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.