We’re still enjoying our time here in Greece, mixing chilling with sightseeing, depending on how the mood takes us. Yesterday was a travel day as the storms of the past 48 hours had passed so we were graced with clear blue skies once more. Not that we ventured far. We caught a local bus from Lardos to head up the road to ancient Lindos which is little more than half an hour away. The bus service is really good as they run roughly half-hourly, although the service is starting to reduce as the season and passenger numbers run down. That said, the 09:20 bus we caught was full, but then it’s eventual destination was Rhodes town, some 90 minutes away.

Lindos is a fascinating little place as you see very little of it from the road as it’s hidden in a dip. What you do see is the ancient citadel (or Acropolis) atop cliffs that the town is built in the lee of. The citadel, has had many incarnations and occupants. It dates back before 600BC, having been occupied by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, the Knights of St John and the Ottomans. Oh, the Italians have also had a bit to do with the place too when Rhodes was part of their ‘manor’. They carried out a well-meaning but botched restoration in the 1930s but concrete and rebar plus sea air don’t mix well!

As expected with a citadel atop cliffs it’s a climb up lots of steps. That said, we fared better than many visitors who really struggled, but then we live in the Pennines which is anything but flat! We made it to the top without losing breath whilst overtaking many folk (often much younger) who sounded like steam engines trying to haul 1000 tonnes up a steep hill!

It’s worth the climb and the 12 euro entrance fee. Not only is it a fascinating place to look around but the views from the top are sublime. Here’s a few views.

Afterwards we wandered the narrow streets of Lindos to find something to eat. The town’s very tourist orientated nowadays but that doesn’t detract from the attractiveness of the architecture and the traditional layout of the town. There’s more rooftop restaurants than you can shake a stick at and I’m sure many are busy not because of the quality of the food but because they’re mentioned in one guide book or another so are ‘the places’ to go to. Instead, we followed our noses and looked at the menu’s posted outside and found Alexi’s, where we had the roof to ourselves and enjoyed a glorious salad made with walnuts and figs along with home-made ‘Dolmades’ and some excellent whitebait with a delicious dip that tasted of mango and honey.

Suitably stuffed we wandered (and got lost) in the backstreets of Lindos whilst looking for St Paul’s bay until a lovely ex-pat Israeli woman spotted us. The bay was where she was heading to for her daily swim so we struck up conversation whilst she escorted us. St Paul’s bay us a stunning sheltered location although the restaurant/bar that dominates the main beach is a a bit so-so, being expensive with indifferent service. Even so, it’s worth stopping for a drink purely to soak up the location.

Catching the bus ‘home’ we relaxed for a couple of hours by the pool before a quiet night indoors self-catering and making up our own salads with ingredients bought from local supermarkets. Today we decided a slow day was in order. Walking into Lardos village we took up residence in our favorite local coffee-shop for a few hours and got chatting to the lovely young girl who’s been behind the counter every day that we’ve been there. That turns out because she works seven days a week! Andriana is of Bulgarian descent, having moved to Greece with her parents as a young child. We had a fascinating chat and learned a lot about Rhodian life (as well as some local gossip) from her as now the season’s winding down she had time to stay and talk.

Tomorrow we’re off on the first bus of the day to visit Rhodes town.I’ll blog about that another time…

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