This is the view from our balcony, with mainland Turkey in the distance. The sun has shone constantly since we arrived although it has been quite windy as you can see from the white horses, which is apparently quite normal for this northern coastline.
And looking the other way (west) from down on the shoreline - not the nicest of beaches; very pebbly and a fair amount of debris carried in on the waves. But the sea was a glorious turquoise.
The eye amulet is everywhere on Rhodes tourist tat, it's what is known as an 'apotropaïc' symbol, meaning 'turning back', as its purpose is literally to reflect the evil eye back on the person who casts it.
As we were due to pick the car up from the Avis airport office at 1100, after an early breakfast we caught the No.50 bus back to the airport arriving shortly before the appointed time. I'd already given all the information required on line so we only had a few minutes to wait whilst final formalities were complete. We were given a complimentary upgrade to the next size vehicle (from Fiat 500 to Peugeot 208) which is all very nice, except when I book a small car it's because I want a small car - but it's OK and has the bonus of built in satnav. As with most Avis Budget cars it had a good few scuffs and dents but they were all noted and the young lady who showed us the car told us that minor damages was generally ignored. Lovely to have wheels (although this car had no personality and therefore didn't get Christened) and a bit of freedom and a good job we'd pre-booked as apparently the season has been fantastic for Rhodes from April onwards and walk up customers were being turned away due to lack of vehicles.
First stop was Kameiros, one of the 3 original cities of Rhodes (along with Lindos and Ialyssos) with origins going back to 8th century BC, but destroyed by various earthquakes and now a pile of (interesting) stones.
The view from the Temple of Athena, the highest point of the remains (again Turkey mainland in the distance).
If I'm totally honest, the most interesting thing to me was this pomegranate tree.
Continuing southwest along the north side of the island we found an obliging herd of goats sitting by the roadside, who waited patiently whilst I fiddled with camera settings.
After about 15kms we stopped at Kamiros Scala which our little guidebook described as "home to a fishing fleet with nets spread on the quay"
Maybe the whole fleet was wiped out in a tragedy.
Next stop was Kritinia Castle, built in the 14th century by the Knights of St. John.
The road to get up to it is rather narrow and winding which fortunately keeps the coach parties away.
Another ALT (Animal Like Thing) - I see a lion's face.
As you can imagine Ian was thrilled when I asked him to perch on this rock!
Especially as it's a long way down and, unlike the UK, here Health & Safety seems to be very much left to common sense.
I've actually no idea where or why I took this.
A few random sights as we drove further west.
Towards Monolithos where, yup you've guessed it, there is yet another 14th c. castle built by the Knights of St. John. We viewed it from the road but decided not to go any closer.
About the only place on Rhodes I knew about was the derelict Eleousa Sanitorium, built by the Italians in 1912 but abandoned after WWI. Janis Spice, an extremely creative photography friend of mine gained her ARPS (Associate of the Royal Photographic Society) with this most amazing panel of prints.
I decided I'd like to see the place and had imagined it would be tucked away somewhere but as we drove into the town Ian suddenly noticed it on our left. We had a good wander round and here are far too many of my minimal edited images (although I could edit for the rest of my days and never produce anything as original and amazing as Janis did). I wasn't looking for her "tripod holes" to get the same angles but some will be uncannily similar as it's just the obvious shot to take.
We spent a good while exploring and hoping we wouldn't suddenly fall through a staircase. I'm amazed that 5+ years on the place is not that much more dilapidated and also that once again H&S doesn't exist on Rhodes and anyone can wander around quite freely.
By now it was about 16:00 and time to head back to Ixia, a 30km/45 min drive although it was rush hour when we hit the main beach road heading towards Rhodes and so slow traffic through the small towns en route.