"Welcome Back to Newcastle Ladies and Gentlemen where the time is 11:45 pm and the temperature is currently 8 degrees"
WHAT?! 8 DEGREES?!
There was a definite sound of horror from my fellow passengers when we got told this by our pilot on the arrival back into Newcastle on Wednesday night, it got up to 37 degrees whilst we were away so talk about a shock to the system.
So, anyway - hello I'm back .. and suffering from the worst post-holiday blues I have ever had, which I guess makes sense as I had one of the loveliest holidays I have ever been on. A week wasn't enough, although after my 6lb gain my body is definitely telling me yes it was.
Simon and I spent a very beautiful week in Pefkos on the island of Rhodes and found each other to be the perfect holiday buddies which is always reassuring when you're on your first holiday with your other half.
I'm sure you'll all be very pleased to hear that my spray tan at the Malmaison the night before I flew was a great success. Le Petite Spa is gorgeous, the girls there really put me at ease and I had a very enjoyable evening having my St Tropez, Manicure and Pedicure. I'd definitely recommend the spa if anyone is wanting some treatments.
Spending the first few days of my holiday with a healthy looking tan was a bit of a novelty, having very pale skin and red hair it's not something I've ever been able to experience before. I made sure I wore as much white as possible on my first few days.
We stayed at the Pefkos Beach Hotel which was such a great find, not overly expensive yet very clean, in an amazing location and with wonderful staff.
Simon made friends with the Bar man when they discovered their mutual love of computer games and it was quite nice having the best cocktail maker on the resort as a friend. I sunk an impressive amount of cocktails which tasted all the better for being fully decorated with umbrellas, parrots and sparklers. We also stuffed our way through some gorgeous food and I got used to having a yummy cooked breakfast followed by ice-cream for lunch.
Simon made friends with the Bar man when they discovered their mutual love of computer games and it was quite nice having the best cocktail maker on the resort as a friend. I sunk an impressive amount of cocktails which tasted all the better for being fully decorated with umbrellas, parrots and sparklers. We also stuffed our way through some gorgeous food and I got used to having a yummy cooked breakfast followed by ice-cream for lunch.
One of the nicest things about our week was that we decided to go "off grid" the whole time we were away. I'm definitely someone who is very guilty of spending far too much time on social media and with my nose buried in my phone. I truly appreciated spending some proper quality time with my man and it was so lovely to have each others full attention.
Despite only being away for a week we managed to pack in a fair amount of day trips. The first organised trip was to the Butterfly Valley where we had a lovely time climbing down the shady valley surrounded by beautiful red and black coloured butterflies. They were whizzing about all around us and it was gorgeous. After we caught a boat to Chalki a really picturesque harbour town where we had the most delicious home made ice-cream.
Our second organised trip was to the island of Symi, a 2 hour boat trip away from the harbour in Rhodes. Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love to climb up as high as possible to get lovely views, especially when I'm on holiday. Symi was an absolute dream with loads of hidden steps up the bank leading to amazing views. The place is like a fairy tale, full of pretty little houses built in different colours. I could have quite happily spent hours and hours there.
We also went on a couple of our own adventures which involved tackling the local bus which was so fun. We made a few trips to the neighbouring resort of Lindos. Unfortunately it's very popular with tourists and coach parties so when we first arrived it was a little too busy so we hid ourselves away on a roof top taverna.
Once we'd battled through the crowds we discovered that Lindos is a lovely little maze of white washed houses sitting below an acropolis. We found our way to St Paul's Bay which was so peaceful and had a nice cooling drink at the beach bar which was sheltered entirely by trees. So pretty! We quickly fell in love with St Paul's Chapel which is one of the most popular places in Europe to get married (watch this space eh?!)
We returned to Lindos a few nights later as I was really wanting to climb the acropolis in the evening whilst the weather was cooler, the views were outstanding and we ended our evening with dinner on a roof top taverna, unfortunately it was a very windy night and we spent quite a lot of our meal catching napkins.
Once we'd battled through the crowds we discovered that Lindos is a lovely little maze of white washed houses sitting below an acropolis. We found our way to St Paul's Bay which was so peaceful and had a nice cooling drink at the beach bar which was sheltered entirely by trees. So pretty! We quickly fell in love with St Paul's Chapel which is one of the most popular places in Europe to get married (watch this space eh?!)
We returned to Lindos a few nights later as I was really wanting to climb the acropolis in the evening whilst the weather was cooler, the views were outstanding and we ended our evening with dinner on a roof top taverna, unfortunately it was a very windy night and we spent quite a lot of our meal catching napkins.
The day before we left we made the 90 minute bus trip to Rhodes to have a little potter around the Old Town. We were very glad we made the effort to do the journey as it was a lovely place, full of cobbled streets and ruins to explore as well as a lovely clock tower to climb.
Pefkos itself was a great resort, I've never stayed somewhere with so many tavernas and cocktail bars, we were spoilt for choice and ate somewhere different every night. Our favourite was definitely Philosphia which was hidden away at one end of the resort and could be accessed via some stone steps up from the beach. We had a very romantic candlelit dinner there one evening and then returned on our last day so we could appreciate the views in the daylight. It really was a little piece of heaven.
... and so the post holiday blues continue! I think we will just have to start planning our next holiday!
