Greece - Day 1

Ah the bliss of having my laptop with me on holidays means that I can blog and keep you all up to date! I decided to take the laptop on holiday mainly to watch DVDs, but there are quite a few internet cafes here in Symi so I assume I’ll be able to take myself down there shortly and connect up.

I arrived in Rhodes on Saturday evening after a long but normal journey. I hadn’t realised that Saturday was the same day at the Fatboy Slim concert down in Brighton which meant that London Bridge station was full of people trying to use the same line as me to get down there. Thankfully the train wasn’t full but I did have only ten minutes to spare by the time I got to check-in. hate being so rush at airports. I did manage to dash around and get the toiletries and reading material I needed though thank goodness.

Arrived in Rhodes at 10pm and decided to get cab to where I was staying. As it was in the old town, the taxi driver (who was lovely and used to live above a bar at highbury corner) could only take me so far, but after a moment of panie when I couldn’t see the Apollo Tourist House in a dark street, I got in and bedded down. Very comfortable but simple accommodation. There was a nice breakfast of muesli and yoghurt in the garden in the morning included.

I had the whole day free in Rhodes as my hydrofoil didn’t leave for Symi until 6pm. So I had a good but tiring day of wandering around a compact but slightly confusing city! It was so pretty in bits, especially down by the harbour. It’s a walled city and you can actually walk around the moat (which is now dry) which I did for a bit. There is a Castle of the Knights which has some gorgeous mosaic floors, and loads of museums of antiquities. The loveliest bit was the street of the Knights which led down from the palace. It was a real medieval street with gargoyles and intricate windows. Some of the buildings included the French consulate and other government buildings.

There are two main harbours, Mandraki (which has all the yachts and charter boats) and Akandia the commercial harbour. At the mouth of Mandraki is where the Colossus of Rhodes stood. Now there’s two pillars – one with a deer on it and the other has been removed for restoration. It must have been – er – colossal when it was actually there though! Lots of representations of the Colossus around town as well. There were a couple of huge cruise ships in town with large groups of English, American and German tourists. Very amusing to see them all trouping off to catch the boat at 3pm!

So I had a very full and busy day touring around. There were a couple of very impressive bead stores full of turquoise and coral. Might go back on my return journey… I found my way around fine until I actually had to get back to the hotel to pick up my bags and then I got totally spun around! I had loads of time though.

I caught the hydrofoil to Symi no problem – one way ticket for an hour’s journey is E14.90. I think the traditional ferries are a bit cheaper. The people who’ve organised my accommodation met me off the hydrofoil and transported my bag to the foot of the steps to my wee apartment, there are about 100 steps up and it’s quite steep! I’m sure I’ll be running up them by the end of the trip!