the best trip...

All good things must come to an end so they say but sitting here on the patio in the sweltering October sun we really wish it wouldn't.

After six months cases are packed and weighed, farewell meals and drinks enjoyed and hugs and kisses (from Mrs H!) handed out as we head back to the UK.

To say we've had an amazing time would be an understatement. For me, leaving a job and a career that becomes part of your personality and impacts on every part of your life was a massive change.
Waking up every morning to the sound of the waves and the glorious sunshine has been like shedding an old skin and starting a new life with a new outlook and new ambitions.

So what have we been upto? We have swam and snorkelled in the Agean sea, drove the car off the inbetweeners, drank wine in the mountains, swam under a full moon (clothing optional for some!), cooked home made pizza`s in our wood oven, barbecued with olive wood, travelled to Halki, had a brilliant weekend on Symi, had Greek dancing lessons from our neighbour (more practice needed!), travelled to every corner of this beautiful island and a lot more besides. We've met some great people and new friends and enjoyed the hospitality and warmth of the Greek people wherever we've been. 

We've counted up and had 46 people stay with us off and on through the summer - some more than once! From our wonderful family to old friends and new friends, everyone has added to this unforgettable summer and brought smiles and laughter. From our first guests Mark and Marie; Christine and a night on the fight juice; our Cook Islanders with the awesome Milan; Ren and the now student nurses; the lovely Baines family; Beth and the kids; Karen and Dunc; Mandy and Simon and upto our last guests Judith and Laura with everyone else in between (yes Kezza that includes you!), we hope everyone has enjoyed what we've done and look back at their time here with a smile.

Would I do it all again? In a heartbeat and really believe you have to take every opportunity you can whenever you can. If life gives you lemons, slice them up and put them in a gin and tonic! Extra special thanks must go to our neighbour and cousin Janette who has helped us to have such a brilliant time with her words of wisdom and wit all still delivered with an Oldham twang

In the words of the song

"don't want to go home, this is the best trip we've ever been on!"

Halki or bust!

So, more visitors have been and gone to our Greek House in the last few weeks; all adding something to our time here and are ongoing adventures.

A late night trip to the airport saw the arrival of my mum and dad, Pam and Don, who I managed to locate sitting on a bench outside the airport chatting with the Greek taxi drivers - hint to elderly parents its called an arrivals hall, wait in or outside the bloody thing! As we made our way back home they told me that two of their oldest friends and my godparents - Carol and Derek were staying on Halki - a small island of the coast of Rhodes and somewhere myself and Helen has always planned on going to.

As this would be a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and cross another thing of our to do list a plan was soon formed. Using the excellent Nissos Halki ferry page on facebook, our journey was chosen, tickets booked and off we set towards the small harbour at Kamiros Skala on the opposite side of the island. All was going swimmingly until yours truly took a wrong turn and headed towards the old castle at Monolithos. Following an ever winding and narrowing road, thinking any second I would see a sign pointing us towards our destination, we finally arrived - at a dead end on a deserted beach nowhere near where we wanted to be! A swift spin round and even swifter climb back up the mountain in the yellow peril (I  have the actual yellow car off the Inbetweeners!) we got back on the right route towards Kamiros Skala.

 We came around the corner to see a ferry sailing off into the distance and after a few suitably choice expletives and a telling off about language from the better half, pulled forlornly onto the quayside to find it wasn't our ferry! Ours had just pulled away from the side and amazingly after some waving from us and hand gestures from the crew (polite ones as well!) the ferry turned round and came back for us. Coming from a country where you can't even get a bus to stop for you this was truly amazing and we were soon recovering with a frappe and enjoying the hour long crossing.


Having visited Symi before we were really looking forward to Halki and weren't dissapointed. A pretty harbour flanked by pastel coloured houses on the waters edge met us as we pulled in and after  a welcoming beer we set off exploring the harbour and the nearby beach.

Halki is definitely somewhere to get away from it all. Quiet lanes lead up from the harbour and a gentle stroll brings you a nice sandy and sheltered beach with a taverna and terrace overlooking the sea. A wander back down brought us to more peaceful tavernas on the harbour side and after a pleasant afternoon lunch it was back on the ferry and thankfully straight forward drive back to Gennadi.

Another barbecue soon followed with more great company as we were joined by our daughter's friends Renae, Katherine and Laura all having a well deserved break before starting off on their nursing degrees in September. Four beautiful intelligent ladies who will definitely go onto great things.

As much as our adventure here in Rhodes continues to be everything we hoped for, we have been saddened and heart broken by the passing of our brother in law Shaun Murray after a very short and sudden battle with cancer. Shaun was  someone who always loved his times spent on Rhodes where he married my sister Sharon; he will always be in our hearts - RIP Shaun.

Beach life

I've realised that its been over a month since my last blog. I never planned on being a daily or weekly blogger preferring the old adage of 'if you've got nowt to say, say nowt!' To be honest some of the horrific incidents that have occurred in the UK in the last month as well as the political machinations of the recent election have not really put me in the blogging mood plus....I've been busy!So what have we been upto in the last month here on the beautiful island of Rhodes?

Guests -its fair to say they've been a varied bunch! We welcomed former colleagues and friends from back home in South Shields as well as great people we'd met whilst holidaying in Rhodes. We welcomed family who came to stay including our two son's and their fiancee's as well as repeat visits from our youngest offspring who after downing her sixth pint of mythos watching the football told her mother she was "here for a good time not a long time" - the sick bucket soon followed!

We had visitors from farther afield in the guise of Aaron Terroi, Vincent Rennie and Vinnie's wonderful family - Alex and there gorgeous son Milan.Vin and Aaron both play rugby league for Newcastle Thunder and are in the UK from Australia and New Zealand. Both of the lads represent the Cook Islands internationally and it was our privilege to welcome them to Rhodes so they could get some sun on their bones and escape the Geordie climate for a little while.

My cooking skills have been put to test and everyone's survived pizza nights with the wood oven, barbecues and my Greek staple of beef stiffado. Cooking on an olive wood barbecue has been and absolute treat as you can hear and smell the sap from the wood sizzling in the flames. I was expecting a master class in the art of the barby from our antipodean guests and was a bit gutted when they told me they cooked on gas back home - strewth!!

Its not all been beer and skittles though as I've started on my new working life. Part of our plans for spending the summer in Rhodes included me working for a major UK tour operator which I've been doing as a transfer rep escorting holiday makers from their hotels to the airport and new arrivals back again. So far - touch wood - everything has gone really well meeting lots of people and chatting to them about their time here or what they were looking forward to during their stay. I met a nice bloke from the north east who had clearly had a mythos or three prior to his flight home. After standing with him to help him check in for 20 minutes as he was the last in the line, we got to the desk to be told by the Greek staff "What do you want? He's already checked in?" Yes my new mackem friend had just joined the wrong line as he thought it was quicker than the one he should have been in!

When I used to sport my fetching TSG/CID 'stache back in the day my rather cruel colleagues reckoned I looked like a certain character from on the buses? Well so far I haven't found Butler but we've definitely got all those buses out of here!

up in the hills

This week's instalment was supposed to be about our day trip to the beautiful island of Symi. I'd sorted out the best day to go for the shortest  journey time and where to catch the ferry from in Rhodes harbour - however sorting out Greece's financial crisis is definitely out of my league! Nationwide industrial action here in Greece put paid to that and caused quite a bit of disruption for people travelling into Rhodes. As I write further strife is expected tonight in Athens following the imminent bail out vote. As visitors to this wonderful place we are in a bit of a bubble as to the issues that face ordinary Greek people so in the scale of things a delayed trip to Symi isn't that troublesome.

So, as it was a bit overcast for a day on the beach and wanting to show our guests a bit of the island it was into the hire car and off out for a drive across the island towards Monolithos. With Mrs H driving from the backseat as usual we made our from Gennadi and up into the hills; passing olive groves and vine yards with the beehives of the local honey producers nestled in clusters between them.I'd read reviews of our planned lunch stop on tripadvisor and thanks to our eagle eyed passenger we spotted the sign for the Old Monolithos Taverna.

Finding a seat on the covered terrace with views out to the hazy distant shoreline we were greeted by the owner's dog who promptly laid on its back in a friendly comatose stupour as if to introduce us to the relaxed atmosphere that awaited. After a warm greeting from the owner followed by advice on what we should order, we spent a wonderful laid back lunchtime sampling delicious home-cooked Greek food that left us all struggling to fit back in our "cosy" car.  Definitely somewhere to visit again.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1188094-d3568246-Reviews-The_Old_Monolithos-Monolithos_Rhodes_Dodecanese_South_Aegean.html


Onwards to Sianna and its very pretty church  for some more photos and even a spot of photo bombing

out and about

I've always enjoyed driving abroad and have found Rhodes really easy to get around -touch wood! However it was time for Mrs H to get her Greek driving wings and she's taken to it straight away, nipping about in our trusty hire car.

Having shipped our bikes out with us, after a spot of rebuilding it was soon time to hit the old coastal road on our route to Glystra beach. We've made it half way so far so more practice is needed before we can jump off the bikes and into the sea and don't get overtaken by the land train!

With the arrival of our friends Mark & Marie; we started our "holiday" and with so much to see and do we decided on a trip to Rhodes Town.  The weather was overcast so it was perfect for a trip out in the car.  The Old Town was busy and it was nice to have a coffee and people watch.

The ladies moved onto the shops in the centre and we triumphantly came away with our prized purchase of a paddle for the wood oven.  Its the little things in life....

On arrival home we noticed our neighbour who is a local fisherman had his boat out of the sea and in his back garden.  Mrs H enquired as to the reason.  She was advised to bring our sunbeds in from the umbrellas as they could be taken out to sea with the storm that was going to be approaching,  With sunbeds duly moved we settled for a night in our outside kitchen, taking some spectacular photos of the night sky.

We awoke to winds of between 55-70 km per hour.  Our wise neighbour was bang on about the sunbeds and Mrs H decided to take a video of the crashing waves.

With the return of hotter weather and Marie's birthday, it didn't take us long to get back to a little sightseeing and sunbathing; and although the sea is still a touch on the cool side we embarked upon our first snorkeling experience using our breathe easy snorkels.  Again another first and another great success.

a week of firsts...

So here we are. In the last month I've retired from my previous career; travelled to a Crete to train for a possible new career and then completed my move to our home in Rhodes for the next six months. As I drove around the headland towards Lindos I still got that "Lindos Moment" which never ceases to make me smile










We moved in late on Saturday night and since then its been a week of unpacking and exploring are new home and location. The all important links to our family at home - internet and tv have been established and we've began exploring our local shops and amenities. After seeing our daughter off at the airport it was time to hit the shops.

Already the friendliness of the Greek people on this beautiful island has been really welcome. We had been recommended a butchers near Rhodes Town called the meat market which sounded a bit like a late night northern night club! The shop was absolutely spotless and the butcher himself couldn't do enough to help us choose and after a mixture of us pointing and his limited english we ended up with a freezer full of top quality barbecue ready produce. It's no good having a barbecue without fuel so I'd asked on a Rhodes facebook forum for any local suppliers of olive wood. Within minutes I'd agreed delivery of half a truck load of chopped wood which was delivered and stacked under the oven and barbie the next day.

Vasillis the woodman is also a grill chef in his own restaurant and explained which bits to use for the oven and grill and covering the charcoals with tinfoil to keep the heat in. After promising to drop off oranges next time he passed he left in his truck saying "you need any advice or help from a local just give me a call!" That night I put the help from the woodman and the butcher to good use and had our first Greek barbecue which definitely went down a treat.