Rhodos, beautiful trip!

Back in Holland for a couple of days, with a small after holiday dip, but the good thing is that that only means that my stay at Rhodos was great. To be more specific, even better than great!
I had a wonderful time and enjoyed the island so much, Rhodos and it's nature was even more beautiful than in my memories. Walking through the old town of Rhodos the morning after my arrival, I fell in love again with all it's beauty and the days after this was only getting stronger.... Rhodos is definitely my special island. Not only because of it's amazing beauty, but also because of the things I've been going through since Rhodos, but more about that later.

My stay in Matteo's house can be referred to as a stay in Villa Felderhof, known from TV, one of my favourites programms. However, with the minor detail that I was staying in Villa de Jong, although Villa Matteo sounds better ;-)
The same as in Villa Felderhof, in Villa Matteo there was some cooking, some eating, some working and sitting in the garden and some drawing. The perfect copy of this successfull programm! One of the deals that we made was that I could stay if I was going to cook, and so I did, without any hessle. Because hey, some of you are not going to believe it, but lately I like cooking a lot. I even love to cook for just myself! Next to that the morning ritual consisted out of having breakfast in the morningsun, outside, in the beautiful garden, flowers surrounding us, fishes in front of us, his birds singing on the background... Just to give you an impression of how relaxing it was.

Next to this, I didn't plan that much. I had some ideas in my head, but didn't know if I had the time and would feel like it to do so. So I didn't go to Symi, so I didn't go to the Anthony Quinn bay, so I didn't visit the office where I worked.... And I still feel good about that, haha! No regrets, because the things that I did and also while doing nothing, were just feeling great.

Of course I wanted to see something of the beautiful nature of Rhodos, I had very good memories about that. So I felt lucky that it was possible to go on a jeepsafari with Matteo and have this breathtaking tour around the Profitis Ilias. Off road no one else besides the jeeps, amazing views on coastline and mountaines, olive fields, the yellow, pink and purple colours of the blooming bushes and flowers, the smell of the forest... One of the other days we went off road on an old track Matteo knew, seeing how far we could get. Unfortunately not that far, but I did enjoy the scenery around us as we stepped out and went on a search for stones for his garden. Just imagine that there are on both sides of you green mountains, you hear some goats, the wind going through the trees and you're climbing over rocks (again on flipflops! why am I never prepared??haha) decorated with pretty blooming flowers. There was this amazing silence! I wish I could set a tent and stay in a scenery like this. Carrying the stones back to the jeep was a good excercise, finally working on my arms again ;-)

One of the other days I was allowed to take a jeep and made a tour on my own. I didn't really had plans what to see, as I didn't want to plan it, but wanted to leave it to the circumstances during my tour. I had an amazing day! Good to be on my own for a day, to think things through about what was going on in my head the last days, but also good to make my tour exactly the way I wanted it. I visited something new, the castle of Kritinia I always wanted to visit for the view, and made a tour along the highest mountain Attavyros, known for his wine area Embonas. Again I was amazed by the beauty of the island, as this part I haven't been visiting that much 3 years ago. On the south of Attavyros you have great green views, with still a lot to discover for me, and I wish I had time for that. On my way to Attavyros I stopped at this small caravan along the way, one I recognized from 3 years ago. They made it a cantina. I stopped for some fruits for lunch, but they only offered me hotdogs and cheeseburgers. I asked the friendly greek guy if I looked like an english girl and from then on I was treated as a VIP. I had to come back to the caravan and taste something of the wine. And so I did... Then he gave me some water, well, that's what he said, but I almost choked as I didn't expect it to be raki. Fortunately he already had the stick with honey ready to solve my problem and smoothen my throat :-D In the end I had a great conversation with them and ended up buying more from them than my intention was, but they deserve it and I'm enjoying my Rhodos honey now back home.

Well, I can continue for hours, but I will summarize. What else did I do: I went on Matteos motorbike and some of you know that I really like to be on motorbikes, sitting at the back and enjoying the wind and view (and speed). It was great being a couple of times on his motorbike as I know that he doesn't take that many people with him. We went to one of my favourite bays for an afternoon of suntanning and swimming. And of course I met Andre again and the guys working for Matteo. It was so great seeing them back and it didn't feel like 3 years ago at all. My god, what did I do those years? 3 years is a long time....
Unfortunately I missed my old friend Lundy, who seemed to be on Rhodos as well at the same time as me. On the other hand, perhaps good that I missed him, as I'm sure that his line 'I'm going to get pissed tonight' hasn't changed a thing and I was not really into that.

Besides this incredibly relaxing week, of which I loved the fact that I was just staying in a house and cooked, cleaned and helped in the garden a bit, it has been a confusing week as well. While putting up my previous update I couldn't really explain why I felt confused, I simply was. Had no clue what was going on in my head, but there was a lot. As the week passed by, things were getting clear to me, as well because I stayed at Matteo's place. When I left for Rhodos 3 years ago it was to discover what I really wanted in my life and who I really was. Matteo was a big help although he didn't knew by then, but I loved to be around him for his peace and no nonsense. Peace that I wanted to achieve in me as well. Next to that, via him, I started to enjoy small things in life again, nature, as I lost that somewhere in the period before, while studying hard and working even harder to become a career woman. By being back on Rhodos, all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into it's place, but I had to puzzle a little bit the first days to get there. That's why the confusion. It was like the past 3 years and my experiences, how I developed, choices that I made, my dreams and where I am right now, were one big spaghetti. Back on Rhodos was the best place to be, as it started here and now I suddenly realized (not expected -yet) I just ended this cyclus, here on Rhodos again.

I found peace in how things are going in my life, see the benefit of it and it made me realize how big my happiness is, with myself and my life. Wow, I even felt proud, as there were times that I thought I couldn't made it. But for a few of you I only need to say the word lifeboat....
This time Matteo played a part in my ending of the cyclus, as I suddenly realized that this peace in him, the peace I wanted and the enjoyment of the nature, that I have that in me as well... Instead of looking up to him for these characteristics 3 years ago, I realized that we're equal now. I also saw why I met other people during my 3 years 'trip', what I wanted to learn from them and that I did so. This I realized suddenly while driving around the island on my own, enjoying big time, enjoying me and the island. I felt the happiness through whole my body!

The whole cooking thing, enjoying being home and cleaning my house, enjoying working in the garden, these are all examples that I found peace. I loved taking care of others, but now I like to take good care about myself as well. And this resulted in something I didn't do for many, many, many years, but as a kid and teenager I always did: drawing! I lost the peace for drawing somewhere on my way as well, and was hoping to find it abroad. So I took it to Rhodos (no result), I took it to Fuerteventura (some result, but mainly because I forced myself, so no good) and suddenly in Matteo's beautiful garden I started to draw....
a butterfly....