Saturday, June 7, 2014
Good morning!
I’m actually starting this blog in the morning, so I can
write about dinner last night, which was FABULOUS! I looked at Tripadvisor, and fairly high on
their list of recommended restaurants was “Saffron” which is INDIAN. (Coincidentally, we have a restaurant in
Tucson with the same name!) We headed
over there about 7 p.m. (a short 10 minute or so walk) and were able to get a
table indoors (AWAY from smoking, hopefully!)
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| Vegetable pakoras |
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| Vegetable samosas |
Well…the first thing that differed from our meal in Marmaris
is that we had WONDERFUL service, and then, that the food actually came on a
timely basis!
They started us with
pappadum (made in the restaurant) with a mint sauce and a cherry chutney – both
very good.
That was followed by our
“usual” – vegetable pakora and vegetable samosa.
Well…the plate for the vegetable pakora was
HUGE, with three different kinds of
vegetables!
There was so much that we
were only able to eat about half of it – but they very kindly wrapped the
remainder up for us to take away.
Then
we got our chicken tikka and our prawn khorma along with our saffron rice pilaf
and garlic na’an…Oh, my…we have
NEVER
ever had chicken of any sort that was this moist and tender – it was
incredible; really, and perfectly spiced.
The prawn khorma was also excellent, just not as well spiced – but the
waitress did tell us that when we ordered.
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| Prawn khorma |
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| The BEST chicken tikka EVER! |
All in all, we SO enjoyed our meal.
The owner came around to talk with us, and he is a very
interesting man. Born in Rodos, but his
father was an engineer who moved the family around (mostly the Middle East –
Kuwait, Sudan, etc.) depending on
where he was working. They were able to
get out of Tehran just a few days before the takeover of the American Embassy
(which was a block away!) and his family still owns property there that they
are trying to get back and then sell. He
spent several years in the U.S. – found Orange County CA too busy, but very
much enjoyed the year+ he spent in San Antonio, TX. His wife is Japanese, and after living in
Japan for some years, he returned to Rodos and opened the restaurant several
years ago. His son will graduate this
year from Japanese University and he and his wife will join him and their
daughter in Rodos. Our waitress was his
daughter, and she speaks perfect English, Japanese and Farsi – and is working
on her Greek. Truly an international
family!
In spite of being stuffed with wonderful and exotic Indian
food, we were able to waddle back to the apartment. Our goals for today are as follows: 1) Turn in the last load of laundry!! 2)
wander around the perimeter of the old city walls, 3) Get a good nap, because
4) I want to see the walls and old town all lit up at night! So!
That’s it for now! I will let you
know how I do on my “goals!”
We went out about 8:30 a.m. and dropped off our laundry. (Note here about our shower. It is TINY and built around a small circle in
the corner of the bathroom, with a curtain that pulls around the circle…unfortunately,
there is SO little room that if you need to do anything at all, some part of
you will be pushed against the shower curtain; most uncomfortable!) From there, we headed for the old town. As I promised myself a day of ice cream, we
stopped at a vendor in the park for an ice cream cone of stracciatella (my
favorite; vanilla with chocolate bits).
However, we only got a few steps when my first lick literally knocked
the ice cream scoop to the pavement! Oh
dear! So, cleaned up that mess and
returned, this time for TWO scoops, hopefully of which I could deal with…and I
did!
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| The ice cream cone that I managed to eat! |
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| Art gallery in an ancient building in old town |
We entered the old city near the harbor gate and it was
really quite nice, being so early; very few other tourists around, and the shop
keepers were just opening their stores.
We found an open Photo Store, where R got a new flash drive (as the one
he brought with us is now stuffed full of all the photos we’ve taken!). We really just wandered from gate to gate,
which was quite lovely, but as it was getting really warm in the sun, we
finally decided to head back to the hotel.
Picked up the laundry, then back for a rest before lunch…
We returned to I (heart) Salad Bar for repeats of both of
our Thursday salads – R getting pasta salad and me making my own masterpiece
with green beans, peas, yellow cheese cubes, potatoes and croutons;
excellent!
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| Look what I found!!! |
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| Temple of Aphrodite |
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| Lovely square within the walls |
I was also able to find a
close ice cream vendor for another ice cream cone of stracciatella … very
nice!
Then back to the hotel for our
rest AFTER lunch (being obviously different than the rest before lunch, you see…)
The only other big event today will be dinner, and I am
determined to find something Italian.
Tripadvisor lists Nicsos, just a few steps along our street as one of
the best restaurants in town, serving Greek, Italian and Seafood…I’m thinking
that may be a plan.
Then, of course, an
evening wander back around the harbor and old town, (with perhaps even more ice
cream!) so we can see it all lit up!
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| Fun exploring little streets! |
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| Lovely fountain! |
Other than that, I’ve just got to organize for an early departure
tomorrow. (The ferry boat leaves at 9
a.m. and I am DETERMINED that we are NOT going to be last in line again!!) Fortunately, as of now, the Mediterranean is
MUCH calmer than it has been, but we’re still going to take our motion sickness
medication tomorrow; MUCH better safe than sorry!
Lots of love,
m
xxx
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