Tuesday--February 1--Rhodes, Greece

Tuesday--February 1--Rhodes, Greece

I begin my morning at the Finn Cafe.  

Finn Cafe

The breakfast is so bad at my hotel and I can have free internet at The Finn Cafe that I decide to walk over there for breakfast.  I have a wonderful smoked salmon sandwich with tomato, lettuce and cucumber and a latte.  I spend a little more than an hour writing trying to keep up with my blog and to get it posted I need to have internet access.  I want to get on the road to the other side of the island.

I also decide that I will fly to Athens and make a reservation to leave on Thursday on a 10:55 flight that costs me about $100.00.  I also made an arrangement to stay at a "five star" hotel thanks to my friend Mariella who is from Athens.

When I asked her for a recommendation she said I should contact the Divani Caravelle and ask for John, the manager, who is her ex-husband.  I phone him and he gives me a good rate from what I've seen on the internet.  Even though it's more than what I've budgeted I decide I could use a little luxury and book it.

My driving journey today begins around 10:30 and my first stop is the bee museum.  The woman at the rental office told me that the storm hit the eastern side of the island much harder than the western side and some roads may be closed.  She thought it would be a better idea if I started on the western side and crossed over in the middle thus avoiding the bad parts.  

The bee museum is on a road just before the airport.  Actually, the museum was quite interesting and a little creepy at the same time.  A lot of close up photos of bees was kind of creepy.  I don’t think I could be a bee keeper.  

They had a shop with all kinds of honey and other products made from honey and oil.  The woman told me they had a sample table and I could try the different honeys.  If I could only carry more I would have bought several jars.  The honey was so good.  I bought two sample size jars because I know I can carry those.  I also bought a hand cream that is made from honey and olive oil.  My hands are so dry and this cream is very smooth.

I continue on my journey up the same side as yesterday, past the airport and through the town of Paradis.  I turn off the road at the sign that points toward the butterfly park.  This road goes across the middle of the island and will get me to the other side.  My goal today is to get to Lindos where there is an acropolis.

climbing up the mountain

The road through the middle of the island has several little towns and lots of olive trees and vineyards.  I run into, rather see, many goats in the road and on the side of the road.  They think they own the road and cross whenever they want.  With no one around I guess they can do this.  There are black ones and white ones, big ones and little ones.  

just another lovely view

As I drive on the road I see many rocks and debris that has fallen down the hills from the storm so I drive extra carefully.  I don’t want to get stuck out here.  There are suppose to be “seven springs” on this road but when I get back to the main road to Lindos I realize I didn’t see them.  There was no sign.  Oh well.

self portrait in the rental car

I’m back on the main road on the eastern side of the island.  I see the sign to Lindos 28 kilometers, that’s only about 18 miles.

The beaches on this side of the island are much better than the western side.  They are wide, long and with smooth sand unlike the western side that is much rockier.  I can tell that this side of the island is more populated and probably popular in the summer with these great beaches.

coming up on Lindos

I start to see incredible views of the beaches as I approach Lindos.  

I follow the signs to the “Town Hall” and  “Ancient Theater”. 

This is a walled city so I have to park outside.  I park the car and take my camera to explore the town and see the acropolis.

Lindos (in Greek: Λίνδος) is a town and an archaeological site on the east coast of the Greek island of Rhodes, in the Dodecanese in southeastern Aegean Sea. It is about 55 km south of the town of Rhodes and its fine beaches make it a popular tourist and holiday destination. Lindos is situated in a large bay and faces the fishing village and small resort of Haraki.

Above the modern town rises the acropolis of Lindos, a natural citadel which was fortified successively by the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Knights of St John and the Ottomans. This makes the site difficult to excavate and interpret archaeologically. The acropolis offers spectacular views of the surrounding harbours and coastline.

I enter the old town and find the “ancient theater”.  Another amphitheater that says it help approx. 2,000 people. 

Lindos Town

I walk through the deserted old town thinking this would be another cool place to be “in season”.  I see many people working on their stores and restaurants preparing for the season.  I find a store or two open but don’t see any restaurants open.  
























I walk around to the other side of town and see a deserted beach that I would like to be on (if the weather were a little bit warmer). 

My beach

 I also pass an elementary school and think, wow these kids have this acropolis in their backyard.    Then I find the entrance to the acropolis.  As I approach I see two young girls and I ask them if it is open.  They say yes.  I ask them where they are from and they say, Israel.

“Really.  My daughter is there now and I was just visiting her.”

“Where is she,” they ask.

“Karmiel”, I tell them.

“We live near there in Haifa”, they say.

“Oh, I was there too.  Are you here with a group?” I ask.

“Yes.”

Then an older woman comes out from the bathroom. She must be the chaperone.  She tells me that they are here on a group trip but just the three of them came to Lindos.  I ask them if it is worth visiting the ruins.  The girls say it wasn’t so interesting but the woman says yes and that I should hurry because it closes at 2:30.  It was 1:30. 

I go to the ticket booth and the woman tells me I have one hour and that should be enough time to visit the site.

entrance to Lindos acropolis

There are lots of steps straight up to get to the top.  I’m glad I’m in decent shape.  I tell you getting to these sites on top of hills gets my heart rate up.  It’s very beautiful up here and again with breath taking views.  

In classical times the acropolis of Lindos was dominated by the massive temple of Athena Lindia, which attained its final form in around 300 BC. In Hellenistic and Roman times the temple precinct grew as more buildings were added. In early medieval times these buildings fell into disuse, and in the 14th century they were partly overlaid by a massive fortress built on the acropolis by the Knights of St John to defend the island against the Ottomans.

Well at least I got to see one of the three acropolis on Rhodes.  I’m hoping to see the main one in Rhodes town tomorrow.

My time is up as it is close to 2:30 and they are going to close the site.  I walk back through the deserted town to my car.

I drive back to town taking the main road thinking if it is really bad they will send me on a detour.  I make it all the way back into Rhodes with only one diversion.  I’m very brave and decide to drive into the town and see if I can find the hotel from this side.  I could have taken the road to the airport and returned on the road closer to the hotel but I through caution to the wind.  I figure if I stay by the harbor that is the road that leads to the hotel.  Well, all was o.k. except for the scooters that were on my ass.  I pulled over several times to get away from them.  I was in no hurry and certainly didn’t want an accident.

I found the road next to the harbor and followed it around and just as I thought it brought me back to the hotel.  Safe and sound and it was only 4:00 p.m.  I technically could have kept the car until 1 p.m. tomorrow but I was done.  I enjoyed having the car and seeing the island but I had enough.  They still take the siesta thing seriously here and everything closes from 2 - 5 then opens again from 5 - 9.  The rental agency wouldn’t be open again until 5 so I went back to the hotel and rested.

When I returned the car I asked the girl if she could recommend a restaurant in the area that she liked.  She told me about a sushi bar so I was excited.  I found it but guess what, closed.  

I ended up going back to the restaurant I ate at the first night Meses.  They didn’t have any fish tonight and I didn’t want shrimp so I just had a greek salad.  The waitress, I’m sure thought I was a bit nuts that that was all I was ordering.  But, what can I tell you.

I was too tired to go to the Finn Cafe and use the internet so I just went back to the hotel and went to sleep.