From one world to another

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It will be difficult to write about the second half of our trip to Rodos as we are now in Turkey and already fell in love with the place. But our time in Rodos was so unbelievable and fun that I have to say a few more things about it.
Last time I wrote, I think we were in Monolithos, a quiet but super friendly place. Our host, Gorgios looked like yet another Greek god. Not to mention how kind and welcoming he was to us. He served us a memorable breakfast including delicious, fresh Greek yogurt and honey, and local bread so good that we asked to take the leftovers with us. Gorgios also helped us with our flat tire. Actually,, to meet local people (especially Greek gods), I highly recommend a flat tire.
From Monolithos we pedaled mostly downhill into the most remote part of Rodos. Gorgeous coast, caribbean blue water, pine forests, light winds, sunny and almost no traffic. Paradise. Then we arrived on the eastern coast. We only pedaled to Gennadi as we wanted to take advantage of the beach. Fantastic little place, we also loved it. Full of cafes, a bakery where we bought something that the baker called "a mix of baklava and feta cheese" (who would even think about making something so deadly perfect!!! Thank god we were biking), and something to make our own Greek salad that we enjoyed from our balcony, overlooking the taverna, where Greek music was playing all night.
From Gennadi, we biked towards Lindos, but passed by a mini-golf: Melanie and I only had to look at each other to agree that a championship was in order. So we played a game of mini-golf that wouldn't be worth writing home about except that we laughed so much that it will certainly remain as one of our best memories of our trip!!! The owner had visited Canada a long time ago and we talked about hockey players that Melanie was even too young to know: Guy Lafleur, Chris Chelios (that I called Cherios, oups!), etc. Melanie won the championship and I had to buy to lemonade in Lindos.
Beautiful Lindos, old city full of narrow streets and tourist shops. Hot, hot sun, nice ruins of an acropolis, and fantastic views. We spent many hours there, so when we were ready to go, it was late and the weather was cooler. We decided to keep on cycling. We made it to a village that sees very few tourists, and had to ask locals to find a hotel for the night. A basic but clean place, where you could choose between being too hot or sharing the room with an army of mosquitoes. We took the later option, thinking our mosquito nets would protect us, but the next morning we realized that every part of our bodies that touched the net got attacked and we woke up with many, many bites.
And from there, Zois came the next morning to meet us, we drove to orange valley where he gave us again a wonderful tour. We finished our trip at Anthony Quinn beach, a fantastic place to swim in the clearest water ever.
And there were more surprises awaiting us: first a big storm (thank God we were done with our biking) and then Zois welcomed us to his place for lunch and we even stayed for the night. It is sometimes difficult to understand why people can be so open and generous, but what best could we do but accept it, without question. So we did and we had a wonderful time.
That night, Zois, Dimitri, Melanie and I went for dinner in a very traditional taverna. There was a long discussion between our friends and the chef. She looked so Greek! And after the discussion, an incredible number of plates were brought to our table: bread, salad, mini fish, big fish, beans, souvlaki, special cheese, fries, delicious veggie nuggets and probably other things that I forget. And all this for a very reasonable price. We then went to the old town to walk around and digest all this food. It looked like a fairy tale: again, narrow streets, old castle, it felt like we were time travelers.
On our last day, we biked to Rodos again, walked around and were treated to lunch by Zois. Then it was time to say goodbye. How do you thank someone for so much kindness? Money just can't buy these kinds of experiences. We are just so grateful. Zois made our trip so smooth and easy, and helped us to see some of the best places in Rodos.
And off we went, on a squeaky ferry, to Fethiye. Amazing how in less than two hours you can go from one world to another. I will tell you more about it in a different post... Now is time to go to the local market...

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