A Dyspraxic Abroad 2- My holiday in Pefkos in Rhodes

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This post is a follow up from “A dyspraxic abroad 1” which described my holiday in Turkey. Today I’m talking about my holiday in Pefkos in Rhodes from the point of view of a female, solo, dyspraxic traveller who also has Keratoconus.

Me in Pefkos By Night

Although I have developed coping strategies over the years. Dyspraxia can make life more difficult for a single traveller. In my it affects me with sense of direction, short term memory. I can be disorganised and very untidy and I’m quite uncoordinated. I  have a tendency to lose things quite frequently. My dyspraxia can become worse either by heat or stress. A secondary effect is anxiety which I have learned to manage over the years. Rushing also increases my anxiety so I like to low enough time not to rush at the last minute.  Having Keratoconus means that my glasses don’t work very well and that I have blurred vision that disorientates me. I can’t read signs without them being close up. My keratoconus impacts on my impaired visual perception which does mean I can bump into things more easily and possibly trip over uneven ground.

You may well be thinking I’m not fit to be let out on my own in Manchester let alone in Pefkos, especially as I have never been there before. Your assumptions would be quite patronising and totally untrue. I have been a solo traveller since I was 19 and yes I have lost quite a few of my possessions and got lost several times but I’m still here to tell the tale. I make no apologies for not using person first language as I’m proud of who I am. I wasn’t identified as being dyspraxic until I was 33. Some adults can be very bitter about not getting any support as a child. If I had empowering support to reach my full potential so that life would not have been so difficult then early intervention would have helped. I suspect instead that I would have been labelled as someone who needs everything doing for them. People would have low expectations of me. I wouldn’t be capable of being a solo traveller, due to learned helplessness and not because I’m dyspraxic.

 

The Acropolis

I was very fortunate that John Coxon the treasurer of the learning disabilities charity that I work for very kindly offered me a lift as my flight allegedly was at 7.35 am so I would have had to get a taxi to the airport. There was a bit of a traffic queue to get into terminal 2 so I didn’t check in with Tiny World Airlines until about 6.00 am and there was a big que which was moving very slowly. Then I was told at check in that my flight was at 7.00 am. This naturally increased my anxiety levels and made me a very flustered dyspraxic. Luckily I had booked fast track through security but for some reason some of my stuff had not gone through the scanner and I had to wait or it at the other end. By this time, it was 6.50 and I was in a big panic so I must have dropped my fitness watch so  I assumed that I would not see it again. I thought I didn’t have time to go back and find it. (Luckily it has been handed into lost property). I found that my flight had been delayed for an hour and there had been no need to panic. I can tell you this was the first time I was relived my flight was delayed so that I could calm down and get a brew.

I had a pleasant flight and listened to some relaxing music on my Kindle fire tablet but couldn’t get any of the films my friend had recorded for me to work. To my surprise baggage handling at Rhodes airport was quite quick and the Olympic holiday coach didn’t have a long wait for other flights so we set off the Pefkos dropping people off at Lindos on the way.

I arrived at the Lia apartments at about 5pm, which was up a such a steep hill that the coach couldn’t get up it so I had to shlep my luggage, up the hill and my apartment was right at the top. Making me wish I hadn’t have brought so much stuff with me, of course some of it I never wore. So I went for a walk to look for Kavos beach but I never found it as I couldn’t see the signs, even though the resort is well lit for a solo female traveller. I asked 2 German women if the road I passed led to the beach but it let to the Garden Hotel and Apartments. I heard the word ‘dumb cop’ and knew that they were talking about me. But it was my first night in Pefkos I had no idea where anything was and they were being nasty and judgmental, something that a dyspraxic adult often has to deal with. I would like to say that at no time were any Greeks like that they were all lovely friendly people. I was starving so I went to the Eleni for my first Evening meal and had Greek dips then Grilled swordfish It was delicious.

The next day I got a free map of Pefkos and found Kavos beach which in in the second week in June was very quiet and really beautiful and totally opposite to Kavos beach in Corfu. 

The weather was pleasantly warm without being unbearable and I found it difficult to relax. I also found Lee beach the main beach in Pefkos but I preferred the quieter and more scenic Kavos. I turned right instead of left and Found Plakias beach that looked a bit like the beach in Kefalos in Kos. That night I ate in the Enigma one of the more expensive Restaurants of Pefkos with a pretentious menu and lovely food, the had a prosecco in the Rock bar close by. All the restaurants that I tried were good but Georges was my favourite

The next day I was still restless so I caught the local bus to Lindos and had a wonder round finding my way to the Acropolis which I probably would have never found if I had been intentionally looking for it. Then I found I was on a very steep and slippery Donkey path down to the beach. I nearly fell a couple of time but didn’t. A young women on the flight home had a broken leg from falling over in Lindos. I was just thinking that I’d better find a taxi back to my apartment when I realised I was near the hill that went up to the bus station. The bus service is better organised in Rhodes than some Greek islands. People are employed to get tourists on the right buses. They were packed so I hate to think what they are like in August when it will be really busy.

Lindos

On Tuesday I had booked a boat trip to St Pauls bay but it had been cancelled due to bad weather. It was very overcast so along with what looked like every other tourist in the area I got a bus to Rhodes Town. I again unintentionally ended up at the fort ad castle and got a bit disorientated. I ended up in cobbled streets and had to ask my way back to the square which took a long time to find the bus station. I didn’t realise that I had not bought a return ticket so queued up for a ticket at the wrong bus company. Then found a really long queue for K-tell tickets, but I didn’t have to wait long for a bus back to Pefkos.

View of Lindos beach from the Acropolis

While walking about in Pefkos I met Yannis the local catman who should be made an honorary member of Future Visions and the Trafford Centre for Independent living where I work. He voluntarily feeds the stray cats in Pefkos and Lindos and walks both ways in the heat to feed them. The cats in Pefkos are well looked after. Most of the cats have been neutered and have their ear clipped to show they are no longer entire. The neutering has been so successful that this year they are to remain entire because the cat population has reduced too much. There are cat feeding stations for mad catwomen like me and tourists are discouraged to feed them at hotels and apartments. The Pefkos and Lindos cats are quite fat and healthy compared to the ones I saw in Kos a couple of years ago. But there were 3 cats at the Lia apartment who were dependant on guests feeding them and one had sore eyes. I reported the poorly one and could have got eye ointment from Helen from the Friends of Pefkos Facebook pag to apply on the cats eyes but it was so timid he wouldn’t let me near him. He did look a lot better the day I was going home.

 On Wednesday it was much hotter and sunnier than on Tuesday and was more like August. Kavos beach is down a very long steep hill so I thought that I would get some water near the beach at Dapapa Taverna but it wasn’t open yet so had to walk all the way back up again to get a drink. I had  a lovely seafood salad in Dapapa then chilled out on the beach afterwards. That night the heat caused a bout of IBS.

Rhodes Town

I came to Pefkos with swimmers ear that I got in the UK, before I had even got in the sea and had smashed my glass eardrops bottle on the tiled . I had to buy a replacement. So I had already met the Pharmacist, an eccentric young man with enthusiastic knowledge of medication who insisted he wasn’t a doctor and wore fancy embroidered shirts. Drugs are cheaper in Rhodes than on a NHS prescription. I got bought Bucopan and Prebiotoc tablets off him. He advised me not to eat dairy products and avoid alcohol.

The next day I was feeling really rough. I decided to have croissants at the local bakery with non-dairy fillings I usually eat granola, 0% Greek Yoghurt and fruit for breakfast. I thought I was being really clever and forgot croissants are made with butter but they didn’t do me any harm. It was extremely hot so I stayed in the shade at the Eleini and watched videos. 

I was feeling better in the evening so I went to Pefkos by Night which was air conditioned and decided that mint was good for IBS so thought it justified me drinking mojitos instead of white wine.(:-)). I met 2 Welsh Malakas who accidently took my seat when I went to the loo even though my drink was still there. Well I could forgive them for making that mistake but not for being sexist, ignorant, Malakas. I ended up sitting with them and got chatting. Both of them couldn’t believe I was travelling all by myself when I was a woman and very.

patronisingly offered to look after me.  It’s a good job I didn’t mention my dyspraxia to them or they would have been patting me on the head LOL. They wanted to know why I was on my own and just couldn’t get it into their chauvinist heads that I liked to do my own thing. I felt irritated that they wanted me to justify why I was a lone traveller. They were rude enough to ask how old I was and why hadn’t I got a man in my life. One of them started chatting me up. He wanted to dance with me he was being very persistent. I didn’t want to dance to rock and roll music as I knew when it came to the twirly bit he’d realise I was different and I’d have to explain my dyspraxia so he’d think I was his new project. I got annoyed with his persistence about dancing. I knew he just didn’t want to chat to me so I walked out and had another drink in the rock bar on the way home to my apartment.

I felt better on Friday, I realised I had lost my sun hat before I even went on the glass bottom boat trip from Pefkos. The Captain was very entertaining with his rendition of the wall when we got near to a House owned by a member of Pink Floyd. He played Titanic theme music when we went over some shallow rocks. I had lunch in Flyers and chilled out there for a couple of hours as it was too hot to go on the beach and it might have triggered my IBS again.

I had my last evening meal in the Coliseum restaurant, knowing full well that my blue dress would no longer zip up, I had beef in a cheese sauce and Banofee pie. So I’m going back on the Slimming world plan on Sunday when I’m at home! I decided to risk going back to Pefkos by night because it was a very hot and humid evening to sit with aircon. I was hoping that the Welsh malakas had got the hint and wouldn’t mither me and wasn’t going to avoid the bar just because of them. No such luck a lot of seats were reserved as a Greek cover version of the drifters were on later on. They nearly came and sat with me but they were given a seat away from me. (maybe the waitress had seen my status on ‘Friends of Pefkos’ as locals do look at that group if their place is tagged).

Kavos Beach

I  thought I had heard the last of them but no such luck! One of them sidled up to me and wondered because I told them sometimes I go on holiday with a female friend, was I a lesbian? and was that why I walked out on his mate last night? They genuinely thought it was ok to ask me and I don’t think they realised what malakas they really were. I wasn’t rude to them as I was well chilled out, but if I had been having a stressful week in Manchester and they behaved like that, I would have given a very aggressive reply! If they are examples of manhood, I wish I did fancy women LOL

The next day I got the coach back to Rhodes Airport. I was a bit anxious that it would be confusing like Kos Airport and I wouldn’t be able to see the departure screens but in Rhodes airport you sit next to the gate your plane is departing from. I had a relaxing flight home and managed to watch the latest version of Star Wars on my Kindle.

I had a lovely holiday in Pefkos and I’m looking to see if I can afford to go to either Pefkos or Lindos again in October. I met some lovely people. I found sharing my Holiday with the ‘Friends of Pefkos’, Facebook page was quite comforting when travelling on my own and thank them for commenting on my statuses.