We dutifully were in the hotel lobby with plenty of time
before we were due to be picked up.
After the bus was 10 minutes late we realized we were supposed to meet the bus at the post office. The front desk
called the tour company and made arrangements for us to meet the bus at a
nearby hotel so off we went. Great way
to start the day.
The trip will take us pretty much all the way around the island with stops and a few of the key places. Much of the drive was along the water front or in the mountains with views of the water.
They grow a lot of olives here and we went by many olive groves.
They also grow a lot of grapes on the island but these grow close to the ground in "nests" to save on water. We stopped at a vineyard for wine tasting. The shop also had a typical farm house that could be toured.
The first stop was the Valley of the Butterflies (or
Petaloudes Valley). The valley is a
nature preserve that is narrow and forested with a small stream running through
it.
And gazillians of butterflies. They are the Rhodes subspecies of the Jersey
Tiger Moth.
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Watch video of butterflies.
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We had a short stop in the village of Embonas for wine
tasting (we didn’t bother) and then lunch at a local tavern.
The shop also had a set up of a typical old farm house that could be toured.
There was a short stop in the village of Siana to visit the
Church of St. Panteleimon.
Along the drive we saw an island that is known as the freighter, because the profile looks a bit like an ocean freighter.
Other stops included a photo stop to see the ruins of the
fort of Monolithos…
and then a longer stop at Prasonisi. This is the southernmost tip of the island
has a strip of sand that goes to another small island. The Aegean Sea is the rougher sea on the
right and the Mediterranean is on the left.
 |
| Mediterranean Sea |
 |
| Aegean Sea |
Lots of wind surfers out.
We later had a photo stop overlooking the ancient ruins of
Lindos. The natural citadel is topped by
a temple to Athena, dating from 300 BC.
There is also a Castle of the Knights of St. John, built
around 1317. Only two of the towers
survive. There is apparently a lot of
other ruins to see in Lindos but this tour only offered a chance to take a few
photos before we moved on.
From there it was a long drive back to Rhodes City.
For Mary it was the ride from hell. Because we were the last on the bus there
were no seats together. Paul sat in the
front row with one of the guides while Mary was near the back. She was seated next to a very nice gentleman
(probably from Germany or Austria as he spoke German) and he had a cigarette at
each stop. So the fumes were a bit
much. But the biggest annoyance was the
group of Italians in the back. The
guides didn’t offer any narrative in Italian so they were young and bored. Talked constantly, played videos on their
iPhones for the entire group to see (and hear), and one couple needed to get a
room. Most of the time she could not
hear the narrative because of the noise and talking.
Maybe we should stick with private tours. More expensive but guaranteed to be able to
hear what was being said. And we could
be sure to have time to actually visit and see the various sights instead of
just take pictures of them from a distance.
We think this tour should have been 2 or 3 days, to allow time to see and
visit all the sites on Rhodes we would be interested in.
Oh well. We did see a
lot.
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