Two of our Island’s Guests, remember and sharing with us…
Sunday July 21th 2002
Today we were going to Rhodos! Finally! Our flight was going to leave at 5:55pm. Christel’s parents had the honour of driving us up to Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, a 2 hour drive. The three picked me up at around 1 o’clock, and we left soon after that. The drive went well. We only had a little traffic jam near the airport. That was actually kind of exciting, because we were so close that airplanes were flying RIGHT over our heads!
When we arrived at Schiphol we checked in, and said goodbye to Christel’s parents. Our trip began! The plane left a little later, but no worries! It was Christel’s first flight, so it was especially excited for her! We arrived at the airport of Rhodes late at night (also one hour time difference) around 10:30pm and we finally arrived at our apartment at around 11:30pm. We stayed in apart hotel Benelux. It was a very nice appartment!
Monday, July 22nd 2002
Today we had to get up early, because we had a welcome meeting of Sudtours, our travel company. This was at Dimitrios restaurant. At this meeting we signed up for some tours. After the meeting we decided to go to a supermarket that we had seen on the way to the restaurant. We did some major shopping (lots of bottles), but we had only one backpack with us! All the bags were really heavy! And the supermarket was further away that we thought. So there we were walking in the hot sun (35 degrees Celsius), with heavy bags and a heavier backpack back to our apartment. After about 30-40 minutes walking we finally arrived back home!
Tuesday, July 23rd 2002
Today we hadn’t done much. We went to the beach to relax a bit, played some games, and that was about it. That night we were going to try to make our own macaroni. That was a whole story in itself! We had bought some hamburger, but probably because of the heat the meat smelled so incredibly bad, that we didn’t want to eat it anymore! But we had NO idea where to dump it! Finally we found a container and we dumped it in there. Making macaroni was easier said that done. It took almost 30 minutes for the water to boil, we had no can opener, or at least we didn’t know how it worked, so we had to drop by our neighbours. But finally we managed to cook SOMETHING! It wasn’t too bad though, but we had made WAY too much! So the next day we were still eating macaroni!
Wednesday, July 24th 2002
Today we had to get up early because we were going to have our first trip to Lindos! The bus was going to pick us up at 7am!! So we got up at around 5:30am to get ready. Yesterday afternoon we all of a sudden found out that we forgot to buy some bread for breakfast and to take with us for lunch! Oh no! So we had bought some nasty crackers. So this morning we were eating our crackers which were very dry! Around 6:45am we were getting all ready, and Christel took the little receipt of the trip and looked at it. She asked: «Is today the 26th??» «No??» I replied. Then we are going on another trip instead of Lindos! We have the East-coast cruise today!!! And the bus wasn’t going to pick us up until an hour later!!! We got up TOO early! We did have to laugh about it though! This could only happen to us!
The East-coast cruise was very relaxing. We took a boat and we went near the East coast of Rhodes. Beautiful! The boat stopped in a bay somewhere, and we had a chance to go snorkeling, which we did. There was not much to see down there, just a white bottom of the sea, but the water was very blue and very clear! In the afternoon the boat stopped again and we had lunch. It was a BBQ on the coast, and there was some time left to swim. The boat went back to Rhodes harbour, and around 6pm we got back to our apartment.
Friday, July 26th 2002
Yes, finally we WERE actually going to Lindos! So this day we had to get up early, because the bus was going to pick us up at 7am. With the bus and a travel guide we went to Lindos. It was about an hour drive. When we arrived at Lindos, we were first going to visit the Acropolis on top of the hill. There was a chance to take a donkey up the hill. So Christel and I went the Greek way and took the donkey! It was SOO funny! Those animals were running and there was a lady who walked with us up the hill making weird noises to keep the donkey’s on the right track! Up the hill we entered the acropolis. It was very beautiful and very old.
There were some parts from the 6th century b.c. We had a chance to walk around and take pictures. Then we still had some time left to walk around the little white village Lindos. It is a real greek town with little streets, houses and everything is white. After Lindos we also went to the seven spring in the Kolymbia area. It was situated in a beautiful nature area. There was a 186 metres long tunnel that we walked through (voluntarily of course!). The tunnel was nothing but darkness, kinda scary! In this nature area were seven springs. It was not exciting to see it, just little springs with little signs that pointed out the springs. After walking around the area the bus went back home again.
Saturday, July 27th 2002
Today is the day we went to Sími island. The bus picked us up, an hour later than yesterday! The bus took us to the harbour of Rhodes, where we took a ferry boat to Sími island. It was about a one and a half our trip to the island. First we went to one side of the island where the abbey and the church were situated. It was a beautiful bay with crystal clear water, and the beautiful church tower. We walked around the little church where people would hang little icons if somebody they know is sick.
After some time there we took the boat to the other side of the island, to the town of Sími This was also a beautiful bay, where you could see the town of Sími built on the hill. The town had pretty little houses all coloured (yellow, white, blue, orange). We got some information about the island, it was the island of the sponge-divers. We ate at a restaurant and walked around the town, did some shopping. Later that afternoon the boat brought us back to Rhodos again, and the bus brought us back to our apartment.
Sunday, July 28th 2002
Today we didn’t do much during the day. We just went to the beach swimming and relaxed a bit.
But that night we went to our restaurant Dimitrios in Ixia. I haven’t told anything about this restaurant yet in our stories, but I definitely have to mention it. It is the restaurant where we went for our first meeting with the travel company Sudtours. Well a few days ago we decided to go out for dinner there, and we found out that the food is great, you get a lot and it is cheap! plus we met some cute Greek boys there! The waiters there were extremely nice, and there was one waiter who was very cute and very nice: Lazarus!
So anyways, that night we went to Dimitrios. Lazarus had asked us to go out one night with him to the barstreet. We hadn’t talked about it with him anymore, but that night we asked him about it again. Well, he wanted to take us out that night! We were up to some adventures, so we decided to come with him. We went back to our apartment to change clothes, and around 11pm we were back at the restaurant. He got his car, an AWESOME car (Mazda 323F!!!), and we went to his house, because he also had to change clothes. The first few moments we were not sure if we had done the right thing. I mean, getting into a ‘stranger’s’ car is not the smartest thing to do, but after a while we knew he was not going to hurt us, but he just wanted to have fun! So we went to his house, we stayed in the car, he changed and we were as good to go! The barstreet was a lot of fun.
There were many bars and pubs and many people! Lazarus brought us to a bar, named the Cooldown cafe. It was a very awesome place there. We danced and talked and it was a fun night. We even met Christos, one of the other waiters of Dimitrios there. Around 2:30am he brought us back to our apartment in his awesome car! (The car looked even better from the inside, with an awesome radio). We had a great night out!
Monday, July 29th 2002
Today we didn’t do much again. We just relaxed on the beach, went to Rhodos city to email some people etc. That night we went to Dimitrios again, of course. We were kinda late, so when we finished our dinner, we didn’t really know if there was still a bus going back to our apartment. But we decided to wait at the busstop. We waited there for about an hour. We could see the restaurant closing and we were kinda hoping that Lazarus would notice us, and give us a ride home!
After a while there was a car coming our way, it passed us first, saw us and then it came back for us. It was Marinos!!! Another cute waiter! He asked us where we were going, and he gave us a ride home! How nice was that! So that was our exciting story for today! See, that’s what you get when you are a regular customer at a restaurant!
Tuesday, July 30th 2002
After two days of relaxing, shopping in Rhodes town, lying on the beach, we finally decided to do something again. We had a full programme today. First we were going to the valley of the butterflies, and that night we were going to have a Greek night.
We took the local bus to the valley of the butterflies. It was a weird drive, because we passed some very dry areas of the island, and there was the valley, totally in the middle of nowhere, with one of the pretties nature areas of the island. There were trees and waterfalls. Beautiful! And of course there were butterflies! Lots and lots of butterflies! Trees full of butterflies. It was funny because Christel kept trying to take a picture of a flying butterfly, which caused a whole lot of weird movements! We walked for about 2 hours around the valley. It was good to do, because there was mostly shade, since there were so many trees. After that we took the bus back to our apartment.
That evening we had our Greek night in a little village called Pastida. A bus picked us up, and brought us to Pastida. There we had the chance to visit a little old Greek lady’s house. It was the smallest and cutest house ever! The little old lady was very friendly and she loved pictures. Then we went to a local ‘tavern’. Here dinner was served and there were Greek dancers who performed plays and of course Greek dances. After the food, the dancers got us up the floor, and we had to dance Greek dances as well. It was a lot of fun! Marjolein even danced on the table! It was a great night! Even though we were not at Dimitrios for a change!
Wednesday, July 31st 2002
Today we were going to visit a little town called Koskinou. We had seen some of the pretty houses of this town on a postcard, en there was some information about it in Christel’s guidebook, and it seemed like a beautiful town. We decided to take the bus to Rhodes city, and from there take a bus to Koskinou. When we arrived in Rhodos city, we took the bus to Koskinou. There were only a few people in the bus (no other tourists!), plus the busdriver and the conductor. They were all staring at us and probably thinking «What are two young tourist girls going to do in Koskinou??» But we didn’t care! It was about a 30 minute drive, and the bus dropped us at the town square of Koskinou. It was a deserted little town.
There were no people to be seen. It didn’t look as pretty as on the postcard, but then we started to walk through the little streets of Koskinou, and there was the beauty! All little white houses, with beautiful coloured gates and doors. Just beautiful! We only had about an hour to walk around there, but that was just enough. The bus picked us up again an hour later. The same bus driver and conductor were in the bus, they were both laughing!
Friday, August 2nd 2002
Today was the day we went to Turkey! It was going to be one of our last trips here in Greece, our vacation was almost over. We were kinda proud of ourselves, because we had booked this trip ourselves, instead of through Sudtours, our travel company. This save us a LOT of money! In the morning we took the bus to Rhodes city, and we walked to the customs harbour. It was a long wait, but finally our boat arrived. The trip to Turkey went pretty fast, it was only an hour! The boat trip was not very smooth.
The sea was pretty rough so it felt like turbulence the whole trip. When we arrived in Marmaris, Turkey, we had a free bus tour around the city. That was not too interesting. We stopped at some jewelry store, and walked around the city. Marmaris wasn’t at all what we had expected! It was extremely touristic and the Eastern culture had almost disappeared. You couldn’t tell you were in Asia! But we managed to spent our time. We looked around in some castle and did some little shopping. In the afternoon our boat left for Rhodos again. Our good old Rhodos! We were glad when we got back in Rhodos city again.
That night we went to Dimitrios again. We were really planning on taking the bus back to our apartment again, instead of getting another ride from Marinos again! But when we left the restaurant and when we were walking towards the bus stop, the bus already passed us. We started running, and we made it to the bus. Then Christel got in, but suddenly the doors already closed and left Marjolein out!!! The bus drove away and took Christel and left Marjolein! Oh no!! It was one of our funny situations again! Marjolein didn’t know what to do, she had no money for a taxi, so she just waited and hoped that Christel would get out the next stop and walk back to her. And yes, not even 10 minutes later Christel came running towards her! We were just laughing and laughing!
We went back to Dimitrios, and Marinos was already waiting for us! He and Lazarus were just laughing at us, and so we ended up in Marinos’ car again! This time he took a different way to our apartment, he drove next to the coast. When Christel asked him where we were going he answered «swimming»! But then he drove away from the sea again, and when Christel said «swimming is the other way» he stopped the car. «You want to go?» he asked. And we really wanted to go swimming at night, but we had no swim suits with us, so we decided to go the next day/night. We were wondering if Marinos was really going to swim with us, but at least we were going to bring our swimsuits!
Saturday, August 3rd 2002
Today was our last official day here on Rhodos! We went to the beach to get a little tan, and packed our suitcases. That night we went to Dimitrios again, with our bikini’s on! After dinner we waited for the restaurant to close, and then Marinos took us to the beach. On the way he picked up Christos, one of the other waiters, since he wanted to go swimming too. It was pretty dark and the sea was a little rough when we arrived on the coast, but Christel and Marjolein really wanted to get in. And yes, Marinos HAD brought his swimsuit!!! So we went into the water! It wasn’t all that cold, it was actually really awesome! We were the only ones there and it was pretty dark. We only went in for a little while and then we quickly went back to the car. Marinos dropped us off at our hotel again. So this was our last nightly adventure!
Sunday, August 4th 2002
Today was our last day. We had to check out of our hotel at 12 noon, but our plane didn’t leave until around 12 at night! So we still had the WHOLE day! We stayed in the bar of our hotel playing games, reading magazines, playing pool and stuff like that. We decided to go out to Dimitrios for one last time, since we still had time enough. So in the evening we changed, and we went to Dimitrios again. The food was great again, and we said goodbye to everyone there. We also took some pictures with the waiters (you can find them underneath «Dimitrios» on top of the page). It was a sad goodbye. We’ve had a lot of fun there.
At around 9:30pm the bus picked us up to bring us to the airport. It was extremely busy there. Hundreds of people going home! We passed our time with looking around the shops, talking, looking at people, and finally it was time to board. We were going to leave our Rhodos island!
The flight went okay. We tried to sleep for most of the time. At 3am we arrived at Schiphol, where Marjolein's parents were going to pick us up.
At around 6:00am we arrived in Venlo again. We had to say goodbye to each other, and we were going to spend our first night apart from each other.But we could look back on a great and wonderful vacation! Maybe next year again??!!!
Thanks a lot ladies, for sharing with us your beautiful memories! Much appreciated and we are confident our audience will find them, super interesting! We hope to welcome you back soon!
The Visitrhodes.com Team
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