Category: Greece

Lindos 30.9.21

6 October 2021 / admin

Lindos Fortress 30-9-21

One of the main historic sites on Rhodes is Lindos and we took ourselves there on what seemed to be an exceptionally warm day. Lindos was a major trading centre in the 8th Century BC but its influence declined after Rhodes came into existence in the 5th Century BC.

Lindos Harbour 30-9-21

The harbour is not particularly large hence leading to the decline as a trading centre. The acropolis was topped in about 300BC with a temple to Athena, later falling into disuse and then being partially covered by a 14th Century fortress by the Knights of St John.

Temple Athena remains Lindos 30-9-21

For many the way to top is using a donkey – but neither of us feel that being atop a donkey is the safest activity we can undertaken and Jackie elects to stay in the Square whilst I walk to the top. It is busy and there is a queue to enter so it takes a little longer than I had anticipated. I made it!

Athena Temple description 30-9-21

Just to provide the historical background.

Acropolis of Lindos 30-9-21

On our return journey it proved possible to get a different view to grasp the size of the town and the fortress. Whilst the town is busy during the day with visitors like ourselves we were told that it goes very quiet in the evening and becomes a very pleasant place to visit. I do know that it was an exceptionally warm day to walk up (and down again).

Rhodes Town 28.9.21

5 October 2021 / admin

Windmills Rhodes Harbour 28-9-21

Rodos Park is within easy (downhill) walking distance of Rhodes town. I might take a slightly different view of the return journey. Rhodes is situated close to Turkey and has been controlled by many different empires through the ages. Roman obviously, the Byzantine or Eastern Roman empire based on Constantinople, Islamic forces carried off the remains of the Colossus, then the Genoese and in the Crusader period the Knights Hospitallers who are responsible for much of the monuments which we visit today. The scale of the fortifications is enormous.

Fortifications Rhodes 28-9-21

Later the island fell into the Ottoman Empire for around 400 years then the Italians took control in 1912 with an agreement that it would be passed back to Turkey never being completed due to the First World War. German occupation commenced in 1943 after Italy was defeated which ended in 1945 and the island became part of Greece in 1947 with the Italian colonists returning to Italy. A hugely mixed history and the town is relatively flat as we wander around some of the back streets.

Suleymaniye Mosque 28-9-21

We see evidence of the various eras – the Knights Hospitallers for the fortification and the mosque originally built in early 16th Century once the Ottoman Empire had taken control of the island, but I think a large proportion of was reconstructed in 1808 and has been closed since 2014 awaiting further restoration.

Rhodes Town 28-9-21

A side street in Rhodes Town – I was lucky here as usually there were more people around!

Different levels Rhodes Town 28-9-21

What was obvious but which we did not investigate is that there appear to be higher levels with connecting bridges between buildings common around the town.

View opposite coffee break Rhodes 28-9-21

After all that walking we decided a break for coffee and people watching was in order as they wandered along the Street of the Knights (Odos Ippoton). We ended our visit to Rhodes Town with a rapid visit to the iconic Windmills of Mandraki as seen above. They were used to grind grain being offloaded from the ships in the harbour. There were once 12 – 18 mills along the harbour front.

Rhodes 26.09.21 – 3.10.21

4 October 2021 / admin

Rodos Park Pool 27-9-21

This was our first escape from the UK now that International travel is once again permitted as the risks relating to covid have been addressed. We have the pleasure of an EasyJet to Rhodes where we have accommodation and are organised.

Arriving at the airport is instructive. To travel at the moment one needs a passport (obviously), tickets (even more obviously) and then proof of covid vaccinations plus completion of a form for each person notifying the authorities of whereabouts at the destination and all of which has to be completed electronically. Precise requirements depend on the destination.

There is a queue for the check in at the airport and a young lady whom we can see is seeking to check the existence of the relevant documents for each traveller before allowing them to actually drop their baggage. Many of them are seeking to display the information on their phones – and inevitably there is a lot of swiping going on as they seek to find the boarding passes, the vaccination records and the relevant forms. Quite a significant proportion have no idea of the need for the form to be completed for the destination country and are being sent away to complete them online – which is not always the easiest thing to do in the timescale needed.

Needless to say we are prepared – it is all printed out in order and can be easily checked. It is noticeable that the older travellers prefer paper to their phones – and compared with most we progress very quickly and the lady thanks us for being organised. I wonder she maintained her composure given the lack of documents among some of the intending travellers.

Magpies Rodos 27-9-21

With the difficult bit done we are eventually off into the wide blue yonder and our destination was the excellent Rodos Park Suites and the best sight was the sunshine and the pool which greeted us the following morning. Plus some pretty large magpies trying to hide in the trees. The trouble is that they are bit big to actually hide.

A decent hotel and we were able to eat outdoors in the evenings. The team delivered some good meals and we were able to enjoy some very decent local wines which the hotel staff were keen to demonstrate the ability of the local wine makers. Greek wine has come a long way over the years and we had a good week. There will be some individual posts on other aspects of the island.

Greece 13-27 May 2019

28 May 2019 / admin

Parthenon 14.5.19

A proper holiday beckons – with a variety of locations to visit in neatly devised itinerary. We fly to Athens where we will spend the first few days. I had suggested keeping it simple by taking the train into the City Centre and then walking to our hotel.

I had not anticipated the local louts spraying our clothes with some substance and then trying to halt to help mop it down so that they can rob us. I get shouted at for being so stupid – but we keep going and I was merely taking the diagonal from the station to the hotel – rather than sticking to the more major roads – and it is not as if it is actually quiet even on the side street. A far from good start to the holiday.

The following day we seek out the hop on hop off bus service which is always a good way of find ones way around the town and which takes us to the Parthenon where we join the large number of visitors inspecting the ruins of this great temple which continues to attract the attention wherever you are in the city. We then descend to the associated Acropolis Museum which we wander around.

Athens Food Market 15.5.19

The following day we undertake a walking food tour around central Athens – this is something new for us but has become something which now happens in a lot of cities. We join a group and visit little places around the town where we get to sample some local delicacies. On this tour we make use of the knowledge of the guide to show us where we have booked for dinner tonight – and it was probably a good thing we did – I am not sure we would have found it ourselves. The tour ends in the market and the guide picks up food for a light lunch – but it is very tasty.

On the next day we go to Piraeus which is the port associated with Athens and track down the ferry to our stop – the island of Spetses – where we have booked our next stop. A taxi takes us out to the hotel which is perhaps a little further out of town than we had anticipated – but is within walking distance of some restaurants and indeed the town itself is within walking distance if we take our time.

Jackie is absolutely convinced that some people took other people’s luggage – another reason to be nervous about making such trips.

Spetses 17.5.19

In Spetses we mainly stay in the villa and lounge around the pool resting. There are a couple or restaurants immediately down the hill which we use the first couple of nights and then (as often happens) she feels she needs something other than the famous Mediterranean diet with more spice and so we go into the main town as we had seen a suitable restaurant – there is a huge choice of restaurants.

After a few days on the island we take the ferry back towards Athens – but we are stopping off for a few nights in Poros to see a different island and this time we are walking distance to the town centre on the level – so we can access the main restaurant drag and walk off the calories on the way back! Excellent. Poros has just a small channel across to mainland Greece and the views are wonderful. Again we do not do very much at all.

After a few days we return to Athens and take a taxi from port to airport for our homeward journey. This holiday was a little different enabling us to see some Greek islands and doing it all under our own steam rather than being organised – however there is pressure in being in the right place (for ferries and the like) which it is easier to delegate to a tour operator and representative rather than doing it ourselves – so the stress levels are higher than normal, particularly when potential thieves disrupt the start of the holiday throwing us mentally off balance.