We woke early and caught a bus a few km from the resort that took us into Rhodes. We had no idea where we were going or what we were doing but we thought the city was a good start. We saw the marina and the area that housed the Colausus of Rhodes one of the 7 world wonders. We also walked around and saw much of te old city that is still completely surrounded by walls. The city had old ruins throughout and I even got the whole family to sneak into the old castle that was inside the walls. We caught the entirely overpacked bus back to the resort. We met te bar tender Gina, who each and every night would yell for everyone to hear, "Happy Hour yipeeeee" she was a little ball of fire. 
Old lighthouse in the marina
The following day dad rented a car and we head down the west side of the island with only a few things planned. We wanted to do a bit of hiking so we stop at a little turn out and started walking up a old road. We soon ran into a old mansion that had been abandoned and we walked around and in it and soon found out from some other people that were there that it was a retirement home for the communist Italian ruler Muselini. It was a very large mansion and very weird that we just stumbled up such a historical sight. It had a fantastic view of the sea and was very high up in the mountains. We continued hiking up the mountain and got someother great views as well. Mom was in dire need of a glass of wine so we took off for a nearby wine factory that happened to be closed but they still had wine tasting. We tasted as many as we could and only purchased one bottle. Kaci in the wine tasting was testif out an old wine machine before popping off the top ona bottle of wine atleast 100 years old. Everyone jumped and she didn't even realize she had just popped the top. We left quickly after that. We ate at a local restuarant and got a typical Greek meal with a lot of meat. It was absolutely fantastic and included chicken, lamb, pork, beef, goat cheese, and so forth.
The drive continued down the westcoast before we came across the monolithis castle. It was a castle in a very small and steep plateau we hiked to the top and got aome picuresque views. I even caught Kc doing some push-ups. Who knows who she's trying to get all jacked for. We continued and drove all the way to the southern tip of Rhodes where the Aegean Sea and the mediteranean meet. There were a lot of wind surfing and kite boarding. We were all exhausted from driving and hiking all day we rushed home to visit Gina.
The next day dad had a deep desire to go to a local bee museum to see just how honey was made and the life of bees. Einstein once said "if bees came to extinction the human race would not survive longer then 4 years" but what's he to say if that's true or not. We found our to a place called 7 springs and had a nice walk and a tunnel through the mountain with water running in it. I took the lead as everyone else was scared and we walked 150m in pure darkness. What an adrenalin rush. We also went into butterfly valley and walked along the exquisite paths and looked at the beautiful waterfalls and other natural wonders along the way. We headed back towards the hotel and swung by a monestry that was proped on top of a mountain. There was also a cross at the top that you could go out on the arms of. It was a great view. That evening my sisters and I decided to go down town and check out the party scene. Mom and dad a little nervous left us and we danced the night away meeting some people and enjoying our time together.
Since we saw practically the entire island and most of the sights in 2 days we took Wednesday to do some snorkeling and some beach hopping. We went to a local beach and hung out and snorkeled a bunch. We all took our turn and since there was no sand we all took our graceful entrances into the water from the sharp rocks. We then went into Faliraki and had a couple pitas then made our way down to the beach and hung out and caught some rays the rest of the day. We hurried home to visit Gina then walked along the beach and watched the sunset.
We heard about the local town Lindos that we hadn't visited yet so we took off there. There is an old castle at the top and is surrounded by the ocean. We hiked to the top. Many people rode donkeys. We went down to the beach after and laid out and snorkeled and we cruised to St. Paul's bay and saw a wedding happening and me and the girls snorkeled around outside the bay and found a deep ravine/cave and started to go in it but we all got scared and decided we didn't want to get eatin by water monsters. It was a great day. And we got a lot of sun.
On our last day in Greece we hiked to the top of another mountain Ladiko it was the steepest road I have ever hiked on let alone seen cars drive on. It was a beautiful view if the beach below that we later went to. We went to another beach called St. Nikolas beach and was my favorite beach of the trip so far. There was no sand just volcanic rock. Danica and I happened to spot a squid in all the action and snuck up behind my dad while snorkeling and scared him so much thought he might have a heart attack. We went and visited Gina one last time and us kids went down town rhodes to check it out one last time. We danced the night away and I Sweet talked my way into getting some free drinks for all of us. It's all about asking the question!
We had a great time in Greece. And we all enjoyed the good very much. Mom especially liked it as they had fresh vegetables and salads at every restaurant. Many of the local restaurants make there own cheese from goat milk and home make all there dishes. So delicious.
Turkey was the next stop on the agenda. We took a ferry from Rhodes to marmaris and got a cab to our hotel that was in Yalikavak. We got to the hotel very late. So we all went to bed soon after the arrival. We woke in the morning and myself and dad rented a vehicle and went into town as his glasses had broke. I helped the communication and he got some new glasses to finish off the vacation. We went back to pick up the girls then went and walked around to check out the town. It was a very nice and quaint town but has the 3rd most expensive marina in the world. Palmarina as it is called houses some of the biggest yachts in the world and had a club called billionaire that only people with a net worth of a billion$ can be a member of. It was beyond our imagination how nice the outside was and how big the yachts were.
We hired a boat tour for the following day and we were up early got some take away breakfast and got on the boat around 10am. We went to 5 different spots and snorkeled and swam at them all. We met another family as well as two guys who work for a man from Kuwait. They fly him in a private 727, they didn't tell us much but they did tell us that one of there bosses business ventures were worth upwards of $22 billion he was a member of the club. His yacht had a helicopter landing pad. We got to see dolphins and much of the coast along yalikavak. So a beautiful and enjoyable day.
We went into bodrum the next day to experince a bazaar(market) and to see some of the city sights. There was a theater from the roman times. An old castle right on the water. And a thousand men and women trying to sell us everything and anything in the bazaar. We also got a big meat platter for lunch. Irresistably delicious.
We drove to a historical area in dalyan. In the area we saw old tombs from 400bc then took a boat down the river to see sea turtles, and then went up to an area famous for it's mud baths. We each took turns putting mud on each other and we got way more into it then most people. It was a mud bath and got springs so we cleaned off in the hot springs after letting the mud sit.
All the people that showed up after we got done
It was a fantastic second and third week. We got to see almost all of Rhodes and much of southwest turkey. We moved to another part of turkey for the last week and got a lot of sights still to see.
We are trying to learn a few words in each of the languages but it is much harder then we were ready for.
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