It was as uncomfortable as ever (though beer always helps) and I had just settled myself in for a long boring journey when we unexpectedly stopped at another little port on the way, on an unknown island. It was easily one of the prettiest places I had ever seen, and I was itching to get off and explore! We discovered we had just seen the tiny and beautiful island of Halki, and resolved to see if we could perhaps return there from Rhodes on a little day trip.
The rest of the ferry ride passed uneventfully, and we were soon landing in Rhodes town, from which we immediately headed off to the small village of Masari to meet the airbnb owner for our accommodation. He soon rocked up on a little moped in salmon pink shorts and jandals, reminding me slightly of my Uncle Vincent, with his endless energy and jokes. He showed us around our house, recommended a bakery down the road, and zoomed off again. Misari was not far from the town of Lindos, which made it nice and centrally located, but completely off the tourist radar, managing to retain its quiet charm.
Before we knew it, it was dinner time, and having been warned off eating in touristy Lindos by the airbnb owner, we headed instead for the nearby town of Haraki. Picking a taverna with a beautiful view of a castle all lit up on the hill, we had the best hummus i've ever eaten in my life - so much so that we ordered a second plate of it!
The next morning it was time to explore, first heading to the nearby beach of Masari where we could take our morning dip - something that would become a habit while we were there! We then tried out the local bakery we had been recommended the day before, and were pleasantly surprised by the sesame seed roll the baker had thrown in for free as it was delicious! I then spent the next hour ringing all the ferry companies I could find to try and book us a return ride to Halki for the next day. After a few unsuccessful attempts I finally got through to a company that wasn't sold out, and quickly booked us in for the next morning!
Our exploration of Rhodes itself proved to be a disappointment, as although the coastline and mountains were beautiful from afar, everywhere we went we found full of tourists, hotels, resorts and built up areas. Although we had come across areas like this in our past travels, we had always rather easily escaped the beaten track and found little villages and beaches untouched by tourism; not so here. Every we beach we came to was thronging with tourists, the waterfronts built up. It was depressing and must have been worse for dad, who remembered Rhodes as a beautiful island. We had planned to go to Lindos, but took one look at the crowds of people and throngs of donkeys waiting to be ridden by tourists up to the top of the hill, and decided there was no way in hell we were enduring that.
After almost a full day of disappointments, we fully struck gold on our way back to our airbnb, as dad noticed a sign for archaeological ruins, and in typical dad fashion decided we should go on a spontaneous adventure and check it out! As usual it worked well, and we soon found ourselves exploring the ruins of ancient Kamiros, a Dorian city that flourished under the Mycenaeans until it was destroyed by earthquakes.
Rhodes had one more surprise for us on the way home, as we passed through the village of Elousa we spied a beautiful abandoned building that looked almost like a villa. We of course explored.
There was nothing to describe what this building had been, however after looking it up on the internet later, it seems as though it was an Italian sanitorium, and was used in the 1940s to both treat and keep people with tuberculosis quarantined.
It was actually very beautiful, and I imagine with work it could become a lovely villa to let out to tourists, though there was something touching about its faded glory, as though altering it would ruin it.
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