We agreed that we'd meet our friends at the Passport Bar at the not too early time of 10:00 am. We headed down to breakfast, and then back to the room to get our stuff. (Since the restaurant closes at 9, we knew we'd have time. Glen had a couple of things to do in the room, so I went down. When I got to the bar I got a text from JoEllen telling me to go to Cafe Al Bacio instead. Up I went. Alan forgot his hat, and so she was waiting while enjoying a coffee. I figured in a few minutes, I'd go down and get Glen, but he found us. Alan soon joined us. Our other friends overslept and had to work on hurricane preparations for their kids, (they would text when they were ready), so the four of us set out.
One of the things we'd wanted to do was visit the synagogue and the holocaust memorial. JoEllen read it was by the Seahorse statue. We asked in a shop as you entered the walled old city and she sent us to the right down the main street of the old city. She also told us to take the second left. It was little hard to determine what a left was - road or path. We found the statue, and the memorial for the Jews of Rhodes who were deported and killed. There were, if memory serves, 1600 people, 1450 who died. Some came back and JoEllen said she read that there were 31 Jewish people with one active synagogue in Rhodes.
After taking pictures of the memorial, we tried to find the Synagogue. Google Maps said we'd arrived. We asked in a few places, and people kept pointing us in the right general direction. Finally we found the street that we knew it was on, and soon found it. We found a door, but it was locked. JoEllen had apparently booked a tour, but the guide was sick, and she thought maybe that was the only way you could see the Synagogue. However Glen found the actual entrance, it was open.
The entrance went into a nice courtyard, with the gift shop ahead and the synagogue to the left. It's an old Sephardic synagogue, meaning the bema (equivalent to a pulpit) in the center of the room, surrounded by pews on 3 sides. A docent was there greeting people. He told us he spoke Greek, Spanish, Italian and French, but his English wasn't good. He did show us the tattoo on his arm indicating he is a Holocaust survivor. He gave us a handout with the history of the Synagogue in English, and suggested we sit and read it.
After reading it, we entered the courtyard on the other side of the Synagogue, which was where the locked door was. To the side, is the entrance to the museum, so we went through that, learning about the history of the Jewish people of Rhodes. As mentioned earlier, the was a thriving community in a (mostly) tolerant greater community until the Nazi occupation of Greece.
After visiting the synagogue and stopping by the gift shop, we decided to have a drink in one of the many restaurants. We chose the nearest one called The Orange Bar (I think). Alan and Glen asked for a local beer, and JoEllen and I wanted a mixed local cocktail. The server asked what size we wanted and we all said small.
So what came out was two boots of beer (literally a glass shaped like a boot, and a full size small boot) and two mixed drink with the drink part the size of a soup bowl. I can't imagine what their large size is. After getting partway through the drinks, we decided food was a good idea, so we ordered dolmas (stuffed grape leaves). JoEllen tried Octopus, and we shared a greek salad. The rice in the Dolmas was very, very good, and more like a risotto.
Glen and Alan did very well in finishing their drinks, we did not. So, when we were ready to leave, the server brought us to go cups (coffee to go cups, actually). Poured the remainder of our drinks in, and away we went. JoEllen and Alan went straight back to the ship, but we decided to wander a bit outside of the old city to find an ATM. Outside of the gates, we saw a bunch of what are probably feral cats. Apparently a lot in this part of the world.
We walked to what looked like a commercial part of any city, with a gas station, restaurants, and a park area to walk in. No banks, though. I thought I'd ask Siri, but she was of no help, so I used Google maps. Turns out there was a ATM back in the old City, a bit further than we'd gone. So back in we went, went to the ATM and then back to the ship.
It was about 1pm, and we weren't quite hungry, so back to the ship to do basically nothing. After an hour or so, we decided we were a bit hungry, so we went to the mast grill to get some hotdogs. It was way too windy to eat up there, so we went to the buffet. On the Equinox I wasn't too impressed with the burger, here I wasn't too impressed with the hotdog. Oh well, we had a nice dinner planned.
Next we decided to practice our dance choreography. First stop was the Sky Lounge - nope an event going on these. Next was the studio below - a couple practicing there too. So we went to what they call the entertainment or activity foyer on deck 4, and practiced there for a bit. Following that, we went to Cafe Al Bacio for a coffee, then back to room, then to Michael's club for a while. While there, I asked about using priority tendering for our group of 6 going to Santorini together. They said just bring everyone to them. I let the group know to meet in Ensemble at 8:15 (We were meeting the guide around 9 am).
The show tonight was the cast singing broadway, so we went to that. It was good, not great - basically just the leads and two others singing songs from various broadway shows. I think the most recent was from Dream Girls.
After that back to the room to prepare for dinner at 8:30 in Tuscan Grill. There, a problem developed - the toilet wouldn't flush, so I tried calling Guest Relations. No answer, so I called the concierges in Michaels club. They, of course answered the phone, and said they'd forward the message.
We left a bit early for dinner (and to use the restrooms downstairs), and ran into JoEllen and friends on our way to Tuscan.
The dinner in Tuscan was very good. I'd heard some not good things about it on the Equinox, and when I was on the Equinox they were offering discounts like crazy. I had the beef Carpaccio, burrata salad and filet mignon. I think Glen had a calamari, a caesar salad and the ribeye. We, for reasons I'm not clear on, also had the Antipasta board. (Next time I'll just ask for the gorgonzola and fig jam). For dessert we shared a strawberry shortcake type thing.
While there, we noticed two things. First, Rick Steves and his gang at a table across the room, and plumbers working frantically in the area between the specialty restaurants and the Ensemble lounge.
After dinner, we watched a little bit of the Myst show that the singers and dancers do in the Atrium. We had a tour the next day, so went back to the room after trying to dance a bit in the stair bank on deck 7. Got back the room, the toilet worked, but only for a while, then it stopped again. This time I called guest relations because our concierges were gone for the day.
Went to bed hoping to have a flushing toilet by morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment