Blogs from Rhodes, South Aegean, Greece, Europe
September 2nd 2011
We arrived at the port in Piraeus and joined the line in order to board our boat. The line was going pretty quickly but was still pretty big due to the fact that most people had decided (like us) to get there early. Once we got through customs, we headed onto a bus which took us to our boat. It was pretty big but not as big as the P&O ones. We got to our room on Deck 3 and then headed out to explore the boat. We got our unlimited drinking passes which all good Australians should have from a guy called Darrick. We then reserved our table at the restaurant which was free which was in turn extremely excellent! After sorting everything out like that, we decided to put the cards to use and ... read more
August 10th 2011
Today we had the whole day on the one island so we decided to sleep in a bit so set our alarms for 9am. Then got ready, had another amazing breakfast (omelette, waffles and fruit salad) and then headed off the boat onto the island of Rhodes. This morning we decided to visit the Old Town. It was pretty cute with lots and lots of identical shops which kind of reminded us of South America. All selling the same things. Lots of pretty funky, cheap jewellery and nick naks. We wandered very very leisurely for about 2-3 hours, sat and I enjoyed my daily iced coffee frappe (AMAZING!), then headed back to the boat for lunch. Which of course was awesome as per usual! After lunch we headed off the boat again with the intention of ... read more
July 4th 2011
We've had two very enjoyable days here in Gennardi. In our last blog we had only just arrived but we are happy with the choices that we made for accommodation and as a region to stay. We are staying in studio apartments originally built by a Greek-Australian who returned to Rhodes in the mid-1980s. Emmanuel is now getting old (he's currently sitting at the next table), his wife and son have died and his daughter is confined to a wheelchair so the apartments have been sold to a young couple. The vibe around here is almost one of an extended family. Quite a few locals come in for a beer at the bar and the local teenage lads are currently very busy playing pool. The bar stays open until about midnight but has not been disturbing ... read more
July 2nd 2011
It’s ages since we wrote anything on this blog but Deb’s conference is over now and we are back to our “normal” life of following our own timetable. At our last entry we were still in Kaş but ready to hit the road the next morning to travel to Fethiye. We left Kaş as planned and had a pleasant 2 hour bus trip to Fethiye. At the Fethiye bus station we were met by the owner of guest house that we had booked into for the next few nights. This surprised us as we hadn’t arranged it but apparently he hangs out at the bus station all day waiting for his guests to arrive and to arrange transport to the guest house for them. The guest house was a 10 minute walk from the marina, restaurant ... read more
June 30th 2011
Wednesday 29th June, 2011 Like yesterday we had returned and got settled in the room and we didn't bother going out again. Thursday 30th June, 2011 Up for breakfast at the usual time and readied ourselves to go out for a walk. We left at 1045 and ambled along the harbour. We went in to the Old Town via the Arnaldo gate, near the Marine gate, and headed straight into the Archaeological Museum. We had visited it a few days ago but hadn't done the place justice as we were tired at the time. It was well worth the second visit. The museum is higgledy piggledy with rooms all over the place but is located in some wonderful buildings that are part of the street of knights. That in itself makes the place fascinating, but then ... read more
June 29th 2011
Tuesday 28th June, 2011 After returning late afternoon it had been our intention to pop out again later for a stroll, but when it came time to go out again we really couldn't be bothered. I went to the kiosk across the road and we snacked in the room. Wednesday, 29th June, 2011 Down to breakfast just after nine o'clock and then back to the room to pack. We sorted all our stuff out and moved our bags down to reception, to leave them at the hotel for a little while as already arranged. We left the hotel at 1130 and went to the office where we booked the ferry tickets to see if we could find any information about whether our ferry was going to sail today. The young lad was able to tell us ... read more
June 28th 2011
Monday 27th June, 2011 We woke our usual time and went down to breakfast. Our plan for today was to visit Lindos. The buses ran from the other end of town and were quite often, so we had no particular bus in mind. We left the hotel at 1025 and strolled to the bus station. We paid for our bus tickets, €5 each single to Lindos, and after a short wait caught the 11 o'clock bus. The journey was pleasant for us as we haven't been out of the town area since our arrival so we had a chance to view the Rhodes countryside. Lindos is about half way down the island on the eastern coast. The bus was full and people were standing in the aisle by the time we arrived at Lindos. We saw ... read more
June 26th 2011
Saturday 25th June, 2011 On arrival at the hotel last night we had problems with internet access, so we had set an alarm for getting up at 8 o'clock to have an early breakfast and give us options if we needed to move hotel or anything. We went down to breakfast at eight thirty and the daytime receptionist was on duty. She was much more familiar with the passwords for access to the routers on the different floors in the hotel and we gained access to the internet. This was quite important to us as we needed to do various searches on our next move to see what options there were for ferries, accommodations and so on. Once we knew we could access the internet and although the hotel isn't the best, we aren't really paying ... read more
June 25th 2011
According to mythology, Rhodes was the island Zeus gave to Helios, the sun god. Helios fell in love with Rhodes, the daughter of Poseidon and Aphrodite and named the island after her. It is known for its natural beauty and its historical and archaeological treasures. The old town is surrounded with the most impressive fortress walls we have seen on this trip. What interested us the most was learning how important this place was in history. 1) Paul once stopped here on a missionary journey 2) From the 3rd to 5th centuries AD this was an important center for the Roman and Byzantine empires. 3) and the Knights of St. John (a.k.a. the Knights of Hospitaller) occupied the medieval fortress of Rhodes from 1306-1522. The palace of the Grand Masters, the knights hospital, and this medieval ... read more
June 25th 2011
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 ... read more
