The rain comes down in torrents as the water rolls onto the beaches, silently crashing with the force of a tree that falls in the forest unseen. Flashes with no noise light the low lying clouds of the Aegean and the abandoned ramparts of the Old City of Rhodes. The streets double with energy as the sun goes down as the storm intensifies. Lights flash down cobbled streets and war battered walls as Thriller emanates from a sunken doorway. This is my first night on the island of Rhodes.
We arrived in Rhodes after a ridiculously brief flight from sunny Athens with a forecast of clouds and rain for the next week. Our hotel, now empty much like the rest of the island for lack of tourists, stares out over a vacant beach scattered with umbrellas not meant to hold back the oncoming rain. In our hunger we scoured the old city for food in vein, until we discovered an unfortunate restaurant that sported a variety of frozen seafood at exorbitant prices. It is lucky that our stomachs remained intact, especially when we heard that the rest of the group gorged on much cheaper and plentiful food. Friday and Saturday yield the only nights this time of year that you can go out to visit discos and clubs, so we decided to hang out at a café, chat, and watch the storm pass. Rhodes this time of year is a conundrum. I passionately love the bloody history of the island, but there is something forlorn about the empty streets this time of year that tugs at my heart. I hope that this simply means I will get a better look at local island life because I know I would like the summer conditions of the island much less. The terrible lunch menu I examined was written in seven languages. Even though the international condition of the island is fantastic and important, I am happy to have it to myself for the next week. It should be an amazing experience.
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