We woke up to the nearing coastline of Rhodes. Luckily our starboard balconies provided the perfect vantage point since there were perfect views of the old town and port area. Beautiful!
We were able to disembark right on time and by just after 9 am we were already hooked up with our taxi guide for the morning, Yiannis. He tried to tell us that we only needed to stay for one hour in Lindos, but we insisted on longer and he conceded 2 hours! So for the taxi ride to Lindos, 2 hour wait, and a few lookout stops on the way, we paid 140 euros. Just a taxi ride each way is 57 euros so it was a pretty good deal. He was a good character as well!
On our way out of town, we stopped at the church which sits on the harbour where the colossus of Rhodes stood. It was very pretty and naturally always amazing to think of the ancient wonders that once stood. We also had a stop up the hill overlooking the Aegean Sea towards Turkey. Very windy and wavey! Yiannis said that it is always like that whereas the Med is so much calmer.
We finally arrived in Lindos at about 10:45 am. One word for you: BUSY! The tiny streets were jammed packed and hot! The heat was truly overwhelming. It was like China and Madrid combined!!!! But we made it to the Acropolis (and it must be stated for the record that Javi was the first to the top by a long shot!) The site itself certainly had a lot of people milling about but we almost always got our opportunity to take a photo with few distractions. Truthfully I don’t remember much from when I was here in 1997 but it was just as impressive although the main topic that will be talked about is the heat. Sorry Lindos!
After about 45 minutes we made our way down the hill and meandered through town towards the square where we would meet Yiannis. We happened upon the small orthodox church that is quite close to the square (will look up the name at home). Wow. Amazing. Not to be missed. I have never seen such an ornate church with icons and paintings. There were makeshift skirts and shawls for anyone who needed to cover-up.
One last stop for a frojen (how we call frozen yogurts thanks to Javi’s stellar pronunciation!) And we were back on the road to Rhodes town.
Yiannis was all set to drop us off at a great local restaurant just outside the old town but it was closed for August! Must be local for real! So we just got out at the gate closest to the Avenue of the Knights and promptly went in the opposite direction! We just wandered all around the old town (which was mainly just tourist shops). We found a man willing to let us sit down with his take away gyros for only 3 euros (instead of 2 euros) so we did just that and also enjoyed a refreshing beer. This was in the square next to the mosque.
Then we continued our wanderings and ended up at the Master Palace. We hemmed and hawed for a little bit over whether to go in (6 euros) but in the end we were just to hot to be bothered. I did mention it was hot, right?! This finally brought us down the famed Avenue of the Knights.
We still had to figure out a way to print our Turkish visas so asked in a bar with advertised PC and WiFi if they also had a printer. Luck was with us and they did. Well, I say luck…..and it was luck but it also meant that we had to have a “small” beer while we waited for the printer to be free. It turned out that at this place the smallest beer on tap was ONE LITRE! Seriously! Needless to say, we rose to the challenge and conquered the boot beers!
Now there was no hope of any more sightseeing so we headed back to the ship and cooled off in the seaview pool. There are two pools on board: one midship that is essentially the teen pool and one all the way aft which is adult only. It was heaven just to float!
Dinner was delicious again…my main was the roast beef which was yummy. We also discovered that the Crow’s Nest bar has happy hour from 22:00 to 23:00 so it is perfect for our postprandial g&t’s! And best of all it is directly two floors above our cabins so not a far walk home!