The wind had slowed down during the night, but we had quite
a lot of rain, also in the morning. Because the apartment was scheduled to be
cleaned (again! 😊 ) we decided to tour the western
coast of Rhodes. After a quick chat with our wonderful host, Stergos (who told us that, yes, they had snow this year on Mt. Attavyros - 1215 m.) at 10.15 a.m. we set out. The heavy grey sky threatening rain didn’t dampen our spirits. We were on holiday, and enjoying every minute of it!
Driving on the beautiful and quiet road from Faliraki to Kalithies gave us a wonderful
start especially because it seemed we were the only people driving!
Kalithies
- The oldest written mention to this area comes from the year 1474 and the
village is referred to as "Calathies" or "Calaties",
probably because of the plant "kolythos" or "kolytea" which
flourishes in the area. Here you will find the church of the
"Metamorphosis of the Savior", who's iconostasis is estimated from
the 16th century.
The
"Eleousa Monastery", west of the village, has some unique and
spectacular murals. There is also a stalactite cave of St. George, which is the
oldest known Neolithic dwelling on the Island.
We just drove through the village, and didn’t know about
these murals or the cave, only learned about them when I looked up the info on
the internet.
Another winding mountain road brought us to Psinthos, a
classic Greek small village with running waters in fountain Fasouli and the age
long platania, which reveal the beauty of Rhodes countryside.
In the
village square is a church dedicated to Theotokos. Life centers around the
village square where you can see quite a lot of people just sitting back and,
to use a well-known phrase, "watching the world go by". Psinthos is
famous as the site of the last battle between the Turks and Italians.
Because of the rainy weather, we hardly saw anybody ‘watching the
world go by’ – that’s probably only during the summer time…. Narrow streets,
hardly suitable for two-way traffic, make up the main road (red on the map) from
one village to the next.
Due to the heavy rain of these past days, the winding mountain
road was full of fallen stones and even rocks, making it almost a one-lane
road. Thankfully, there was hardly any traffic here as well. We passed the
Valley of the butterflies (entrance also deserted) so we know how to get there
another time.
Hairpin curves led us down into the valley and up again on 10%
steep roads, giving us breath taking views of the mountains, hills and the west
coast sea.
While on the west coast main road from the northern city of Rhodes
to Kattavia in the deep south of the island we drove past hothouses and lots of
agriculture, sometimes right next to the sea. In the distance, you could see islands
of different sizes, probably Turkey!
It was time for a coffee break!
Soroni, with just
a few shops, a couple of taverns and a small beach, is totally unspoilt and an
excellent place to relax and unwind. In its fertile soil olive trees,
vineyards, citrus gloves and other agricultural products are cultivated. Nearby is a tiny church called Aghios Soulas.
The monastery takes it name from Syllas, the student and follower of Paulus the
Apostole. It was most probably founded in the early Christian times and was
renovated in 1836 to its present day. Traditional thinking states that the
water which springs up from within the monastery cave has therapeutic
qualities.
We past a few tavernas with people in them, so we parked the car in
the main street and walked to a local one, where we received our caffeine shot
for the morning. 😊 We prefer to sit amongst the locals, which we
end up doing anyhow, as we seem to be the only tourists crazy enough to take a
holiday in March! We come to enjoy nature, not for the weather – plenty of heat
and sunshine in Israel!
As we continued our trip, we past the island's main power plant, just
outside the village.
The picturesque village of Kalavarda is a built near the ruins of
ancient Kamiros. We decided to visit this interesting place, weather
permitting, but because it began to rain, we continued driving. So perhaps
another time – then I’ll share about this third of the island's ancient cities.
The working
agricultural village Kalavarda has a clean sand/pebbled beach on one side and
the imposing peak of Profitis Ilias on the other side. The surrounding area has
many local cottage industries and small units producing ceramics, cattle
farming and agricultural products, mainly citrus fruits, cereals and oil. Rhodian
deer frequent the lush woodlands.
Kritinia was the last city on our day tour. Despite the unstable
weather, we drove up to the castle, put on our rain jackets, and climbed the
steps to the ruins. We were treated to an awesome view all around!
We took shelter under the entrance gate, because the drizzle turned
into a heavy shower.
The castle of Kritinia (Kastello, for the locals) ,is a Venetian castle
built in the 16th century on a hill about 131 metres above the village of
Kritinia. The germ of the village offers a breathtaking view of the Aegean Sea,
the island of Chalki and some other deserted islands. Due to its strategic
location, that allowed a 360-degree monitoring view of the sea and thus, the
pirates’ and the enemies’ activities, the site was chosen by the Knights of the
Order of St, John to build the castle. Originally, the castle was divided in
three levels, each of them belonging to a different Grand Master.
In 1480, the Ottoman Turks sent 100.000 soldiers across Rhodes in an effort
to invade and conquer the island with a big number of troops sent to Kritinia
as well, attempting to seize the castle. However, regardless of the fact that
the Turks outnumbered the Knights a lot, and after many bloodshed battles, the
Turkish troops finally retreated, leaving the castle full of ruins and damages.
Without wasting time though, the Knights engaged themselves to restoring the
damages that the castle had sustained, bringing it back to its original form.
Only the shell of the castle still survives today. But above the rather
disintegrated entrance of it, lie the coats of arms of two of the Grand Masters
of the Medieval Era. The coat of arm of the Grand Master D’Amboise (1503-1512)
and the one of the Grand Master Origny (1467 – 1476). Within the walls, there
are also remnants of a chapel devoted to Saint John, where you can view amazing
16th century wall paintings. The Greek Archeological Services plans to conserve
and renovate the damaged sections of the castle and the church. Source: http://www.rhodesguide.gr
It was no using waiting for the rain to let up so we went back to
the car to eat our sandwich and head back home.
Our next village is Embonas, which has an interesting history!
Embonas, at over 800 metres altitude, lies in the mountain of Attaviros.
The villagers keep their traditions and some still wear local costumes. Blessed
with one of the best wines on earth, the
village attracts many visitors during the wine festivals in August.
There’s much more to see in this village, but we have to
leave that until another time!
Through winding mountain roads, from one rain shower into
another, we follow the road to Apollona.
Apollona village acquired its name from the Temple of God Apollo who was
the protector of Rhodes Island and fine arts at the time. The approx.1,000 residents
are surrounded by more than 70.000 acres of land. Most of the villagers deal
mainly with the cultivation of olive trees.
This village too has much to see and explore, amongst
others a historical museum, which we past but didn’t have time to stop and see.
Another time, perhaps?
When we drove through the village of Eleousa again, this
time we knew more about the old, abandoned buildings that I wrote about
yesterday!
Archipoli village came next, and the closer we got to the
eastern coast, the skies became brighter and even sunny!
Psinthos was next, after a beautiful winding road with
awesome views of the surrounding hills, thousands of olive trees, green meadows
filled with wild flowers and in the distance the beautiful Aegean Sea. What a
beautiful country. It feels BIG! So much to explore and enjoy. Such a privilege
to be able to be here!
After some quick last minute shopping in our 2 (!) favorite
supermarkets we came home to a sunny sky.
While Wim enjoyed his much-needed siesta, I prepared the
chicken for tonight’s meal: gyros.
On the other side of the fence a herd of wild goats were
filling their stomachs with fresh leaves from the abundant growing bushes. They
are very shy and run off quickly. It’s good that the premises are fenced in,
otherwise those goats would create havoc on the everything Stergos built here,
and leaving their droppings wherever they go. And the sharp smell of their
urine!
The rest of the day was spent writing the blog and
learning many new things about Rhodes, a.o. its checkered history of many, many
conquerors. I’ll list them later this week.
For Wim, Shabbat evening (it feels totally different
here) means time to write his weekly newsletter.
What tomorrow will bring? We don’t know yet, but will
decide then, depending on how the weather looks. The weather forecast for next
week is hopeful – no more storm, perhaps a shower here or there, but overall
dry and pleasant!
