Saturday 1st August
An afternoon flight allowed us a few extra hours in Dubrovnik. After a bit of aimless street wandering we decided to do one of the 1 hour boat cuises. The boat had a glass bottom (which wasn't really used) and we went around the Walls of the city, then around the island of Lokrum and the along the coast to look at a cave and popular swimming spots. The trip was pretty good.
After a "brunch", we got a transfer to Dubrovnik Airport(about 20 km South) and the view from the road of the city, islands and coastline was very good.
We arrived at Athens airport to get the transfer to Rhodes and were greeted by chaos. A young Greek girl from Aegean Airlines marshalling all the people (about a dozen) who were connecting to Rhodes and Mikonos. She charged us through the diplomatic passport queue then the airline staff queue for on-board baggage check. At this point she informed the Mikonos passengers their luggage wouldn't be with them on the flight but she assured us our luggage would be, I was not too sure.
We arrived in Rhodes and was pleasantly surprised that both suitcases also arrived. But things went downhill from that point on.
A slight hiccup to get our transfer ( "YOU MUST HAVE A PRINTED VOUCHER!" well we didn't but 2 minutes later the information desk printed it for us - this is minor compared to what happened next). The taxi took us to our BOOKED accommodation. This is where things turned sour. The accommodation said we had no booking with them for the 6 nights in Rhodes. I showed them the booking sheet but there was no change to the situation. They said we could go to another hotel (actually in a better location, but no pool and just a standard hotel room not an apartment). The foyer at the first place was like a sauna and it took over 20 minutes to organise a taxi to the other hotel. You can imagined neither of us were in a good mood.
Arrived at the new hotel and paid for one night and decided we would reassess the situation in the morning. We found a local bar and had a drink and bite to eat. We were supposed to be catching up with John Miller and Jane Gibson , but it was too late and would have to wait until tomorrow.
SUNDAY 2nd August
After a restless night's sleep, we decided we would stay put at the new hotel for the next 5 nights. After breakfast and organisation of the accommodation we tried to organise to meet with Jane & John. Viber keep dropping out, so we were beginning to wonder if this was meant to happen or not! Anyhow we finally met Jane & John near their accommodation and went back to their villa and cooled down and had a water. It was great to see them and we had an enjoyable day together. The concensus was that we should go to the beach, it was very warm and humid.
Jane had established a relationship with Steven, the proprietor of the beach chairs at Elli beach. Next thing we had 4 lounge chairs under some parasols on the water's edge. We had a lovely day swimming, baking in the sun, having a few beers and a lunch all at the beach.
Both couples went back to their respective apartments to refresh. We met for dinner at a family run restaurant near Jane & John's accommodation. The meal was superb. For starters we had dips, bread, stuffed vine leaves, zucchini fritters and some saganaki. Then for mains we John had fish, Kristin had grilled octopus and both Andy and Jane had lamb chops. Everyone enjoyed their meals, which were washed down with down with red & white wines.
Jane & John were catching an early plane in the morning, so after a quick walk through the Old Town we unfortunately had to say goodbye. We had a drink and a dessert at a cafe on the way back to our accommodation.
Another great day.
Cheers,
A & K.
