We went to the acropolis of Lindos and Rhodes in one day.

Our tour guide Andy gave us some facts this day including:

1. There are 2,000-3,000 Greek Islands. Google will tell you there are 6,000 Greek Islands but Andy was quick to inform everyone there are 6,000 Greek rocks not islands
2. Only about 200 or so of those are even inhabited.
3. There is an oleander plant that you can chew and it will put you in a trance. But she would not point it out to us.
4. And finally she said, “Greeks don’t plan ahead.” We saw the result of this and Greece’s current economic situation in the fact that they were so many unfinished buildings everywhere we went (except for Mykonos and Santorini).

I thought “The Acropolis,” was one specific place. But we learned the large ancient Greek cities all had them as a defense because they were fortified and on a hill. So we went to the acropolis at Lindos and the ancient port of Rhodes.

One of the biggest surprises for me was Greece is very arid looking. My dad is from Arizona and as a kid we visited many times. As we drove to the acropolis I had to remind myself that this was Greece, not America because to me it truly looked like a slightly greener Tucson and rather than tons of cacti there was the slivery fig trees.

It was a hot day and we knew it was a small hike up so I found a blood orange Powerade that proved to worth the Euros.

The streets (that seemed to mostly pedestrian) in the city surrounding the acropolis were made of these little stones put into patterns. I can’t imagine the process that went into laying them but they were amazing!

You can see the line of people heading up the path. If you ask my mom she will tell you the path was about a foot wide and the side was straight drop off hundred of feet. As you can see that is not very true. I think the path average about 2 and half feet wide and the scariest part to me was the fact that other people seemed nervous and prone to falling and I was worried someone would grab me and take me with them.

You can see the shadows of the boats on the floor of the port. This water was gorgeous and completely unedited. I never even noticed that beach and chairs during our hike but I should have gone that way!

There were stones everywhere with indentions shaped like feet where a statue used to be.

Next we headed to the Old Town in Rhodes. Within medieval walls with a fun history with knights, they have modern shops and restaurants, it was one of my favorite stop just because of the combination of old and new.

My first pizza of the trip, it was amazing but also I was starving.

The streets of Rhodes were rough and beautiful. Every house and restaurant had lots of greenery and plants and it all looked so effortless and natural.

Walking back to the beach was the only chance I had to finally stick my feet in the ocean. Andy had warned us that the water was cold and only a tourist would be in it this time of year.

She was right so was ice cold but I can say that I have been in the Aegean sea.

Santorini had a lot of build up for. Many photographers go there and post these flawless photos of the whitewashed buildings and blue domes and the island did not disappoint.

The thing I was not prepared for was looking out of the window that morning and looking straight up and realizing that we had to some how get up to that skinny white line of buildings at the top.

We took a cable car, they definitely need about six more sets of them at least to efficiently get people up there but the view was spectacular.

Andy clearly had strong opinions about Santorini. She said, “You know what Santorini is? It’s people paying a million dollars to live in a white cave with bugs.” She isn’t completely wrong, compared to the other parts of Greece, it is a little bit of an adult Disney World, where everything is Instagram worthy. But it’s still beautiful and fun. The rocky cliffs with an picturesque towns on top were pretty much everything you want them to be.

This Greek salad was so good apparently I forgot to tag a picture till after we ate it. We also ate fish and chips and thinking it was a tomato fritter

My thoughts by this point in the trip:

I was grateful for a tour guide. If I ever go back to Europe (or any big trip for that matter) I would look into hiring one even if it was just for a an hour or so in each new city. Having someone walk us through each city and give us an overview and tips but then let us go on our own was probably the best thing about having her.

I was glad I asked for Chacos for my birthday, usually walking the distances we did I would have had back pain but my back and feet felt great.

I was grateful for sunscreen. It didn’t necessarily feel hotter than Georgia but then sun felt more intense.