Greece & Turkey: Day Five

March 28, 2012

Today, we got up around 6:00 a.m. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with Matt and Terry from our tour group.  After breakfast, we went back to our cabins to get ready for our first excursion. We met our group in the Metropolitan Lounge at 8:15 a.m.  We were supposed to go on a guided tour today but the local guides were on strike (just today).  Inspirational Tours (our tour company) managed to find us a bus and driver for the day.  We had Bianca, our cruise guide, with us but she is not licensed in Greece so she was just a tourist like us today (she did help steer us in the right direction during the day).  We were on the Island of Rhodes today.  The port was at the Old City of Rhodes. The Minoans came to the Island of Rhodes in the 16th Century B.C.  The city of Rhodes was established in 408 B.C.

This is the site of the former Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was erected  between 292 and 280 B.C. It was constructed to celebrate Rhodes' victory over the ruler of Cyprus. Before its destruction in 226 B.C.- due to an earthquake- the Colossus of Rhodes stood over 107 ft high, making it one of the tallest statues of the ancient world. 

The gorgeous Agean Sea

Me at the Temple of Apollo on the Acropolis of Rhodes.

Temple of Apollo from around 300 B.C.

Lindos is now an archaeological site.  It was founded by the Dorians led by the King Tlepolemus of Rhodes, who arrived in about the 10th century B.C.  Above the modern town rises the acropolis of Lindos, a natural citadel which was fortified successively by the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Knights of St John and the Ottomans. The acropolis offers spectacular views of the surrounding harbours and coastline. (Wikipedia)

 Temple of Athena up on the Acropolis of Lindos from around 300 B.C.

It was quite a trek up to the Acropolis.  I just wanted to walk but Brenda insisted we ride a donkey.  I was very hesitant but the man who guided our two donkeys stayed right beside me the entire way.  I kept saying I was a baby so he nicknamed me his "big baby".  It was quite steep and I really did not like riding the donkey! 

 We went back to the old City of Rhodes.  Bianca walked around with us showing us some of the sights in the area. It was a very neat city!  It is a walled city, with lots of narrow passages.  Then we went back to the ship to eat lunch.  We ate with a couple of gals from our group, Jeanie and Gladys.  Then we walked back over to the old city to walk around and do some shopping. There were tons of shops.  It was a beautiful day to be out and about!!  We enjoyed some very yummy ice cream before heading back to the ship around 4:00 p.m.  All aboard was at 5:30 p.m. (the time the ship leaves port).

I wanted to try the line dancing lessons up in the Star Lounge (Brenda said she would watch) so we headed up there. Unfortunately, no one else showed up for the lessons so they canceled it.  We just stayed up there in the lounge.  We read and enjoyed the view.  

At 6:00 p.m., we went to get dressed for dinner.  It was "elegant" night.  Bianca worked it out so we could all eat together in one of the nicer restaurants.  No one dressed up real fancy.  We had a variety of appetizers that we shared.  Then came the entree - I had calamari stuffed with rice.  Then came dessert- we each got a bowl of rice pudding and then shared Greek apple pies and fried donuts.  We were all stuffed by the end of the meal. Dinner took 2 hours.

After dinner we went to the Metropolitan Lounge for an International Show.  It was a bit better this evening.  They did song and dance numbers from different countries.

The last event of the evening was the young musical group from Malaysia.  Brenda and I left before it was over.  We were really tired!

It was then back to our cabin and we called it a night.  We were greeted by this beautiful swan!