The Pink Palace

I've found that the five big hostels of Europe has become a group of ten to fifteen hostels. I'm currently at one of them: The Pink Palace in Corfu, Greece. Of course it advertises for all of them, which has led me to discover the list of them. They are (in no particular order):

1. The Three Ducks, Paris
2. Avalon House, Dublin
3. Circus, Berlin
4. The Flying Pig, Amsterdam
5. St. Christopher's Inn, Edinburgh
6. The Pink Palace, Corfu
7. Kabul, Barcelona
8. Balmer's Herberge, Interlaken (Switzerland)
9. Alessandro, Rome
10. Euro Youth Hotel, Munich
11. Yoho International Youth Hostel, Salzburg
12. Wombat's City Hostel, Vienna
13. Sultan Hostel, Istanbul
14. Bauhaus International Youth Hostel, Bruges (Belgium)
15. St. Christopher's Inn, London

This list is an apparent and shameless attempt at attractive elitism, advertised as the biggest and the best and attracting a bigger frat guy crowd than other destinations I've visited. I found a flyer for The Pink Palace at the hostel in Naples, which made the place seem uncommonly outstanding at an equivalent price, so much so that it also convince the others I was traveling with to join me here too. I made a reservation for The Pink Palace on their website for a dorm room needing nothing more and expecting it to be the cheapest. I got here, though, to find that they had no dorm rooms and their second class rooms were "under renovation," forcing everyone to buy a first class room (the place isn't that full yet, and I'm thinking they just wanted to keep everyone close together). Every activity, service, or rental here also costs some exorbatent fee (this place is more American than Greek, I think).

While far from any other real destination but conveniently located on the journey between Italy and Greece, the beach has a great view, a warm sun, and cool water. The first class rooms are among the best in which I'ved stayed. And they serve us both breakfast and dinner, the latter of which is late enough to lead right into the nightly drunken debachery and dancing (did I mention the jacuzzi?). Saturday night offers what seems to be only exposure to Greek culture with Greek dancing, plate breaking, fire, and the weekly toga party (yeah, the last is a stretch.. I know). None of that really matters without good people here, though. And, once you get past the typical Spring Break personalities, there are some people here worth hanging out with me. Their names were Missy, Leslie, Diana, Anna, Amanda, etc... ;-)

I expected to only stay here three nights, but transportation to Athens is lacking and they managed to keep me here a day longer than I would have liked. Their night bus to Athens leaves every other night. So I've had to wait around here for another day (the first and only I will waste on this trip). The consequence of the true concerns of The Pink Palace... making money (not helping travelers enjoy their trip).