Day 7- Rest & Relaxation

After some compromise, we allowed the boys got to sleep in this morning until 11:00 AM.  We cooked all the leftover groceries for a large brunch since it would be our last full day at the apartment and didn’t want anything to go to waste.  I tried to make fried rice but it was lacking soy sauce.  It was pretty much chicken flavored rice pilaf with vegetables and smoked sausages, still tasty but not my usually Cambodian fried rice.

Since we had just a busy day yesterday, we just wanted to relax.  We headed to our favorite beach, Antony’s Quinn Bay a little bit after noon time.  Helen and I splurged for a sun bed and paid about $5.00 each and read books while the boys went out snorkeling to catch video footage of various fish species in the bay.  Syn explored the whole bay and was out for ours at a time loving each minute of it.  We soaked in some rays, swam and snorkeled for a half a day, just enough for a nice preliminary tan.

 

We returned to our apartment and showered and headed back to Old Town (the ancient medieval city.)  Since we hadn’t eaten for half a day, we were enticed by a restaurant by the main entrance of the harbor that offered a balcony seating with a beautiful view of the main courtyard.  The food was definitely more than what we had been paying the past few days in other parts of Rhodes.

Each couple ordered a liter of local beer in the novelty boot glass.  To our pleasant surprise, one of the glasses arrived in a women’s full figure shape (boobs and vagina).   That left us giddy and of course the cameras came out.

The Mo and I split a Greek Shared plate for two consisting of grape leaves, Moussaka, stuffed tomato, stuffed peppers and tzatziki, a Greek cucumber and yogurt sauce. It definitely was just the perfect amount of food for us as I could barely walk afterwards.

Helen and Syn shared a similar smaller version of the meal for an appetizer and indulged in grilled pork chops and moussaka.  We all agreed that our favorite dinner in Rhodes was the local restaurant we had in Faliraki last night, Manolis.

After dinner, we walked around the cobblestone roads in search for the ruins within the Old Town.  The lively town had a different vibe at night time compared to when we originally visited a few days earlier the day time. Tourists from all over Europe roamed the streets as restaurant employees and shop owners competed for their attention.  Music blared from each restaurant and bars as patrons quenched their thirst with fishbowls and massive mixed drinks with sparklers sticking out of them.  Some of the cocktails for 4 were so elegantly displayed and stood 3 feet tall with multiple stems of garnishes.

The castle walls and doors were glorious.  It was hard not to wonder what life was like during the time period when the walls of the town was resurrected.  As we walked through and observed the architectural, the sun had set and we returned back to the apartment.

We were faced with the bothersome task of repacking our things.  It was definitely nice to have a few days of stability in Greece before resuming our backpacking trip.

The routine didn’t seem as long as it did before since I had more dirty clothes that I just threw into my backpack and left clean clothes in a separate bag. Since I was running low on undergarments, I had to wash them like it was the early 1900’s before the invention of the washing machine.

Water + Soap + Kneading + Draining+Rinsing +Draining+ Hang Drying on clothes pins

The group headed back to Bar street for one last gyro before our the Greece portion of our trip was over.

Good by Greece!

Day 4 – Faliraki Rhodes Greece

After a short 1.5 hr ferry ride on the Flying Poseidon, we were finally in Greece!  We were herded through like sheep waiting to get through the immigration.  We negotiated cab fare to our apartment and the cab guy actually dropped us off at the wrong place which was by the beach, another 15 minutes walk with all our luggage in the hot blazing sun.  It was definitely not a great experience, I was certain I was going to give up backpacking.

We were greeted by an nice older Greek woman who showed us to our apartment.  I was so relieved when I saw the place we would be spending the next 5 days.  It was nice to have a “home” and not have to move around for the next couple of days.

The apartment came out to about $120.00 a night for 2 bedrooms with insuite bathrooms in each, a full kitchen, living room, patio, and most important, a swimming pool!  After splitting the costs, it was only $60.00 per a couple per a night, cheaper than most hotel rooms in the area!

We went out to grab a quick lunch to satisfy our growling stomachs.  The Mo and I split a “special burger” and potato “jackets” with beans and bacon at Mike’s bar.  I know its not exactly Greek food but I plan on staying on a tight budget in Greece since the dollar exchange rate is weaker compared to the Euro.  Pretty much everything is 25% more in US currency in addition to the already marked up prices in the touristy beach town.

We returned back to meet our Greek American property owner Steve.  He was the nicest person we have met on the trip so far. He gave us a quick tour of the island and took us grocery shopping to pick up some food and supplies that we would need for our first night since we didn’t get our car rental yet.

We took a dip in the pool to cool down and spent some time relaxing poolside from all the traveling we had done.  It was nice to just relax for the day without having an itinerary.

After the sunset, I prepared some appetizers for us to enjoy with drinks on our patio.  I made sauteed calamari, spiced chicken wings and fried sardines.  Syn made a great garlic pepper sauce to compliment the sardines.

We pregamed and enjoyed our snacks and Helen and I finished 2 bottles of red wine before heading to Bar street.  We walked around as bar promoters tried to lure us in with drink specials.  We stopped by a bar which was offering 2 drinks for 5 euros (a little of $6 USD).  After the drinks we weak, we moved on.

We hit up Jamaica bar and got a round of drinks.  We ordered an apple spice flavored  hookah, waterpipe for smoking tobacco.  We had lots of laughs before stumbling back to our apartment.  The boys ran out and got us a late night snack of a pork gyro and we all passed out.

What a great first night in Greece!

A Turkish Delight!

Restaurant Review-Saray Restaurant
In preparation for our trip to Turkey, we wanted to familiarize ourselves with the Turkish cuisine.  We are a frequent customer of Restaurant.com, a website where you can purchase prepaid gift certificates at deeply discounted and saw the restaurant featured in the Mediterranean cuisine category.  Intrigued by the online menu, we purchased two gift certificates, one at a $25.00 value (for $ 2.00) and one at a $50.00 value (for $6.00).

I thought it was funny that my Cambodian uncle shares the same name as the restaurant.  His name is Saray, and based on Wikipedia, Saray is a Turkic word of Persian origin (Persian: سرای sarai) which means “palace”.  I couldn’t find any correlation between Turkey, Persia, or Iran with Cambodia.  I guess its just a coincidence??

We originally planned on going just the two of us for an anniversary dinner on a weekday but since there were rush hour traffic delays, we decided to move Turkish dinner to Sunday and invited out my brother and his girlfriend to celebrate her birthday that usually takes place before, on or after Thanksgiving Day.

We met up for an early dinner at 5:00 PM and found ample parking which was a pleasant surprise in the usually crowded streets around Boston University.  We walked to the nearby grocery store, Star Market to pick up a 6 pack of beer since I have read on other reviews on Yelp that one could B.Y.O.B. since they do not have a liquor license.

The restaurant was very clean and the decor was simple but charming.  Upon arrival, the waitresses sat us and provided us with our menus, water and bread quickly.  There were a few other patrons dining in the restaurant.

Hot Appetizer plate

We started off with a few different appetizers including: Calamari, Sigara Borek (Fried Cheese Pastry), Grape leaves and the hot appetizer plate that included homemade hummus, pastrami, Zucchini Pancakes and more fried cheese.

Although I really like the hummus, I wished they provided something to dip it with.  I’m not sure if its a Turkish or American tradition, but I’ve always had hummus with pita chips, crackers or vegetables.  The Zucchini pancakes were also tasty and interesting.

The fried cheese pastry resembled a Chinese crab rangoon and I felt like it needed some kind of dipping sauce. The pastrami was a bit too salty for me and others also agreed.

Cheese Pastry

Calamari

Grape Leaves

Zucchini Pancakes

We ordered an array of entrees and each had a sample of the different dishes we ordered.  On our table, we had: Stuffed Cabbage Roll, “Hunkar Begendi” (Sultan’s Delight), Doner Kebab, and Char Grilled Chicken Kebab.  The meat portions were smaller than expected.

Cabbage Roll

The filling of the stuffed cabbage roll was lamb and rice and the taste and texture resembled corn beef, except that it didn’t have any potatoes.

The most expensive dish, the “Sultan’s Delight” had much to be desired for.  Although the lamb was delicious, there was only 5 meager pieces that looked like it was actually a larger piece cut into 5.  The eggplant puree was tasty and flavorful.

Doner Kebab

The Doner Kebab that was supposed to be sliced lamb and beef looked like it was only one type of meat instead of two.  There was no distinguishment among the lamb or beef.  Lastly, a few of us agreed that the rice may have been under cooked as there were some hard grains.

Chicken Kebab

The grilled chicken kebab was the tastiest dish that we ordered. I think I can live off of chicken kebabs for two weeks in Turkey.

Turkish Coffee

As a finale to our meal, we shared a pudding that was topped with pistachios.  It was just OK.  We also got delicious Turkish coffee that set us back $ 4.00 for a tiny cup.

Overall, the service was extremely nice.  Our water goblets were never empty and they turned off the lights and brought out a small dessert for us and sang “Happy Birthday” to the birthday girl.