There was certainly an inauspicious beginning; the hotel’s lovely outdoor restaurant was actually a bombing range for birds. From my perspective, the direct hit on my neck and brand new linen shirt didn’t bode terribly well although Lisa got quite a long laugh from it our first evening. It got better from there thankfully … a week sucking up sun and downing ouzo, playing beach volleyball and touring the island of Rhodes. Of course we took nearly a hundred photos but didn’t score too many great ones; some can be seen here.
The hotel was not the best, nor worst, we’ve visited over the years but it certainly was more than adequate. In response to the ever shrinking dollar (far be it from me to complain about the effects of national debt financing a war and tax cut), Lisa opted for a nice 3-star “active” hotel on Stegna Beach in a small cove on the East coast of the island. The German speaking entertainment team generally stayed up by the pool while we stayed on the beach where the Italian entertainment team amused and confused us. There was international beach volleyball twice a day (I got progressively better and then worse over the course of the week); the Italians in general were a blast if not necessarily always effective opponents. I will long remember the amused look of disdain and blast of Italian from a very fit seventy year old when a young German told him how to position for a serve; none of the Germans, nor the single Russian and American understood the words but the meaning came through so well that the rest of us laughed for five full minutes. All games were followed by a swim in very cold clear water to clean off the sand acquired by frequent brilliant diving saves and the occasional clumsy trip-up (I’ll leave it to the reader to determine which was really more frequent).
Rhodes has a long and colorful history, with the influence of many conquering cultures over the millennia showing up everywhere, especially the city of Rhodes and Lindos. We rented a car for a day of sightseeing and then again for a second evening in Lindos … and let there be no doubt about the plethora of tourists, we were among many thousands wondering the Island’s two main cities. Both cities are ancient enough to be delightful walks with small streets and alleyways that defy all but the smallest of vehicles. The Palace of the Grand Master, Knights of St. John, was especially impressive with imposing walls and halls. Lisa and I both found the cobblestone mosaics used throughout the island very pleasant and even considered if they could work on our terrace at home.
Just prior to travel, Lisa had received a temporary filling on a tooth. While there, the pain got worse and after calling the dentist, she pried out the filling (to her relief) and made a dental appointment for the afternoon we were to return home.
With inauspicious beginnings, also come inauspicious endings and the whole trip was nearly unhinged by the travel company messing with our trip home. We returned around midnight our last night from an evening in Lindos and watching a European Cup soccer match at the hotel bar to find a fax changing our flight. Instead of flying mid-day to Nürnberg (where our car was parked) they now had us on a fly an rail package … flying in the late evening to Munich where we could take the train to Nürnberg. Mind you, their idea of catching a train at midnight wasn’t exactly a viable option; in fact we’d have waited five hours for a train and gotten home well into the next morning. Besides Lisa’s dental appointment, it was also Chris’ twenty-first birthday and we had promised to take him and his girlfriend to the restaurant of their choice. The very short version: Lisa slept none (therefore neither did I), we spent a small fortune in international calls from my mobile phone, ended up paying the airline direct for the “last two” seats on the flight we had a voucher for from the travel company, took a cab to the airport only to have the travel company call while in route and say they’d get us on with our voucher (certainly fearing the bill we were going to send them,) Air Berlin cancelled the charge and an uneventful flight home. I had firm plans to walk up the hills with the camera that last morning to snap some great views of the small cove of our beach but had to scratch it; much to my annoyance … they would have been super.
Anyway, all’s well that ends well … it was a good trip. Chris decided on a Greek restaurant.
