Summary update 2

 From here we drove to Monolithos caves. Once again the climb was ok and the cafe downstairs was a decent stop for Yoghurt with honey and nuts and some milk shake. I also bought some gifts of olive oil, honey and sweets for N and S. They had been taking loving care of our Coco boy, sweetly sharing video and photo updates - to the delight of the young one. They also let her have a video chat with him one day - and it was very sweet to see Coco getting happy and excited,  licking the phone screen thinking we were in front of him.

Anyway, we went up the monolithos caves to yet another gorgeous view and the church on top. I took care not to pray specifically for anything! ( given the disastrous follow up prayer by R in the previous church!)

Like we were on some mission, we drove next to Kritinia** castle. Went up to the top of this medieval wonder ( of course no cataloguing here either!),  feasted on yet another stupdendous view and finally took the picturesque journey back to the hotel.

 K  wanted to go to a beach, but I and R wanted to rest. So we all rested and K and I watched Kai&&dhi in preparation for our watching the movie Vik*ram once back home. R rested with her book, kindle and tab.

Dad and daughter sprinted off for dinner while I took a nice long shower and rested with a book,.

Day 6- I love long nature walks and hikes - so this day was dedicated to the Seven springs (Epta pi*ges). Having parked next to the cafe as researched earlier, we spotted some beautiful peacocks and made our wa to the nature forest. Dad and daughter went through the dark unlit tunnel , with water flowing on their bare feet, to make it to the lake fed by the springs. I happily took the overhead path and let them enjoy the adventure. R was on her first day of troubles and was being a trooper. We then moved further inward from the green late to the waterfall and had a lovely time fooling around.

We then went back to the cafe where there was a 1 year celebration was going on. Enjoyed the local tradition and went to the verdant outside seating area for our usual milkshakes and fruit juice.

Took some pics and went back.

R rested , while K and I went for some shopping and to get some chocolates for R. 

We also went to have an early dinner by the beach. A lovely hut with an eccentric owner who sang greek songs , lamented the taste of tomatoes and potatoes in England and was generally very funny

Day 7 - R wanted to rest. So, K and I went for a swim and snorkel at La?diko beach. We had lunch at the hotel and started packing. All packed and ready, the three of us checked out and went to the Anthony Qu**inn bay, took some pics and made our way to the airport for a 11.30 flight

We had a nightmare 3 hour delay and a further 40 minutes wait on the plan to be cleared for take off. After a disturbed and restles flight, we finally landed around 5.30 am. We cleared security, collected our luggage and drove from East midlands to our place and reach home by around 6.20am.

7 am K and R (brushed, showered and dressed in uniform) collected Coco and came home.After a quick reunion with our wonderful boy, R was dropped at school and K went to work downstairs and I upstairs.

Overall, one of the most relaxing and wonderful holidays we had ever had.

Very grateful.

Summary update of trip

 Due to the freedom of the rental car, we covered loads more than we intended to, so just jotting down the order and main points.

Day 1 Butterfly garden. Just the young one and I. Loved the hike between the lush trees, lakes, waterfalls. Visited the Kalopetra monastery at the top. Had milkshake and fresh orange juice in the Cafe inbetween. The climb to the monastery - the steps garlanded by flowery shrubs on both sides was fantastic. Took beautiful pics of the young one. Took a taxi back as K was in a call.

Reached the hotel, freshened up and post K's work wrap up, went to the Ladiko beach just for a look-see. 

Had dinner at the best restaurant in Faliraki -Something Differ*ent - it was really the best. 

Day 2 - Visited Tsa,mbika beach. The best beach I have ever gone to. Golden sand, Emerald water and a gentle breeze. The changing facilities in all these beaches were a shack but with a bottom board that keeps your stuff out of sand as well as lots of hooks to hang wet clothes. This made a huge difference and made changing very easy and comfortable. Had a whale of a time swimming and enjoying the fabulous view and feeling very blessed. The sun beds are usually around 8 euros each but are clean and comfortable.  Came back, freshened up and went to Rhodes Old* town. Thoroughly enjoyed the drive, where the road sometimes was just along the beach. Parked just outside the old town and walk along the Marina. Loved the beach and the cruise ships docked there.

Went to the centre of Rhodes town and there was an absolutely heavenly tree covered - and I mean literally covered like a canopy, central square full of restaurants. Went to George's cafe or some such. Food was ok. Walked all around the town enjoying the medieval architecture. Also went to the Monaster of K*nights. This was a complete dud and our first realisation that Rhodes is very weak in cataloguing artefacts and providing info about the ancient artefacts. Throughout Europe, all such places have wonderful cataloguing and the history and story of each artefact takes you back to those times. Here, there were not even basic labels, forget about history of origin. Such rich artefacts throughout Rhodes and not a single one was catalogued properly. Such a shame!

Had some lovely icecream on th eway back, window shopped in loads more shops and came back home happy tired to a piping hot shower from the solar panels in the hotel!

Day 3 - As per our friend P's recommendation - went to K'alithea springs. It was a wonderful place with a sea view wedding venue simply but stunningly decorated in the hellenic style. Took loads of pics and post some deliberation, decided to swim in the springs (though we were told, the thermal springs do not get warm till peak summer). The water was still relatively warm and a welcome respite. The young one and K snokelled for quite a while , while I enjoyed a safe swim nearer to the shore. They went quite far to explore the underwater scenery. 

After a good time, we drove to Lindos town. Though this was a very very pretty beach, we had finished swimming for the day, so we opted to dine at the hill top My**thos restaurant which was at the very start of the plant canopied, winding, very toy like, narrow laned Lindos town with its picturesque white houses. The view was breathtaking - of both Lindos bay and the acropolis. It was very expensive and while K enjoyed his non veg fare, the young one and I had a touch time with the veg fare.

We finished that and decided to brave the climb to the acropolis. It was not too bad. As usual, very little useful cataloguing of such an ancient structure. We took in the views neverthless and came back down to some milkshakes and icecream. The people were very sweet all over Rhodes and this was no exception. The shops had very pretty fare that we window shopped to our hearts content. K's internal radar was perfect  as usual and even in that maze of a town, he took us wherever we wanted to go - only after one glance on our way up to the Acropolis.

Day 4 - We had booked a trip to the beautiful Symi island. Got picked up by shuttle to Rhodes* town. Boarded a cruise ship at the Mand%raki harbour. 1 hour trip to Symi via the fast boat. Very pretty island but because of location, very hot. Thankfully we took the liitle train for the 45 minute tour, absolutely enjoyed the picturesque island and hopped off at the Nos beach bay for a quick snorkel and swim. K did say that the bay was a bit dangerous in that while snorkelling he suddenly found himself above a crate atleast 21 metres deep! But both of them snorkelled and swam to their hearts content.

We walked back, drank some fresh Pomegranate juice and boarded our return boat in the nick of time. Got down at the harbour and took the shuttle back.

Day 5 - Drove to yet another beautiful corner of Lindos to board our yellow s%ubmarine boat. Having done this in Mauritius in 2006 and Maldives in 2007, it was depressing to see how much the fish and sealife have been depleted. As usual, K and the young one jumped off the boat anchored for the same pprpose  in the middle of the sea for some snorkelling and swmming. Am very glad the young one is so comfortable swimming in the sea as this was one skill I really wanted her to have and enjoy.

We came back to Lindos and K wanted to drive all around the island and see all key landmarks. So we did just that ( the drive, once again was breathtakingly beautiful). We first stopped at a super market and bought some pastries, cakes, chocolates, cookies, Kefir and juice for our trip. There was a very cute orthodox xristian workshipping enclave. I prayed sincerely for the young one to take sensible decisions regarding her GCSEs, do well in her A levels and settle down well in life. She went in. I asked her what she prayed for and she cheekily replies ' Please make mummy give me permission to have cup noodles!'. Grrrr!

Our first step was the gorgeous Parsinisi % beach where the the Ionian Sea meets the Aegean sea . This beach had a lot of waves unlike the others we had seen till now. THe air was moist as well and reminded me a lot of Marina beach and the Mumbai coastline.

..To be continued

June 2022

 Just back from a fabulous trip to Rhodes, Greece. This is our first trip abroad after two and a half years. Also, given the pressure on finances, due to the raising cost of living and our huge commitment to renovate the recently bought home, the trip was very touch and go. We booked a relatively less costlier hotel and our friends N and S took care of Coco except for a couple of days when Frank took charge as usual.

Sunday was the flight and Friday was her last exam and we were invited to sweet N baby's house for dinner. Had a great time with the parents N and M - but R was so knackered after her exams that she slept around midnight. So, we had to come home in the middle of a wonderful time.

The day before the trip, as a treat, I took the young one to a hair dresser. The young one had always refused bangs and I always thought wispy bangs looked great on her. We were still discussing this, when the hairdresser, while saysing ' I will just show you how the bangs option will loop' snipped her hair off! (The day before, our dear friend H did the young one's eyebrows and she was very happy with how she looked and was in a ' am feeling pretty' mood!). The tears started falling fast and furious. As always, her tears are very rare, silent and heart breaking. And even more upsetting is that, she sometimes smiles through her tears trying to reassure me she is not actually very sad. 

For the next 3 hours, there were tears, tears and more tears. She did NOT want or like bangs. I thought she looked really good and so did her dad, but she did not like them at all. She went to stagecach still teary eyed. Her teacher said she looked good but two of her friends thought it was not that great. So, more sadness ensued. This frustrated me and I berated her for being spoilt . There were more arguments, much more upset and the packing and getting ready was not great - to say the least. She had just wrapped up her exams, studying and planning her revisions independent of us for the first time and she was very pleased with how she did in her exams and was feeling very grown up. She was looking forward to the holiday and somehow these ' bangs' ruined her life and turned it into a tragedy! Grrrr!

We handed Coco to our friends, gave him lots of hugs and cuddles and left for East Midlands airport. As usual, the young one could not be sad for too long and before long we were happily chatting away. She was now a lot of help with the luggages, check in etc. We successfully boarded the plan and after a very slight delay, took off. (This was a miracle in itself as we were hearing many flights being cancelled etc).

We landed in Rhodes and throughout th eweather was 26 to 27 degrees. Perfect beach weather. Looked like we lucked out as we came at the end of May/beginning of June. Earlier would have been rainy and later would have been unbearably hot. There was always a gentle breeze which made is all the more pleasant.

We took a taxi to Zo-e's hotel in Faliraki. K was working the first 3 days, so the plan was for the young one and I to bond the first 3 days and to spend the next 4 days as a family/. The place was also 2 hours ahead of the UK, so it was easy from that angle as well.

The game changer this time was that we rented a car and K drove us everywhere. This gave us the freedom to take whatever we wanted (one set of dry swim clothes were always in the boot), change our plans as needed, cover loads more places and for the young one to lie down and take rest during the journey.

...To be continued