travel – "A photo blog!"

As of writing this, I have honestly lost count of what day-of-week it is, what planet I’m on, and if it’s the Third or Fourth Age here on Middle Earth. It might be the Age of Corona, actually.

I’ve been to Amsterdam twice, but not at the time of shooting. Having the first time visit in late October panned out perfectly; especially photography-wise.

I contemplated to give this blog post the title “Canals, butterflies and small, weird cars: A sightseer’s guide to Amsterdam”. Naaah. Just keep in mind; it will mostly be canals, butterflies and small weird cars. Seriously.

Something (i.e. the Paris wheel) about this gives me the “Pripyat feeling”.

Aight. Ducks. All the ducks. Was not disappointed:

The color scales are… off the scales ( 🤦‍♂️ ):

…and bicycles. Endless rows of bicycles.

First car of the blog post: this one, freaking awesome!

The perfect symmetry!

Second car of this blog post: shockingly hideous! If not for the ananas* this should have been banished and burnt years ago.
*…just stop it with the nonsensical “pineapple” already, we’ve had enough…and don’t get me started on “ghoti”…

…now to something not shockingly hideous; butterflies!

Ahhh…. A trip to Hortus Botanicus can really be recommended! Just be aware that your camera will fog up 150 % for the first 10-15 minutes…

I name thee “Autumn Gradient”, yey!

Who in the right minds would not love to live here?

Third, and last car of this blog post: ugly as fuck, but not shockingly hideous. Also, red is kinda nice.

Now… bring me out of quarantine and back here. NAOW!

Please.

Rhodes is a rather large island; in fact, it’s Greek’s 4th largest! So, in order for us to get around to do some exploring, an automobile was needed. We picked up one of the smallest cars I’ve ever seen….and got lucky that it didn’t break down in the “extreme” heat wave. Its AC could by no means keep up… almost made me feel bad for it 😛

The island’s most idyllic small town is quite possibly Lindos! On the same day we decided to pay the town a visit, so did the majority of the island’s other tourists. It was crowded AF. First off, a photo of Lindos! Convinced yet??

Also, on this particular day, the sun decided it was time to evaporate any remaining source of water in the area… We spent one minute at the beach. The water closest to the shore looked like it was about to boil, and I swear I could feel my skin melting the tiniest bit. We rushed back into town to take shelter. Heavy consumption of water and ice cream ensued.

Well, it might not have been quite so dramatic.

“Recurring Pink Theme”

We drove on for a bit and found a larger and better-looking beach – all to ourselves. Pic to prove just how happy I was to cool down:

Also, these colors! Damn!

More pink.

Now, a grasshopper. No, not the cocktail, the actual huge, nasty (little) thing, patiently sitting 30 cm outside our hotel room, awaiting to massacre us in our sleep.

Eeey, I told you the heat wave was real! Although this sign is definitely lying:

Valley of the Butterflies

TripAdvisor ranks this place as the 27th most popular “tourist attraction” in Rhodes. It is well worth a visit, but know what you are going to: The valley is filled with Quadripunctaria Poda, (which afaik are technically moths) that migrate here to lay their eggs. They are in a resting state and there are multiple signs warning you not to rattle them or you will receive a fine (which of course more than one idiot did while we visited… by throwing a handful of dirt… ffs).

At first, it looks as though you are walking through an empty valley. Then suddenly your visual cortex kicks into gear and it becomes apparent they are literally everywhere. I found it funny how they look like small fighter jets ready for take-off!

New day, new place, checking out Kritinia Castle, which was built in 1472 by Giorgio Orsini to protect the inhabitants of the village from the attacks of the Ottoman fleets (Wikipedia). While not a spectacular sight, the view was nice!

Our car, our car under the stars!

All good vacations come to an end; but we still had the whole day before catching a late flight. We decided to drive further than any man… well at least all the way down to Prasonisi Kite Beach.

We continued around the island (and rolled the flat-tire-dice by driving on more than one dodgy forest road… Marit shivering like a corn-flake in a tornado) and came across this wonderful vantage point – no one around for miles, except for this one guy in a booth selling honey. We bought some. Fucking delicious.