Rhodes

Our direct flight to Rhodes has us landing around 9:15am. We learned the taxis in Rhodes are mostly based on a fixed price system, which was really nice! We were dropped off pretty close to our hotel in the old town, but I knew going in we would have to walk just a bit. We arrived at Petrino hotel around 10:30 and were greeted with orange juice and room that was almost ready. Our room here was amazing. I had purchased a deluxe room with a city view, but had no idea it would be a huge 2 story condo with a kitchen and a large roof terrace. This was possibly one of my favorite hotel rooms I have stayed in. Panos was super helpful in helping us plan out our stay. We decided to go to Lindos on our first day and stay in the Old Town the second day. We walked to the bus station and after checking the schedule for a bus, Kacey found good homemade spanakopita and they offered us both some yummy dessert for free that kind of tasted like persimmon. We got the 1pm bus to Lindos and arrived there right around 2pm. We were not quite sure how long the Acropolis would be open as it was a Sunday, so we headed down to town and straight back up to the entrance. It was open later than we thought, but a nice start to our visit of this town. We took in the views and wandered the ruins for an hour or so. We headed back down to town to check out the shops and hunt for a place for late lunch. We ended up at Kalypso and the view and food were both good. I had to run back down to a shop to buy new sunglasses as mine were missing and the sun was just too bright (they broke a few days later). After an enjoyable lunch as we were leaving, we ended up talking to an older British couple for about 20 minutes. They vacation in Lindos every year for a month or so and were sharing stories of Easter traditions and finding Greek yarn (she told us that we were just next to a hidden yarn shop in Athens - the only place she has found good yarn in Greece.  Sad to have missed it.). I was craving a nutella crepe, so I found one while we visited a couple more shops. We realized we were getting short on time but Kacey really wanted to visit the beach, so we ran down, took it in for just a few minutes, then ran back up to catch the last bus to Rhodes town at 6pm. The ride back took about 15 minutes longer due to more stops for people returning to their hotels, but we had a good rest. The Old Town was pretty dead by this time but we went to Taverna Kostas. This was a family run joint and while the food was just ok, we enjoyed talking to the owner and his son for a while. We stopped at the 24 hour bakery, Phournariko, and got a little sweets, including a very yummy orange cake.

Lindos Acropolis

We slept in a bit and packed our bags, as we were staying near the airport that night for an early flight. We walked west toward the clock tower and the Hafiz Ahmet Library. We stopped in a few shops along the way. A cruise ship had obviously arrived in the morning as the streets were filled with people. We walked north to tour the Palace of the Grand Master. After buying tickets, we decided to go grab a bite to eat first. After a pastry and a Greek coffee, we then toured the palace and its museum. Our combo ticket then had us walk east down the Street of the Knights to the Our Lady of the Castle church. We poked our heads in a special museum exhibit about death jars, but no photos were allowed. We then toured the museum, which was a lot of rooms full of ruins. We were a little tired of these by now, so we walked north toward the port. We walked around the windmills and the Fort of St. Nicholas on the east pier. Then after another (forgettable) snack at the Yacht Club we walked north along the west pier toward the beach. We saw a diving board out in the sea and two swimmers heading toward it. We waited while we watched them dive and then headed back to the hotel to get a dinner recommendation. Panos directed us to Pizanias "The Sea Star". We had a nice seat outside in the sun and next to the little charcoal grill where some food was prepared. It was a good meal of ​fava bean dip (traditional), smoked mackerel, symi shrimp, and grilled haloumi. We got a cab out to our airport hotel and arranged for someone to open the hotel at 5am for us to leave. We also walked toward the water and ate some dessert at Cake Box.

Rhodes Port, and possible location of the Colossus of Rhodes