rhodosreporteng

My trip to Rhodos (Rhodes Island) from 19.April to 26.April 2001

I am writing again one travel report to you all, so you all get the same information about my fantastic trip! Well, my friend Martina and I travelled to Rhodos, Greece, for one week. We got a great last minute offer for it, so we took Greece instead of Portugal, which was our plan. And it was a good decision as we both had an excellent time at Rhodos and enjoyed it very, very much. Rhodos is just about 18km away from Turkey and is famous for its old towns, the three windmills at the Mandraki-harbour and so on. We stayed in a hotel in Faliraki at the East coast, 30 minutes away from Rhodos-town. Our hotel was just next to the beach. It was a very small hotel with just 22 rooms. Our room was a very small one with a view to the beach and the sea! We also had a balcony, which was very nice and we used it several times. Our room was clean, we had just some small problems with the bath room, but we got along well with it. The meals were nice, too. We got a breakfast at the morning with bread and cheese and a vegetarian lunch at the evening. The food was good and so we didn't need to buy much food during the day, just some cakes and water, of course. We visited many different things and as Michael called it: "It isn't a vacation for me, it is a training camp" as we walked very much. :)

Thursday, the 19.04.2001

Our flight had gone at 6am, so I had to wake up at 3am, which was very early for me. The flight went very well and took about 3hours. We arrived at Rhodos at 10:20am, got our luggage and then went by bus to our hotel. Faliraki was a shock for us as it is a real tourist town, just full of hotels and souvenir shops. It isn't beautiful in any way. Just the beach is fantastic and the small harbour next to our hotel is sweet. So we were happy, that our hotel wasn't situated in the center of Faliraki. We also had a supermarket next to us, which was good to carry the bottles of water. At this day we just walked through Faliraki and made a long walk at the beach. The weather was fantastic with sun and blue sky and temperatures around 25Degrees C or even more. We had such great weather at Friday, too.

Friday, the 20.04.2001

We stood up early, had a nice breakfast and then we went to the bus station to take the bus to Rhodos town. At the station we met Elke and Michael, a couple from Rotenburg (near Bremen). We talked a little bit during our waiting for the bus. The bus was very full, so we had to stand during the 30 minutes drive. When we arrived in Rhodos town Martina and I walked through the old part of this beautiful town. The old part looks like a town in the Middle Ages. It was built by the "Johanniter" during that time. In the 16. century Rhodos was under Turkish government, so you also see some mosques and other oriental things, f.e. a Turkish bath house. Well, we just walked through this town and looked at all the buildings and an old Aphrodite temple from BC. We had luck as there weren't many tourists. It isn't the typical travelling time for Rhodos in April. :) That was good for us. After the Middle Age town we went to the Mandraki harbour with the three windmills, the fort and the two columns with the deers. There was just one column left, which was a surprise for us. Perhaps the second one is away for repair. We both walked then along the sea to the west coast and then we walked to Monte Smith, where are the rests of an old Akropolis. You can see some columns of an Appolon temple there and also a stadium (there are still "athlets", who trains there!) and a small theatre, which was probably the famous speech school, where Cicero, Caesar and Cassius have learnt. That was esp. great for us as we had Latin at school for 7 years and we had to read many speechs of them. So it was special for us to be at the same place, where they have been! I think, that can only be special for Latin pupils. :) Well, we walked 9 hours through Rhodos town and enjoyed it very much. At the bus home we met Elke and Michael again and we talked a lot and as we got along very well, we decided to eat together and after that we went on our balcony and drank some rose wine from Rhodos and had a nice time. It was a late night and Martina and I didn't get into out beds before 2am.

Saturday, the 21.04.2001

So we slept long the next morning. The weather wasn't so nice at Saturday: clouds and not much sun. But it was a nice temperature and we decided, that it is the right day to walk to the Anthony Quinn Bay, which isn't too far away from Faliraki. It was a funny way to walk as we found a nice way in the mountains and that was very nice. It was also hard, but very good. We had no rain and the views were fantastic!

Sunday, the 22.04.2001

Today we decided to take the bus to Lindos, which is a beautiful town southern Faliraki. The bus needs about an hour to it. And who did we meet at the bus? Yes, Elke&Michael. :) It was funny as we always did the same each days, but seperatly. Well, at Lindos is a beautiful Akropolis again. The Johanniter had built a castle about it, so you can visit the castle and the Akropolis. There is a temple of the Athene Lidia and a big column hall. It looks beautiful and the view from the top.... Great! Lindos is a small town with white houses and very small streets, impossible for cars! You can also visit a small theatre from BC, too. At the afternoon we had a nice hot chocolate and some Greece cakes at a cute restaurant. We had also luck with the weather: sun and blue sky! It was really hot at the end. Then we both decided to walk to a monument, which on the other side of the bay. It took some time, but the view worths it! Lindos is beautiful and we were happy to make this trip!

Monday, the 23.04.2001

Again the sky was full of clouds and we had some wind. As it was Monday all museums were closed, so we decided to rent two mountain bikes and make a bike ride. It was our worst decision.... The bikes were good, but the mountains were too high and the wind too strong. So we had many problems and didn�t drive a log way. Anyway, we drove through two small villages not near the coast and drove back next to the coast, where we saw another beautiful beach with palms. That was nice, but we still had strong wind and a long way home. We were so groggy when we arrived the hotel, that we just went to bed for an afternoon sleep. :) Anyway, it was funny and something different to all the culture we did at the other days!

Tuesday, the 24.04.2001

We had some rain in the morning, but we didn't mind. We took the bus to Rhodos town and, of course, we met Elke&Michael again. Well, this time we went to the Archaelogical museum, where are many old statues and vases, f.e. there is the head of Helios (the sun God) and two beautiful statues of Aphrodite from the 4th and 1st century BC. It was very nice and interesting and we enjoyed it very much. We also got free entrance as we had our student identity cards with us. Nice surprise. After the museum the weather was nice and sunny again and we made a walk around the town halls, which was interesting, too. We also wanted to make a shopping trip through the new part of the town, but most shops were closed, so we walked again through the old part of Rhodos town, which was also nice as we saw some other parts as the last time. We took the bus back to the hotel at 7:30pm again together with Elke&Michael. They asked us, how we want to spend our last day and we said, that we want to make a lazy day as we had no chance to get to Kamiros with bus. So they made us the offer to rent a car for the next day and visit the west coast. That was such a great offer, that we took it!

Wednesday, the 25.04.2001

So we stood up very early and rent a little car, which was really cute. Elke drove the most time as Martina and I had forgotten our driving license at home. Well, our first stop was the Butterfly valley, Petaloudes. Of course, there were no butterflies as their time is July/August, but it was also nice to walk through the valley and have a good time. We had again luck with the weather: sun, sun, sun! The next stop was Kamiros, which is one of the third oldest towns of Rhodos (Lindos and Ialyssos are the other ones). There are just ruins left, but it is very impressive. There was a tourist group with a guide in German, so we felt so free to join them and heard a little bit about this old place and the myths. It was very interesting and we were so happy, that we went to it. It would be a pity to miss it! It is fascinating to see such old places and to think about, how did they have lived over 2000 years ago.... Well, we spent some time there and then we searched for a bay to go swimming. We found a small bay, Kopria Bay, where we swam a little bit. Well, Michael didn't swim. :) It was too cold for him, but we women were courageous enough and swam! Then we went to Kastell Kritina, which is an castle from the Middle Ages on a mountain. We had a wonderful view from there and it wasn't many tourists there. Very relaxing. Now we all were hungry, so we stopped at Kritina, a small mountain village, at a restaurant for a nice meal. That was very funny, too, as we stopped at a square with two restaurants just next to each other and both tried to get us as visitors. We decided to take the one with the better view and that was okay. The meal was very good, too. And then it was so late, that we had to return to Faliraki, which was a pity, but it got dark. We had a wonderful day and saw a lot. It was fantastic and a good last trip. We enjoyed it very much!

Thursday, the 26.04.2001

First of all we had to pack luggage. We packed the most last night, but there was still some clothes left. Elke&Michael were so kind to make us the offer to put our luggage into their room, which was very good as our bus to airport won't come before 6pm and we had to leave our room around 11am. So we bought them a bottle of rose wine as a "Thank you". Martina and I made our last shopping tour around Faliraki and bought the last things. I bought some nice souvenirs, f.e. writing paper, perfumes (Type Chanele Allure and Type Fidji), sweets, a swam, postcards, soap, .... Some were also small presents for my parents and my Grandma. Well, in some days we will drink a bottle of Rhodos' wine, which I also took home with me. After the shopping trip we made again a long, long walk at the beach and enjoyed the good weather and the sun. It was wonderful and we didn't feel like leaving this island, but we had to. The bus came at 6pm and took us to the airport, where we heard, that there is a strike in whole Greece, so our flight would have a delay of 30 minutes, but fortunately, it hasn't got any delay! Nice surprise. The flight home went well again and we arrived at 10:40pm. Of course, it was cold in Hamburg and it had rained during the morning. Arghhh.... My Mum waited for me at the airport and we had an exciting way home as the bus didn't come punctual, so we missed the train at Ohlsdorf and decided to take a taxi home as we didn't want to wait for a long time. It was nice to get home again. I always love to travel, but I also love to come home as I always miss my family and my cats. So now I am trying to get back into normal life. And about the color of my skin.... I didn't get a sunburn, but I am also not very brown, just a little, little bit as usually.

I hope, this travel report wasn't too boring for you all. If you have any special questions about it, feel free to ask me and I will try to answer as good as possible. Take care of yourself and till soon! And thanks for reading this report!

Christina

For photos of my trip click here!

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