RHODES - Lindos

At last it was time to move on.
Lindos, we knew, was only a few kilometres away so we ordered a taxi. What my husband had not explained fully, was that there was no access to the hotel by car, so when the taxi driver dropped us in the little square that led off into the town, we then had to hunt for our accommodation by searching through the very narrow lanes. They were beautiful and chocked full of shops and our search went on and on, which was not funny with a stiff knee and tender ankle, but I didn't dare complain.
We trailed our luggage behind us and had to walk up what seemed like hundreds of steps until, breathless, we began to think we were going to pass out. At that moment, an English speaking lady came to our rescue and indicated where she thought Harmony Suite was and to our great relief, she was right. The daft part was, if only we'd got the taxi driver to drop us at the top of the town, we'd have been virtually on the hotel's doorstep.
We were knackered, so it was a complete delight to be shown to our swish room, which was beautiful compared to the dirty one in Pefkos. It contained a large and really comfortable bed, a super clean kitchen with a microwave and fridge. There was also a small bottle of Proseccu Martini and a bottle of Brut to welcome us. The comfort continued with free slippers, chairs, a dressing table, wardrobe, flat screen tv, dvd player and air conditioning. The bathroom was sumptuous and spotless with a large bath and shower, a basin and all sorts of freebies.  It was all so perfect and the view from the breakfast area (a few seconds from our front door) was absolutely breathtaking. We looked out on the sea and a huge hill which has an Acropolis on the top. At last, I felt we could relax - if only it wasn't so far to walk to the town!
Throughout the entire holiday, everything had conspired against me getting to the shops. First the luggage allowance, then the cracked knee and sprained ankle and now, having reached shoppers paradise, I was stuck hundreds of metres up at the top of a hill and terrified I might fall over again, down all those steps.
Nick gallantly disappeared back into the town to get a bit of shopping, so we could have some lunch. (The hotel only served breakfast!) As I sat alone waiting for him to return, the reality hit me hard. This town was teeming with beautiful shops, but nothing had changed - we were still up to the max on our luggage allowance, so even if I did manage the walk, I couldn't buy anything. I felt incredibly pissed off and realised the bottle of Proseccu was there for a reason so I popped off the cork. I wasn't sure if it was because I couldn't go shopping, or because of the realisation that shopping was so important to me. Either way, it made me feel miserable. Oh and I still had a cold.
By the time Nick puffed his way back up the hill, I was a bit more cheery and that evening we went into the town for a meal. We found a lovely taverna and the place to eat was on the roof under the stars.
Lindos is charming. Its honeycomb of narrow lanes contains hundreds of shops and tavernas and it's not in the least bit tacky. There are souvenir shops, but they blend happily with the clothes and bag shops, jewellers, art and craft shops and eateries. There are goods displayed outside and everything is bright and attractive. I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere, which was friendly and typically Greek. Some of the taverna owners were a bit pushy in trying to attract our custom, which had the reverse effect and put us off. But the town was full of interest at every turn. I loved it.
Incredibly, being stuck at the top of a steep hill was just what I needed (kneeded!) and the fact we had long distances to walk probably did me more good than anything else. I found the further I walked, the better I felt.
I was looking forward to the next day and finding the beach.