getting around - where to go on Rhodes?

one of the gates

Well Rhodes is a big island with lots of thing to see and do. To find all these places there are many ways to travel. There are two bus companies covering the island and providing a good service. Ask for the timetable in your hotel or search for it in the internet. For like EUR 2.50 you can take a ride from Faliraki to Rhodes Town. That takes like 30 Minutes for these 15 km. By taxi you are paying like EUR 15-20.
Or you hire a car or scooter. There are tons of stations but beware of some bad companies.

There are lots of things to do and to explore. Here are some things you should not miss during your stay.

the acropolis of Rhodes

The beautiful medieval old town of Rhodes. (The capital and the island are called the same.) The hearth of this city was built long time ago to protect the island from the turkish and other invaders. Walk up the Ritterstrasse (path of knights) and have a look at the spanish, french and some other hostels from these times. On the top you turn right and enter the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights. On the left you will find the entrance to the walls. You can walk some parts of the 4 km wall surrounding the town and admiring the city from above. In the town you will certainly find some very nice restaurants. For example the Ta Kioupia a greek taverna.
A little bit outside of the old town there is the Acropolis of Rhodes. Yes, it is stones on stones but image how old they are and what happened here. Incredible!!!!

Lindos

acropolis in Lindos

When you ask people about greece most of them think of white houses, donkeys and wine. Well on Rhodes not many house are white and have a blue roof. But in Lindos one of the oldest towns of the island you will find these houses. We took a change to visit Lindos on another day. Lindos is very touristic but very lovely too. Small streets or pahts around the houses, donkeys climbing up the hill and some very nice lagunas for swimming. But we went there to see another acropolis of course. This one is sat on a huge rock  overlooking the village and the ocean. The entrance is about EUR 6 and it is crowded as the store on christmas. To be honest I  did not like this acropolis very much. But the view is stunning.

Well any other things to do? Why don't you climb the Filerimos? Don't be scared there is a road leading to the top. There is a large cross, of course some rocks and stones from an old acropolis, a old belfry and some peacocks.
Or visiting the butterfly valley and its animals. Actually they are not butterflies they are moths. But the valley is beautiful.

About wine and meat in Greece

First week of October I spent a week in Greece. To be more precise on one of the Greek Islands. Rhodes. It is the fourth largest island of greece. Nice sandy beaches, a beautiful old town, historical sights and some good food were the most important points to book this week. And I can tell you it was just perfect. 

enjoying the pool 

We spent one week in Faliraki on of the most popular towns on this island. Faliraki is well known for its nice beach and the big night life. Well during this time of season there are not many tourist on the island. So it was calm but the wheater was just perfect. Sunshine, 25 degres and hardly no clouds. 

We booked the Sentido Apollo Blue in Faliraki with breakfast in a Junior Suite with shared pool. We got upraded to  a Junior Suite Privat Pool seaview which is actually the best category you can get in this hotel. 

Most of the day we spent eighter on the beach (sunbed & umbrella costs 4 EUR per person and day) or on the terrace next to our pool. 

Well life was not to bad to us :-) In the evenings we went for dinner in Faliraki which was a 5 minutes walk. There were two very delicous tavernas. The Costas Village on the main road were all the shops are served good food for a superb price. Go and try the Klefitko a typical Greek dish. Just a couple of metres ago were the shopping zone ends there is the Manolis Taverna. They have a daily menu with typical dishes as well as some specialities of the day. The prices are maybe a little higher than in Costas but it is worth. Manolis serves a great wine from the mainland of Greece. Kir Giannis was the name I think. 

After dinner we went for a drink or two in bar street. The name says it all :-) Here is the party zone. Fish Spas, Bars, Clubs and so on. When we were there the season was almost over so there were few people. 

getting around and fishing in Sweden

Well the roads are very good. Be aware of the very modern and fancy radar control systems. We  hired a car from Stockholm Arlanda Airport and drove all the way to our house.
Some of us arrived a few days later. They took the train to a neighbor village. They told me that the trains are good and little expensive. The connections are not always good but the trains are punctual.

Well what else can I tell you? Do not drink and drive. As I allready mentioned the moose. Remember he is stronger than you and might stop also your car.

A very important thing about Sweden is the fish. We wanted to rent a fishing rod. This was not possible they told us in the fishers shop. We can have two fishing rods for about CHF 30.00 for one week. If we are going to bring them back they will return the money. I do not know how they make money?! Well we were very happy with these rods. Of course we bought some hooks and stuff. That is how it works. 

Swedish Midsummer Night

our boat and the float

Our trip took place in June because of the sun. Yes, you are right in Sweden it was much colder than in Switzerland and that is normal. But have you ever heard about the biggest party in Sweden?
That would probably be Midsummer Night! The Swedish and of course lots of other people celebrate the longest day of the year. That is why I chose the week of the 24 June to go there, I was very curious to see that. To make a long story short we arrived one day late. We arrived on saturday to hear from our lovely neigbours that the Midsummer party was the day before.

Well in that case we said we make our own party on the wodden float. On of the best parties ever!!!!!
Nevertheless it was the best period to go there. The weather was quite nice it rained only one day. There were hardly no moskitos and lake was quite warm.
The days are really long. It was never totaly dark outside. For like 2-3 hours it got darker and then the sun came back. It was awesome! Go there and check it out. It is quite hard to explain that feeling. 

a swedish summer dream

With this trip I made myself a present. I wanted to go to sweden since a long time. To see the beauty of the swedish landscape, to see the moose, catch some fishes, spend a day in the sauna. Yeah what should I saw more. This was my dream of sweden. So it was my trip - a dream came true.
The following things are now done on my bucked list.
- The moose, yes! In the way to our house
- catch some fishes
- the sauna could not cool down during this week :-)

We stayed in the south of Sweden near Nyköpping in a little village called Björnlunda. Our house was situated next to a beautiful lake. There was a sauna, a boat, a wodden raft, a canoe, a little landing stage and even a room where you can work on your quarry and take out the innards of in our case the fishes. And that is how lots of swedish people live. Enjoy the nature, catch a fish and take a sauna.
But the best were my friends I took wih me.
Well what can I say more about this country. Not much I suggest you to watch first the movie we shot. Enjoy

getting around in Apulia

Well rent a car!!!!
there are trains and busses. But you are on holiday and I guess you do not want to get angry of waiting hours and hours.

In Spring and Autumn I recomend you to travel by bike. There is a number of bike touroperators in Apulia. They book the hotels and bring your bags from one hotel to the next.
Well there are som taxis but as I heard they cost a fortune.
I suggest you to take a plane from Zurich to Brindisi or Bari. These two cities also have some big harbours with ferries to Croatia and Greece. These are also stops for the big cruise ships. 

Apuglia - Italys South

view from the masseria 

In mid July I took a change to go for another study-trip. This time to Italy.

Since years Italy is very popular to travel around or for holidays in a resort. I do not have to tell you anything about Tuscany (ups, I allready did in another post), the Piemont or cities like rome or Venice.
The more south you go the less friends or relatives had been there before. I did not know anything about the region of Apulia before the trip.

During the trip I had to visit about 30 hotels including different room types, spas, pools, restaurants and so on... Yes, you are right: it was so boring and so exhausting. There was no freetime except in the evenings.

Nevertheless I would like to share on particular experience I made. Italy is full of these old former farming houses, they are called Masseria. A big number of them has been rebuilt into hotels or restaurants.
We made a lunch stop in the Masseria Le Stanzie. The food was very delicious and typical for Italy I took for ever. So much food, so much wine.

trulli in Albarobello

They grow the food on the fields around the Masseria. It's all fresh and local. If you are in the region of Supersano take a change and reserve a table in the Masseria. It's small and they are not open every day.

Another must see in Apulia is Albarobello. There are hundreds of Trullis in the old town. Most of them are shops, restaurants but a lot of them are still houses were people live in. Some of them are rented for tourists. These are the typical houses there.

As every where in Apulia plants mainly vegetables were grown. And of course I forgot the vine. Well just go down there for a couple of days and enjoy the food, the vine and last but not least the sun.

getting around on Djerba

Most of the tourists book a package including flight, hotel and transfer. In Tunisia and especially on Djerba it is easy to get around by a rental car, or bike. On the mainland there are trains running and several bus companies run all over the country. I did not try them but I heard they are good in cheap.
The road signs are in arabic and french and have funny pics ;-) 

A few nights in Tunisia (Djerba)

I was not my first time on Djerba this nice sandy island in the south of Tunisia. But this time it was totally different. It was a business trip for only a few days. Visiting hotels, rooms, meetings and so on. It was horrible. So many appointments in just a few days.

The trip took place in April 2015. The temperature showed some 35 degrees, the sun was shining. Perfect for making holiday.
Never heard of this Tunisian island? No worries. It's small but nice. Basically it's a huge sandball living in the mediterran ocean near the african coast. The island is flat, there are some palm trees and some people living. It's about an hours drive from north to south. But to be honest, nobody goes to Djerba to see the island. It's all about the ocean, liing at the beach enjoy the hotel facilities.... Vacation for cheap money. As the water is not too deep especially families like Djerba.

fish market

Right now nobody even thinks about going to Djerba. But well I understand. I am not going to get political. I mean it is like it is. My goal with this post is to show you some hidden places of this wonderful island.

During this fast business trip I took a change to go on the market in Houmt Souk the capital of the island. It ist not to big but like one of these tipycal markets in the arab countries. For me it is the spices that attracts me. But here they had a part where they only sold fish. There is the older guy sitting on the chair on a table. He shows a line of fishes to the crowd and they shout a price. As you can see the man on the right is tired;-)
The rest of the old town is all in white walls with blue roofs. It's a little bit greek style. The colours have meaning or reason. The white paint of course is for cooling down the house and the blue is to attrac the moskitos. So they stay outside on the roof.
There is small but cute harbour next to Houmt Souk. The fishermen repair their nets and repaint the boats. On this picture you see some tools to catch the octopus. It is like a vase with a hole on the bottom. This is for the rope. Imagine you have dozens of this things to put in the water. To take them out again it is much easier to have them tied togheter. The octopus likes living in holes. So he enters the vase and does not even ralise that this is a trap. There are hundreds of these traps on the pier. At the entrance to the harbour of course there are some fancy restaurants.

The most fascinating part and the main reason for my post is Djerbahood. Never heard of? Me too before I saw it. In the town Hara Sghira Er Riadh in the midle of the island 150 artists from all around the world made parts of the town to an open sky museum. Djerbahood the name of this project is really worth visiting. So if you ever go to Djerba go and see these work by these 30 streetartists.