In brief: Sun, sea, sightseeing, shellfish and scuba-diving.

 

If you’re not sick with envy, read on.

 

Rhodes is a near perfect island holiday destination (with points deducted for mosquitoes and taxi drivers for their nocturnal bloodsucking habits)

It’s warm, perhaps too warm at times. We arrived during what the locals were describing as a heat wave. Temperatures were reaching the low 40s during the day and staying around 30 overnight.

Rhodes is also very beautiful with rugged hills, impossibly blue seas and a breathtaking walled city.

We spent the first few days just getting used to the heat, relaxing by the pool or at the beach, going for short walks, eating and drinking well - that sort of thing. We also made a number of friends, thanks mainly to the BBQ night organised by the hotel. It was an excellent night and after a few beers and ouzos, a guitar was produced, followed by a fiddle and much hilarity. Sadly, we had to leave at the reasonably sensible time of 1.00 am as we had a bus to catch the next morning.

This bus took us around the island. We visited some of the ancient Greek sites , a wine producing village, a Greek Orthodox church and an attraction known as the “Valley of the Butterflies” which sounds a lot more attractive than “Moth infested gorge” These moths are fortunate in that they are pretty colours and therefore have been granted the more cuddly title of butterflies. Strange what a bit of colour can do. That number of grey moths in one place would be enough to give anyone the heebie-jeebies.

So with the island tour complete it was back to being lazy for a few days. We visited the city in the evening and climbed up to the Acropolis above the town for one of the best sunset views ever. The city was an amazing place to wander through, all narrow winding alleyways that occasionally burst into a small square with perhaps a church or mosque as a centrepiece. The main street was lined with gift shops but their tourist tat seemed very otherworldly and exotic- religious icons, evil eye charms and fearsome looking replica weapons outnumbered, or at least outshone the tea towels, T shirts and ashtrays. We went back to the city on several occasions during the holiday. There was always something new to see. We took a walk along the city walls one day. Although very hot, it allowed us some great views of the city and the fortifications that surround it.

We took a few more excursions too. One day we caught the ferry to Marmaris in Turkey where the main attraction is the bazaar. It was an odd experience and quite unnerving as the store owners refused to take no for an answer. Just walking along one of the covered ways could be an ordeal as men came out of their store and demanded that we visited them. It seemed quiet in the bazaar that day too, which made us even more conspicuous. Still, we managed to pick up a few bargains (?) along the way and got out of the bazaar long enough to visit a lovely little castle overlooking the town.

 

On another day we took a boat trip around the island to Lindos, a small whitewashed village overshadowed by an enormous rocky fortress on a hill above the town. Within the fortress lie the ruins of another ancient acropolis. This is in the process of being rebuilt, with mainly new material as much of the original sandstone is too weathered to be of any use. The Italians tried to restore the acropolis when they occupied the island before World War 2 but botched the job and caused more harm than good. We can only hope that today’s archaeo-architects won’t suffer similar criticism years from now. It’s a brave move. I imagine if someone suggested that Stonehenge would be a lot better off if they re-erected the fallen stones and replaced the missing or damaged ones there would be uproar. However, Greece has a wealth of ruined temples and I suppose it makes sense to try to return a few to some of their former glory.

Well that’s how I see it anyway.

The highlight of the holiday came on the second to last day when we bravely headed off on a scuba diving adventure. After a bit of snorkelling by way of practice, we were kitted up and were let below the sea. There were a few buoyancy issues at first- at one stage I turned to see one of the instructors shoving rocks into my vest pockets in an attempt to get me to sink! Once we were down though we were in absolute awe as the guides led us to caves, pointed out sponges and introduced us to an underwater world that we’ve only ever seen pictures of. I got to hold a very grumpy octopus at one stage and we even posed for an underwater photograph to prove to everyone, including ourselves that we were really there.

 

Bye for now.