Rodos Day 2

Breakfast at the hotel every morning . . . ho hum . . . 

out in the sunshine, with the tang of sea air in the wind, even if the ocean was out-of-sight . . . it was so much warmer than Prague we were delirious with happiness. This sun is kinda their logo / motif, ever'where. . . done up in small smooth stones set on edge into concrete, must take ages.

 The plunger coffee, rather than cappucino made it all seem restrained and elegant, despite the greek yogurt . . . I didn't know, but Mrs said she did . . . she was on this like a chicken on a june bug. We've added it to our regular weekend brekky, but with Czech yogurt -- good, but not as good, if you see what I mean . . .

 Then scrambled eggs and bacon . . . oh, they must cater to americans all the time . . . 8^D . . .

So we turned around 3 times up in the room after breakfast, then headed out to score Old Town . . . we walked up and down some streets we'd already seen, taking the circuitous route to the Archaelogical Museum, parts of which were excellent, parts were just/only very fine . . . like, everywhere you look is amazing architecture . . . 

both inside and out . . . 

with amazing nooks and crannies -- niches full of round stone balls . . . our hotelier told us later that the balls were used to discourage moorish attackers . . . 8^D . . . 

there was a little gazebo like place outside with this ceiling . . . 

and numerous examples of very fine tile work . . . 

Oh, wait, this excellent tilework is from the Palace of the Masters . . . the rest of the photos we took are not that interesting, tho'the palace is . . . 

there was a section of the Museum where they discouraged photos, actively... with docents giving me the fish eye everytime I got close to something . . . can't imagine why . . . but Mrs bot this postcard later to make me feel better about my missed opportunity . . . this is one of the finest sculptures I've ever not photoed. .  .

I don't know why they gave it this cheezy red background or posed it like this -- which is nice, but not really the best angle: The Rodos Aphrodite.

When we'd finished the self-guided tours, it was nearly 2 pm. . . time for lunch no matter where you are . . . but Old Town Rodos was running over with tourists from the big cruise ship docked in the harbor. . . we walked back down the Avenue of the Knights, past our hotel, to Socrates (and just how long has this street been called Socrates, we wondered . . . is it just a touristy PR play, or is it from time almost immemorial?), past all the gift shops doing land-rush business, looking for a restaurant that looked interesting with a table open.

We settled for Sarris. Some of the cruisers had already eaten and left, so there were tables outside, in the sun, away from the smokers.

A half-carafe of white wine, a greek salad, and a mixed platter with pastitio, stuffed bellpepper, spinach pie, mousaka, meatballs, and sausage-like links. It was very pleasant, if not gourmand, there in the warm sun, eating and watching the feral cats beg for food.

We walked around some more, trying to find streets not thronged with the boat tourists . . . impossible, of course, but that takes you places you wouldn't see ordinarily, we think . . . 

 Like this tree on the road by the moat. . . nobody else was around, and we'd walked by here before without noticing it. and we tho't nobody else knows . . . but the next day we saw 3 tours queued up to photo it, dozens if not hundreds of people . . . so there you go . . . the most photoed tree on Rodos.

 The jewish temple and the moslem mosque minaret. . . . Mrs liked this blue door, I hardly paid attention to it, but when she pointed it out, I said you have to have a pic of it, or we'll regret it . . . it's a very fine door, I think you'll agree, a very fine shade of blue.

So we wound home, after stopping at a grocery store for some nibbles and wine and some ice, took our jacuzzis, sat outside on the upstairs terrace for sunset, when it DID finally get a little nippy, and went inside to watch a few videos on my laptop . . .