My Road To Happiness

Tuesday morning I get myself up early and back to Lindos in time to meet Becca at the beach. I pack a bag that contains what I need for the beach and for a possible overnight stay. Once I saw how easy it was to find a room just by walking into a shop with a “room to let” sign over the door, I began toying with the idea of abandoning my “craptastic” apartment in Rhodes for the rest of my stay on the island.

There are 2 beaches. The “main beach” that you see on your drive in and the one that is just over the hill, behind the Acropolis. The beach at St. Paul’s Bay is nearly deserted and Becca tells me that she and Nathan have had this spot all to themselves for weeks.

Today there are a few people coming down with their kids so we make our way to the other end of the beach nearer the small restaurant. It’s wonderfully warm (though the water’s still cold) and I lay down and let the sun do it’s work on my frame. You know how you feel the sun start on the outer layer of your skin? Slowly it seeps into your muscles and they start to lengthen and let go of any residual tension. You feel a sleepy and it’s hard to keep your eyes open. If you let yourself go, the last thing you’ll feel is the warmth make it’s way all the way to your interior, down into your bones and you feel “well”.

A while later we head into the ocean. It’s so clear it’s like standing in a glass of tap water. I wish it was a little warmer but I know that would be a trade off. Warmer means later in the season, more people, more annoyance.

Becca and I go back to the same shopkeeper who turned her down for a month to month rental. She’s happy to accommodate my one night request. The room is immaculate and really, really cheap. Thirty (30) euro a night! Holy crapoly. Now, of course it is at the very TOP of Lindos. It’s like climbing Mt. Everest to get there. By the time we arrive at the top I’m red faced and sweaty. I still agree to rent it knowing I have to climb it at least two more times. First just to check it out, for safety and cleanliness. Then to go back and get my bags from the car and Sherpa them up the nearly vertical grade to my new room.

Thank heavens the air conditioning is working and I head right to the bathroom for a much needed shower. The facilities really crack me up. Essentially it’s a large, rectangular room that’s tiled floor to ceiling. You enter at the far right of the room and in front of the door is the sink. Midway down the room is a shower head sticking out of the wall just above a drain in the floor. If you continue down the room, at the end, in the corner on the right is the toilet. You could do your business naked, move to the shower next and finish by brushing your teeth. All in one nearly contiguous movement. I’m not saying I did that. Just that you could if you wanted to.

Now it’s off to Spa Lindos, where I booked an appointment for a massage and pedicure the day before. It’s owned by Vanessa, an American-Greek who moved here and opened the business after she was married and emigrated to Rhodes. The facility is gorgeous and they have a stylish clothing boutique on the main floor. Her family owns several other popular Lindian businesses. Visit them all at Lindos Treasures.

I’m wisked through the store and into the courtyard around which the facility is built. Instructed to climb some VERY steep wooden stairs to the rooms above the shop I wonder if they make the old people getting treatments here perform this daring acrobatic feat. Once inside the room is dark and cool compared to the heat and humidity outside. It’s not airconditioned but the thick stucco walls and wooden shutters keep the heat out and the air flowing in and out. It’s an ancient system and it works.

My massage is handled competently and it’s badly needed. Hauling my stuff all over the island has taken it’s toll on my shoulders.

Now off to get a much needed pedicure. I climb down the stairs again, cross the courtyard and enter a separate building where they handle the feet and hands.

I feel a 100% more human after a shower, massage and pedi. I head back to Mt. Everest, put on some cute clothes and make my way out to dinner. Now, don’t laugh. I decided to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant. In Greece. Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m an ass. I’m perversely curious and can’t help wondering what Mexican food in Greece will be like.

“Lolos, the Mexican Restaurant” is right next to Alex’s where I ate the first day I visited the village. The rhythm of the village still eludes me. It’s 7:30p and there’s hardly anyone out and about and eating. I am the ONLY customer in the Mexican place that’s not a relative. I break my own NY’er rule to never eat at a place that isn’t packed with people. I consider that it’s early in the season and a slow tourist season because the economy sucks and take the plunge anyway. That’s where I meet, Mike Savvaidis, owner and budding internet geek.

Mike grew up in Lindos too and we talk a little about the Turkish Yogurt lady who lived in the hills and the other characters in the Manus book. Mike’s interested in upping his profile by creating a Facebook presence for the restaurant. I agree to give him a hand and as usual these things never go smoothly as you hope. I few margarita’s and fajita’s later we’ve put together a Fan Group for the restaurant and updated his personal profile.

I express my surprise that Lindos is so hooked up. Everywhere you go has free wireless internet for customers. He tells me the village is really committed to that and will be removing all the wires that currently connect the restaurants and shops this year. The city has passed an initiative to make wireless a Village-wide affair. Instead of each proprietor paying for access and then providing customers access via their own (often unstable) wireless router, access will be fed from a central village source and blanket the entire place. Lindos will look even more authentic and lovely when the black wires snaking across the rooftops are gone. I think that’s brilliant.

Mike’s pages are updated and ready to make new friends so I wander around a bit more but it’s late and by now I’m pretty tired. I start back up the hills to Mt. Everest and sleep.

Tags: Greece, Lindos, Mexican Food, solo travel, Wireless Internet