We now have 2 ports in a row and
then a couple of sea days so maybe I can get caught up then, if this doesn’t
start working soon.
The weather today was predicted to
have some rain showers, but we couldn’t have had a better day. It was beautiful
and sunny. We really lucked out. We were joined today by Rick & Janie, Bob
& Phyllis, Lorraine & Chuck, Julie & Joe and Tom & Ken. We have
toured with everyone else before except for Julie & Joe. What a great group
today!
I booked a private tour with Nicholas
and Associates with Rhodes Private Tours of Rhodes Medieval City, New Town,
East Coast and Lindos. nick-ax@rho.forthnet.gr rhodes_privatetours@yahoo.com
sail in
Our guide was Costas and our driver was
Jacob. Costas was an exceptional guide. Everyone commented about how wonderful
he was. He was passionate about his home and he was knowledgeable without
boring us to death with little details. He taught us a bit of Greek and he kept
us captivated with the beautiful scenery by saying keep looking …keep looking
……with quiet Opas mixed in. Oh, this is my favorite view….look right….look
right……Opa! It’s Spring Time here and the flowers were blooming everywhere! We
had the most gorgeous views today and the water was crystal clear with many
shades of blue. So sorry, that photos will be a long time coming, but they will
be worth the wait……
From the pier, we drove to the
Medieval City to the D’Amboise Gate. Then we had a guided walking tour of the
Old Town in Rhodes. We were provided with headsets so we could walk about and
take photos and still hear the guide. We were the first people at the Grand
Master’s Palace and the owner of the tour company Nicholas paid for our
admissions. We also had the place to ourselves and it was very special to not
have a lot of people in the photos.
our group walking to the Grand Master's Palace
our guide, Costas at D’Amboise Gate
Janie & Rick
Greg going in the entrance
up the stairs we go!
who broke it?
view from one of the windows
We then finished our walking tour
seeing the Street of the Knights, the Ruins of Sent John Cathedral, the
Archeological Museum, the Byzantine museum.
Our walking tour ended at the Kolona Gate where our Minibus was waiting
for us.
Ken
one cat photo bombed the other cat....
Tom
We drove to the Old Harbor, where
according to tradition, the Colossus of Rhodes once stood - One of the seven
wonders of the ancient world. Then we went to the North point of the Island
where the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea meet.
Then we drove down to the Saint
Paul's bay that was incredibly beautiful where the "Guns of Navarone"
Movie was shot for a photo op. We proceeded on a Panoramic Drive of the Ancient Acropolis of Rhodes (Monte Smith Hill) and saw magnificent views of the West Coast of the Island and stopped for a photo op.
Greg, Annette, Chuck, Lorraine, Tom, Phyllis, Bob, Rick, Ken, Julie, Joe, Janie
Then one mile before Lindos we stopped at a vantage point for a panoramic picture of the Acropolis, the village, and the port of Lindos.
Joe, Julie, Chuck, Lorraine, Ken, Tom, Annette, Greg, Bob, Phyllis, Rick, Janie
We continued to Lindos village and
from this point and were to have a guided walking tour with our Tour Guide through
the village up to Acropolis of Lindos. We opted not to do the walk up there.
While I’m sure it would have been worth the hike up, the village of Lindos was
really fun to wander around. We stopped for gelato and a cold drink and to use
the WC. We popped into the local market and some of the shops. Costas said the
donkeys weren’t available and I really wanted to ride one to the top, but I
think we were just too early for them. They were out later. No regrets, it was
a great time wandering the village.
yum!
recognize anyone??? (and yes I bought one...)
After Lindos on the way to lunch we
had a short stop at a traditional pottery workshop to watch a demonstration of
how the famous Rhodian potteries - ceramics are made - very interesting to see
the Pythagorean cup! A man demonstrated how he makes a beautiful vase from clay and then he cuts it in half to show us the inside as you can see his hand prints inside. It was hard to resist the beautiful pottery, but nothing was that small and light to use as a magnet and I’d have no place to display any of the beautiful pieces.
after he finished it, he cut it in half to show the fingerprints inside
hanging from the review mirror in the van
Finally, we stopped for lunch at a seaside
village at the Mediterranean Sea right on the water’s edge that only had been
open 3 days since it’s early in their tourist season. OMG what incredible food.
Pork Souvlaki and Risotto with mussels, shrimp and ouzo. Oven baked feta cheese
with tomato and herbs. YUM! Other people had Greek Salads, fresh Sea Bass,
grilled octopus and more! They treated us to a dessert for each couple to
share. We ran into Karen, Steve, Julie & Jeff there too.
the restaurant
baked goat cheese with tomato and spices
souvlaki
Seafood Paella
On the drive back, we took the coastal
road of Faliraki to see the marvelous beach and Kallithea Spa.
We had the option to go directly to
the ship or go back to Rhodes Old City for independent touring. We had almost
an hour so we got out and wandered around for a while. Then we had our second
gelato stop of the day.
these two got in quite a fight
Karen & Steve & others from the ship
our Ben & Jerry's stop
the walk back to the ship
there was a rat on the rocks
Since our lunch wasn’t until 2:00 in
the afternoon and there was so much food, we were not at all hungry for our
scheduled dinner time of 5:15. We opted for a light snack upstairs and then
went to see the show. Which believe it or not was a return of Bernie Fields the
harmonica player from our second segment. He’s good, but seriously we have had
a ton of duplicate shows. He did the same exact show and songs as he did the
second segment. (or LA’s first segment, so he was a repeat for all the world
cruisers)
Early to bed for us for our tour of
Chania – Crete, Greece
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