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 5- Exploring the Island of Rodos

This will be a half ass post.  I am exhausted from an 8 hour journey tour of the island (and I wasn’t even driving!!) Syn drove the whole time, kudos to him, it was like the Kangamangus HW, but 10 times worst!

Here are the highlights of today:

1. Visited Lindos
• Took a Donkey ride up to the Acropolis ruins
• Viewed the picturesque St. Paul’s Bay
2. Sunbathed and swam at Prassonissi Beach, a peninsula beach consisting of two islands that are only joined together in certain months of the year based on the water levels.  One side of the beach is wavy and the other side is calm.
3. Lunch at Cristina’s seaside restaurant – I wasn’t impressed with my meal (my least favorite) but I’m glad Helen and Syn enjoyed their fish meal.
4. Visited Kritinia Medieval castle 
5. Visited Kamiros Archaeological site which was an ancient city that was destroyed in 226 BC by an earthquake
6. Poolside at the apartment
7. Dinner at Manolis Taverna – Faliraki
8. In search of coffee and dessert on bar and disco street but found strip clubs instead

Pictures below.

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!