Rhodes

The Old City

Situated just 11 miles off the coast of Turkey, it seems Rhodes ought to be Turkish instead of Greek. Not that Greece really needs another island, but with such prolific cruise line traffic, Greece is lucky to reap the benefits. On our flight southeast from Athens, Olympic Air certainly put our domestic airlines to shame. Only a 40-minute flight and they managed to serve drinks and a choice of free sandwich or box of cookies to everyone on the plane. The legroom on their one-class plane was far superior to the legroom in Business on the 767. Very pleasant.

We arrived in Rhodes under sunny, 75-degree skies. Our cab driver had to call the hotel for directions. Guess he'd never heard of the Spot Hotel, located within the Old City walls. We squeezed through an entrance and wound through cobblestone streets only barely one car wide until we reached Martyro Evreon Square. The streets were busy with tourists exploring the ancient sights and shopping for leather, jewelry, and, believe it or not, furs. Furs? Motorcyclists take great pleasure in gunning up and down the cobblestone streets watching tourists leap out of harm's way.

We dragged our duffels up the block and checked into the 9-room, 60 Euro per night, Spot Hotel. The rooms are small, but the owner Lee speaks perfect English, is friendly, and dispenses helpful advice. He arranged for a rental car to be delivered to us here tomorrow. Apparently, up to 5,000 people per day descend upon the Old City via cruise ships during the summer. Once again, I was happy to be here in May.

Lee's choice of restaurant for our dinner proved to be a good one as it was primarily occupied by locals, all of them smoking, unfortunately. Everyone smokes in Greece. Shopkeepers sit in front of their shops smoking. They also smoke inside their shops. Many people smoke while they're eating dinner. One drag on the cigarette, one bite of food. What's most surprising is to see so many young people smoking. Guess there's no education telling them to do otherwise. Or perhaps their country just has bigger problems.

Back to dinner because I just have to list what my husband consumed: an appetizer of six octopus meatballs; a roasted red pepper stuffed with feta; bread; a fish platter consisting of clams, mussels, shrimp, octopus, calamari, a whole fried fish, fries, and a tiny pile of salad; Greek yogurt with honey and walnuts; 1/2 liter of the house white; and a shot of banana liqueur. Prior to this meal, he had consumed a liter of beer in the town square. Good thing he doesn't have a weight problem.

Now it's Sunday, Tom's birthday and Mother's Day. We escaped the Old City while the streets were still drivable and headed south down the east coast of the island. The further south we got, the more we escaped the tour buses and the crowds. After about an hour and a half, we arrived at Prassonissi at the southernmost tip of the island, 92k south of the Old City, a mecca for windsurfers on the bay and kiteboarders in the surf on the other side. We donned swimsuits that I can promise you will never see the light of day on any US beach. When in Rhodes...

After some time on the hot but very breezy beach, we hopped back in our little white Hyundai to head back north. We finally figured out that the deer-crossing signs we were seeing were instead pictures of goats. Seemed a rather arid and rocky location for deer. We were clued in after spotting a wayward herd of goats walking alongside the road. I find goats to be rather humorous. Not quite sure why. Maybe it's all the stories Lindsay's told me about them after she worked with them at the zoo.

For our joint birthday/Mother's Day celebration, we checked into the lovely contemporary Lindos Blu Hotel, perched high above the turquoise waters of the Aegean.

View from the hotel

Tomorrow morning, we'll fly via Athens to Ioannina to meet our Wilderness Travel group for the Greece: Zagoria and Mt. Olympus hiking trip.