Rhodes, Greece to Marmaris, Turkey

Well after 7 days off from blogging I am back atter! You probably missed me like crazy! To be honest it was a pretty awesome week of nothing. I didn’t have all that much to update on and I wanted to take advantage of our all inclusive by doing exactly that, nothing. We spent almost every day poolside at our resort with a day in town and an afternoon at the beach. It was a nice hotel, the food was good and the weather was hot! You cant ask for much more. Breakfast was a bit of a downer but all in all, lunch and supper was always really good. I think we made some of our money back based on how much Mark drank! I was a bit disappointed in the booze choices though. Im not a beer drinker so that was off the table and the only other choice for all inclusive alcohol from 10am until 6pm was wine, and an on tap wine. I could only have a couple before I would start getting a headache, so most of the days I just waited until the other bar opened at 6 and was able to drink my gin and tonics. This bar was only free until 10pm so after that time you had to pay or if you wanted something not off the all inclusive menu, that was an extra charge as well. I survived though and had a couple fun nights so I cant complain.

resorts — Relaxing poolside at Venezian Hotel

We were pretty excited to check off our second of the 7 Ancient Wonder of the World sights, The Colossus of Rhodes. The first one we saw was the Temple of Zeus in Athens. A statue of a greek sun-god built in 280 BC. Although it is not there anymore you sort of have to use your imagination. The pillars it stood on are there still but the statue itself collapsed during an earthquake and was never rebuilt, it is said to have stood about the same height as the Statue of Liberty at 108ft tall. We found it strange that there was no monument, no information or even a sign stating what the pillars were considering it is an Ancient Wonder. If you had no idea what it was, you would walk by the pillars and not think anything of it.

COLOSSUS-OF-RHODES-1 — What the Colossus of Rhodes was said to look like

35891939_10160508379130298_7430100603818213376_n — What it looks like today

We had a lot of fun walking around Old Town Rhodes, one of the best preserved medieval settlements in the world and part of UNESCO as well. Pretty amazing to walk through the streets and within the castle like walls. It is filled with lots of great little shops and restaurants. Every single person trying to do whatever they can to get your attention to come drink at their bar makes it hard to walk through the streets without getting dragged into what seems like a harmless chat with a local. They’re pretty persistent but also humorous and kind about it as well. It was very entertaining. Mark made the mistake of standing out in his Manchester jersey so to get his attention all they had to do was talk about football or just yell “Manchester!!” as he walked by.

So many beautiful ancient statues, fountains and marble crests. We never went into the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes or the Archaeological Museum but you can purchase a ticket for both at 10 euro each, which is a pretty good price.

Although we had an amazing time laying in the sun and doing nothing, we are pretty excited to get back on the road, so to speak, and head into a brand new country.

It was only a 1.5 hour ferry from Rhodes Port to Marmaris, Turkey. A bumpy ride on a smaller boat than we have been used to lately. This will be the last ferry, which is kind of sad. I was enjoying the fresh breeze on the ocean when compared to a stuffy and hot train. Of course, yet again, we struggled to find our new Airbnb. We had to ask a local who had no idea where it was either but he walked from shop to shop on the street, asking every single shop owner if they knew where it was. Several people came out, huddled around Marks phone, discussing back and forth in Turkish while we stood there politely waiting and sweating. We were so thankful for a barbershop owner to let us into his shop with AC and use his wifi to contact our host. I’m always blown away by peoples kindness towards foreigners. “It takes a village.” I said to Mark.

Once settled and cooled off in the AC, we headed towards town for food and a beach. Of course we found both! We are trying so hard to get back onto the right path for eating and we carefully picked a restaurant so we were able to order something with no carbs. Well of course, we have no idea what were ordering and ended up with a huge platter of meat, lettuce, rice and delicious pita bread to make into wraps and a yogurt dip to use as a sauce. I was amazed by something so simple when we got our salad. The tomatoes here are nothing like Ive ever tasted. Im not a huge tomato person back home but I could eat the tomatoes here forever! They are so crunchy and juicy and almost sweet like fruit. In a salad with cucumber, shredded lettuce and an amazing mint dressing it was absolute heaven. Even Mark, who asks for no tomatoes on everything he orders, ate slices of them one after another and picked away at them until they were all gone. The food was so delicious and had to have a Turkish tea at the end which reminded me a lot of Orange Pekoe or English Breakfast but a bit less of a bitter taste to it. Served in a glass cup with no handles made it super fun to pick up trying not to burn your fingers.

All of a sudden, at the end of the meal, the waiter dropped of a dish on our table, free of charge. Mark and I looked at each other saying “We just cant catch a break on this no carb thing!” How can you get offered a local dessert for free and NOT eat it? Its ridiculous. Sekerpare (pronounced “sheh-ker-pah-reh”) is a popular almond baked pastry dipped in thick, lemon flavoured sugar syrup. So delish! After a swim in the warm Mediterranean sea we walked through the streets, checking out the shops and mine and Marks favourite, walking through the local grocery store! Always so much fun!