Week 45: Rhodes

Somehow we find ourselves at the end of our Greek island tour. We have just spent our last week on Rhodes, one of the larger Greek islands, and we’ve had a great time!

We took a four-hour ferry ride from Karpathos, where we had received many warnings about how big and busy Rhodes would be in comparison. We prepared ourselves to be shocked! When we arrived in Rhodes Town, we were greeted by a beautiful walled city and piles of modern shops. There were many tourists as well. Rhodes Town reminded us of Athens right away! There is a good bus system on this island, so we didn’t need a vehicle here. We stayed in Ialysos, a beach town a little ways outside of Rhodes Town. 

The weather was quite hot during our stay, so we were happy to have places to cool off! We started each day my favourite way- a delicious breakfast together outside on our patio. We moved at the slow island pace we have perfected by now. We did a lot of reading and playing cards. We had mosquitos at night, which we hadn’t experienced on the other islands. 

We spent a day exploring the walled city, which was pretty impressive. We walked through what was once a massive moat, and up and down the many streets inside the walls. During our explorations, we found the castle and the weekly outdoor market, featuring fresh, brightly coloured vegetables. 

A couple days later, we took the bus down to Lindos for the day. A beach on one side, and a castle/acropolis on a high hill in the middle frame this picturesque town. The narrow, windy paths we have come to associate with the Greek islands, weaving between many shops and cafes, connect the town. We were joined by many other tourists flocking to see this pretty town. We toured through the castle/acropolis site, which was quite impressive. After some time on the hill and in the town, we headed down to the beach. The sand was so hot! We swam and snorkeled, moving along the rocky edges bordering the water. I found a larger version of the long, skinny, bottle-nosed fish I found on Karpathos, as well as a flat flounder that blended in with the sand.

A place that is filled with tourists normally guarantees some amazing attractions. When we found out that Rhodes’ waterpark in Faliraki was one of the best in Europe, we were all over it. Will is a self-proclaimed waterpark enthusiast, so we definitely had to check this place out. We arrived just as they were opening, and had such a fun-filled day! This park features 15 different slides, and we managed to get to them all twice, and some even a third time. There were really fast straight slides, lots of twirly slides, and slides for single and double tubes. Our favourites were the Space Bowl, which shoots you down a tube slide and then around a large funnel, and the Stingray, which sends you down a steep slide, and then up and down a half pipe until you get shot out off the end. We did a lot of racing, and especially loved the Mat Races, where we could race side by side on a foam mat. There was a lot of laughter and a few bruises. In between the excitement, we also hung out in the lazy river and the wave pool. 

We sprinkled a few beach days in between these daytrips, of course. The Ialysos beach was covered in smooth pebbles, and the water was so very warm. Turkey’s coastline created a beautiful backdrop as we stared out into the water. Our beach was very popular with windsurfers, so we had endless entertainment each day! This beach also provided the perfect place for enjoying the sunset. 

We had decided to spend about a week on four different islands, and we are very happy with all of the islands we chose! Each island gave us something different to look forward to, and we truly felt like each island was it’s own unique experience. I want to bottle up the feeling of calm and happiness we’ve had here in Greece, and save it forever.

Act of kindness:There was a clothing shop below the apartment we stayed in, and one of the guys working there went out of his way to greet us each time we walked by. He gave us lots of advice and offered to help in anyway he could. In a place filled with tourists, it was really nice to find this kind of genuine desire to help!