The hillside town of Lindos, Rhodes | Hello Victoria

The hillside town of Lindos

The last post about Greece, I promise!

On our final day in Rhodes, we managed to book a day trip out to visit the town of Lindos by boat. We had tried to arrange the same excursion earlier that week, but it had been booked solid by the time we made up our minds to go.

Luckily for us, since our flight left late on our last day, we were able to pack first thing, check our bags, and spend the day in Lindos before our flight back to London. Seeing as how we would have had to check out early that day anyway, it worked out quite perfectly!

I wish our boat looked like that…

Now, I will say, that the whole ‘boat trip’ part wasn’t exactly how I imagined it would be. For some reason, when we booked it through our Thompson Cook hotel representative, I was imagining a small boat with like 15-20 people. No, no, no, it was a ferry of a boat with like 100 people, or more!

Not only that, but our bus group got there almost last, which meant that all of the seats out in the sun or on the deck, were taken. We ended up by a window below the deck. Now, this suited Richard just fine, as he burns easily and wouldn’t have wanted to be out in the sun, but if I’m honest, I spent the first 30 minutes to an hour feeling kind of ripped off…

See, I had imagined the boat trip there to be one where I laid on the deck and got a tan, enjoying the warmth of the sun… not stuck inside. But, then that 30+ minutes turned into hours (who knew it took so long to get to Lindos?!), and before long people were dying to take our seats out of the blistering sun! Turns out being last meant we actually got the good seats (for those who dislike hours in the sun) (Me = cat laying in the sun rays through the window).

The fact that the boat was so ferry-like was even a plus in that it was large enough to have washrooms, a snack bar with drinks, and even popsicles! I might have had a few watermelon ‘ice lollies’ on the return trip…

Enjoying my own little private swimming hole

So, part of the excursion was that the boat stopped once in either direction for some swimming, with a few hours to see Lindos in the middle. I had initially worried about said swimming time, because I doubted it would be much fun (or feel very secluded) with all the people on the boat. However, not everyone on board wanted to swim, so I managed to really enjoy those little stops!

Where we docked in Lindos

Once we arrived in Lindos, we had a few hours to go up and see the main tourist attraction – the Acropolis on the hill. Now, before I went on this excursion, I had read up about Lindos and the Acropolis. One thing I was warned about was the people peddling donkey rides up to the acropolis for those too lazy to walk, and from what I read the donkeys are very poorly cared for and mistreated. Since donkeys are one of my favorite animals (the eyes!) we chose to bypass the people selling rides. It’s not a hard little hike in the slightest, and I did it with flimsy Greek sandals on my feet.

The shop where I turned down a pair of sandals I wish I had bought… sigh

The beautiful streets of Lindos, and my ‘hiking’ sandals

The walk up the hill itself was quite nice as most of the buildings here are the classic white facade sort, with beautiful little pebble mosaic streets. There are lots of shops selling the usual wares (Greek sandals, bags, souvenirs, etc.) and plenty of small restaurants tucked away.

Cute little shops and streets along the way up

We decided to beat the rush and go straight up the hill to the acropolis, rather than shop along the way. With the exception of a silly little turnstile payment point, it’s pretty much an open space to explore. We walked all around, seeing all the columns, etc., and enjoying the views from the top of the hill. Richard was a bit bummed that a lot of the columns in the acropolis were actually rebuilt, and not original, but we both still thought it worth the trip.

A few photos of the Acropolis

On our way down, we found a little family restaurant where we sat down to enjoy some olives, pitas, calimari, and halloumi (of course). We had the entire place to ourselves and rather enjoyed the reprieve from our crowded little ferry.

Amazing olives and calimari!

Since we got back to our boat a little early, I took the opportunity to swim around the beautiful little bay that Lindos surrounds. The water was so clear, and very refreshing after walking around in the heat of the day.

The view from the Acropolis

Our return journey felt a lot longer as I think we were all getting kind of tired from the day out, and I’m pretty sure the crew agreed because our swim stop on the way back felt shorter (albeit still fun – and a pretty spot). After that it was simply a matter of relaxing below deck, eating popsicles, and drinking cider until returning to our bus transport to the hotel.

Our last swimming spot

It may have started off kind of rocky, but that little boat trip made me really want to return to Greece. Of all the parts of Rhodes we visited, Lindos felt the most like what I had been expecting, and made me only want to come back. Next time, perhaps we’ll visit another island?

One of the two-day trips that we took while staying in Rhodes, was to the old town. A walled part of Rhodes set along the water, it’s the oldest inhabited medieval town in all of Europe!

beautiful bougainvillea vines growing all over the place!

We spent the day roaming the streets (getting lost a few times), looking in the shops, and enjoying some halloumi and Greek beer! (I’m pretty obsessed with halloumi, as evidenced by its constant appearance in my fridge.) I quite enjoyed some of the older architecture, as well as all of the bougainvillea growing around the city.

As far as tourist attractions go, it’s an alright day spent shopping (if that’s your thing), but I found it a bit lacking in terms of other excitement. The streets are pretty, but there’s not much to see or do there besides shopping and eating.

I’m pretty sure that most of the photos Richard took were of stray cats

My one regret is that I didn’t buy a pair of leather Greek sandals. I had been looking forward to finding some since discovering cool Etsy shops a couple years ago. I ended up being too picky, and kept passing shops by, thinking I would find something perfect around the corner, only to leave with nothing.

Looks like I may have to buy some online after all!

Traveling to Rhodes, Greece | Hello Victoria

Now seeing as how Richard and I both had three weeks off from work, we didn’t spend the whole holiday painting! A week of that was more than enough, so we jetted off to relax a little on the Greek island of Rhodes.

When it comes to our vacation styles, we both enjoy visiting places with lots of cultural stuff to do… but this trip was all about doing nothing. Richard’s work means he sometimes has to go away for huge chunks of time (he was about to go away for 6 weeks), so we saw this as a great excuse to go somewhere and just relax in each other’s company.

What we woke up to each morning… sigh

Rhodes, as we discovered, doesn’t look like the Greek postcard we had in mind. Most of the older architecture on the island could be described as medieval in style, so it’s not the island to visit if you want to have lots of pretty photos of little white hillside villages with blue accents (darn). What it does have are cheap flights and lots of all-inclusive beach-side resorts!

We spent our week at the Ixian Grand, which was in a nice quiet location. No one ever came to bother us at the beach, selling trinkets, and the water was beautifully clear and warm. I’m pretty sure we spent half our vacation just sitting under umbrellas, reading books, and drinking piña coladas. (I know, I know… that’s not a Greek drink… but I am a sucker for the combination of pineapple and coconut.)

Our usual spot on the beach

My book of choice for the vacation was Kazuo Ishiguro’s Buried Giant. I realized in the airport I had nothing to read, but luckily there was a store with a few books I had been looking to read available. Knowing how fast I read, I should have brought two or three, but I spent a good portion of my time in the sun napping anyway. It wasn’t as interesting as some of his other books I’ve read, but it was an enjoyable ‘beach read’ of the fantasy sort.

Finally got a chance to wear my new Panama-style hat

In addition to the lovely water and beach access, our resort also came with some pretty great food. It was better than most buffets that I have experienced at this type of place, with lots of fresh fruit and Greek cuisine. I think I made myself a huge fruit salad each morning, to go with my waffle and yogurt. Now that’s how you get your 5 a day!

Despite spending most of our time relaxing at the resort, we did venture out a few times to visit some tourist attractions. I’ll write a bit more about our holiday soon, but will stop here for now.