Another restless night because of the storm that was even
worse than yesterday!
The ideas we had last night for taking a journey south was
abandoned – because of the weather. 14-10 degrees, wind: SE about 24 km/hr. Because
our apartment was to be cleaned at 10 am., we thought to drive to Rhodes city
and visit the market or other places that would keep us warm and dry.
Stergos however, advised against that plan because of the
traffic jams towards the big city. He kindly opened another room for us where we could wait until they finished the cleaning.
Well, in Israel we have learned to be flexible and if plan A
doesn’t work, you just go on to the next one. That’s what we did. After coffee
we decided to first do some shopping at the Lidl (yes, they also have them
here, but not in Israel!) and then continued to Rhodos. We drove past the old
city walls, via the harbor, south again towards Kalithea. So at least now we already
know where to park and how it looks from a distance.
We enjoyed the ride and beautiful views, getting a feel for
the island, the roads and the towns. Driving into Faliraki from the north
resembled Tiberias! No wonder we feel at home here!
Wim took a nap, I began preparing for tonight’s dinner, and
when the weather began to clear and even the sun began to shine, we decided to
go for a walk to the nearby Profitis Ammos monastery. Just to be on the safe
side, we took our rain coats along.
The white buildings had several terraces and during the
summer season a popular taverna catered to the many visitors. Peacocks proudly
strutted on the premises or in the surrounding forest.
Besides those birds, we didn’t see anybody. Leading to the
mountain were stone steps that wound its way through the trees, higher and
higher. The winter rains created havoc on those steps, and we had to be careful
where to put our feet. Sometimes we had to pull ourselves up, helped by a
nearby tree.
There had to be a building on top of the mountain, but
because of the trees, we didn’t have an indication how far we still had to go.
At a certain point, we decided not to go any further, also because our shoes
were not really suitable for the muddy climb.
Safely back near the closed taverna, it suddenly began to
rain. Sheltering under a tree, we were blessed with a beautiful rainbow over
the sea towards Faliraki beach. Awesome!
As we set out, around 3 p.m. we had not expected the walk to
last 2 hours. It was wonderful exercise and back home we continued to feast our
eyes on the two-coloured sea: azure blue and grey blue water against a dark
grey sky. What a mighty Creator we have!
