Being island lovers, when we finalized our trip to Greece,
we started studying about the islands of Greece. Santorini and Mykonos were
added because of the popularity and Crete because of the time we had in our
hands, one whole week. But as I read and saw pictures of Rhodes, we redesigned
our plan and stole two days out of our fortnight trip to cover Rhodes too.
So the journey started with Athens. We stayed there for
three days, explored it and then eagerly started hopping islands – Rhodes,
Crete, Santorini and Mykonos in that order.
Now that I am back, I am glad that I was not wrong. The only decision we regret is that we spared
only two days for Rhodes.
Yes, it the same island which was once famous for Colossus
of Rhodes in ancient world. Though the statue was destroyed by an earthquake in
226 BC but the location is still picturesque and the city is extremely
beautiful.
Rhodes, the island of knights, as it is called, is the
largest among the Dodecanese group of islands in the South- eastern Agean Sea,
off the coast of Turkey. One can witness a mix of Greece and Turkey here,
especially in architecture, food and clothing. Rhodes is a beautiful island
with a long and interesting history along with stunning beaches and nature.
The moment we landed in Rhodes, the beauty of the island
forced me to take out my phone and start clicking.
A bill of almost fifty Euros from Airport to our Airbnb stay,
at Athens had raised the alarm and made us careful traveler. So we decided to
take a bus which turned out to be pretty comfortable and reasonable decision.
In Greek islands use public transport - Buses. They are
good, comfortable and cheaper else rent a car, if you have an international
license.
My first impressions through the window of the bus, it was
indeed breathtaking.
We had booked our hotel in Rhodes through Booking.com and
our entry to this quite and peaceful apartments made us really happy. Located
right across the Ialyssos – Ixia beach, the apartments are serene, very
spacious and beautifully done. We had booked a two bedroom apartment with
kitchenette in about 60 Euro and it was indeed value for money. The balcony which
was spacious with easy wooden chairs opened to the garden followed by the pebbly
beach welcoming the sea waves and caressing breeze.
The numerous shades of blue from “Area Blue Beach Apartment”
were indeed mesmerizing. The garden and pool view from the front passage was in
no way less.
Though the building required some renovation and right
across our apartment there was a five star hotel to lure people, but we had
fallen in love with the small and beautiful Area Blue Beach Apartment. Moreover the hotel had its own green gardens
and beach with bean bags and umbrellas while many other hotels didn’t and
people had to pay for sun beds and umbrellas.
My boys decided to spend the day in the beach, pool and
apartment and sightseeing was left for the next day. So we enjoyed the couches
right across the pool, fresh juices at the pool bar, relaxed for some time in
the hammocks and some time on sun beads and beans under the umbrellas. Later,
they also played with the ball while I shopped from the super market right
across the road to prepare dinner. The
sunset at around eight was like a cherry on our ice cream. It was pure delight,
witnessing, how the shades of blue and green on the sea gave way to shades of
red, orange, golden and brown.
The following day we went to the city centre and chose to do
some sightseeing through hop on- hop off buses of the island. We boarded the
bus from the city centre.
Our tour started with the old Medieval City of Rhodes. The
beautiful town has been inscribed upon the World Heritage List of the
Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage
of UNESCO in 1988 and is one of the most visited destinations in Europe. The
beautiful walled city with Bazaar reminded me of medieval times except for the stuff in shops which was modern western and
Greek.
The food definitely was costly, but it was hot and children
preferred to have ice cream after a walk under the sun. So we sat in a small
garden with benches and enjoyed watching pigeons and parrots there.
The view outside the old walled city was equally
breathtaking.
After the old city, we moved on to see the harbor, which
should not have been included in the trip as the officials don’t allow you to
enter unless you have a ferry ticket.
Then we landed at St. Francis Church, which was also closed. We would have felt
exhausted under the sun but kept mum for the beautiful views and enjoyed the
scenic beauty. Also we were hungry by then and so spent some time heartily
eating delicious fresh and aromatic Pizza and traditional Fasolada (much like
Indian Rajma, which they eat with bread) in lunch at a small restaurant nearby.
It was time to move and after a long wait, the bus arrived.
Though the view was beautiful from the roof of the bus but we felt that some of
the spots should not have been mentioned as points, as it is not required to
get down and see. A view from the bus itself was enough for the New Marina, the
Acropolis of the Ancient City, the Ancient Theatre and the Temple of Apollo.
Since time was less, we decided not to get down or probably since as we had thoroughly
seen Parthenon and some six ancient sites and temples at Athens, children were exhausted
by now with the historical sites. Moreover all these sites were extremely clear
from the bus top and we enjoyed listening to the history through the earphones
supplied.
The blue sea, the beaches, the greenery and the smooth and
clean roads with typical Greek white houses were like a scrumptious treat to
our eyes.
We also passed through this statue at Psaropoula Square,
which was also a stop and is famous for Diagoras statue. Diagoras, the famous
Olympian of Ancient Greece is carried by his two sons, in this staue, on their
Olympic victory. This was considered (and holds true even today) the peak of
happiness that a human being could experience, achieving great glory and yet
having this glory matched or even surpassed by one’s own children.
Our next stop was the Aquarium and the adjacent beach, which was quite interesting-
displaying vast, colourful marine life and educational too; so this was thoroughly
enjoyed by children. The octopus, star fish, turtles etc. Interestingly, we saw
a few species like Marbled spinefoot and Lion fish which had migrated to
Mediterranean sea from Indian Ocean through the Suez canal.
After the visit of Aquarium, the bus made us wait a long and
then finally dropped us at the port of Mandraki. The place where once stood,
the Colossus of Rhodes. Today it has been replaced by two high limestone
pillars, on which stand the symbols of the island- a copper deer and a copper
doe. The beautiful buildings, the church, the cafes, market - everything is a
delight, watching from here. Even the sight of old windmills, yachts, cruisers,
traditional boats lightens up the spirit.
Here I stand, along with my young one, right at the sight of
“Colossus of Rhodes”.
The New Market is just five minute walk and a market to
shop, eat and drink.
After this, we went back to our hotel, had a great fresh
homemade pizza, and gyros with tzatziki – one of the best vegetarian Greek food
in a nearby restaurant and left for the airport to hop onto another Greek
island called Crete.
Two days and we fell in love with Rhodes, though we missed some
famous sights of Lindos, Butterfly park and Seven Springs.
If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
- Manage your waste well and don’t litter
- Use dustbins. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
- Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
- Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
- Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite
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