A day in Rhodes

19.4.17

There was no 7am bing bong and we woke at 7.45am. Got dressed and had breakfast at record speed and set off for the 9am bus to Lindos.

Spotted this beauty in the harbour and felt very nostalgic. Our Celestyal Nefeli from last year. She wouldn’t usually be there at the same time but there’s a 5 night trip at the mo as she will be switching ports. We had contemplated this trip as it was 5 nights but the logistics of leaving our car in Kusadasi and arriving back in Cesme was a bit of a nightmare.

We made the 9am bus with a minute to spare. The journey to Lindos took an hour and a half and it was lovely to sit back and enjoy the scenery. Slightly frustrating seeing a massive Lidl and an Ikea but such is life. I wondered about splitting the return bus journey but John said no.
Lindos is very small and very white. John visited over 20 years ago and was keen to go back and see it again. Full of charming alleyways full of little gift and silver shops. And donkeys. Loads of them. Poor donkeys being used to lug tourists up the hill to the walled acropolis.

We walked up following a huge Canadian woman on a donkey who kept saying ‘poor donkey’ but saying very loudly that she had lost 20lbs. Poor donkey breathed a massive sigh of relief I’m sure.
After virtuously walking up we came to a ticket office. Like many others we refused to pay €12 each to see a few pillars that we pay almost nothing to see in Turkey.

Here are the pillars from a distance

We sat on a lovely terrace having espresso and beer before trying to pay the confused guy with a 10 Bulgarian lev note. We have a pot of random currencies for going away. He should be grateful it wasn’t Vietnamese dongs.

A bit more wandering, a couple more cats and time to climb the steep hill up to the main road for the 1pm number 30 bus.
Once back in Rhodes town we had a delicious Gyros, like a chicken doner but with pork before having a wander round the shops and historic walls. Have been before and its just as beautiful as I remember.

Once back on board it was definitely Baileys Iced Coffee time and also discovered Kahlua Dreamboat. I need to watch what goes in it before we leave.
Opted for early dinner which was excellent and quiet. Well inside the music from the outside was muffled. On the large deck just outside we watched around a hundred youngsters moving about to banging tunes. Moving in as much as they had drink in one hand and mobile phone in the other and have expertly learnt to pout and get the drink lined up in the same shot. We decided we’ve got very old and went off to the meet the Captain cocktail party.

We queued for a while and then had our photo taken with him and a glass of champagne. He later joined us all in the lounge and introduced the heads of all the different sections of the crew. We couldn’t help but compare to the charisma of last years Captain who told us where they were all from and interacted with us all asking where everyone was from.

Aferwards there was a dance competition. Couples were made up with one dancer or crew member and one volunteer from the audience.

Little Japanese Shokotan didn’t have a partner but Turkish Süleyman from the audience was cajoled into it. He towered over her, zipped up his jacket and put his heart into every dance. Whether it was waltz, jive or salsa his moves were the same just different speeds. They never stopped smiling and laughing and the audience soon got behind them cheering loudly when the judges gave their scores. Just fabulous.

Then it was showtime. Cabaret. I take back everything I said last night. The dancing and costumes were breathtaking. Incredibly professional. And a heart stopping moment when 2 guys swung a dancer and launched her at another guy who fortunately caught her.