Marmari

Peaks visited:
Peak | Height | PF | Location |
Agios Ioannis | 385m | 90m | Rhodes, Crete |
Marmari | 459m | 334m | Rhodes, Greece |
Continue to day 2…
The first part of our 2018 summer vacation was spent on Rhodes. More precisely, Lotharika – between Lardos and Lindos. The hotel (St. James’s) was very nice; friendly staff , a fairly large apartment, located at the beach and with the essential infrastructure (restaurants, supermarkets, ATM, bus stops) only minutes from the hotel. This would be a perfect base-camp for our 6-day island exploration. The weather was nice, around 30 deg. C., and the forecast didn’t look bad either. “Our guy” Steve at the front desk was always ready for a nice chat in the afternoons and evenings.

A huge bonus was the rental car; we had ordered a car in category “G“, which turned out to be a very sporty Audi A4. There was a lot of horse power under the hood, which came in very handy throughout the week. Not that we were speeding, but it was nice to have the power to quickly overtake slow-moving ATVs, scooters and cars, creating long queues on curvy roads.

Agios Ioannis (385m), Marmari (459m)
The name Marmari is found on the maps. From trekking@rhodes.gr, I learned that the lower top near Lotharika is called Agios Ioannis and that they have 385m as height.
After checking in to the hotel and getting the necessary overview of things, I decided to go for an evening hike to the closest mountain. Anne wanted to stay at the hotel and get settled in.

I walked directly from the hotel and up to the peak Agios Ioannis – which I hoped was the high point. It wasn’t. That was still 1,3km to the northeast. The distance in itself wasn’t bad, but the terrain was. Really, really rough rock with unfriendly plants in-between. Fortunately, my balance is still good enough to allow me quickly move in this type of terrain.

Along the way, I noticed a really beautiful plant, which I still haven’t found the name of…

When I finally reached the high point, I could see both sides of the island. I reckoned it is approx. 25km from beach to beach.

I had no desire to return the same way. The shortest route of this terrain seemed to be directly down to the village Pefki. Once down, I jogged the 2,1km back to the hotel. A great start to the vacation.

Trip statistics: 7,5km, 560 vertical meters, 2h:12m.
Pictures from the hike: