October 2: Profitis Ilias
Today was the easy day—the small peak Profitis Ilias, the third-highest mountain on Rhodes. This was the first of many Profitis Iliases we encountered in the Aegean. The name, which means “Profit Elijah,” seems to have caught the eye of many a mountain-namer. If you see a mountain in the eastern or southern Aegean, there’s a fair chance it’s called Profitis Ilias.
The trailheads for our Embonas walks were all some distance from Embonas itself, so the plan was for Manolis, the hotel owner Yannis’s dad, to drive us. Manolis doesn’t speak English at all, so my Greek got a workout.
Manolis drove us to the town of Salakos. When he let us out at the trail, he explained we should meet him at a taverna in town, owned (it seemed) by another guy named Manolis. I assumed we’d figure it out when we got there.
Chris was still feeling rough from a stomach bug he caught in Nafplio, so we went slowly.
At the top of Profitis Ilias sit two hotels, Elafos (male deer) and Elafina (female deer), which were built by Italians in 1929 and 1930; the Elafos was originally called the Albergo del Cervo, which means “Hotel of the Deer” in Italian. A number of British cyclists sat at the outdoor cafe tables discussing purity of nutrition and the role of caffeine in training and life in general.
There was nothing much else to do up on Profitis Ilias, so we headed back down to the town of Salakos.
The town is cute, with a number of old houses being renovated; most homes are beautifully kept and decorated with flowering plants.
We couldn’t remember where exactly Manolis had told us to meet him, and I doubted that my Greek was up to a consultation, so we just sat at one of the tavernas in the plateia and ordered drinks. Our plan was to skip lunch, lest we turn into fat puddings. I regret to this day that we didn’t at least order a horiatiki to share. After seeing the yiayia prepping her salad tomatoes with exquisite care, I began to get an inkling of why everyone sings the praises of food from this area. It’s not fancy; it’s just prepared from the freshest ingredients by people who take this work seriously.
It turned out Manolis had been sitting at the taverna across the street waiting for us. He had visited the chickens again and had a bucket of fresh eggs along with some wild herbs he’d gathered.
On the ride back to Embonas, I asked Manolis which taverna was the best in Embonas. He recommended Maroullakis, which is where we ate that evening
At dinner, my hypothesis was confirmed: the food in western Rhodes is famous because of its perfection of ingredients and preparation, not because it’s fancy. Maroullakis features the same dishes that appear on every taverna menu throughout Greece. But the meat and vegetables are local and fresh. My lamb was perfectly grilled and flavorful. (Lamb in Greece tastes nothing like lamb in the U.S.) The wine was cheap and delicious. Tourists must come here seeking a pastoral connection to the land, a trip into a simpler past.
