Rhodes Town

One of our last visits on Rhodes was to Rhodes Town, the largest inhabited medieval city in Europe. Such is it's architectural significance that it was designated a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. It really is the most extraordinary city and despite its age bustles like any modern city does. We love to wander around all the back streets; despite the maze of narrow roads it is very difficulty to get lost. One of the most significant roads is the Street of the Knights. It dates back to the Middle Ages where several ancient inns were found, each was for the tongue which a particular knight spoke e.g French , German, Greek etc. The road is still completely cobbled and you really can imagine those feet which have walked before you hundreds of years ago.

At the top of the street is the Castle of the Grand Masters' and from there is is possible to get an idea of how safe the city walls must have been due to their sheer size and thickness.

There are plenty of shops in the streets and lots of great cafes to sit and enjoy the atmosphere.

We found a perfect place in the shade to sit and eat our picnic.

We also found that we were honoured to share an obviously favourite resting spot with this little sweetie

Who woke up and came and said hello

We also walked around to the Harbour to see which of the giant cruise liners were in dock

It's hard to miss the Queen Elizabeth, she dwarfed everything in sight.

I would put Rhodes Town on my bucket list of must see places,  it really is the most  incredible city.

The emblem of Rhodes is the deer and although there are few remaining on the island now I decided to use the reindeer version to inspire my card for today's card challenge; I also included a hint of blue inspired by those gorgeous blue skies we saw.

The image is from Nicecrane Designs from one of my favourite of the Christmas ACEO background sheets called "Adorable Christmas"  They are a perfect size for using on 5" X 5" cards. They would also make fab gifts tags, which is another of my planned projects.

I have been playing with several of these images and I will share some other cards I made with them over the coming weeks. The sheet is available here

Below is a close up of the great image I used; you can nearly hear those sleigh bells can't you!

I used my lovely new snowflake embossing plate and some MB snowflake die cuts. Behind the image is a great Joy craft die.The new sweet snowman is a retired Sizzix die I managed to get from the USA. I used them to layer up a nearly white on white background. I just added a little TH  Broken China distress ink to give a touch of blue. The sentiment is  LOTV stamped onto Kraft card and the sweet reindeer charm is from my jewellery stash. There are also 2 pale blue pearls in the corners.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes

Bearly Mine Anything goes

Rhedd and Rosie Something for the men

Country View Crafts Layers 

Natalie and Amy Embossing

Whimsy Cards Masculine

Party Time Tuesdays Anything goes

Christmas at Sweet Stampin Santa
Make it Monday Linky party #159
Die Cut Divas celebrate
Oldie but a Goodie Dies/punches my Memory box die is from last Christmas and the red brad is at least 3 years old!

We are really looking forward to the weekend as my best friend and her Hb are celebrating their silver wedding anniversary with a meal and tea party afterwards on Sunday. The weather is still beautiful here and tomorrow we hope to get out for a walk to see the glorious colours which the trees are showing off at the moment. I have also spotted that the conkers are starting to fall ;0) Something else is back this evening...yes Strictly Come Dancing..woop woop, it really is the countdown to Christmas now (89 days for those of us who like to know ;0)

Enjoy your weekend and I hope you find a little time for some creativity too. Thanks for visiting.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

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

Holiday memories..Rhodes Town

We have visited Rhodes Town on previously holidays so this time we decided to explore a part of the Old Town we had not seen before. As it was such a hot day we thought that somewhere inside would be a sensible option.We decided on The Palace of The Grand Masters of The Knights. The original building was constructed in the 14th century as a fortress by the Knights of Rhodes who occupied Rhodes at that time. Over the centuries it gradually fell into a state of disrepair. In 1912 it was re built by the Italians as a holiday residence for the likes of Mussolini.

It now stands as a museum and was a beautiful cool bolt hole to explore. One interesting fact we found out was that the Colossus of Rhodes, far from straddling the harbour, which was originally thought, is actually believed to have stood at the site of this castle. There are no remains of the statue, only small statues stand in the court yard now.

After lunch in the town square sitting under the shade of the trees we walked part of the city walls.

The fascinating thing about the Old Town is that it is still very much lived in and has 6,000 inhabitants. Past history exists quite happily with modern day life. In fact it is the largest inhabited medieval city in Europe. All the tiny streets criss cross one another and lead down to the several gates to the city. It is now a world heritage site and rightly so! It is like stepping back in time 500 years.









After our visit to the Old Town we drove to one of our favourite restaurants and started with their mixed dips platter  for 2...

Followed by the most scrumptious clam risotto...

Delicious.....a perfect meal to finish off a perfect day.

 I will return with another posting to tell you all about another visit.... to the Butterfly Valley.
Bye for now,
Jx