We took a late afternoon flight into Rhodes and, after a long and arduous bus ride through Rhodes, complete with a herd of goats in the road, we made it to our hotel...at 1:30 in the morning. Because we were exhausted and ready to settle down, Jim and I had a master plan which would ensure that we would be THE FIRST on our bus to check in. I rushed in and was greeted by the sight of a very drunk, very beligerant, kind of scary looking guy demanding SOMETHING (hard to tell what he was saying because he was so drunk) from the hotel guy. He was leaning into the reception area with his cigarette, swaying. After seeing my stricken face, the hotel guy finally told the drunkard to go take a seat so that he could help me. Then there was a ruckus when the drunk guy and his drunk friend took off someplace they weren't supposed to go.
Let me step back a little. Three and a half years ago, JIm and I stayed at an all expense resort in St. Lucia, where we had a pretty disappointing honeymoon (except for the snorkling, which was awesome). Somehow, I didn't learn from this the first time, so when I found a great deal for Greece online at an all expense paid hotel, I booked it without a second thought.
Flash forward to our lovely resort in Rhodes. When we finally got checked into our room, it was nearly 2am. We noted that the room was sparce, but seemed clean, the pillows were hard as rocks, and that we could hear the sea. We were exhausted and we went to bed. Towards dawn, a terrific thunderstorm woke me up and I got up to use the bathroom, at which point I found out that our room was flooded. The rainwater had just come in through the front door, apparently, having not drained properly. We picked up our suitcases and shoes and went back to sleep. We were determined to have fun, despite soggy belongings.
The next morning, the sun came out and we hit the beach, which was full of lots of other tourists from the hotel, who also had found the good deal online. Here is a view of the beach:
We enjoyed a swim and then walked down the beach away from everyone else. The waves were big from the storm and the water was clear blue.
Jim did some body surfing:
We tried to go eat lunch at the hotel's Taverna, which looked better than "The Restaurant" where we had eaten breakfast. But, alas, we were told that we would need to book and that there wasn't any room for us until the next day. So, we ate our second meal at "The Restaurant" and vowed to have dinner somewhere else.
After our day at the beach, we decided to relax on our back patio.
Our next door neighbors were pleasant types who incorporated the word "fucking" into every sentence, much in the way that I say "like" and left their beer cans scattered about. We hurridly prepared to go find someplace else to have dinner...but our efforts were thwarted once again. The storm had knocked out a few of the neighboring restaurants and we found ourselves again at The Restaurant. Music was booming in the background and the bar was swarming with party people. We wolfed down our food and headed back to our still damp hotel room, where we found that our air conditioner wouldn't turn off and was leaking all over the luggage that we had managed to keep dry. Jim went to bed, but I stayed up waiting for the people to come fix the air conditioner (they never did) and while I was waiting I noticed something very large and black walking across our floor. The biggest cockroach I have ever witnessed. I grew up in Louisiana, lived in New Orleans and Texas and although I'm not a fan of cockroaches, they don't usually scare me. This one did. Jim had to wake up and deal with it (a hilarious exchange during which I convinced him that killing a cockroach with a towel wasn't the best idea and offered up my shoe as a substitute). Unfortunately the roach had some relatives living up in the rafters, so I spent the rest of the night hyper aware of any slight scuttle.
And the next morning...we headed to The Restaurant. But Jim had rented a car! So we left the confines of our hotel and headed to the nearby village of Lindos. But first we celebrated my birthday! Here I am with some nice perfume and wearing the pretty earrings that Jim gave me:
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