No more smooth sailing

Today was an entire day on the island of Rhodes. Rhodes is the 4th largest island in the Mediterranean and there is a bunch to do and see. We woke up early; actually Brad woke up really early to a shower from the window. Apparently they were washing the windows really early (4am) and when they sprayed the window; it dripped some water in on him as his bed is right up against the window. However, it wasn’t like we both haven’t been up at about 430-500 am when the lounge chairs are arranged on the sun deck which is right above us. This is a very old and noisy ship and oddly the ship is VERY rocky. Meaning, you can feel every wave- even though this ship is large, for some reason it rocks back and forth a lot. I had to purchase sea sickness pills the first day on board- which I have never had problems with before. Tonight as I write this I wonder if the ship is going to go down Titanic style…there are 8-10 foot waves and we are moving all over the place, our room is also situated near the front of the boat.

Anyway, we left our boat this morning and got on our bus up to Lindos which is a city on the island of Rhodes. It was about a 50 minute drive and we were going to visit an acropolis, which the Greek translation literally means city on the rock. Which makes sense since the other acropolis, the major one in Athens is on a big mountain that we hiked up. This was the same, but a scarier hike to the top. So we were warned in advance that there were approximately 300 steps to the top and we had 2 options, by foot the whole way, or half the way by donkey and the rest of the way by foot. I rode a camel and that was enough for one trip- I do not trust donkeys...regardless of how cute they are. So we “hoofed” it (our own hooves, not the donkey’s hooves) all the way up the big rocks. Now when they say 300 steps, these are not nice shallow stairs with a railing…oh no. These are big marble or sometimes broken up slippery rocks that are uneven and inconsistent in size- without handrails. In fact, there is no guard rails going up or when you get to the top- so you can just walk right off the top if you’d like and as an added bonus, it is very windy. Brad was not a huge fan of this as he has a small fear of heights. I am quite certain that my knees hate me right now. This was very interesting to see and I am glad we went to the top, although we are paying the price now.

After the acropolis we drove to see a pottery demonstration which was neat to see. I had taken a pottery class in the past using a pottery wheel and it would take me over an hour to make what this guy made in about 3 minutes. After this we drove back towards the port to the old town of Rhodes. The old town is still surrounded by gates, moats (dry) and the old brick fortress wall. Inside there are a bunch of shops and restaurants, museums and churches. That is one thing that is interesting about all these islands- the amazing number of small churches. Mykonos literally had 1 church per day of the year- 365 small churches in an island that had less people than the city of Minneapolis- maybe even Crystal. These churches are however very very small- I could not imagine some of these holding more the 50 people in them. It would probably be easy to get married over here- there is always a church available!

Instead of going back to the ship right after our guided tour, we stayed behind for lunch to taste the local fare. I of course ordered a Greek Salad and a slice of cheese pie- Brad ordered a mixed meats kabob that had fried potatoes and veggies and also tzasiki which came with the fabulous seasoned grilled pita bread. We had so much food and it was delicious! We hobbled back to the ship for our daily nap and woke up to the rocking and it has gotten worse as we continue to sail. More motion sickness pills for me…

Tonight we had the Captain’s cocktail party where we could meet the Captain and then our formal night in the dining room. We had a special dessert tonight, baked Alaska. They turned out all the lights and walked in the dining room with the flaming dessert singing the song “hot, hot, hot”.

Tomorrow morning we are taking a walking tour of the island of Crete and have some free time. We are then sailing to Santorini which is what I am most excited for- I can’t wait to see the blue domed houses and white washed homes on the cliff. Friday we get off the boat early in the morning and Friday and Saturday we have free in Athens. I can’t believe that our trip is nearing the end. It has gone by so fast and we have done so much, but I am also looking forward to getting back to normal. I may actually miss the dog a little bit…but maybe I am just not feeling well…who knows?