We arrived at Rhodes Airport which was a very relaxed affair, and jumped in a cab to the hotel. The expedia map was completely wrong, it told us we were staying in Pefki, but we are actually in Afantou, which is a long way from Lindos. We were in the middle of no where, on a main road... The hotel was pretty basic and had the option of having an all inclusive stay (all you can eat and drink) so the people aren't completely to our taste, I think they thought we didn't speak english so not one person has spoken to us but it was fun watching them all get seriously boozed from about 1pm onwards on unlimited beer and wine.
Our first room wasn't anything special, but during an afternoon snooze we heard a weird gurgling noise, on opening the bathroom door we discovered that the toilet was overflowing. You can get the picture…. I may or may not have accidentally flushed toilet paper down there resulting in said flooding but we were quickly moved to "the best room in the place" on the third floor with the most incredible views. We were pretty stoked and mentioned nothing of the toilet paper…
Our first night here, we got the buffet and mistakenly heard the guy say unlimited wine and beer as well… so 5 wines later, we were told that we would have to pay from then on, which was fine cause we were already drunk and took ourselves to bed.
The hotel has been ok, the pool area was pretty good and we got really brown. I've renamed it from Iris Hotel to Ibis Hotel… There is something about people being on holidays that makes the eat and eat and eat… i'm glad we didn't have the inclusive package!
On Monday we hired a car and drove down to Lindos, it's stunning there. We found a place called St Paul's Bay which was the photos on Facebook. It was incredible and the people there were so lovely! 8 Euros for two bed chairs which I shared with a cute and cuddly (semi blind) cat, that was until the lunch service started and she left me for bigger and better things. It was so relaxing there, we could have stayed forever. We had the most delicious lunch from this little shack in the bay, where we met another Alex who asked us why we travelled so far to come to Rhodes. The staff there were lovely, it was nice to talk to someone, as no one at the hotel wanted a chat. We drove back through Kolymbia which is a cute little village near another beach. We ended up going back there for dinner, Alex had the most delicious pork gyros, he ate the entire thing! The staff at Lefkas would have been impressed.
On Tuesday we ventured up to Rhodes Town and spent the morning walking around Old Rhodes town. It's stunning, full of cobblestones and old buildings, we were happy to just wander around and get lost in all the little lane ways. We wandered up to Rhodes Town and did a bit of shopping, I got some make up brushes from Sephora (Soph & Nat you would die!!) and Alex got some cool shorts! Two cruise boats had docked that day so there were people everywhere. By lunch time I was over it, I got a lovely chest infection when I was in Scotland and after around of antibiotics, steroids and a puffer (thanks nick!!) I was feeling a bit run down and not doing well in the crowds… most people can attest to my road rage, I also get walking rage and it just wasn't my day! After a few hours of sleep and half a bottle of cough medicine, we ventured back into Kolymbia to eat more gyros!
Wednesday was completely crazy, the winds pick up and chopped up the surf. We went to Anthony Quinn Bay and ended up leaving after an hour because the sea spray and wind was crazy. We drove around exploring, had some lunch and ended up by the pool with everyone else. We've been good and trying to save money, there is a local supermarket in walking distance so we've been buying cheese, salami, tzatziki and lots of fruit. There was a little village about a 20minute walk from the hotel, it didn't have much but we did have dinner there one night. It sucked that we were so far away from everything, including the beach.
We decided to go into Lindos for the afternoon/night and we were blessed with better weather. Lindos is by far my favourite place in Rhodes, the houses, the streets, the shopping is all amazing. Set up on the hill, below the Rhodes Acropolis, Lindos is made up of all white lane ways full of markets, restaurants and donkeys. We had fun wandering around and enjoying a beer a roof top terrace looking at the Acropolis. We have a fun game called "guess the nationality", but that night we had fun confusing an older english couple with our nationality, everyone always assumes were english, I sometimes throw in some "choice" words (that Sal wouldn't approve of) to help them along but still no one guess Aussies. We ended up at a restaurant called Olympia and it was by far the best meal i've had in Greece. Our waiters were hilarious and kept trying to get us drunk although alex was driving, he said not to worry, you're in Greece… We had to keep reminding him, that although we're in Greece, we're driving on the wrong side of the road and best to keep the intoxication levels to a minimum. We had such a fun dinner, they kept us laughing and eating while it rained around us. After dinner we meandered back to the car, surprised to actually know the way. There are a lot of cats in Greece, dogs as well, but mostly cats. As I was little bit intoxicated, I saw a cute ginger kitty and couldn't help myself, I said "hello darling" and with that 20 cats came out from under cars and started running towards me wanting pats and loves. It was pretty crazy, they were all crying and trying to get closer without getting into a fight. The semi blind cat from a few days earlier came running over to bat the other cats away. They didn't want food, just love, it was quite sad actually. It was all broken up when a car tried to come into the car park and I had to call all of the cats out of the way (giving myself a glimpse into my future if i'm not careful). We had to make a quick dash for the car hoping none would follow us… it was a pretty surreal experience, i've never seen that many cats in one place, nor them being placid enough to come up and say hello. The video is pretty funny!
Thursday was our last full day on Rhodes, we went back to Anthony Quinn Bay and lay in the sun for 4 hours. It was bliss, although I did see a sea snake in the water and almost bowled over two old people trying to get away on the pebbles, leaving Alex to fend for his own life! Walking on pebbles/rocks is seriously hard, I understand why people wear those heinous water shoes… Understand but still judge on their poor poor fashion choice! After lunch at Avantis (terrible) at Afantou we went to see the butterflies, not realising that there aren't actually any butterflies at 5pm in the afternoon, but it was beautiful all the same. The butterfly valley was magical, the most beautiful waterfall and stream run through the middle of it. We had a lovely time exploring and walking up and down the forrest.
The roads in Rhodes (ha get it) give me anxiety, they don't have guard rails next these huge sheer cliffs. I couldn't look half the time and it doesn't help that you feel like you're on the wrong side of the road… Our little suzuiki alto (1.1 litre) has been a little trooper, better than any scooter or quad bike. After a 3 Euro dinner of Gyros and chips we finished the rest of our alcohol and we packed up our bags and went to bed.
I'm finishing writing this aboard the ferry/mini cruise ship where we have internet for the next 9 hours (bliss). We got all the way to the port (about 30 mins) before realising that the idiots at the hotel didn't give us our passports back, so back we went (an extra $45 euros on the cab) for him to only laugh at us. After a few lunch time beers, we've simmered down a bit and are happy to be on our way to Santorini, where we have treated ourselves to a few expensive nights ($250 AUD a night compared to $35 AUD in Rhodes). Rhodes has been seriously beautiful but the hotel ruined it a little bit for us. We'll be back for sure and will stay in Lindos next time, it has more of a night life and easy to get around without a car.
Also… still haven't been able to download Game of Thrones! I've got Alex reading the first book now :)
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