Luck of the Rhodish

We headed to the southernmost Greek island of Rhodes this weekend. Or Rodos in Greek...don't ask me why they change the name in English. I'm so confused by the need to change names...I understand in languages that are difficult for foreigners to pronounce but "Athina" to "Athens"...what's the point?

It's a quick 40 minute flight to Rhodes and we arrived a little after 7pm. The airport was small and we quickly jumped in a taxi to head to our hotel. On the way our hotel driver kept asking "Are you sure the hotel is open?" We of course thought this was a ridiculous question and assured him we had reservations and of course it would be open.

As we pulled up to a completely dark building we realized maybe, just maybe, this guy knew what he was talking about. He was very nice and tried to call the hotel for us but it was painfully obvious that unless they were still observing Earth Hour, it was most definitely closed.

So, here we were sitting in a taxi in a very dark driveway with our worthless and pre-paid hotel reservations on an island we knew next to nothing about. Had this happened to us on a vacation prior to January I have no doubt we would have been quickly heading into panic mode. As a couple, we don't exactly have the best track record with stressful situations in foreign countries. As an individual, I don't exactly have the best with stressful situations period.

Luckily, it seems that traveling every weekend since our departure has mellowed us both out considerably. The driver asked us what we wanted to do and we both quickly said "just take us to the Ixian Grand". It was a hotel we had debated on staying at anyway and where Julie's colleague (our current 3rd wife) was staying after arriving on a later flight. If it came down to them not having any availability we'd just go somewhere else. As for the fact that we'd already paid for the other hotel...well, we'd just deal with it next week..no big deal.

I'm not sure who these laid back and unconcerned people were but I'm hoping they are here to stay!

Strangely enough when we got to the other hotel and told them our situation they said "oh, I bet we have a reservation for you". And even stranger, they did. It seems without any notice whatsoever Expedia had made arrangements for us at another hotel. By far I found the strangest thing to be that we had chosen that hotel out of all the hotels on the island to try to get a room. I am still kicking myself for not getting someone back home to get me a lottery ticket that night.

After taking up our things we went to a taverna and enjoyed a long Greek dinner. Getting back fairly late and a little tipsy we then attempted to prank call our 3rd wife to tell her we'd be driving around the island all night trying to find a room and would need to bunk with her. But, it turned out the luck of Rhodes was also smiling down on her because the phone in our room didn't work.

We woke to a gloriously sunny day on Saturday. After surprising 3rd wife at breakfast we unanimously decided the day would be much better spent lying in the sun than even attempting to do anything else. So that's what we did until early evening.



After that we headed in to Old Rhodes Town for coffee, then drinks and then later to another long dinner at a taverna.

Sunday proved to be rainy but it let up enough for us to check out the Grand Master Castle and wander around Old Rhodes Town for a few hours before our flight.

With all the medieval castles and architecture Rhodes was not what one would expect when you think "Greek Island". But, it's lovely in its own respect and proved to be a nice and relaxing getaway.

Which is exactly what we needed because the rest of our weekends this round are packed...next up, Rome!