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Published: April 21st 2006
me landing. it's 7:30am
taking pictures of yourself is strangeI staggered on to the flight to Athens from Frankfurt pretending like to my internal clock it really was 7:50pm. It was overall a funny day hanging out in the airport but as exciting as it was (or as I made it), I think it was good that my trip was leading elsewhere.
The flight to Greece was (surprisingly?) the first time I encountered the Greek language on the trip. By blood, I'm exactly 50% Greek which just means that 95% of the time, people initially address me with the audio form of pie, theta, delta, beta, and psi (only those). I landed in Athens at 30 mins past midnight local time and thankfully I had another trip set for 5:30am. This meant I needed to find a trusty bench to sleep on. I found just that and eventually made it to the plane. On the plane, the sun rose out the window lighting up the islands we were flying over. I was also wished "Happy Holidays" for Easter, a new one for me. Then we landed after an hour flight and there I was.
For those keeping score at home, I've actually randomly been to Rhodes before. I
mike in action
Mike lets it all go! went with Birgitte on a package holiday from Ireland. So being a guy, I assumed I'd be able to "figure it out" once I got here since I'm nearly an expert on the area. So I took a taxi toward the Old Town which is in the center of where the action is, and I asked a million questions to the friendly cabbie along the way. When I showed him the address of the hostel I was targetting, it was revealed that he couldn't drive to there, not because of crime but because the entire Old Town is actually fortified since about the 14th century. So when I got out of the taxi, I walked through a gate, across a drawbridge-like structure then through another gate. With the cobblestones beneath me, I rounded the corner to what was a bustling square the last time I was there. I even had a glass shoe full of beer here last time (no lie, check out the pics on my OSU page that say Rhodes!). But there weren't so many people out at 7:30am in the off-season.
Eventually I heard one person though. As I was looking for the hostel, someone was
a walk to my place
The walls of Old Town at 7:30am going on and on to me from the window. With a shift to English, I realized they were trying to sell me a room. Soon thereafter I was waking up her brother to give me a key to my place at Mike & Moma's Tavern & Pension on Menekleous Str. 28. There are pictures all over the place of Mike playing music and making food for the backpackers. There are testimonials all over the place too saying how awesome Mike is. There are all these hidden stairwells (revealed after you move the head of Homer on the mantle, joke) and awesome terraces with chairs and views of the harbor. Laundry is included too! So for basically 100 Euro less than the conference hotel, I get taxi to and fro, to stay closer to the real action, and get to hang out with other travelers! So I feel I lucked out so much so that I splurged the extra 5 Euro for the private room. I guess I'll be there until April 29th so what the hey...
Over tea later, I learned that he plays music nightly, so in 30 mins I'll be hearing it for the first time (and
a walk to my place 2
this is a typical scene in Old Town probably not the last). I probably won't write for a few days but just wanted to get something out there to let people know I made it to the real starting point! Thanks for reading and commenting! Eventually I'll figure out how to add pictures from my ancient (1999 in North American terms) camera. I just hope I can entertain you ney-sayers (Ed!) in the meantime.
brad
p.s. Marmaris ferry runs at 4:30pm on April 29 and 8am May 1st; I'm leaning towards the former.
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rza
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Mike!
Like Mike, got-to be like Mike (wanna be got-to be like Mike), like Mike...got to be like Mike...