A Lovely Day for a Drive!

Friday, June 6, 2014

Hello!

Up this morning about 6, to a lovely blue sky and sunshiny kind of day!  The wind was still blowing, but not nearly as hard as yesterday.  (We are SO hoping it goes away entirely by Sunday morning, when we have to get back on that ferry boat…)  Our hotel is really a group of individual apartments, and as such doesn’t provide a free breakfast, but we really weren’t terribly hungry after dinner last night.  Instead, we decided that we would rent a car today and drive around the island.  I had looked up rental cars before we left Turkey, but hadn’t reserved anything, thinking we could do it once we were here.  And, when we got off the ferry, there were, truly rental cars galore!  We’ve never seen such a place!  It really does look like everyone and all their family members have rental cars to use.  Our wonderful hotel manager was downstairs, and we asked him who he would recommend.  He picked up the phone, and literally, within five minutes, a young man was at the hotel, leading us around the corner to his tiny office – to Margaritis cars! 

How appropriate!  The cost was 30 E for the entire day (12 hours) with unlimited mileage and full insurance coverage.  And, while I was trying to get Robert to agree to renting Vespas for the two of us, we ended up with a cute lime green Nissan with Margaritis rental car on the sides!  Nothing shy about that; I’m pretty sure we won’t lose it in a parking lot!  And, like a flash we were off and into Rhodes traffic.

Heading south out of Rodos

Typical little village with castle on top!

We decided that we wanted to circumnavigate the entire island, so started first heading south on the east  side of the island.  Traffic was very light (even non-existent in some places) and we made great progress getting out of town and following the road along the coast.  Beautiful scenery (I should probably just say that once and then repeat it somehow, as the entire island is really incredibly beautiful!) There were a great many really HUGE resort-type hotels lining the coastline.  It seems that, just as with any island, there are those people who are truly “beach” people, and there is a great deal to attract them to Rhodes – many sunny days, lots of blue sky and some of the bluest water we have ever seen.  (But I couldn’t sit on the beach for a week if you paid me!)  

We had thought about stopping at Lindos to see the castle and ruins on top of their mountain plateau, but literally, there were throngs of tourists getting out of buses and heading to the Lindos beach. 

Remains of Lindos' ancient theatre

Lindos' castle and temple on the plateau

Additionally, the plateau is, of course, at the top, and your ways of getting there are 1) walk up; 2) donkey up.  We regretfully declined either option and kept on driving.  

A bit further on, we stopped for some glasses of fresh orange juice; always a treat, and walked around some of their little gift shops.  (Always fun to look, although R doesn’t necessarily think so!)  

At the southernmost point of the island, Prassonissi, we drove out to the point. 

Southernmost point on the island!

Interesting to see the difference in the water and waves from one side to the other, as the island comes to a real “point” at the end.  There is also a small island there, called Cape Praso, which can be gotten to at low tide, which it was.  

Started back north on the coast road on the other (west) side of the island.  This side, unlike the way we came down, is much less built up and populated and is much more agricultural.  And, they also have beautiful beaches!  I would MUCH rather spend time in an uncrowded place that one overrun with tourists!  We did stop to take a lot of photos.  Around noon, we decided to look for a place for lunch, and finally stopped around Kamiros.  

Lovely modern building, with tables outside on a covered verandah overlooking a stunning cove – and, we were the only people there! 

Heading back north

SO hard to believe!  Robert asked if we could get lunch, and were told “of course.” 

So…we didn’t get any menus as we sat down, and a few minutes later the proprietor came to the table.  She had a Greek menu in her hand – and apologized that her “foreign” menus were not yet printed for use. 

However, we could look at the Greek one and see the prices … but prices alone, if you haven’t the faintest clue as to what they’re attached to, don’t mean a whole lot! 

Lovely spot for lunch!

View from our table

She asked us what we would like to have, and Robert wondered what salads she had.  Turns out, their house specialty was a salad for two people – lettuce, onion, other “things” and either meat or fish.  Asked what fish, she told us, but we didn’t recognize the name…so, jumping in with both feet, we decided we would split the salad and have “fish” on it, along with some homemade pita bread that had been grilled – it was wonderful!

The salad arrived a few minutes later, and it was great!  The “fish” was actually crab meat, and it came on a bed of lettuce, capers, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes and roasted yellow and red peppers.  YUM!  We finished up every bite, and were very happy with our selection!  Then, as we were finishing glasses of white wine and a large bottle of sparkling water, she came out with dessert!!  A dish of Greek yogurt drizzled with honey and chopped walnuts – it was also good!  As we were finishing our dessert, a Scandinavian couple with their young son arrived, and we got to hear the proprietor again go through her menu speech. 

Our delicious "special" salad!

Simple but excellent dessert!

Do hope those menus arrive soon!  The restaurant was also a kind of “co-op” to sell products (honey, olive oil, spices, etc.) from eleven of the surrounding villages.  Neat stuff and, of course,  we bought a few items.

Back once more on the road, and continued incredible scenery on all sides – water and waves and beautiful beaches on one side, mountains and lovely valleys on the other!  What a place!  

Our final stop was very close to Rodos, on Monte Smith (wherever that came from…) where we saw some remains from the ancient Temple of Apollo and the stadium.  Then, we took the car back down the monte to fill it up with gas, and return it to Margaritis rental cars a block from our hotel!  All in all, a wonderful exploration and day on the island!  

Temple on top of Monte Smith

Tomorrow, we’re going to stay in Rodos and walk the entire perimeter of the old walled city, and possibly take in the aquarium they have here, which is (fortunately!) within walking distance of our hotel! (We’re also going to take in our last consignment of laundry, so that we will be able to coast out our last days in Turkey in clean clothes!  What a concept!)

Take care!

m

xxx