Summer Holiday 2010 (Part 1)

OK, I managed to get 10 hours sleep yesterday, so I am feeling much better today. I can actually think for myself and make choices. My housemate asked me yesterday what to have for dinner and I got stuck, looking at her without talking for more than five minutes before she got bored of waiting an answer.

Anyway, I had the time of my life on this holiday.

The first part was when I visited my parents. I stayed there for 5 days visiting old friends, going to the beach and stuffing myself with my mother’s food. Nothing major happened. We didn’t mention facebook or diving. The only thing I briefly told my mother is that I have a ‘friend’ coming to meet me in Rhodes. She was surprised to hear that, but she didn’t ask me for more information so we didn’t really talk about it. I’m giving them the time they need. I went with my friends swimming the night of the August full moon which was quite amazing though.

The beach bar I spent most of my time my home town.

Our very sexy waiter (Dimitris)

Rhodes was incredible. ‘JS’s’ hospitality was amazing and he was always willing to show us where to go, where to eat and what to do. He provided to us a place to stay with all amenities we could need. As planned, he came to pick me up from the airport and after finding ‘JJ’, who arrived earlier by boat, we headed straight to the ‘Kalithea Springs’ beach.

The next day of our visit we went to the ‘Water Park’. ‘JJ’ loved it. We combined going to the most dangerous and scary slides to enjoying the sun with cold coffee and a book on a sun bed for a couple of hours. The second day we went to ‘Symi’. That’s an island between Rhodes and Turkey (closer to Turkey). That’s the island my grandfather was born and raised. It’s quite small, colourful and picturesque. I loved it so much.

Part of the Water Park

My grandfather's old family house in Symi on the right

A small taverna

walking around in Symi

After ‘Symi’ we spent two nights in Marmaris, Turkey. That trip was quite interesting. It was my first time in Turkey but unfortunately I have to say that I didn’t enjoy it that much. The reason of that was the fact that we weren’t really visiting Turkey but England from the 80’s. Because of the number of English tourists visiting the place, there were pubs and chip shops everywhere. We met so many people from Liverpool and Newcastle! There were bars called ‘Everton’ or ‘Manchester’ and shops called ‘TK-Max’. The restaurants were serving Chinese food, Indian Curry and Steaks. We couldn’t find a restaurant looking vaguely Turkish and serving local cuisine. Apart from that, the sea in Marmaris wasn’t that great either. The sand in front of the hotels was very dark coloured and the sea looked uninviting and dirty.

Night life entertainment (I love the Robot Man)

Shopping in Turkey

The thing that we enjoyed the most was a boat trip we took the next morning around the bay where we found really nice beaches and friendly people in a small village. What I wanted to see is local life, taste the amazing Turkish cuisine, get a glimpse of the wonderfully colourful East and try traditional Baklava or syrupy deserts. I want to go back to the country but I will definitely find to visit a more ‘Turkish’ place. Overall, we managed to laugh a lot at the way the place looked and the entertainment it provided.

Marmaris looked beautiful from the boat