trying to adjust back into regular life but also planning my next escape.
{Top image via Wikimedia, all others via The Way I Wanderlust}
