Rhodes 2008 (4 – Final)

West Coast
On the day we had to bring back the rental car we drove to the West coast via Archipolis, Eleousa, Dimylia and Soroni. The west coast near Soroni was more industrial and the beaches were mainly gravel and no sand. The whole coast was very windy and therefore there were lot’s of schools for kytesurfing and windsurfing. Personally I think the east coast with all the bays, sand beaches and less big hotels is more interesting. But if you are a professional surfer or want to learn surfing than the west coast is definitely for you.

Having the car for one week was not enough so we decided to rent another car for 3 days. We wanted to visit Rhodes by Night again and of course our favorite beach the Agathi bay (Golden Sand).

Rhodes 2008 (3)

Epta Piges
We read about Epta Piges and the lake in the forest which is reachable through a 200 meter long tunnel. It wasn’t that far from our hotel, so we decided to go there. Epta Piges, or also called Seven Springs is a place in a green valley where exactly seven springs build a (small)river. Again there were hundreds of tourist which came by bus to eat at the tavern near the river. However going through the tunnel was exciting. It was completely dark and so narrow that you couldn’t turn back even if you wanted to. The tunnel was too small for two people next to each other. We walked several minutes in complete darkness and partly very bad air (from the sweating tourists in front of us). The only noise you hear is the flowing water at the bottom of the tunnel. Unfortunately there was no lake on the other side, only a small dirty pond. So the month July is probably not the best time to visit this place. But – funny enough – nevertheless tourists were taking pictures of this dirty pond.

Rhodes
The ancient Acropolis of Rhodes (Monte Smith) and the old town of Rhodes were really fascinating. We went there in the late afternoon when the main heat was gone and we also hoped to see the sunset on the west coast. The light at about 7 pm was perfect for taking pictures. The contrast and the colors were much better than at noon. First we visited the Acropolis, the theater and the old stadium which was build at about 200 B.C. The stadium is still used today for sport events and as a jogging trail. If you have time watch the sunset over Simi. The changing colors and the reflections in the water is something you have to see.
The town Rhodes itself was amazing. The big walls around the old town and the bombastic entries with the towers look like as if they were built for a Hollywood movie. Most of the small alleys are maintained and while walking through you get a good feeling of how they lived hundreds of years ago.

Rhodes 2008 (2)

Feraklos fortress / Charaki
The other day we went to Charaki and climbed to the Feraklos fortress. About 300m above sea level we had an amazing view of the Agathi Bay and the small Charaki village. To explore more of the south we drove to Gennadi. In the south were less hotels and also less tourists. But I must admit the landscape was also less exciting because everything was so dry and desert like. On the way back we stopped at the Agathi Bay which we think (so far) is the most beautiful bay for swimming on Rhodes (on the east coast). The road to the beach is too small for the tourist buses which is a great advantage. The small amount of people makes this bay so attractive. The water is crystal clear and on both sides of the beach are cliffs and rocks which are excellent for snorkeling.

Moni Tsambika
Moni Tsambika is a spectacular viewpoint. It is a mountain at the coastline about 15 km south east from Faliraki. On the top is a small church and from there you have an amazing view of the coastline. You can drive by car almost to the top. The way up is then only 20 minutes and about 300 steps to the church.

Currently they are renovating the building and therefor they need lots of sand and gravel. There is no road to the top so you have to put it manually there. Whats the best way to bring all the material to the top? It is using the tourists for it. At the starting point you see many little bags all full with sand and gravel and a sign which says that you can help renovating the church by taking some of the bags up to the top. The motivated tourists – which don’t know up front how far it is – take several bags at once and start the way up. Soon they realize that it is not that easy and fast as they thought.

These 300 steps are very exhausting especially with the additional bags and the heat. But the reward is great if you reach the top. You have an 360 degrees view of the island and you helped the people who are renovating the building.

Lindos
Lindos was interesting but not that spectacular as it is described in the travel guide. Lindos has also like Rhodes it’s own Acropolis but we didn’t went up because of the masses of tourists and the extreme heat in the afternoon. The city itself is nice but the small alleys were stuck with tourists and souvenir shops. Nevertheless the city has it’s own authentic character and in the hotel they told us that Lindos by night is even more engaging.

Rhodes 2008 (1)

We started our two week trip to Rhodes at 12pm in Munich. The flight was OK and it took us only 2hr 25mins to get to the Diagoras Airport on the west coast of Rhodes (there is one hour time difference). We rented a car (Suzuki Jeep Jimny) and went straight to our hotel, the Cathrin. The hotel is on the east coast of the isle and very close to the famous Anthony Quinn Bay. They filmed a part of the movie “Die Kanonen von Naverone” in Rhodes and made the isle to millions of people public. It is a small but very beautiful bay with clear water and lots of underwater life.

Faliraki
The hotel is also near Faliraki, a very tourist driven place where most of the main streets are very noisy and full of animators in front of the many bars and discos. As we expected there was also a Mc Donalds, a KFC and even a PizzaHut for the average tourists. If you want party and action all night long (and you have no car) this is probably the right place for you. Street life begins at about 11pm, most people come even later. We thought we could walk from the hotel but we found no proper way to get there by foot. And if you had some cocktails the way back is even more difficult and for sure too long. If you have a car than Faliraki is a bad place for going out. Rhodes City is then definitely the better choice.

Valley of Butterflies (Petaloudes)
The first day we went to the valley of butterflies (Petaloudes). The entry fee was 5 euros and for that you can walk about 2km on a nice trail through the valley along a small river. There were thousands of butterflies and unfortunately also thousands of tourists. They come with buses at about midday and we didn’t knew that. I wasn’t able to take some good macros of the insects because first the light was not the best (too dark in the forest) and second because the masses of people were to noisy for the butterflies. Interestingly there was only one sort of butterflies with orange black wings, the Panaxia quadripunctaria.  
 
Kolimbia was similar to Faliraki but everything was smaller. At the beach is a nice bar with comfy couches and relaxing music. The umbrellas at this beach were with 14 Euros (3 beds) the most expensive ones. The average is about 10 Euro for 2 beds and one umbrella. Most of the time we had 3 beds and two umbrellas for the same price.