Day 16 - Blogabond

My last full day of vacation. Originally, it was to be spent on the ferry to Athens, but rough seas forced the cancellation of the hydrofoil and thus I was lucky to have gotten one of the last seats on tomorrow's early morning plane flight to Athens which arrives there just in time to get me on my plane home to the states. So, taking advantage of the extra day, Mark and I rented a little Suzuki Samurai and went exploring. Our first stop was Faliraki beach -- lots of people, warm water, and lots of activities ("no Mark, I see no reason to do that crane bungee jumping; remember, I jumped out of a real plane"). Despite the crowds, it certainly was not a bad spot. We stayed for 2-1/2 hours baking in the sun and splashing in the non-surf (nary a wavelet in sight) before heading on to Cape Vagia for lunch at a tiny little beach, fairly unspoiled and uncrowded. Then it was down the coast past Lindos where the tourists thinned out and goats were the far more prevalent mammals. We finally selected a nearly deserted beach in a secluded cove near the town of Lardos for the last hour or two of sunning.

On the way back to Rhodes proper we made one final sight-seeing stop, to Tsampika Monastery. The monastery (a small one to be sure) is set atop what appears to be the highest promontory on the coast, visible from the road as only a tiny white dot at the top of a craggy peak. To get there one must first drive a few kilometers of a steep, narrow switchback road which ends roughly 1 km below the monastery. The last little bit on foot, while a short distance, is a good little hike up -- seriously *up*, the paved "trail" even having handrails to keep one from being blown off the mountain and onto the rocks below. And the reward for all of this? Not the monastery actually but the view . . . an incredible panorama of the entire east coast of the island from Lindos to Ladiko.

Our final dinner is at a small taverna near our pension, recommended by the pension owners, with excellent fish and even reasonable prices. We then made good use of the Suzuki, driving around the walls of the old city at night, beautifully lit with flickering lanterns (and some help from modern spotlights strategically placed).

written by

shoshtrvls on June 17, 1996 from Rodos, Greece

from the travel blog: Turkey and Greece (1996)

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