Rhodes Town

Day 1: Lindos (Λίνδος) to Rhodes (Ρόδος) Town

We moved from Lindos to Rhodes via public bus. We didn’t have to check out until noon and check in at our new place was at 1:00 p.m. so we had a leisurely breakfast and an extra cup of coffee before packing up and heading out. It was a mob scene at the square in Lindos waiting for the shuttle bus. There were lots of people from a day tour who needed to get to the top of the hill. Steve and I fought to get to the front of the line so we could get a decent seat and find some place to put our bags. We succeeded with both. The shuttle was standing room only.

Once we got to the top of the hill there was a bus that looked like it was just leaving for town but he told us to go buy a ticket. So we went to the kiosk and bought a ticket and were told that the bus would be leaving at 12:15 and it would be bus number 21. We waited about a half an hour and shortly after 12:15 low and behold bus number 21 showed up. At some point during the trip my bag fell off the shelf onto the floor so it ended up in my lap for the rest of the trip. I figured out that Google maps can actually monitor the bus for you and let you know when your stop is coming up. Which was a good thing because once we got into town the bus stops didn’t have names anymore so we didn’t have any idea which one was ours.

Then we had to figure out how to get into the old town. Google gave us directions but it looked like there was an easier route so we decided to try it. It’s kind of strange — in a fun way — walking through medieval fortifications to get to your hotel. We walked through a few alleys, down some uneven cobblestone streets with stones, went through a doorway in a wall, and found the quiet, leafy square where our hotel was located. Turns out it’s a restaurant with a few rooms above it rather than a typical hotel with a restaurant. We dropped off our stuff and went downstairs to have lunch. They have Indian food!

After lunch we did some laundry and then headed out to do some sightseeing. The old town of Rhodes is even more interesting than I remember. We headed for the Street of Knights first and took it all the way to the end to the Palace of the Grand Master which we toured.

Since we had a combination ticket we also went to the archaeological museum which is located in the former hospital of the knights of Saint John, at the other end of the Street of Knights. That was an interesting building, although a lot of the exhibits were fairly similar, mostly ceramics.

From there we went a little further north to the temple of Aphrodite which I remember from my previous trip. The pebble mosaics on the sidewalk were impressive to me then. I hadn’t been to Lindos yet where they have them all over the place!

We have an interesting challenge when taking photos. We prefer to take pictures without people in them — including ourselves. In some situations — like this photogenic doorway — people will wait patiently for their turn to do Instagram poses. But what about when you want the picture but without the posing? Maybe we’ll just have to start asking people if they mind waiting while we get a shot?

We decided to have dinner at our hotel too since we wanted pizza and they had it on the menu. So we each ordered a special pizza and had a couple of beers while listening to a guitar player who was pretty good.

Day 2: Driving around the Island of Rhodes

We had to get up early to pick up our rental car. Since we’re in the old town and they can’t drop it off at our hotel, we met them at the port of Kolona. It was only a few minutes walk. It was all very well organized: he explained the car, took our payment, gave us directions to get to the West Coast and we were off. We ended up with a Fiat 500C. It seemed pretty nimble and it had a sunroof which was kind of fun. The drive down to Prasonisi Beach and back scenic.

Day 3: Tsambika (Tσαμπίκα) Beach

We woke up around 9:00 and had a great breakfast around 10:00 at Baluse. Touts harass you to visit their restaurants when you don’t need them, but when you’d like to know if they’re open for breakfast … nothing. Until we met the lady there, who was nice and most attentive. It’s pleasant and relaxing walking in the old town before the crowds show up.

Our hotel has a roof deck that we checked out this morning. The views were impressive and it looked like a pleasant place to hang out, if we didn’t have wheels and plans for the beach!

We picked Tsambika Beach to spend the day at because it sounded like it would have sunbeds and umbrellas yet not be too built up. And it was the nice sandy beach we were looking for, with umbrellas, a few beach tavernas, toilets and lots of parking. And lots of goats. It was breezy and gusty so we didn’t need to get in the water but it looked nice. They had a whole complex of inflatable stuff in the water to jump on and off that looked like fun if you like that kind of thing. Our umbrella was €10. We were there for about 4 hours.

A Note on Eating in Greece: Rhodes Old Town had some of the most persistent — and in some cases obnoxious — touts that we’ve seen. Rather than run the gauntlet daily we ate dinner at the restaurant where we were staying. The food was good, the service was great, and we got a 10% discount because we were staying there. We found many Greek restaurants and tavernas have similar menus and unless you want something that isn’t on the menu (or want a change from Greek food), if you find a place you like just stick with it.

Having a tout or host doesn’t mean the food is bad. Our hotel restaurant had one. (He started giving us the spiel the first time we walked up, until we told him we were staying there. Then he just said Welcome!)

Day 4: Wandering Rhodes Town

We got started around 10:00 and had coffee and muffins (vanilla and chocolate) while sitting in the alley across from the coffee shop. We asked our host about getting to the airport. He said there was a taxi station at San Francisco. It took us a while to find it since we missed the sign. We thought the chances of a taxi showing up at 5:00 a.m. were slim so we booked one online. Glad we did that today and not tomorrow!

Since we’d already seen the sights we were interested in we wandered aimlessly around town — which was entertaining in itself — until 1:30 or so then had lunch at Mama Sofia’s. It’s a family run operation and we met the son, Steven, who told us about the origin of some names, like Steven (Stavros in Greek) and Catherine. HUGE amount of food. We walked home and took a nap!

We got packed, then went to the supermarket to get something for breakfast. Steve had to shop since I forgot my mask. We’re having one last (smaller) dinner at our place and tipping the excellent guitarist.