August 21 – Round Rhodes Island, All day tour

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. 

*********************************************************
Watch video of butterflies.
*********************************************************



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.