last day in Rhodes

By the time I left the hotel this morning the sun had barely crawled out of its bed in the Aegean Sea. It looked like it was in need of a coffee to brighten it up before it set about its daily chore of baking tourists.

   A few stores and restaurants were just beginning to open as I made my way towards Old Town. Arriving just before 7:30am, I found that I had the place pretty much to myself. That allowed me to take photographs of the various buildings and streets without trying to shoot around swarms of tourists. It was also still cool enough to make the walk a pleasant experience.

  Returning to the hotel, we quickly packed and had a somewhat late breakfast before checking out and parking our bags with the hotel porter.

  Returning to Old Town around 11am, we found the streets comfortably busy but not overcrowded, since only a couple of smaller cruise ships were in port and none of the passengers had been herded into town yet- probably doing the tour of Lindos first.

 Venturing off the main drags onto some of the minor side streets and alleys turned out to be quite an adventure. Unrestored ruins of churches, mosques and other buildings were dotted about the town. We walked these back streets for an hour or so, encountering very few tourists on the way. Returning to the central part of the town we soon found ourselves back in the swarm. After a rather overpriced lunch (40 euro) we returned to the hotel to await our shuttle to the airport

 A Dash-8 was our mode of transport for the 40 minute trip to Crete.

  Upon arrival we met our Air Transat rep who directed us to a  Mercedez Benz taxi for our trip to the hotel

  Suffice to say, the only way to make the trip even more frightening would have been to have been strapped to the hood of a Formula One race car. Oblivious to posted speed limits, road markings and other drivers, we reached speeds of at least 140kph at several points on the journey. I had always wondered what it would be like to be treated like royalty and what flashed through my mind was Lady Di’s final car ride. Luckily we survived the episode, emerging from the vehicle at the same time as another couple. They too had been subjected to a similarly hair raising ride.

  Sunday 18^th 4pm

Since we arrived at the hotel in total darkness we had little idea of our surroundings until we opened the curtains this morning.

  The Terra Maris is an all inclusive located on the side of a hill, just outside the town of Limin Hersonissos. Situated on the north coast, it is approx 35km east of the capital Heraklion. The hotel view from the balcony shows a rather dry rocky landscape dotted with white villas, olive trees, Cyprus and smaller evergreens. The sea is approx ¼ mile away, appearing pale blue and rather hazy because of the heat and humidity.

 The town itself stretches for about 3km to the east and seems to consist of one main street and a boardwalk with dozens of cross streets running between them and on towards the south into a range of rocky hills.

  The boardwalk reminded me of typical seaside resorts everywhere, with a seemingly never-ending line of restaurants, bars and souvenir shops all offering the same items as everyone else.

 Clearly geared towards a British audience, the bars all had large flat screen TV’s with chalk signs outside indicating the times of various First Division Football matches occurring throughout the day. Not once did I see any promotion of any Italian, Greek or German league matches.

With 3 full days on the island we have opted for one lazy day (today), an organized tour of Knossos for Monday and a bus trip into Heraklion for Tuesday. Knossos is an ancient site, with significant mythological roots located some distance from the hotel.

  The island itself is quite large, about 250km in length and about 70 km in width, divided into 5 provinces or districts, each with its own capital city. It is about as far south as one can go while still remaining in Europe so the temperature is somewhat uncomfortable with little in the way of cooling breezes. Clearly it is far too large to explore on such a short visit but worth bookmarking for a longer visit in the future.

   

 

Another day in Rhodes

FRIDAY Sept 16th

With another sweltering day forecast, I set the alarm for 7:15, hoping to make an early start before the heat meter got cranked all the way to “eleven” [ for all you Spinal Tap fans]

  A walk partway across town brought us to the D’Ambroise Gate of the Old Town. Entering through a large arched doorway, we passed through the outer wall, crossing the dry moat via a stone bridge. Directly ahead, the Grand Master’s Palace had the appearance of a medieval castle. Walking along the narrow roadways, it was not hard to imagine what this place would have looked like during its prime (1400’s)

  Consisting of about 15 main streets the rest of the town is broken up by a maze of alleys and narrow side streets numbering in their hundreds.

Old Town Rhodes

   For the morning we confined ourselves to the northern area where there is an old clock tower, a small mosque and the aforementioned Grand Master’s Palace. Essentially a home for the Grand Master, or leader, of the Knights Templar it is similar in size to the Tower of London, although somewhat lower in height. A large central courtyard is surrounded by the rooms that make up the palace. The original building was destroyed in the mid 1800’s by an explosion in a powder room and was rebuilt during the Italian Occupation.

 Largely unfurnished, the palace is a collection of rooms, mostly off limits to the public. A few on view showed a contemporary art collection and others, collections of artifacts from various eras.

  Leaving the palace and heading southwest, we followed a cobbled street known as Ippoton or the Street of Knights. Consisting of an endless line of tall, nondescript buildings, the street has been used in various movie sets over the years, most notably Guns of Navarone. [On close examination, one could see various crests above the doors of many of the buildings. At the time these indicated to the knights from various European countries where they would be able to seek out men of similar language, class and culture.]

  Surrounded by a dozen or so tour groups and with my camera battery on its last legs, we decided to make our escape so that we could be back at the hotel for lunch.

  Emerging from the Old Town, one could see that 4 large cruise ships were docked for the day, thus explaining the crowded streets.

  The Costa Fortuna was berthed closest to town and behind it 3 smaller ships that were mostly concealed by the bulk of the former- perhaps one was her sister ship- Costa Armanda Lega.

 After a delicious but rather overfilling lunch- pea soup, spinach and feta crepe, pork with potatoes and beans, caramel custard for desert- I spent a few minutes re launching my blog before taking a walk along the beach in front of the hotel.

  If one has ever been to a fishing village where the days catch is laid out on racks in the sun to dry, that is a good approximation of the beach at Rhodes.

 Endless rows of plastic loungers, partly shaded by cheap umbrellas and palm palapas, stretched as far as the eye could see.

"fish" drying on beach!!!

 Each one occupied by (depending on their state of doneness) a white, half baked, burned or nicely browned tourist.

  Decency and a lack of anti-nausea medication prevent me from giving a more detailed description of the scene. Suffice to say- topless bathing should require a maximum per pound limit and for men; someone needs to invent an abdominal unibra- or at least ban Speedo’s if they can’t be seen in a full frontal view.

day 2 Rhodes and Lindos

Thursday Sept 15^th

A rather late rise was followed by an average European breakfast at the hotel. Mostly cold meats and cheese accompanied by coagulated eggs (scrambled did not really describe the texture) and bacon that was definitely not part of a Weightwatchers diet..

 Heading for the downtown, we passed the bus station where a bus to Lindos was about to pull out. On a whim we hopped on the bus, making a sudden change of the days plans which until then were pretty unspecific.

 Lindos is a small village about 45km south of Rhodes along the east coast of the island

Lindos Bay as seen from Acropolis

  [ by way of an aside, the island of Rhodes might best be said to resemble a spearhead pointing north. The city of Rhodes would be a triangular tip to the spear. The island is approx 75km long and about 34km wide]

  The trip lasted about 80 minutes and passed through or near several of the eastern towns that are geared to the tourist trade.

 With a population of about 1000 people, Lindos is a collection of small white houses scattered across the side of a hill. Narrow winding streets restrict traffic to either foot or donkey. Dominating the town and several hundred feet above it is a fortified plateau or Acropolis surrounded by the heavy walls of the Knights’ Templar castle from around 1390 AD. The walk to the top is up a variety of steep cobbled and rough stone pathways, several of which served as the routes by which donkeys ferried people to the top. Travelling these paths required the artful technique of avoiding the numerous IED,s deposited by the terEeHawists!!

yours truly in front of restored temple-Lindos

 Arriving at the entrance to the site, I was able to negotiate a seniors discount on the admission charge. A steep staircase led up to the main plateau where ruins of several eras were displayed, some in various stages of restoration. A temple to Athena, from around 300 BC had been restored badly in the early 19^th century and was again being restored to correct the earlier damages. Other ruins included a Byzantine Church, Roman Temple and the fortifications of the Knights Templar The view of the surrounding bays and beaches was spectacular. One could also see the whole of the whitewashed village below.

 Returning by way of the one Donkey deposit free path down to the village, we passed women offering lace and embroidered table cloths for sale. Further down the winding path we re-entered the maze of streets which rarely measured more than 2 meters wide.

Shops,bars and restaurants offered a variety of enticements to the tourists returning from the Acropolis.

Lindos Village-Mostly white! watch your step!

 

 Following a quick meal of seafood pasta, octopus, mussels and shrimp, we hiked back up to the main road where we had a short wait for our bus back to Rhodes.

  A short wait, but a rather longer ride than the one there, as the bus entered many smaller villages that had been omitted on the way going.

 Arriving back at the hotel we completed the daily obligatory ritual- shower off all the road grime, sunscreen and salt then wash out the days clothing, setting it to dry on the balcony.

  Supper this evening was a buffet of more or less overcooked mystery meats and what at first looked like shepherds’ pie but turned out to be mousaka or as I prefer to call it mouse cacka!!! Convincing people that eggplant is an edible substance is, in my opinion the Greek way of playing a joke on the rest of the world.

 After consuming enough calories to ensure I wouldn’t die during the night, we set off for a brief walk in a westerly direction and discovered a warren of backstreets bustling with activity. People jammed sidewalks onto which fronted dozens of bars, restaurants and shops which seemed to have no lack of clientele. Menus in 5 or 6 languages promoted daily specials, cheap beer and chips, pizza and chips, various greek dishes and chips obviously we had stumbled into what might be described as Brit Town. Strangely, not a Curry takeout to be seen anywhere!!

Rhodes, Day One

Tuesday, Sept 13^th

   Finally, the day has arrived.

  In less than two hours I will be on board an Air Transat flight bound for Athens. Although I am gone for 18 days, I have, so far, no information on the transfers from Athens to the various planned destinations. Rhodes, Crete, Santorini and Myconos are the stops before arriving for a final 3 days in Athens.

Harbour area- Rhodes

  I have been to each of those islands previously. However, instead of a cruise based, 4 hour dash around the island, the trips will involve a 3 to 5 night stay, allowing a much better chance to look around.

  Amazingly, there is free wireless service in the departure lounge. Finally, Toronto Airport is emerging from the Stone Age.

 Wednesday 14^th

Rhodes Old Town at night

    So much for the intro yesterday. The battery was close to dead on the laptop so I wasn’t able to do the running commentary that I had planned.

  It is close to 6:30 pm on Wednesday and I am operating on 90 minutes of sleep since 7am Tuesday morning.

   The flight to Athens was barely tolerable. The only difference between Air Transat and Nicaraguan inter city buses is the elevation at which they travel. Both offer uncomfortable seats, no leg room and really bad food at inflated prices. The Air Transat staff do, however, have smaller butts so they don’t get wedged in the aisles!!!

  On arrival in Athens, Transat did have staff at the airport giving out packages containing some information, hotel vouchers and flight and ferry tickets. Further information was delivered upon arrival in Rhodes.

  The flight to Rhodes was a smooth 60 minutes with great birds eye views of several of the easterly islands.

 The hotel for the next three days is called the Mediterranean. Probably a 3 star by Canadian standards, it overlooks the eastern side of town and is about a km from the Old Town. To the east, the coastline of southwest Turkey is barely 10 miles away.

  Rhodes actually dates back to the fifth century BC but the current fortifications surrounding the Old Town are from approx. 14^th Century and relate to the Crusaders. The only battles that occur within the walls now are between restaurant and store owners as they fight over clients. Most of the “ancient” buildings were actually rebuilt during the Italian Occupation, (starting in1912 and lasting through the time when Mussolini was in power. It was eventually returned to Greece and is probably listed on E-Bay right now or maybe the Chinese government will buy it once they have full ownership of the USA.

 As a major stop on the Mediterranean circuit, the port is often the temporary home of several cruise ships, 4 of which were docked today.

 While Susanna slept off some of her jetlag, I made the most of my time, walking along the harbour front, taking in the sights before supper.

  After a passable meal at the hotel restaurant ( included with the room rate) we walked into the Old Town where we ran a gauntlet of dozens of restaurants and hundreds of stores for an hour or so until jetlag and shear exhaustion drove us back to the hotel for the night.

 With nothing finite planned for tomorrow, we will see what transpires after we catch up on our sleep

He's back on the road again!!!

After wasting the summer involved in mundane tasks like work and more work, I am happy to announce that I am back on the road again.
 A little safer, hopefully, and a little less adventurous than my last trip to Nicaragua, this one involves Greece.

Approach to Acropolis, Lindos

 Covering approx. 18 days, the tour should encompass, if all works according to plan, a visit to the islands of Rhodes, Crete, Santorini and Myconos.
If all goes well, some pictures will be attached to these updates