November 30, 2003

Author:		Heide Cassidy
Posted:		12/2/2003; 9:26:26 AM
Topic:		November 30, 2003
Msg #:		27 (top msg in thread)
Prev/Next:		26/28
Reads:		904

Stuff Turkey -- Let's have some Greece

Athens, Greece

Our departure from Turkey was painless enough and we arrived on the island of Rhodes in Greece bright and early Friday morning. We found the central square and plonked ourselves down at a cafe -- Greece has been spending the Euro since the beginning so we knew prices on the menu were going to "make sense" to us again. To be completely honest, I'd kinda liked being a multi-millionaire in Turkey. The world has a whole new perspective when beer costs 2 million. (Turkish Lire) Anyhow, the menu came out and we practically caughed up a lung to see that a simple cup of coffee (smaller than a typical Denny's cup and no refills cost 4 euros!) Ouch!! Welcome back to Europe!

Rhodes is the number one package holiday destination in Greece but right now it's completely dead. Our top two accommodation choices were closed for the season so we ended up stopping at a small pension run by an Ouzo alcholoic. (This was evidenced by an exceptional number of Ouzo bottles filling his fridge, constant drink in hand, and the "bad hangover" attitude  the next morning.) He looked at us as if were were crazy when we turned down an offer for breakfast Ouzo preferring coffee instead and he was none too happy that we decided to stay only 1 night.

The old town section of Rhodes is the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe. Wandering it's narrow cobble stone streets is wonderful - there are winding back alleys and new surprises around each corner. Even in the winter the island is covered with tropical flowers. There were only 2 things to watch out for - dog poo on the streets and idiots zooming around on motorbikes. Those two things aside, Rhodes town is an exceptional place.

We had originally planned to do a little island hopping here in the Greek isles, but seeing how closed everything is on Rhodes, we've decided against it. The islands will have to wait for another day -- we're already making plans for a return visit!

Instead, we took an 18 hour overnight ferry into Athens. It was suprisingly comfortable -- we found a great place to roll out our sleeping bags, enjoyed a picnic dinner and read our books for entertainment. We made a few stops to pick up and drop off passengers but by midnight it was full steam ahead and we were crashed out for the night.

We woke just before dawn in time to catch the sun rise and have a little breakfast before Athens came into view. Oh Lordy! It is polluted!! Everything you've read or seen on TV is true! I wonder if we'll be able to breathe after we spend 3 days there.