19th May 2023
With Ali & Chris
TUI holiday. flights from Gatwick via EasyJet
Friday 19th May – travel day
Picked up at a bonkers time of 01:30 for a 5:30 flight! No dramas and arrived at the 4* hotel Oceanis Beach Hotel around lunchtime, this was an all inclusive TUI package.
Had lunch and a quick stroll. Dinner plus an early night.
Saturday 20th May
Our 34th wedding anniversary!
Had breakfast and then walked into Old Rhodes Town, planned to get a bus but ended up walking the 3 miles.
First stop shops and then onto the medieval town with its cobbled streets, castles and ruins. Stopped for a calamari lunch and then bused back to the hotel.
Dinner at the hotel and then a few cocktails before bed. Hotel had layed on champagne and a cake for our anniversary which was nice, organised by Ali, bless her.
As buffet restaurants go it’s pretty good so far.
Sunday 21st May
Walk into Lalyssos , coffee by the beach and a stroll back. Bit cloudy today.
Chill by the pool.
Monday 22nd May
Went down to reserve the car buggies for Wednesday. Then walked back into the Old Town. Bit more sightseeing while the girls shopped.
Ali and Gilly had their ears pierced.
Bit cloudy, sun out in the afternoon.
Tuesday 23rd May
Rain at the start of the day, new plan to go to Faliraki, bus into Old Rhodes town then jumped on another bus to Faliraki. Rain eased off.
Coffee by the beach.
Headed into the harbour where we wandered around for a bit.
Boat trip back to Old Rhodes Town, very intense thunderstorm on the trip which was epic.
Bit more of a wander in Old Rhodes Town.
Wednesday 24th May
Up a bit earlier today to pick up the 4×4 buggies, the plan was to head down the coast and cut across via the dam to Lindos.
However the weather had other plans and as soon as we cut across country it hammered down, as the buggies had no windows or heating this quickly became an issue, we were getting soaked, so we dived into a forest to take shelter! Once it started to ease off we changed the route slightly but headed for a cafe just 10 minutes away. Coffee wasn’t great and the clouds showed no sign of disappearing, except in the opposite direction to our planned route, so we decided to head back to the coast and then back to the hotel for lunch.
We had lunch plus an hour by the pool, it looked bright out so we decided to head to Kaliythea Beach not far from Faliraki, unbelievably about half way it started to rain again, we pressed on and parked up at the beach car park under the trees, we were thoroughly soaked! Taking shelter under the closed taverna, unsurprisingly the beach was deserted. The sun eventually came out and I went for a dip and managed to fly the avata drone which was good. Drove back to the hotel and dropped the buggies off. Questioning our wisdom in hiring these, as they were slow, very noisy, thirsty, no heating and no rain protection, especially as a convertible fiat 500 was cheaper! But as memories go this will stay with us a long time!
An eventful day was finished off with abba night.
Thursday 25th May
Walk into Old Rhodes Town and after a few shops did the moat walk which was very good. Found out that the Old Town fortress was built by the Knights of Saint John in the 1500s, then fought a fierce battle with the Turkish Sultan, both sides suffered heavy losses and the Knights left for Malta, here they established themselves and heavily fortified the three cities. The Turkish Sultan didn’t like they were so prosperous and decided to invade, however this time they were repelled and the Knights created Valetta!
Light lunch and then back to the hotel for pool time in the sun.
Just one ‘godfather’ tonight (a mixture of whiskey, amoreto and soda) as we were all very tired.
Friday 26th May
Travel back day.
Spent mainly by the pool, had some lunch and then spotted the notification from Easyjet.
Flight delayed by 3 hours! Still arrived at the airport for 5pm.
Then as suspected Flight 8230 was cancelled around 11pm, chaos ensued as EasyJet tried to get us a hotel room, checked into a room around 2am. Ocean Blue, quite a grotty room for us but a nice one for Ali & Chris.
Breakfast okay, transfer bus arriving at 10am for a 2pm flight which had been pushed back to 3pm. Decided to go for a walk and make our own way back to hotel, disaster struck as Gilly slipped off a kerb and badly sprained her ankle and cut her leg/arm. Hobbled back to the hotel and put ice on it.
Taxi back to the airport.
More shambles from EasyJet, lack of info etc. Eventually took off at 16:10, apparently an IT malfunction at LGW means extra carnage awaits us, although the E-Gates failure had been sorted by the time we got there.
Meant to arrive at 18:25, but unbelievably due to a catalogue of errors didn’t get off until around 7pm.
Unfortunately Easyjet really did put a damper on a nice but showery holiday!
