lindos

Lindos is a small village on the southern coast of Rhodes. Dotted with white-washed houses and winding cobbled alleyways it’s quite the picture perfect sight. We decided to visit on the Monday and arrived to searing heat and a view that was everything and more than what we expected. We got there early to avoid the mass of tourists, though still found it quite busy, and set about exploring the fort and acropolis that sits on the top of the hill, overlooking the bluest sea imaginable.

Dodging donkeys and deciding to trust out feet and legs we made our way up the steep hillside. The view from the top is quite something, with an unbroken view of the Mediterranean sea before us and the arid land beneath our feet. We didn’t pay the additional 12 euros each to explore the acropolis, instead took the decision to walk the cliff tops for as far as possible. We made our way along alleyways, under billowing clouds of fuchsia bougainvillea, stopping occasionally to pat the donkeys before pulling up camp at a little tavern with views out across the bay.

I really made the most of looking like an American tourist with my baseball cap ^^

The following hours were spent hunting for Evil Eyes to decorate our homes, walking along the beach front and hiding from the heat under an olive tree. We both loved Lindos and agreed it would make a beautiful holiday destination, other than the difficulty of getting a suitcase along the narrow lanes!

Our final few days were spent in much the same way, jumping waves in the sea, reading books and soaking up the sun. Our holiday was everything we asked for and more and has given us a serious holiday bug… next up is a road trip through Tuscany!

Fingers crossed for a sunny summer back here in the UK. We’re certainly in for an interesting one…

L. 

rodos

A few weeks ago The American and I hopped on a plane at a god forsaken hour and flew to Rhodes. We booked a last minute holiday through Secret Escapes and swiftly found ourselves relaxing on the beach, soaking up the sun like lizards. I couldn’t not share parts of our trip with you so here is my first interlude into the life we found ourselves living on this sunny Greek island.

We’ve both been working pretty hard so our main aims for the holiday were to catch up on reading, get a tan before Jen and James' wedding and snooze under the Aegean sun. We successfully managed both and some more so came back two very happy little bunnies.

Our days revolved around food, swims in the sea and reading. I brought Victoria Hislop’s “The Sunrise” and can’t recommend it enough. Having devoured this I hijacked The American’s copy of “My Family and Other animals” by Gerald Durrell and found it brilliant. We were both taken by ITV’s recent adaptation of this beloved memoir and felt reading it on a Greek island made for quite the authentic experience. I wholeheartedly recommend both books for some lazy summer reading.

Our hotel was on the north side of the island and though a little windy (gale force in all honesty), we found it welcome relief from the blazing heat. On the Saturday we took a bus to Rodos and visited the Old Town. Though quite the tourist trap we loved walking the cobbled streets, snapping pictures of the billowing bougainvillea and picking out handmade crockery to take home. We also stumbled across the most wonderful little tavern called Ta Kioupia, a few streets back from the main tourist hubbub. We were greeted by the sweetest old man who spoke to us for as long as possible and recommended all sorts. I nicknamed him Georgiou and have now decided I’d like a cat named in his honour. Oh Georgiou. We feasted on grilled seafood and mountains of tzatziki. Perfection.  

I’ll be blogging about Lindos next, which is a beautiful village on the south of the island but for now, I’ll leave you with the sun setting.

L.

wedding belles

Jen and I would spend summers together on each other’s family farms, eating cherries, making camp fires and playing with Snickers, the pony. When not playing together or attending BBQs with our families we wrote letters to one another or came up with ingenious ways of communicating via walkie talkies; it was a wonderful childhood. We then grew up and went to separate schools but always came together over kitchen suppers, Christmas and New Year parties, sharing gossip about boys we liked and girls we were less fond of as well as our mutual love for music.

This weekend The American and I had the pleasure of heading back to the Worcestershire countryside to witness one of my oldest friends marrying the man of her dreams, and boy was it a wedding. I always knew it would be quite the event having seen Jen’s wedding planner at the early age of 12; she was never going to do things by halves!

Miraculously the wet weather held off for the majority of the day, starting with the most beautiful, love filled service in the chapel at Malvern College, ringing out with music of spine-tingling intensity. The bride was a vision, gliding up the aisle to Parry’s “I Was Glad”, James looking on with intense pride and love. They really are a wonderful couple.

The rest of the day went on in a haze of vintage cars, delicious food, excellent speeches and some brilliant dancing. Before I start to ramble on forever, I’ll simply allow the following photographs to do the talking.

Many, many congratulations Jennifer and James, may your years be filled with love, happiness and joy.

L.