Winding Down

---

Thursday in Rhodos and great expectations for another glorious beach day when some sort of natural disaster catastrophe struck the island and our plans for the day were dashed. Clouds !. All day. The sun tried but just couldn’t seem to break through to salvage a day at the beach. Not until late in the day did it finally break through to clear the clouds for a really nice evening for our last supper in Rhodos. The proverbial silver lining I suppose.

It was another one of those “all good things come to an end” days as we left Old Town Rhodos on Friday. It would have been another great beach day if only we could have stayed but Olympic Airlines was waiting for us and holding a couple seats. But before we leave Rhodos I have to tell you “the rest of the story” about our food adventures.

After the great coincidence of meeting up with Sofia at the ferry terminal and she was off to the Pension with our luggage we were wandering our way through the Old Town towards Sofia’s place when it was decided that we should maybe have lunch. Considering the ferry had docked about 10 :00 AM you can tell we were ‘wandering’ pretty slowly because it is not a long walk to the pension. There must be a hundred restaurants in the Old Town and with the competition every one of them has one or two guys out front trying to entice you into their establishment. Everyone of them has a large display (in photos) of their ‘gastronomic delights’ and they are all the same menu, and pretty much all the same price. For some reason, we passed them all.

Wandering up an alleyway as we were closing in on the pension and we came upon a small restaurant, in a nice setting, with no one hawking ‘today’s special’. For some reason we lingered, debating. Should we try this place ? Eventually a guy wandered out and invited us to take a seat anywhere, if we liked. Well, it seems we liked his low key approach and took seats. The menu’s came out, and after perusing an unfamiliar menu we were unsure how to go about getting some food we might like. The guy returned and told us of the day’s special and then said, “or I can choose for you”. That sounded like a good idea and we suggested we weren’t really all that hungry and something sort of tapas like to sample some foods would be perfect.

You probably can tell by now how lunch turned out. About five or six plates of wonderful food later we got to talkig with this very personable guy. The ‘guy’ was Yanni, and his wife Eleni did most of the cooking. She was born in Greece but raised in the USA. He had left Greece for a visit to the USA, they met, and Eleni said about four months later her friends were asking “are you crazy?” and they were married. Two sons and twenty years later they now have a wonderful restaurant in Old Town Rhodes that is called “The Boat”.

What a wonderful couple. They treated us like friends and on one of the earlier blogs there is a photo of Eleni and the girls having a consultation about where to go, what to see, and where to find the best beaches.

We ended up having two more dinners at The Boat with new friends Gregg and Erica from Coquitlam and each time we left it up to Yanni and Eleni to do their magic. We were never disappointed or having to leave feeling hungry. Seems like Eleni made sure there was extra food just in case one more person showed up. Every nite was a couple Ouzo shooters with Yanni, and then a plateful of wonderful fruits with special sauces. Nothing could ever have been better ! So, mark it in your diaries, your list of ‘where you want to go’ or whatever, but if your plans include the island of Rhodes in Greece you will miss a wonderful experience if you don’t visit The Boat in Old Town Rhodes. Thank you Yanni and Eleni, now get that web page up and tell the world !

For our departure Sofia had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the Pension to take us to the airport and a short one hour flight later we were in Athens where we were to connect to a flight to Istantbul. Not expecting much in the way of service on both short hops we had had a little extra for breakfast before leaving the Pension. Not likely we’d be having a chance to eat before about 4:00PM we thought. It seems we had forgotten, or had expectations set by Air Canada. Olympic Air provided a fresh sandwich and the usual coffee,tea, or . . . and Aegean Airlines surpassed them on the 50 minute hop from Athens to Istanbul by serving a full meal. Chicken that tasted like chicken, rice, and vegetables that were not too overcooked, with yogurt for desert. So we landed in Istanbul fully ‘fed and watered’ so to speak.

The Tashkonak Hotel, (www.hoteltashkonak.com) where we are staying, provided a taxi service from the airport to the hotel. We had stayed at The Tashkonak a couple of years ago and things had not changed too much. Still the same great friendly and helpful staff and a great breakfast on the rooftop terrace with a view of the Bosphorus. What had changed was that the rooms we had this year had all been recently redecorated and looked really ‘fresh’.

We practically could have returned to Athens, turned around and come back in the time it took to get to the hotel. An hour and a half ! Traffic may have been heavy but I think the driver had a couple of personal errands/favours to do along the way. A somewhat circuitous route, but being positive, we got to see a bit more of Istanbul. Our full group came together again, the Selcek group having arrived in Istanbul a day before us, so of course it was another big dinner nite. I have actually had to skip a couple meals ‘cause it has seemed at times that all we are doing is eating. Anyways, on the hotels recommendation Friday night’s dinner was only a couple blocks away. Most unusually we all chose the “days special” which was a mixed grill. A bread, sort of like naan, followed by salad, the mixed grill of lamb, chicken, and maybe beef?, with baked tomatoes, and vegetables all followed by a desert of baklava or rice pudding. And also most unusually the “day’s special” really was special.

Saturday morning the Edmonton group headed off the airport at 8:00AM for their flights home. They should arrive to the realities of October in Edmonton about 11:30PM. No doubt it will be somewhat cooler than we have become accustomed to. Oh, well, back to reality. Our turn too very shortly.

Saturday was our day planned for the Grand Bazaar. Always an exciting and crowded place with over 5000 shops and vendors in this covered section of alleyways. Things change however, and although it was still somewhat crowded with shoppers it no longer seemed to be the place for bargains like it used to be. Except for the heart Heather tore out of some poor carpet salesman ! I think he was just glad to get rid of her and out of his store before she stole anymore from him. Giving up on the Grand Bazaar we headed out onto the streets to make our way to the Spice Bazaar. It was here on the streets where the real action and bazaar was. Streets packed shoulder to shoulder with people and the streets lined with vendors selling everything from hardware, farm implements, stoves, jewels, fabrics, clothing, leather and foods. Probably anything else one might have wanted could be found here too.

Off the streets and into the Spice Bazaar where things seemed to have changed just as much as they had in the Grand Bazaar. A lot less spices, a lot more everything else, and all for ‘a lot more $$’. The price of progress I suppose. When these two spots are the highlight stop for the tour busses disgorging their throngs of inexperienced, naïve, and gullible tourists wanting to spend, spend, spend, I guess like anywhere the price becomes what the market will bear. I spoke with some vendors away from this area and they pretty much confirmed my observations saying how all the vendors in the two big bazaars all have big homes, vacation homes, vacation time, and little ‘drive’ to sell since they have all made their money. No wonder, because I found things in the Bazaar to be three times the price the vendors away from the area charged. Saturday as you can tell was a shopping day, the Bazaars, and street vendors. The three of us left here met up later in the afternoon for beverages, pleased with our finds, and dealing with the reality that our time here was fast coming to an end.

Here it is already ! Our return to reality as this morning, Sunday, is a little cloudy, showers in the distance and forecast high temperatures of only 15-16C. A long way from those mid-30C temperatures of just a few days ago. It seems like it will be a ‘jeans’ day, the first time in about a month but I suppose that is OK as I plan to visit the Blue Mosque this morning. Men in shorts are not allowed as are women with bare shoulders and no head covering not allowed. Fortunately, for tourists, they have appropriate temporary coverings that are provided before entering the Mosque.

The girls were off on another shopping trip for that one last thing for that one person. I was on my own with plans to see the Blue Mosque which they had seen earlier. By the time I got to the mosque there were the expected crowds but things moved along well and in less than ten minutes I was inside this awesome place of worship. Not only is it huge the decorations and wall coverings are indescribably beautiful. Unfortunately I have no pictures to share as I had left my camera memory card in the computer after downloading another batch of photos. Construction of the mosque which is somewhat unique because it has 6 minarets began in 1609 and was completed in1617. Because of the six minarets a seventh minaret was added to preserve the honor of the mosque of Mecca which had been the only mosque with six minarets.

By the time I left the mosque things had improved. The sun was shining and the temperature had moved up considerably so it was back to the hotel to drop of a now unnecessary jacket before continuing on the Topkapi, the palace of the sultans. The entrance to the palace is guarded by two members of the Turkish army, armed with sub-machine guns, and “no you cannot take our picture”. Inside the grounds approaching the palace entrance there are similar guards.

The palace is composed of many buildings and not all are open. That may be a good thing because I suspect if all the buildings were open you could easily spend a full day. The decoration of the rooms, with ceiling painted with intricate designs is what one would expect of a palace. The displays, especially in The Treasury, show the opulence of a regal position. There really are curved daggers encrusted with diamonds and sapphires. I seem to keep using the word ‘awesome’ but all the displays in the palace deserve at least that adjective. The short-comings of my vocabulary become somewhat obvious with the overuse of the word. I’ll include a couple pictures because a picture truly is worth a thousand words.

The day ended with meeting back at the hotel about 4:00 for a couple ‘bevvies’ and an initial re-packing in preparation for our upcoming departure followed by supper at The Doy Doy restaurant, another recommendation of the Tashkonak hotel staff.

And before I forget. I had mentioned all the cats in Istanbul earlier. Well, being a seaport there are seagulls too and they mimic the cats. Have you ever heard a seagull ‘meow’? Weird.

---

Photos

The Blue Mosque
Six minarets and and outstanding feature

Entering the Grand Bazaar
It gets more crowded further into the bazaar

Everything is for sale
Carpets, silver, gold, leather, fabric, lamps, knockoffs and originals

The streets outside the Bazaar
Shoulder to shoulder and everything inside the bazaar and more ! And a much more vibrant and exciting atmosphere.

Entrance to Topkapi grounds
Guarded by two armed guards from the Turkish Army

Ornate structure and design
Thoughout the castle walls and ceilings are decorated with intricate geometric designs

The Treasury Room
This is the domed ceiling of the Treasury Room

Ceiling and Walls
Somehow its just not the same in a photograph