Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Greek Island Day

Our ship was scheduled to arrive at the Greek Island of Rhodes at 10 o'clock this morning. So I set a wake-up call for 8:30. I quietly dressed and went to the gym early, leaving Bill to sleep a bit longer. Much to my surprise, the vista out of the windows of the gym was magnificent! Our ship had docked early, and I was looking at the prettiest of towns jutting up from the Mediterranean Ocean.

It was a sight for sore eyes after the confusion and noise of yesterday in Athens. The island really does sparkle in the sunlight, and the skies were as blue as the Greek flag. It was one of the prettiest things I've ever seen in my travels to Europe.

After my exercise, Bill and I did our few errands and were off the ship by 10:30. Unlike yesterday, Rhodes City is just a very short walk from where the ships dock, so it was easy to get on and off the ship. No need for us to take a tour bus, or anything else, to get us where we wanted to go. There were a few people taking tours, but most everyone was doing what we were doing – walking to the old town center to shop and enjoy the tavernas.

We did what we like doing most – we quickly got off the beaten path so that we could see the back streets of the old town. We had an early lunch at a cafe that was tucked away from the more commercial area of town. Then we wandered and looked at the locals, the flowers, the churches and the mosques.

Bill hates shopping more than any other human being I know. I kept telling him that the ship was so close that he could go back and I could shop at my leisure. At first he said no, that he would prefer to stay with me. But I would go into a store, he would quickly get bored. We finally went into a wine store where he bought a couple of very nice cigars. At last, I was able to convince him to go back to the ship.

Finally! I was free from that person who ardently hates shopping. I was in a lovely Greek town that was full of things to buy and vendors eager, if not frantic, to sell me things. So I picked out a few things in the first shop I went into, with help from a friendly Greek sales clerk. I get to the counter to pay and suddenly I remember that I had absolutely NO MONEY. I had given all of my money and my credit cards to Bill to carry when we were in Naples, and he had never given them back. I seriously thought the sales clerk was going to weep.

I walked back to the ship and still had a couple of hours to spare before we had to be back on board. I gathered my money and my credit cards and was back shopping in no time.
We had a full table again tonight at dinner, and it was fun to hear about everyone's shopping adventures. One couple, who come from Toronto and are on their first cruise, actually bought a carpet that they are having sent to their home in Canada. No one could compete with that.
Everyone is excited for their next couple of port stops. One of our table mates said that seeing the pyramids was on his “bucket list.” The couple from Canada plan on riding camels when in Egypt. I can't say that is particularly on MY bucket list.

We meet up with the people taking our tour into Ephesus very early tomorrow, so we are having a early turn-in. We did see a very beautiful sunset from the deck this evening.

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