Kalymnos to Rhodes

---

Wednesday 22nd June, 2011 cont'd

We spent the afternoon on the beach and returned to the room at 5 o'clock. Pat was hungry as it had been a long time since breakfast so we went out around 6 o'clock for dinner.

The Aegean restaurant a short way down the road was our choice for this evening. We had a Greek salad, chicken in mushroom sauce and pork fillet in Mavrodafini (a wine) and rosemary sauce.
The meal was all a bit more special and a cut above the traditional Greek restaurants in the area. We had a free dessert of Loukamades (honey dough balls) which are gorgeous and with our usual drinks the bill was €31.50, a little more than some of our recent meals on Kalymnos but not expensive and certainly worth it.

We popped into the restaurant opposite our room for a little bit of internet surfing and then headed back for an early night.

Thursday 23rd June, 2011

We got up at a reasonable time this morning as we wanted to catch the bus to the capital Pothia. We walked down the road to the bus stop and hung around waiting for the bus. After a short while a lady sitting in the Sunrise restaurant spoke to Pat saying that the buses were on strike today.

We thanked her and sat and had a coffee ourselves to think what to do. We had wanted to get into town for ferry ticket, but we know there is a ferry at 1530 hours and we can get a ticket last minute. We also had some shopping to do, but nothing really important, so we decided there was no need to worry about the trip today.

So, a change of plans and a walk further along the road was our new plan.

We popped back to the room and bumped into Nick from the hotel and mentioned we were not happy about the internet connection (lack of). After chatting for a while we walked through Myrities and had a look at the little ferry boats. Then on to the next village and stopped for a drink overlooking the beach. We saw some people at a bus stop and mentioned to them about the bus strike, they were grateful.

Then on to the top road which goes above Masouri and is the other leg of the one way system.

The mountains behind us had some climbers which we could just make out. This time we had the binoculars and were able to get a better look at what they were up to. This was even more scary than watching from a distance.

On the way back we got some lunch from the supermarket and ate in the room.

A quiet afternoon.

We ventured out for dinner at 8 o'clock and ate at Panos across the road. We had a lettuce salad, onion soup, swordfish and mixed grill. We had free desserts and a free round of drinks all for €27.

No nightime strolls or anything, just back to the room at about ten thirty.

Friday 24th June, 2011

Today we were on the move again, we were awake at a reasonable time and slowly got ready.

Just after 10 o'clock we went to see if we could find out anything about buses. We had seen in the tour tour office that they did book swaps, so we went there first and made some changes. While there we talked with the lady and she advised that the buses weren't working and were still on strike as they hadn't been paid.

So we made our way back to the room and Nick was outside the hotel. He had said he could make taxi arrangements if needed, which we asked him to do and a taxi was ordered for 1130. We chatted for a while then went up to the room.

We moved the bags down nearer to 1130 and waited downstairs. We then also got talking to Nick's father who had very kindly offered us seats while we were waiting. We said we didn't mind the sun and he said he kept out of it because he was allergic. We talked about where we lived and sponges and Cyprus.

The taxi then arrived and we were off. The taxi driver was a further conundrum as he sounded French. His English and Greek was spoken with a French accent. Finally I asked him if he was French and he advised he was Greek but his parents spent most of their lives in Paris. We then continued a conversation in broken English, broken Greek and French! It was highly amusing but we did manage to communicate.

We arrived in Pothia and got dropped at the bus station by the port, saying Au Revoir to the taxi driver.

We spotted lots of Ticket offices and one was Magos who were the agent for Dodecanese Speedways, so we headed there. Tickets were purchased for the 1530 hours ferry Kalymnos to Rhodes on the Dodekanisos Pride - the same ferry we arrived on.

We found a little cafe called Mo cafe and had a omelette and some coffee, the guy was very hospitable and gave us half a melon with the centre filled with ice cream. The bill was 10 euros.

As we had the bags but we had some time to kill we decided to take it in turns to have a little look around Pothia, so Pat went off first at 1230.

While Pat was gone I was watching with interest a Port Police officer keeping the exit clear for their vehicle and trying to stop someone parking and blocking their exit. If you are familiar with the expression "trying to herd cats" then the same applies to Greek traffic. It was fun to watch.

Pat returned and we moved to a cafe and I went off for a quick wander. Pothia has a very strong Venetian influence and the main administration buildings are all in that style.

I returned and we sat for a while. I had explained to Pat about the Policeman and an altercation occurred between this guy and a young scooter rider. Lots of pushing, shoving and shouting. Police appeared from all over, but it settled done after a while.

Also as we had been sitting work was going on in the next door cafe. They were erecting some more metal framework and doing some welding. At one stage a shower of sparks headed in our direction and we jumped up and got out of the way. This pleased our cafe guy not one iota and he was most apologetic to us and then had a go at the workmen. More shouting ensued.

In amongst the traffic flying around the corner just opposite, I happened to see a small open backed truck stacked with vegetables and as it went round the corner the driver had obviously not thought about the effects of centrifugal force when loading his vehicle and a couple of crates of lemons took to the air and spilled into the road. He had felt it happening and stopped his vehicle to retrieve what he could. He wasn't happy. I think he got most of them and off he went again.

All this fun in only a couple of hours.

It was getting towards time for our ferry so we paid up and headed to the port. The ferry arrived a little late and we were off again.

One of the stops was Kos and we both had a good look around as we have spent time in this town. It all looked very familiar.

We arrived in Rhodes around 6.45 and trundled off in the direction of the hotel. We walked for quite a way and hadn't found it so we made a phone call to the hotel. We were a little out and they also sent a car out to find us and gave us a lift the short way to the hotel.

We checked in and did our usual of going for a walk straight away and then returned to the room.

---