Greece - Rhodes and Halki

Rhodes:

We were standing at the oversized baggage area of the airport waiting for John’s bike to arrive. When it became clear that it hadn’t made it, we were directed to the Lost & Found desk where a lovely girl took all our details and assured us John’s bike would turn up.

Meanwhile, a security guard heard our accents and asked which city in Australia we were from. When we said 'Ballarat', he asked if we might know his cousin there and said the name of a famous cancer doctor in Ballarat. We haven't met him personally but we certainly know who he is. It's a small world....

Meanwhile I had tried to buy a Greek sim card but the only place in the airport that sold them wasn’t open, even though it was late morning on a weekday. We had a minivan organized to pick us and the bike up and without a sim card, we couldn’t contact the driver. We eventually found each other though and headed off. We drove past areas that had been burnt in the recent bushfires. These trees won't grow back like our gum trees would.

We had one night in Rhodes before heading to Halki. Most people, including us in the past, stay in Rhodes Town, which is about 40 kms from where our small Halki ferry goes from. We thought we’d be smart this time and stay in a beautiful mountain village closer to the port. Big mistake. After we booked our non-refundable accommodation, we learned that there’s no public transport out here. In the end a really helpful taxi company owner picked us up himself. Both taxi drivers were wonderful.

Our accommodation was gorgeous – a fully renovated traditional house in the centre of the village. John had planned to ride but, without the bike, we walked instead. I was delighted to find so many familiar Greek plants. In such an arid climate where any plant has to be tough to survive heat, cold and goats, only the prickliest of plants survive.

I love the way the thorns of these plants look like chemical symbols.

All through the Balkans, I watched in anticipation as small figs on trees in the wild and in gardens got larger as the weeks went on. One of my favourite memories is eating fresh figs off a tree in Croatia and I can’t wait to do it again here. Much to my delight the figs here were just starting to ripen. Maybe it’ll only be a few weeks until I can eat fresh figs again!

There were grapes here too and, in a typical display of Greece’s abundance of fruit in such a dry climate, we found figs and grapes growing intertwined.

It felt so good to be back in Greece again. It's such a country of contradictions. Among the arid, rocky landscape we find fruit, greenery and beautiful old buildings like this one.

That evening, we sat at the restaurant that our taxi driver had recommended and I spied a local traditional food shop nearby. These places sell things like local honey and I was looking for a particular nut paste we bought on another island last year. I walked in to ask the lady if she had it and she immediately handed me a small glass of some sort of liqueur to try. It was amazing! It turned out to be coffee and ouzo. I don’t even like coffee but this was incredible. Needless to say, I walked out of there with a large bottle of the liqueur and some honey but no nut paste!

HALKI

I’m putting a disclaimer out there before I start this part. We love Halki. This is our 5th visit here (John’s cousin's wife is part Greek and has a family house here) and I’m a bit besotted with the island.

We boarded the ferry to take us to Halki and were horrified to find four busloads of day trippers boarded as well! We were arriving on Halki on the last day of the St Yiannis festival and it seemed to be getting more popular with tourists. We were on my favourite ferry. The Nissos Halki was the ferry we took the first time we went to Halki. We had the kids with us then and we all stood near the front of the boat watching in amazement as the stunning town on Halki came into view. That scene never fails to captivate us.

I won’t write a lot of details about Halki and the festival in this post because I did that last year. If you want to know more, you can see our post from last year here. 

As we pulled into the port, a parade was happening nearby. I think they were carrying an icon from the church and people were following. I wish we arrived 10 minutes earlier! John’s cousin, also called John, was waiting for us at the port and it was great to see him.

We stayed in a different apartment this time. It was small but worked well. The views of the water and village were every bit as stunning as I remembered. The colour of the water here is superb!

Cousin John (let’s call him JK for clarification) and his wife Val had about 15 other friends here as well and, over the next week or so, we drank, ate, danced, sung, swam and walked. It was full on but was absolutely wonderful. We also caught up with our Belgian friends that we met here last year and had kept in touch with.

Our first night there was the big one – it was the last night of the festival. The harbourside was decked out in bunting for the occasion.

One of the local ferries was taking the band back to Rhodes. This band had been playing in the parades during the day. As the band played on the ferry, the ferry pulled in and out of various points around the harbour, making sure everyone could hear the band leaving. Small boats and a jet ski (we’ve never seen one here before!) put out flares to add a bit of drama to the event.

Hundreds of chairs were set up in front of the restaurants and JK had booked us in a wonderful spot. After plenty of good food, speeches were made then the music started. First up were traditional dancing groups. 

Our friend, Mihalis, is one of the main dancers. As usual, he was very entertaining.

When the official dancing finished the public dancing started. The first few dances were a bit cautious but soon the numbers grew. 

By late in the night there were hundreds of people dancing traditional dances together. Even though the space was large there were so many people that they could barely move. To top off the beautiful scene, an almost full moon rose over the water.

I tried a few of the simpler dances and did ok. John was brave and got up once.  A friend of JK and Val's, Yiorgos, grabbed me and took me to the dance area at one stage. I told him I didn’t know that dance. (You don’t want to look like a complete idiot when the locals take their dancing so seriously.) “Just bounce up and down!” he yelled to me over the music. He was right! By just bouncing up and down and slowly moving to the right, it looked like were dancing. Everyone’ arms were crossed and linked to others like in the photo above and every time a tourist joined in the locals had to grab hands and rearrange them as none of us could work it out. With all these bodies in close proximity it was incredibly hot and it was hard to hold other dancers hands as we were all sweating so much that hands just slipped off each other.

The passion the Greeks have for traditional dancing amazes me. Perhaps 60% of the hundreds of people dancing were under 30. And they knew every step and every word to the songs. It’s refreshing to see multiple generations joining in a community event like this with such passion.

We finally rolled into bed at about 2am but the dancing didn’t stop til 7.30am when the last stayers danced slowly to the rising sun. And even more amazing is that the same musicians played the entire night!

It was funny going to shops and restaurants the next day. We didn’t speak to anyone who had had more than 2 hours sleep! But it’s the busy season and they have to work no matter what.

The next night we were treated to a full moon rising over the water.

The restaurants are strung along the waterfront and look amazing in the evening with the clock tower lit up behind them.

Through JK and Val, we’ve met a number of locals on Halki. Two of them are brother and sister, Mihalis (the dancer) and Kiki. A bit younger than us, they’re both wonderful people and their mother, Lefkosia, is one of the most beautiful souls you would ever meet. Up in the hills, about 10 minute’s drive from the town, is the ancient original village. It’s in ruins but a few people have started to renovate places here. Kiki’s family recently set up a restaurant here and we were keen to try it so all 17 of us taxied up there one night.

Mihalis, Kiki and John.

John and Liam (JK and Val's son) talking to Lefkosia through the kitchen window.

Kiki is a real character and, after much delicious food, we ended up singing with her. I’ll never hear “I love you baby” without thinking of Kiki again, even though it’s also our wedding song! 

There was lots of singing as the night went on. JK and John thought they'd use their souvlakis as microphones!

Some of us were keen to learn how to make Halki pasta, a sublime dish of home-made pasta, cheese and caramelized onions. Believe us, it takes sooo much better than it sounds! JK arranged with Kiki that they would show a few of us how to make it, so, on our last night, we returned at the appointed time. In true Greek style, we waited for ages before they started to make the pasta. It was interesting to watch. It was so labour-intensive. 

The pasta machine was over 40 years old.

Mihalis is also a farmer. To make the cheese in the pasta, he milks the goats and sheep and makes the cheese himself. Amazing! Also in true Greek style there must have been something lost in translation because we never learned how to cook the onions! By the time dinner turned up at about 9pm, we had been there for nearly three hours drinking on empty stomachs so there were a few sore heads the next day!

We swam every day. Our favourite place to swim is right in front of our accommodation. The water here is incredibly clear. Last time I snorkelled here I was so disappointed at the lack of fish or any life under the water. This time I didn’t expect to see much and I learned to appreciate the little things. There were thousands of tiny fish. I suspect these were the same ones that got served up fried as whitebait in the restaurants. There were larger fish too, just not many of them. 

I snorkelled with Liam and he pointed out things I might have otherwise missed. 

Liam spent most of his summers on this island as a kid and learned a few local tricks like how to pick up urchins without getting stung. Liam’s such a gentle soul and I loved that he put the urchin back where he got it from when we had finished looking at it.

One day we took a local small boat to a nearby beach and had a lovely day sitting under the trees at the water’s edge.  The lunch was wonderful! Underwater, there were a few more fish to see here and lots of these feathery things.

In between swimming and recovering from big nights, I walked the town. There’s only the one town here and it’s unusual because grand Italianate buildings were built when people on Halki got wealthy on the sponge diving industry in the 19th century. At the time, diving was a treacherous job and many people got the bends. Amazingly, this is recorded in a local dance that we saw on the night of the festival. The dancer’s portrayal of someone with the bends was quite disturbing.

Halki is becoming more popular so most of the old houses have been done up for tourist accommodation. The renovated buildings are so beautiful!

I still love the patina of the old doors and windows though.

Views of that stunning water are everywhere. These are the steps we walk down to jump in the sea.

At every turn was another beautiful scene.

Old windmills in the early morning light.

The sheep here are almost comical - skinny legs stick out of round bodies like knitting needles sticking out of a ball of wool.

After a few days we received an email to say that John's bike had arrived! In true island, form we were advised which ferry it would be on. We picked it up one evening and had to lug it to our apartment.

Halki is a very hilly island and the roads are mostly very steep. John rode up to Kiki's restaurant one day.

We had a lovely farewell lunch the day we left.

Leaving this wonderful island. Not many people do this with a bike!

And that was the end of another fantastic visit to this beautiful place. A big thanks to JK and Val for being such amazing hosts again. We can't wait to come back!

Heather and John