Rhodes Town and the Butterfly Valley Revisited

Hello again, this is my 3rd and final post showing my photos from our recent wonderful holiday on sunny Rhodes. If you are looking for my card challenge it is at the bottom of this rather photo laden post!

We hired a car for 3 days in the middle of our holiday and drove up to Rhodes Town. This is the most amazing ancient city to visit. It is the largest inhabited medieval city in Europe and is a UNESCO World heritage site. The main shopping streets are pretty touristy but if you wander around the back streets it is like stepping back in time. We never take a map as it is pretty difficult to get lost and eventually we emerge at one of the gates to the city.

The houses have buttresses between them and like Lindos only motor bikes and feet can wander around  the side streets.

Lots of the doors had different knockers and I love this hand one..the finger even had a ring on it.

There was also welcome shade from the heat.

The quiet side streets were so different from the main thoroughfares which were bustling with tourists.

Rhodes has always been an important harbour since ancient time. The Colossus of Rhodes is thought to have stood across the entrance to it. There is no evidence of it now but we were amazed to see that the Queen Elizabeth had just docked and decided to walk down to have a peep at her.

She is absolutely gigantic and dwarfed all the other vessels moored in the harbour. Mind you we did spot some rather amazing vessels moored there.

How about this for a toy? It was under heavy security and we googled it's name, Carinthia VII. It turns out that this is the 12th largest such vessel in the world and is owned by the widow of a German entrepreneur.  It was just the height of luxury. There were also some smaller boats moored in the harbour

We also revisited our beloved Butterfly Valley at Petaloudes which again is a wonderful break from the heat. You almost forget that you are in Rhodes as there is running water and deciduous maple trees. The majority of trees found  in Rhodes are conifers.

As you wander deeper into the valley the butterflies (they are accurately a variety of the Jersey Tiger moth). They rest just everywhere. Every surface is covered with them.

Here is one in close up, there are just millions of them which come to mate in the valley between June and September every year.

One was even resting on the postcard stand at the entrance to the valley.
We walked the length of the valley up to the Monastery of Kalopetra which is another landmark to visit as again there are views of the whole valley.

It was also the perfect place to sit and drink some cool water.

It is so beautiful inside too.

So after a welcome rest it was time to head back down through the valley and then "home" to our apartment.

And that night we toasted our wonderful day with another meal under the stars watching the sun set.

I just have a feeling that we may well be heading straight back there next September ;0)


So my card challenge today is inspired by the dawn to dusk sunshine on Rhodes. I used really bright sunny colours and lots of different punches. She is for sale here in my Etsy shop

I have used a Saturated Canary stamp called "Thank You". I hand coloured her with my Promarkers and highlighted with my Prismacolor pencils. The backing papers are from the Prima Jack and Jill collection. Both sentiments are from Lili of the Valley. You can see I had lots of fun with some new punches. I don't own a die cutter...it's a thought I have to ask for one from Father Christmas ;0) You will see I rarely have circular images as I can't cut them. I have to buy all my die cuts on line.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;
Card Crafter's Circle Vintage #42
Whimsy stamp challenge Anything Goes 2nd entry
Sassy Cheryl Photo inspiration #134
Bearly Mine add a sentiment #54
Simon Says Stamp anything goes
The Papershelter anything goes #83
The Squirrel and the Fox Celebrations #27

Another week has passed by and it seems like the torrential rain that hit the country is easing, thank goodness. We have escaped lightly here in the south east but the north has suffered severely. Many poor souls have lost their homes, the weather can be so cruel sometime. On a brighter note though the weekend ahead is looking sunny. This is great news for me as I am holding a little birthday party for my Dad who was 80 years young on Wednesday. I do love a party. I must dash then, food to sort out and time to get the house ready for the family. Enjoy your weekend too everyone and I hope you get a peep of the sun too.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x