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Greece: Rhodes

Introduction

This is the first vacation of Timo since the unhappy event. He actually had a lot of fear to fly again, but someone who wants to travel needs to be able to board an airplane. What had happened a year ago? Eef had traveled to Morocco with Joker; Timo went to Crete with Boudewijn, a friend and student at KVH. And on the way back from Crete, it happened. Jut before the plane reached the Alps, it starts to go down very fast. In less than 15 minutes we came down to earth. The oxygen masks came down. An emergency landing was needed on the airport of Verona, just at the same time, when the world championship cycling was held there in 1999. Everyone was panicking, very fast flying down. Normally it takes about half an hour to 45 minutes for the landing to complete; now we were there in 10 to 15 minutes.

You can imagine Timo was not too happy to fly again.

Wednesday July 19, 2000: Departure

3:00:   Rise and shine

3:45:   Drive to Eikenlaan 10, where Patrick brings us to the airport

5:55:   This was the time we were supposed to leave Brussels, but we’re still in the airport building.

7:00:   The airbus leaves

11:00 Local arrival time. Arrival at Rhodes: 28 °, clear sky, a lot of wind, but everything was OK.

13:00 Arrival at the Hotel Varelis in Archangelos

13:15: Unpack and rest for a while.

16:30 Explore the village and have a stop at a terrace (off course)

18:00 Climb if about 50 meters to the old fortress (Acropolis of Archangelos). On the way up we have met a dead sheep.

19:00 We have diner at Savas – veal with beans and moussakas with a bottle of retsina.

20:30 On the way back to the hotel we buy a bottle of ouzo and enjoy it on the terrace of our hotel.

22:00 We’re very tired and have traveled a great deal, so we go to bed early.

Thursday July 20, 2000: Visit to Rhodes town

8:30    get up!!

8:45    Breakfast in the hotel

9:15    Take a shower and prepare the bag pack for a daytrip. We go to the centre on foot (1.5 kilometer) to take the bus.

11:05 The bus from 10:30 arrives. Hallelujah.

11:45 Arrival at the centre of Rhodes town. Here we start our visit:

1.      Archeological Museum.

2.      The palace of the Grandmaster

3.      The small alleys, where we almost lost our way

4.      The fountain of sea horses.

17:30 We take the local bus back to Archangelos

18:00 Arrival back in the village, walk to the hotel and take a shower and then go out and eat at “Afentika”.

21:30 Back to the hotel, drink another bottle of retsina and plan our day for tomorrow

23:30 Go to bed and sleep

Friday July 21, 2000: Visit Lindos

9:00    We wake up after a sultry hot night. Breakfast at the hotel.

10:30 Take the bus to Lindos.

11:00 We arrive in Lindos, the city of the disgusting tourists who persistently want to drive as far as possible to the centre of the town, which is completely against traffic rules and ridiculous.

11:15 after a climb of 116 meters – not on a donkey – we buy a ticket to the Acropolis. In the first corridors we see a lot of rocks, but then we see beautiful buildings, temples and panoramas.

12:30 We walk back down following a non-tourist road and we arrived on a spit of land. The beach was on the right hand side and we did not go that direction. We went to the bus stop.

13:00 Do we want to visit the grave of Cleoboulus or not? According to a local Greek it’s not worth the visit, especially in this heat. Not today.

14:30 We take the bus back to Archangelos and we buy some food for our lunch. We walk towards Stegna Beach, but we return to the hotel, because it’s too hot and too far away.

16:30 Back at the hotel and cool off in the swimming pool. Just great!

17:30 Walk trough the streets of the town, have a drink and eat at Savas. We have delicious lamb chops today. After diner (and too much retsina) we return to the hotel and drink another time too much retsina with high consequences: We Crash!

Saturday July 22, 2000: Epta Piges and Tsambika Monastery.

9:00    Get up without headache or hangover! Which is quite cool, no?

10:00 Prepare bag pack, as today we are going for a hike. We take lunch (nectarines) and a lot of water with us.

12:00 Following a beautiful path through the woods that sometimes disappears, we arrive after 6 kilometers up and down at Seven Springs. The spring on itself is not impressive, but it is very refreshing. Here we have lunch and enjoy the peace and nature here.

14:00 We continue our way to Kolimbia (3.5 kilometer) and from there we follow direction Tsambika Monastery. Another 3 kilometer in this heat. The most foolish part is coming when we start the walk upwards to the monastery itself: only 1.5 kilometer up, but it is a climb of 400 meter up. It takes us more than half an hour to reach the top. At 15:30 we think we reached the top, but then we need to take another 295 stairs: unbelievable.

16:00 Arrival at the top: The monastery is nothing more than a small chapel.

16:15 Descent is going a lot faster, but it starts to hurt in our knees.

16:45 We arrive down at the main road to Archangelos and we take the bus there.

17:15 Rest for a few moments, take the shower and take care of our feet. We walk to the village, buy postal cards, bandages and go and eat to Savas. He starts to know us. We already receive one ouzo and parfait amour for free.

20:15 We call home and walk back to the hotel

20:45 Wait on our terrace

22:30 We’re tired and go to bed.

Sunday July 23: A day of rest

A day of rest is something we can have today after the long and hard efforts of yesterday. After breakfast we walk to town to withdraw some money and we need to regulate some things for a car for tomorrow. There is no car available for tomorrow at this moment, so we need to wait until later this evening. We go back to the hotel with nectarines, bread and tomatoes: we love doing nothing now. Dive into the pool – rest – swim – rest – swim – rest. In the afternoon we sleep for about two hours, then we return to the village; now there is a Nissan Micra available. We have done a good deal: normally we would pay 62.000 drachms for four days with the car, we only pay 45.000. Either you’re able to negotiate or you’re not. Time to go eat at Savas and then back to the hotel: have some fun and then go to sleep.

Monday July 24, 2000: Daytrip through the North of Rhodes

At 08:00 we get up, have breakfast, take a shower and prepare our bag. Antonio comes to the hotel to pick us up with the mega-Micra. We drive to the villages and do all the paperwork for the car-rental. Timo is driving today and in the beginning he has some trouble with the gears. We leave to Afandou and visit a chapel there. Today is very hot and there is absolutely no wind. We drive to Akra Ladiko, where Anthony Quinn has a villa; the bay is named after him. We continue our way to Kalithea to the thermae. Here is also a beach with a lot of sunbathing people. It is very beautiful, the thermae I mean. We then move on to Filerimos and pass along the village of Koskinou. Filerimos has and old Byzantine monastery and we can view the crucifix road. Particularly beautiful are the mosaics of Peter and Paul. Just after noon we almost loose our way and with a bit of luck we arrive in Kremasti and there we eat something close to the airport. After lunch we have our strength back and then drive to Petaloudes, also known as the valley of the butterflies. Butterflies as many as you want: really great. After the villages Psinthos and Archipolis we come in Agia Soulas, where we visit a church and then rive along the coastal road from Soroni to Ancient Kameiros. This archeological site is not open today, so we can’t visit it either. Most archeological sites are closed on Monday.

15:30 We drive via Salakos to the mountain ridge of Profitis Illias, a very beautiful road, really worth the detour. Up and down, up and down till the village of Eleousa. From here we drive to the ‘highway’ and then back to the hotel.

18:00 back at the hotel, take a shower, change and then we go to eat at Savas. Today we have swordfish, very good.

21:00 We talk about our daytrip today and then go to sleep.

22:00 Sleep tight.

Tuesday July 25, 2000: Daytrip in the centre of Rhodes

After a night of hunting after three mosquitoes and a quick breakfast we leave for our journey in the centre of Rhodes. At 10:00 our trip starts on the small road next to the hotel. After 50 meters we need to turn back, because the road just disappeared. So the big road to Malona. We first stop at a Mycenaean burial ground. The entrance was closed because there was a hole in the ground. Now we are not on the highway anymore, we keep on following the small streets to Massari, nice views and cool roads. Via Kalathos and Lardos we drive to Laerna. Here the roads are becoming very small and narrow and Eef lost control over the car for a moment and now she refuses to drive: there is a steep abyss one meter behind the car. After the tense moments we come to peace on the roofs of the houses in Agios Isodoras. From this place we drive on to Embonas. In Embonas we arrive at the bottom of the mountain of Attaviros (1215 meter), we have a Greek salad and then go to the old castle of Kameiros: a beautiful ruin with also beautiful sights. Then we return to the car and drive to Kritinia and Siana to Monolithos. Out of nowhere suddenly a big rock appears with only a ruin of a castle on the top: it is very impressive and is worth a visit for sure. Without detours we drive via Apolakkia, Vation, Gennadi and Lardos back home. A dive in the pool and then prepare for diner at Savas restaurant (off course). Afterwards we en joy the peace on our terrace with a bottle of retsina and then go to sleeps.

Wednesday July 26, 2000: Exploration of the south of Rhodes

As always we get out of bed on time and very happy. After traditional Greek breakfast we leave to the south of the island. We stop at the castle of Charaki. The weather is hot and there are a lot of beasts (goats) in and around the castle, they even stay with us to intimidate us. The ruins are pretty, on top it is very hot, so we don’t stay long. A few kilometers further we stop again for a ruin, the castle of Asklepion, we can only reach it via a very small path. According to Timo it has become 87° C in the meantime. We drive off to the south. We notice there is a more wind here in this part of the island. When we arrive in Kattavia there are even branches and complete trees lying over the road. We wanted to see the southern cape of Rhodes so we drive on to Akra Prasonision: a great view, many surfers and many tourists in general. We sit down in a seat and then return to Archangelos. On the way home we stop to buy all of our drinks for the rest of the vacation and to take home: a total of 14 bottles! When we arrive in the village we decide to stay out in the sun. The temperature at 17:00 is OK to lie in the sun. We drive to Stegna Beach and there is a Greek who is chasing us away, because we did not want to pay 1500 Drachmas anymore. We arrive at 17:00 and we still need to pay for the sun-beds for a whole day, no way. We leave back to the hotel without paying. In the evening we eat at Savas and make an evening walk on the beach. Already in the dark we return to the hotel. It’s not easy, when you’re not used to driving in the dark. Not too late we go to sleep.

Thursday July 27, 2000: On the road

08:00 Eef is already awake for about two hours, it’s way too hot to keep sleeping, but that doesn’t bother Timo.

09:00 Breakfast near the pool

10:00 We have rented the car for the last day today, so we need to take advantage of that. From Archangelos we drive to Kolimbia, Eleousa and Kalavarda and then reach the Ancient City of Kameiros. Here we find impressive and beautiful remains from the Mycenaean civilization and from the settlement here. Also now it’s very hot.

11:30 Then we drive back and there we need a lot of concentration: curve, another curve, up, down, curve, …

12:30 We drive from Kameiros to Rhodes city. Timo now takes the wheel. At 13:15 we visit the aquarium: that looks great with a lot of different fish (even octopuses and rays. We ate a sandwich on the way there and drank cola. After this visit we drive back to Archangelos. On the road we see an accident from a rent-a-car and rent-a-bike: not a pretty sight.

16:15 We arrive at the hotel, change quickly to our swimming wear and cool down in the pool.

18:00 We return the car to Antonio’s and then go and eat at Savas. Today we drink a bottle of Emery (red wine from Rhodes) and it tastes good.

20:00. Drink something on a terrace.

22:00. We have enough to drink, so we go to bed.

Friday July 28, 2000: A day of rest and short trip to Rodini Park

Well yeah, our time here is getting shorter. On the schedule today there is: get up, have breakfast, then rest a bit, swim, rest, swim. Later that day we take the bus to Rhodes. Before we reach the centre we get off and walk to Rodini Park. At the entrance we buy from an old Greek 1 Snickers and 2 Mars. They really taste awful and we pay 1650 drachmas for it – that is way too much. We start our walk through the park and are suddenly under attack of peacocks. We then continue our walk that is being dominated by peacocks, trees, gold fish and turtles. The toucans we don’t see any, even if we were promised to see some (in captivity). We take the bus back to Archangelos and we again have the same conductor; he starts to know us already. We rest a little bit in our hotel room and by 19:00 we walk to the village to have something to eat at Savas. We went home early now, because a bus of English people was dropped off here and it was too busy for us here. After a bottle of retsina we go to sleep

Saturday July 29, 2000: Buy souvenirs and book a trip

08:30. We get up and decide to do little things before noon – we only swim and hang around at the hotel. After a few hours two Belgian women come to the pool and make a lot of noise, so we leave the pool.

12:30. We go on foot to the village, eat a salad and then take the bus to Rhodes. We walk around here and buy some souvenirs. We book and pay an excursion to Symi the day after tomorrow. We pay 4000 Drachmas and Intercomfort asks 11000 for the same. We have made a good deal then.

16:30. We are thirsty, so it’s time to drink a small bottle retsina and one hour later we again take the bus to Archangelos. At 18:15 we arrive home, take a shower, prepare ourselves for eating at Savas, this time with a bottle of ‘Lac des Roches’. Also today there was a group of tourists here, now Dutch people, even worse than yesterday. When we return to the hotel we have an ouzo on our terrace and later on we sleep with the windows opened today, because it’s still very hot.

Sunday July 30, 2000: Acropolis of Archangelos and hunt for cigarettes

Today Timo has some problems to wake up. After breakfast we rest still a bit and then climb up to the acropolis of Archangelos. Half way up we wait a few moments near the church. It’s a shame we can’t enter the building. So we move on up. When we arrive at the top it is a bit of a disillusion. The only thing left are some outside walls. It looks better from down from a distance. We tried to find from the hill our hotel and could locate it with big trouble. We walk back down to the centre and look for lunch: 3 nectarines, 1 apple, bread and water. Now Timo starts on his quest for cigarettes. Eef has had enough for today and sits down and waits for Timo. Good luck! In the first shop he could buy 2 cartons of cigarettes, in the second shop 1, the third one was closed and in the fourth another 2 cartons. We were told that there were no Gauloises cigarettes anymore on the whole island: wrong. With our lunch and the cigarettes we walk back to the hotel: first quick lunch and then lying at the swimming pool and do nothing. When it gets later, we go to Savas and Eef finally has stifado (she wanted to eat it already 5 times) and Timo has gyros. Off course a bottle of water and retsina and everyone was happy. On our way back we buy some ouzo and cola to have something to drink on our terrace. We could not stay up too late, because we need to go to bed on time. Tomorrow is another day: we are going to Symi.

Monday July 31, 2000: Trip to Symi

06:30 get up and prepare everything for the trip. How early it is. We walk to the center on foot to take the bus to Rhodes. The bus is on time! We need to stand up and that is not that comfortable. The driver is not in a hurry and it takes 50 minutes and normally it only takes half an hour.

8:20. We search quickly for breakfast and then go towards the boat. The boat leaves within 10 minutes and we already board to find a good place. The boat leaves on time. We have breakfast and then start using oil to protect us from the sun. It is still early in the day and the sun is already burning.

10:30. Arrival on Symi. The first thing we visit here is Panormitis: a very beautiful monastery, but too busy filled with tourists. Together with us 2 additional boats arrived and everyone had to enter the monastery at the same time. We wanted to leave on foot until we heard the boat was already bringing us further. How lucky. So we get back on the boat at 11:30 – this time in the shadow, because it is hot. We sail in about 45 minutes around the island with a lot of nice views and stop in a town on the northern end of the island called Symi. The town is beautiful: all the same kind of buildings in different colors, but we’re hungry and need to eat something before the rest of the boats arrive.

13:30. We walk around the centre and along the shops, especially the sponge factory is interesting. We walk very slowly and in the shadow, because temperature is almost 50°. It is too hot to be very active.

14:00. The only thing a person can do is sit on a terrace and drink something. Even in the shadow of thee trees we get sun burnt. We need to return to the boat by 15:00 to have space in the shade.

15:30 The boat leaves to Rhodes. Timo is talking a bit with a Dutch man and suddenly everyone runs to the side, because someone has seen a dolphin. Timo stays with the bag and Eef gets to see the dolphin.

17:00. Arrival in Rhodes.

17:30. On the bus we need to stand up until all people from Faliraki have left.

18:15. Arrival in Archangelos. Diner at Savas: ‘gebratene paprikaschoten, calamari, mix grill’. Again very, very good.

19:30. Back at the hotel: another ouzo and at 21:30 we go to sleep. We’re exhausted.

Tuesday August 1, 2000: Monte Smith and quest for cigarettes (part 2)

As usual we have a Greek breakfast in the morning and then we do everything very calmly. We start to feel Greek: don’t do a lot and if you do something do it slowly. After breakfast we walk to the village to take the local bus for the last time to Rhodes. At 11 we arrive there and using the city map we try to find the temple and stadium of Monte Smith. The stadium is really great, the temple is only a small collection of 4 pillars, and each of them only have 4 parts that are original. An impressive race from Timo to take a picture and then his energy is wasted. He even starts running after Eef has warned him: Don’t run dear. Now we go to the town and eat on a quiet spot in the harbor a sandwich tuna fish. Time for the hunt for cigarettes part 2. No luck in the shop number 1 also no luck in the second we tried and indeed the third one was the good one: we found another two cartons. At 15:00 we take the bus to Archangelos and strange things are happening here. The driver had to stop in a garage to make some arrangements, then he needs to stop another time to pick up people from another bus. In the end we managed to get to Archangelos. We walk to the hotel to take a shower and to rest a bit and around 19:00 we return to Savas. For the last meal here on Rhodes we have a special treat. We received and ouzo from Savas. When we told the assistant waiter they could take something to drink on our expenses Savas immediately brought a bottle of win on the house. He wrote his name on there and gave it to us with the words: for at home. Then we called home and returned to the hotel. We drank some retsina on the terrace and went to bed and chased some mosquitoes at 5 in the morning.

Wednesday August 2, 2000: Departure to Belgium

After a ‘good’ night sleep (mosquitoes, barking dogs, donkeys making noise and chicken doing crazy stuff) we got up at 8 o’clock. We have our last breakfast next to the pool. And then the toughest job during the vacation starts: pack! We have 8 cartons of cigarettes and 10 bottles of liquor with us. After three attempts we manage to pack it all. We leave the bags at the reception. At 11 we go for a walk to the pub where we sat the first day when we arrived. What do you think, start all over again? At 12:30 we walk on and stop to eat spaghetti. On our way back to the hotel we buy two more bottles of retsina; we already drank the gifts we had. Also a pack of Gauloises Blondes, light this time, because the normal ones are all going with us to Belgium. At 14:30 we’re back at the hotel. We swim some more in the pool; take a shower on the hallway. We’re not allowed on the room anymore. At 17:00 we’re really ready, we drink another cola at the swimming pool bar and at 18:00 the bus comes to pick us up. We arrive at 19:30 in Kremasti, check in, drink and eat something with our last Drachmas and lift off at 21:45, a flight in the night. We arrive in Zaventem at 0:20, in our feeling it is already 1:20.

It was a very nice, beautiful incredible vacation.