I stayed in bed this morning until an hour before checkout with my legs still aching a bit from the hike up to the cave yesterday. I booked a taxi to come and pick me up at 1pm, checked out of my room, leaving the baggage there for later and walked into town with the intention of ordering breakfast – but then I saw the most amazing ice-cream shop, so I ordered a strawberry sundae for breakfast instead! I wandered around the shops, bought a new bikini and then went back to meet the taxi.
I had been reading horror stories everywhere about airport chaos across Europe and the US, so I organised to get to the airport 2hrs ahead of boarding, but everything was smooth sailing, so I bought a salad and some water and spent the 2 hours in the airport responding to emails and checking in on everything at work.
Rhodes is the furthest Greek island from the mainland and it has only been under Greek rule since the 60’s. Due to it’s central location between Europe, the Middle East and the Africas it displays a tapestry of different cultures and in the buildings, restaurants and monuments that have been built there over time.
I arrived at just after 5pm and took a taxi to my hotel, which I had heavily researched to make sure that I would be right in the heart of the main town and within walking distance of the main attractions. The hotel did not disappoint – it was directly across from the Rodos Casino, which is a beautiful, beachfront building and the old town, including the famous Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes was around 5 minutes walk either along the waterfront or through a beautiful park.
I had planned to visit the palace in the morning, but I was so excited by all of the architecture that I had seen from the taxi driving in, I had to get out and at least get my bearings of what was here and where everything was straight away. I found a great app called GPS my City, which maps out walking tours of major cities so I used this to create a 2 hour walk to some of the main places I was interested in seeing and enjoyed the last of the evening sun on my shoulders as I took in the beauty and majesty of the walls of the palace and its surrounds.
I returned to my hotel, ordered room service and sat on my balcony enjoying the sights and sounds of the city around me.
