Cruise: Day Six

Friday, 10 December

Day Six – Rhodes

 We woke up at 9:30 in the port of Rhodes, Greece. We had a great view from our window/balcony and at first sight I could tell that I was going to like this port of call. As usual, we started our day at the breakfast buffet and headed out to the city of Rhodes immediately after. Unlike most ports, here the ship docks just a short walk away from the places you want to see. The old town is surrounded by a wall that is actually still the original. Going through one of the stone archways you reach a pedestrian area (though there are plenty of scooters and there were still several cars) filled with little shops, cafes and restaurants. The streets were a cobblestone made of small stones.

The morning was beautiful and sunny with a brief sprinkling of rain in the bright sunshine. The sellers in the marketplace were not pushy and aggressive, something I very much appreciated! We managed to get ourselves turned around a bit in the windy little streets, but eventually made it back to the main marketplace area. Since we still had several hours in port, we returned to the boat for a bit with the intention of returning in the early afternoon when we were hungry so that we could enjoy and good meal. We set back out around 1:30 and the day had turned cooler. We entered the city through a different archway and made our way up to the palace of the knights, which was pretty cool. One of our dinner couples told us that the palace was actually reconstructed because the original was blown up when lightning struck a tower containing a secret stash of gunpowder! We then decided it was time to eat and started toward the main marketplace. In the center square, several restaurant owners were trying to convince us to eat at their establishments. We didn’t really like how aggressive they were being, so we decided to look further. We should have picked a place then. Because the heavens opened up a few minutes later and we were soaked, huddling under awnings, trees and alleyways. We ultimately sat at an outdoor restaurant under the umbrellas that did a great job of keeping out the rain. Jerry asked for a big beer and got a giant beer in a boot.

It was pretty hilarious.   When he got to the beer that was in the toe of the boot, there would be a whirlpool effect with air bubbling up and the beer would explode in his face.  I found it funnier than he did!  Jerry also got a gyro plate and I got some dolmidas (?) – stuffed grape leaves. Jerry made a kitty friend (there were cats everywhere) that he shared his meal with. 

Everything was pretty good and seemed reasonably priced, until we got the bill – 34 euros! The food was 13 and I got a diet coke, meaning the beer must have been nearly 20 euro!!! No wonder the guy was pushing the big beer!  I saw two little Indian women at a table near us had also each been served a giant beer in a boot.  The rain had finally calmed down and we grumpily returned to the ship, having been beer scammed.

Back at the ship it was time for our afternoon nap, followed by dinner. After dinner, we decided to skip the show as it seemed to be a little Barry Manilow-y. We chilled in the room until it was Bingo time. Another bingo loss under our belts, but it was fun.

Even more fun was the Love & Marriage show afterwards. That never fails to amuse and Jerry and I were both laughing! It was nice to see smiles on Jerry’s face as he’s been kinda Mr. Grumpy Pantz throughout the trip so far.

After the show, we took a nice walk around the ship and tested ourselves to see how well we would have done as contestants on the show.  We would have lost big time!! 

Then we returned to the room for the night.

Dinner:

Jerry – Onion Foccacia, Sirloin, Coconut parfait

Hev – Samosas, Cauliflower Soup, Fried Chicken, Cappucino Cake (Yummo)

Finished our third bottle of wine.