Lindos and Rhodes East Coast

Before I left for Rhodes, I’d read that the island has a pretty good public transport system and was very tempted to try to complete the week using only buses and coaches. The bus from the airport convinced me that just getting as far as Lindos (nearly 50km from Rhodes Town), much less seeing anything when I got there, could well take a considerable chunk of a day. It also looked as though there might be some other interesting things to see on the way — something that would be tricky to do on a bus — and so I decided to hire a car.

Epta Piges (Seven Springs)

I’d seen Greek driving while walking around town and have to confess to being a little apprehensive about driving around Rhodes Town. As luck would have it, the main road to Lindos was literally just around the corner from where I picked the car up so I had no trouble with either the directions or other traffic.

I was tempted to make a couple of stops en route. I nearly stopped at Falaraki just to see what it was like. It’s Rhodes’ “party town,” though I suspected that in April there would be tumbleweeds down the main street. I passed through part of it on the main road. The concrete, characterless hotels convinced me to continue, only slowing down at the stop signals.

The first place I did stop at is called the Seven Springs, though I called it “Epta Piggies” since I could never quite remember the Greek.

While I’d heard good things about it, I have to admit to being underwhelmed. I crossed a stream and started heading uphill and in a short time reached a waterfall. It was at this point that I realised that I’d missed the springs that gave the place its name.

I returned to where I started. Just by the cafe near the car park I notice a few sticks in the water with numbers on. If there were seven there, they were very well hidden, but it was clearly this that I had come to see.

I understand that there were other parts to the complex but I decided to press on to Lindos. I would find out later that this was very much the right choice.

Lindos

When I finally got to Lindos, I took the same approach as when I arrived at the Cinque Terre: I went past a few car parks with spaces and went to the one that looked to be nearest the town. (If I’m going to go to the expense of hiring a car I figure I should try to minimise my walking!) I went past a lot of parked cars and ended up in an overflow carpark.

From the car park you could see pretty much all of Lindos, the pretty white buildings at the bottom and the picturesque acropolis right at the top.

Church in Lindos

I walked down from the car park into the town. Up close the streets are prettier than they are practical, being narrow, winding and hilly. It was a little tricky to get oriented and a spend a while walking in circles as I tried to find something to eat.

Lindos

After lunch I went straight up the hill to the acropolis. The walk looked far worse from the bottom than it actually was and only ten minutes later I was at the entrance buying my tickets.

Lindos waterfront

I found that there were two sides to the place. Not only were there lots of ruins — in pretty good condition actually — but there were also views back down over the town and over the bay.

Lindos acropolis

Even at this time of year, when the sky looked a little overcast and where the wind was strong enough that I actually took my hat off to avoid losing it, the water was a beautiful, almost unreal turquoise colour.

View of Lindos from the acropolis

Tourist-wise this was probably the busiest place I’d been to so far this week. It meant that taking some pictures turned out to be more tricky than I’d hoped for. But, then again, taking pictures of tourists was fairly straight-forward…

What to see next in the Lindos acropolis

By the end of my time looking around, the person that sold me the tickets started wandering around, shouting that the attraction was closing and would everyone mind leaving now please. I was very pleased that I didn’t stay any longer at the Seven Springs or even dawdle around during lunch. As I sat outside considering my next move, a few other visitors were not so lucky. I still think it’s odd that it closes mid-afternoon but I’m glad that I managed to look around.

Back in town I went to look around the amphitheatre and then down to the beach for a quick stroll. Up close the water looked much less inviting, though I’m sure it would have been really nice to swim in a couple of months!

I had originally been thinking about staying in Lindos for dinner but it was now four in the afternoon and I’d seen pretty much everything I wanted to. Another two or three hours just lurking around seemed a lot so decided to hit the road. I could always stop off somewhere en route.

Restaurant in Stegna

I arbitrarily picked Stegna as my stopping off point. I knew nothing about it. That the name was a bit like “smegma” may have factored into my choice.

It was late in the day and it was cloudy and overcast. Plus even the restaurants that were open (including the one pictured above) looked closed. I took a quick wander up and down the promenade, but it was very blustery so I cut my losses and got back on the road to Rhodes Town.

The next day I would tackle the west coast of the island.