Beach Day in Rhodes

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We arrived in Rhodes yesterday, luckily with all our baggage too! It is pretty nice weather here, around 20 but the wind is very strong and cold, especially by the ocean. We are staying in a village on the western side of Rhodes called Kremasti. Our hotel is very nice, we have a kitchenette with hot plates, fridge and sink. We also have a balcony, it is much larger than our last hotel room.

Today, we walked down to the beach and rented chairs from a charming greek man, he was busy fixing up his beach cafe for the 'real' busy tourist season. We did manage to get some sun although it was very windy, I think I may be quite burnt tomorrow. We tried to go in the water but it was very cold and windy. There were still people out on sailboats and para-sailing.

We have been enjoying the food here for the most part, it is usually quite inexpensive and the beer is very cheap! Υou can eat in Greece if you like cucumbers, tomatoes and french fries, right up our alley. They come with every meal, french fries are even in the chicken pita wraps! I tried a greek salad today, not really what I was expecting. It was more a salad in greece as opposed to an actual greek salad. Our favorite beer so far is called Mythos, you can get it at the grocery store for .54 E for a 300ml bottle. One thing we can't find is pita bread at the grocery stores or bakeries. We have asked a few local people but they dont seem to know what we are talking about. The do have it at all of the restaurants though.

Staying in this little village is very different from Athens. Most people speak little english and the transport system is not as developed. Mom tried to tell the hotel lady that we had no hot water through charades today, not sure if she understood but the hot water was back later in the day. There are many many houses to flip here, as most are falling down or completely empty. Beside the empty house is a brand new house, makes for interesting views. The village is very pretty with a huge church in the center and a lot of flowers everywhere.

We have found village life to be very relaxed and things tend to be slower. At meals they always bring you water and bread (free of charge), tonight we also had a fruit salad of sorts and a shot of some type of clear liquor (on the house). Being Canadians we were getting impatient for our bill as it came half hour after we had finished our traditional greek meal of Mousaka and stuffed vegetables (with french fries of course!) Greek people tend to be very hospitable.

A couple of notes about Greece: They do not seem to have shower curtains so water gets EVERYWHERE when you shower. The toilet flusher buttons can be anywhere (top, wall, floor) and of any size, it gets to be kind of interesting. People also sell anything imaginable, so far we have seen vendors on the streets selling: Roasted corn on the cob, coconut fountains (we are not sure if they were decorations or to eat), carnival toys, and lots of pretzel vendors. We will keep our eyes out for anything else unusual.

Tomorrow we are going to see the old medieval town of Rhodes, the World Heritage Organization has recognized it as the best preserved medieval town in Europe.

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Comments

[Tara]

Hi
Sounds like you had a interesting day. Must be interesting seeing a different life in the village. Have fun sightseeing. Tara