Best of Greece and 7 Day Aegean Cruise
Day Thirteen – 23 Sept 2009
Weather: Sunny, 28
I woke at six and could see the lights of Rhodes as we approached the island in the dark. After breakfast at the buffet, I went to the conference room and George gave us the rundown for the day. I was assigned to a spillover bus so that I took the tour with a group of Globus travelers on the Cristal. The tour left at 7:15 and we drove for about thirty minutes to the town of Lindos. The small town is nestled in between an Acropolis and a hill. It was the location used in the movie The Guns of Navarone.
The bus parked just above the town and we took a shuttle a very short distance down a steep street to a small square where the bus had just enough room to turn around comfortably. We were one of the first to arrive and our guide led us through the narrow streets to the entrance of the church. He said anyone that didn’t want to attempt the climb to the top of the Acropolis could remain near the square and visit the church when it opened.
We proceeded to climb with the guide noting “Step Number One” as we began the climb through the narrow streets or walkways. The steps eventually moved above the town with a steep edge at some points (so be wary of anyone coming down. It was hard to walk that close to the edge with nothing there to stop your spouse from elbowing you over the edge 🙂
We stopped at the first level and the guide said we were lucky as there was only one other group there and he would be easy to hear. He gave us some information on the construction of the Acropolis and showed us a drawing of the original from a Lindos souvenir book to give us an idea of what it was like.
He then gave us almost two hours to explore the Acropolis on our own. We continued the climb up a staircase with a steep dropoff to one side and entered the site, crossing a rock to a staircase to the top of the site.
From the top, you can see St. John Bay. It’s a circular Bay that can only be seen from the top of the Acropolis. Very picturesque.
The views of the town and surrounding area were just as impressive. I spent about twenty minutes taking pictures and began my slow descent to the bottom.
It can be tight walking down with the following tours moving up and wanting to take the whole sidewalk. When I got into the town, there was two ways to get to the square.
GO TO THE LEFT!!
The tours were all coming up from the right and you’d be struggling to make any headway. To the left, no one was going up and there were plenty of shops in the narrow passageways. We had time to shop for an hour and then made our way to the square. Be wary that when the passage ends near the church, don’t follow the crowd to the right. Go left against the crowd. They’re not going down. They’re going back up, and believe me, you don’t want to do that climb twice in one day.
At the square, you have a choice of taking the shuttle bus up the short steep hill or walking up. We opted to walk after we saw the lineup for the shuttle. It was a steep section but only takes about five minutes to get to the bus parking lot and we had only one shuttle pass us by in those five minutes (we would have had to wait for at least the third shuttle given the line-up, so I suggest doing the walk). Since we got up to the parking lot a little early, we had time for a WC break and a clean one was across the street at a cost of 50 cents.
We got back on the bus and began the drive back to Rhodes just after ten. The bus stopped for a moment to give us one more photo opportunity where we could get a nice shot of Lindos and its Acropolis.
From there we drove for about five minutes and pulled into another ceramics store for another demonstration. The demo was as impressive as the first one, but the store was very small. We were more interested in the olive trees outside the store where we could see green olives that would soon be ripe.
We got back on the bus again and drove for twenty minutes to Rhodes. Traffic was light and we were dropped off just outside the walled city. It was impressive and reminds me of Old Quebec, except Rhodes was much larger.
There was a moat separating two of the walls, but it was never filled with water. They used the confining space to fire on invaders. The City wanted to turn the space into parking, but the archaeologists won the argument and it was turned into a green space. It was about five kilometres long and one can walk through most of it. There were cannon balls piled in spots as well.
The walls of Rhodes were expanded after cannon came into common use. The best way they found to defend the main city was to build walls further out so that there were multiple walls. We crossed through two sets of walls and entered the city, walking along the unique cobblestone streets. (The cobblestone was like beach rocks turned on their ends and the space filled with sand. It was done recently and done by hand!!).
We met the bus on the far end and drove the short distance to the Cristal where we had the a la carte lunch.
Optional Opinion: Since the stop in Rhodes is a full day, I would recommend this optional. Lindos is impressive if you’re up for the climb (and you have plenty of time, so you don’t have to run up the steps). The pottery stop was short and the tour of the walled city gets you oriented for your afternoon exploration.
At two, a couple of us went out to explore the old city. Depending on where the ship docked, it could be a bit of walk to the entrance into the walled city, but we were told there was a shortcut that was usually closed.It was opened and saved us about ten minutes of walking on the dock.
We wandered the streets for a couple hours. Getting lost would be hard as long as you stay within the walls. I brought a map with me and since street signs were hard to locate, I just asked the store clerks and they pointed us in the right direction when we wanted to leave the old city. We returned just after four. I returned to my cabin to do a laundry and started to pack my suitcase to make sure there was enough room. We had to put our bags out at midnight the following night.
The ship left a half hour late but not because anyone was late on our ship, but because the Aquamarine had late arrivals and the ship was parked in our way. (Just another indication how people who won’t return to the ship on time can affect hundreds, even thousands of travellers). I took pictures of the walled city as we left. It was an impressive sight.
I tried to access one of the internet terminals but they were full and people were waiting. I went to dinner at seven, and as this was the last dinner with set seating, our table tipped our waiter discreetly (5 Euro each). We think he told the guy who clears the dishes cause he started chatting us up all of a sudden. We gave him a small donation from the table as a whole. Dinner tonight was French onion soup, beef wellington and baked Alaska. The staff did a little show for us with the baked Alaska, dancing around with the flaming dessert.
After dinner, we went directly to the show which was the magician (or illusionist as he calls himself). It was better than the other shows and the magician was a good performer, but he needed to work a little on his tricks. It wasn’t hard to see how most were done. This show was a little more exotic and I think the ship should have more exotic shows highlighting Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern culture rather than an Abba or movie songs night.
I left the show just as it ended so that I could race to the internet corner and I was lucky enough to get a free terminal so that I could check my email. A line up formed quickly after I got there. I only spent a few minutes as I wanted to save my last few minutes for tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Crete and Santorini were the stops. I was a little disappointed that they stuffed the two islands into one day. There was so much we could see on Crete, but since the ship docked in St. Nickolas instead of Heraklion, many of us didn’t go for the optional as it involved more than an hour of bus driving in each direction. For those of us not going on the optional, George had arranged to meet us on the pier at 8:30 to show us into the town. With a mere four hours one the island (7-11 am), there was no sense in going far.
And it also meant we could sleep in.
Go to Day Fourteen
Go to Table of Contents