Hello from the gorgeous Odyssey of the Seas; it is Day 9 of our cruise, which suggests we solely have 3 days left. The time has been flying by with our busy days exploring new ports (and international locations!).
I’m glad to report that I’ve a brand new favourite Greek island – Rhodes! After our busy days in Israel, we didn’t have an tour deliberate for at this time so we might have freedom and adaptability to do what we wished.
We woke as much as a surprising view of Rhodes outdoors of our balcony!
Since we weren’t on a good timeline, we loved a sluggish morning with breakfast at Cafe 270. This was certainly one of our favourite locations after we cruised on Spectrum of the Seas again in 2019, and I’m shocked we’ve got but to eat there on this cruise.
They have a beautiful collection of grab-and-go breakfast sandwiches and burritos, together with a bagel bar. There’s additionally a espresso cart situated in 270, making it a simple place to seize breakfast.
Afternoon Shopping in Rhodes
With some fast analysis on Rhodes, all the pieces on-line stated the cruise port is situated very conveniently within the outdated city.
Getting off the ship, we might instantly see the outdated city that was surrounded by a stone wall.
I discovered a couple of totally different areas inside strolling distance that I wished us to take a look at beginning with the Castle of the Old Town.
We walked by way of an outdated city entrance and located ourselves surrounded by pretty streets with tons of procuring and eating places. Unfortunately, following the map on my cellphone to the Castle of the Old Town led us to a useless finish on a facet avenue. We regarded round and noticed nothing resembling a fort.
Fortunately, there was lots to nonetheless see and many procuring that was shut by so we went again to the principle pedestrian
Mom and I have been in heaven with the entire outlets, particularly the jewellery outlets. We discovered a beautiful store owned by a Greek household who made distinctive bracelets, rings, earrings and necklaces. I believe mother and I spent almost an hour procuring inside this single store with the proprietor serving to us discovering the right items.
The store house owners have been so heat and welcoming! They stated mother was their finest buyer of the day.
Dad roamed the streets by his lonesome self till we completed our procuring; after all, he wasn’t solely happy with how a lot money and time we spent.
Wandering Around Old Town
Back to our self-guided stroll of the outdated city, we selected the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes. Say that 10 occasions quick!
We weaved by way of the streets, typically getting distracted by what number of picture alternatives offered themselves on this charming metropolis!
At the Palace, we loved taking some photographs and bumped into some buddies from the ship that we spoke with for a short while. It was $10 to enter the Palace, so we opted simply to benefit from the outdoors of what we might see from the fort.
We additionally met a pleasant household from Austria that informed us how pretty the marina stroll in Rhodes is, so we set that as our subsequent vacation spot.
After exiting the Palace, we walked by way of a very great courtyard with greenery, flowers and views of the palace.
As we made our solution to the ocean, we walked out of the outdated metropolis and into the newer space. We discovered an H&M and stopped in Starbucks for a fast resident and loo cease.
Marina and Rhode Windmills
We discovered ourselves strolling alongside the ocean with unimaginable views of the ocean, Fort St. Nicholas and the Three Windmills of Rhodes. We might additionally see Odyssey of the Seas, together with 3 different small ships, within the port.
Fort St. Nicholas is situated on the finish of a brief walkway-like pier that expands from the marina. It regarded like an excellent spot to stroll with sweeping views of the ocean.
This additionally gave us an up-close have a look at the Three Windmills of Rhodes. One of the windmills was lacking its precise windmill, which was attention-grabbing.
I loved taking some actually enjoyable photos with the windmills and ocean views whereas dad climbed on the rocks with Angie and mother discovered some locals to strike up a dialog with. She enjoys speaking to pleasant locals and asking all about their metropolis and financial system.
The locals defined that Rhodes is without doubt one of the greatest Greek Islands and depends nearly solely on tourism for its financial system. He additionally talked to us in regards to the island’s drawback with gypsies begging for cash within the metropolis, which have develop into extra of an issue in recent times.
We didn’t stroll to the tip of the jetty however admired Fort St. Nicholas from afar and a show of European flags that lined the walkway.
Scammers at Saint Paul’s Gate
After mother completed conversing with the locals, we set our websites for the Temple of Aphrodite however stumbled upon the very charming St. Paul’s Gate!
Entering the gate, we discovered a staircase that allowed us to climb the ramparts and see sweeping views of the harbor. Angie, dad and I climbed the steps to stroll round whereas mother admired from the protection of the bottom degree.
At one level, two gypsies began screaming at one another, disrupting our peaceable second taking within the ocean views.
We continued to discover the world, through which we bumped into extra cruise buddies who provided to take our household image. We discovered cute little nooks to take photos and loved admiring the views.
Apparently, Saint Paul’s Gate is without doubt one of the most intricate gates in Rhodes and connects the outdated city to the harbor.
While I used to be snapping some photos of Angie and Mom off within the distance, I rotated to see a gypsy yelling in my face. I used to be stunned since I had not engaged in any kind of dialog or eye contact with the ladies. From years of touring (and getting scammed earlier than), I do know it’s finest to be persistent in not partaking with them.
She began to scream to NOT take her picture. I checked out her confused and confirmed her the image of mother and Angie, I stated to her that she wasn’t even within the picture and I wasn’t taken with photographing her.
She screamed even louder, “YOU LIE – YOU’RE A PSYCHO! I see you use your phone to take my picture!!!!” And I walked away insisting that I didn’t take her image nor was I taken with taking her picture.
I used to be apprehensive she was utilizing this as a chance to pickpocket by making a scene, however she didn’t take something from me.
As we left the world, we noticed the gypsies strategy two males and place bracelets on their wrists – through which they proceeded to yell and count on the boys to pay them for the bracelets. They prey on anybody who exhibits them compassion or makes eye contact!
As I used to be penning this weblog, I discovered a couple of folks noting on-line having the identical experiences with these ladies. Some of the feedback are from ten years in the past – so these similar ladies have been scamming folks for nearly a decade. It is just too dangerous, because it does take away among the great thing about the gate.
Souvlaki and Shopping in Old Town
Once we might decompress after the gypsy debacle, mother and I made a decision we had labored up an urge for food for some gyros or souvlaki. When in Rome!
We walked by the Temple of Aphrodite as we regarded to seek out one thing to eat close to the port.
Back within the outdated city, we bumped into our buddies from earlier who really helpful a spot that was proper down the highway. There was a quaint seating space with flowers and cubicles coated with colourful pillows.
We ordered 2 pitas for mother and I to get pleasure from whereas Dad tried baklava for the primary time. Everyone loved the rooster souvlakis and we appreciated a second to sit down down, refresh and relaxation after strolling about 3 miles.
There was even a musician who came to visit to play the guitar – bringing a smile to all of us on the restaurant.
Following our souvlaki indulgence, Mom and I had extra procuring to do in one of many leather-based shops earlier than discovering much more cruise buddies within the outdated city. We love assembly so many sort folks from the cruise and our rowdiness should make it straightforward to establish us in a crowd!
We determined to make our approach again to the port because it was round 4:30.
Lime and Coconut
Once again onboard the ship, we dropped off our procuring luggage within the room and spoke to our great stateroom attendant, Waylan. We’ve been so impressed with the service we’ve acquired on this cruise. The total employees onboard has been glorious and so attentive.
We determined to go as much as the Lime and Coconut Bar to see our favourite bartender, Dwayne. Mom has been referring to him as ‘Dwa’ throughout this cruise; she met him on the primary day and couldn’t see his total identify tag when he requested her to guess his identify so she stated ‘It must be DWA’!
‘Dwa’ whipped up 4 cocktails for us, together with a mudslide for me, Miami Vice for dad and Bailey’s Banana Colada, which is Angie’s newest drink obsession. The cool drinks tasted so good after all of the strolling we did at this time.
The solar was beginning to set over Rhodes as we loved glad hour cocktails on the highest deck. We mirrored on one other nice day of our cruise and marveled on the excellent climate.
I concluded that Rhodes could be my new favourite Greek Island of all of the islands I’ve visited (together with Santorini, Crete, Corfu and Rhodes). The metropolis was so charming and really clear. I’d like to return and go to the acropolis and different areas of the island.
Evening on Board
It was 6:00PM earlier than we knew it, so we went to dinner in the principle eating room. Tonight we tried a wide range of appetizers, entrees and desserts however most of us discovered that it wasn’t our favourite meal of the cruise.
Angie was the one one who completely loved her total meal tonight; she ordered the rooster wings, pork chop and berry crumble.
Dad and I discovered the Beef Trio to be a bit of robust whereas mother didn’t love her goat cheese tart or fisherman’s pie.
We talked about to the server that we discovered the meat to be a bit of robust and shortly after, the top waiter came to visit to speak to us. We definitely aren’t choosy or ones to complain, so we weren’t anticipating to talk to the top waiter.
He was asking intently in regards to the entree’s points to make sure he understood the difficulty, though we emphasised that we’ve got been pleased with all of our meals to date. We have been impressed by how involved and rapidly he got here to deal with our remark.
After dinner, the remainder of the household went to look at a magician efficiency within the Royal Theatre. Since I stayed up late (like 1 am) to complete yesterday’s weblog after a busy night with leisure, I opted to come back again and get some work completed.
They vastly loved the magician, so I must go watch his efficiency tomorrow evening!
I get pleasure from having the quiet time to myself to undergo photographs and write at this time’s reside weblog.
Tomorrow’s Plans
Tomorrow, we’re in Santorini, Greece! I’ve been to Santorini twice earlier than. The first time I got here to Santorini was throughout faculty once I did Semester at Sea; I flew to the island from Athens and spent a couple of days exploring.
The second time I visited Santorini was with my husband after we did a cruise from Venice for our honeymoon. During that go to, we did our personal factor and took the velocity boat and bus to Oia and walked down from Fira.
For this go to, we’ve got a shore tour by way of Royal Caribbean. I believe this shall be extra enjoyable for mother and pa not having to fret about logistics on our personal.
I learn that there shall be a couple of different ships in port, so it might be busy. We additionally might want to tender to the island, so having the shore tour ought to make that straightforward. Our tour consists of visits to Oia (the place the basic blue roofs are!!), a vineyard and Fira earlier than returning to the ship.
I’ve by no means visited the wineries in Santorini, so I’m excited to see what that’s all about!
The description of the tour makes it sound like we shall be pushed to Oia from the port and return to the port by bus; it doesn’t point out the cable automobile or donkey stroll down from Fira on the hilltop, so I hope which means returning to the port is not going to be a difficulty.
I’m crossing my fingers that our good luck continues tomorrow! Mom, Dad and Angie have by no means visited Santorini and I do know they’re wanting ahead to it. This is an thrilling port for a lot of, as Santorini is an iconic Greek Island and a world-class vacation spot for a lot of.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventures! Until then, goodnight everybody!
