Djelhi babies

 

Namaste blog-mates!  We're finally in Delhi. Our plane landed at around 04.30 this morning and after hanging about in the airport for a couple of hours, waiting for missing group members, someone casually mentioned that in fact,said members had actually missed the flight and would follow on later today.

Oh how we laughed...........

Once on board the coach, our guide introduced himself. Apparently his name is Lalit, although by this time it's safe to say that to the majority of us his name was mud.

We set off in search of breakfast and after a nourishing plate of curry and chips, we were ready for the first sightseeing jaunt.

Our target was the Qutb Minar, (no idea how you pronounce it) which as I'm sure you're aware, is the tallest minaret in Delhi. And a UNESCO World heritage site (obviously).

It's a whopping 73m tall and has no fewer than 379 steps inside leading to the top. However entry is now prohibited, following a grisly stampede in 1981 in which 45 people were killed.  

Sill, it's an ill wind and all that......

So, this minaret and ruined mosque complex thing. Quite impressive. Lovely brickwork,  Judge for yourselves:

 Once Lalit had decided we'd seen enough bricks, he let us back on the coach and brought us to the hotel.

Which is where I'm writing this, lulled by the gentle rhythm of full-on Delhi rush hour traffic.

And we're off ! (Again....)

 Welcome back blogmates! I hope you're all fit and ready (if not entirely willing) to join us on our Passage through India.

Currently, we're in Istanbul Airport, attempting to fill a mere 3 hours before our flight to Delhi.    

I'll be honest, there's not a lot of distractions on offer. And the airport services are blunt and to the point:

Needless to say, trusty JB has sniffed out a bar, but at a remarkable 16 Euros per pint, we've decided we're not that thirsty.  

In any case, we can amuse ourselves by thinking of fun facts about Istanbul.......

Well, that didn't take long. It's now only 2 hours and 47 minutes of waiting................

And no Turkish delight in sight.

Foreign Pie News

Cheese and Ham Pie: The Bakery Rhodes Old Town 

Despite the crushing disappointment of the spinach and feta pie from this establishment, we decided to give it another chance...

Pastry: 

Startlingly yellow, with a crimped crust possibly an attempt at suggesting a rustic origin. Taste wise however, it was a total dud. The crimping had created areas of extreme toughness, contrasting unpleasantly with the rest of the pie which had the texture of a well used flannel.

Filling:

Billed as a 'Cheese and Ham Pie', this came as a bitter disappointment.  The discovery of a layer of tomato ketchup (and not even Heinz) was as unwelcome as it was unnecessary.  Discerning no cheese whatsoever, I took the rash decision to lift  the pastry lid. The image of the pseudo ham that was revealed will haunt me for many a year.......

An absolute disgrace. 

I might add that it pains me to post this now, given that today is the  the start of UK Pie Week. 

Sadly (depending on your point of view) it's also the last post for this trip.

Thanks for your company blogmates, and stay tuned for the next chapter..........

The Palace of the Grand Master (with bonus museum)

After walking to Rhodes Town and back (22,000 steps!)  most of yesterday was taken up with applying various ointments and liniments to our mangled knees and trotters.

Sensibly this morning, we opted to take the bus into town for our free visit to the palace and museum. Built in the 14th century it was the administrative centre of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem ( aka the Knights Hospitallers  aka The Knights of St John of Malta - very dodgy if you ask me) and the fairly ritzy home of the order's Grand Masters (so much for the vow of poverty...) between 1309 and 1522, when the pesky Ottomans took over Rhodes.

They used the building mainly as a fortress and prison (not having any Grand Masters to house) until 1912, despite it being blown up when lightning struck the gunpowder store in 1856. (Take note: NEVER store your gunpowder in bulk without adequate protection from lightning)

From 1912 to 1948, Rhodes was occupied by the Italians, (a source of huge shame to Rhodians, and rightly so. I mean, the Italians.....really....??).

Anyway, the Italians rebuilt the broken bits of the palace to make it into a fitting home for both Mussolini and King Victor Emmanuel 111, so all's well that ends well I suppose......

The palace was stuffed with some very nice mosaics (looted from Kos in the 1930's.... what did you expect???) and questionable sculptures:

There's only so much you can take of this sort of thing, even if it is free, and we fled the palace, for the archaeological museum (free entry)

The museum is housed in the former hospital building of the multiple-identity Knights.  The exhibits lean heavily toward the pottery side of things, which in all honesty, I couldn't be bothered to photograph (don't pretend you'd have been interested)

It has beautiful gardens though, with more mosaics ( not looted ones)

Cultural commitments completed, (and free of charge, don't forget) we boarded the bus back to our hotel and happy hour.

Foreign Pie News

 Spanakopita pie (The Bakery, Rhodes Old Town)

Pastry:

Filo pastry, which somehow managed to be crisp and flaky in parts and oily and soggy in others.

Filling:

Feta cheese and spinach, with added olive oil to ensure maximum greasiness. We'd been warned by the baker that it was very salty, but if so, we must have been given a rogue one.

Initially, it was a very pleasant experience, but about halfway through, the overwhelming oiliness was fairly off-putting, not to mention slippery to grip.

A tasty treat provided you only eat the non-oily half. 

Disappointing. 

Rhodes old town (again)

We set off at a jaunty pace this morning in the face of what was at least a Force Ten gale to pay another visit to UNESCO heritage site Rhodes Old Town.

We'd intended visiting the Palace of the Grand Master and the Archeological Museum.  However, on discovering that entrance to both is free on Sunday, we decided that, despite the nearly 6km trudge in less than perfect conditions we'd prefer to save the whopping 80 euro entrance fees and come back then.

Instead, we wandered through Rhodes Old Town (UNESCO heritage) and mooched about Mandraki Harbour.  This, if you fall for the tour guide schtick was the site of the Colossus of Rhodes. I mean, really, let's look at the facts......

Alledgedly standing 33m tall and weighing in at approximately 70 tons, there's no way it could have stood there. Besides, archaeologists now reckon it stood somewhat inland. (And they're now probably discussing how much to charge for entry )

Anyway,  marking the dodgy spot today  are a couple of pillars, topped with a stag and a doe.

The building you can see in the background is the 15th century fort of St Nicholas (closed to the public no matter how much you pay)

As we strolled around the harbour, looking at the various floating gin palaces moored up, one in particular caught my eye...

JB assumed an air of innocence, claiming never to have seen the vessel before.....

Incidentally, we bumped into Hapless Rep Michael on our stroll. He'd run into Doner Trump that morning and the two had had something of an angry disagreement about which of them told the biggest whoppers to their tour guides. (I'm paraphrasing here...)

And all this in front of mesmerised tourists. Such professionalism is rarely encountered .

I'm only sorry I wasn't there to film it.

Ixia

 Welcome to our first full day  back in Rhodes.  We're in Ixia, slightly south of Rhodes Town (not that you care, I imagine).

The beach here in Ixia is across a fairly busy main road and there's an underpass to allow for a safe passage. Disappointingly, this morning, the underpass was somewhat soiled:

The beach itself is pebbly - like Chesil Beach, but much smaller. And not as many pebbles. And in Greece....

As mentioned yesterday, the hotel is quite nice, although this hasn't prevented a fairly large section of the residents becoming incandescent in their rage against hapless rep, Michael. (Almost certainly not his real, Greek name)

Possibly against his better judgement, he convened a meeting this afternoon with the sole purpose of flogging his island trip on Friday.

This quickly descended into a shouting match with hotel residents yelling increasingly bizarre complaints, ranging from having to wait for a lift whilst suffering from arthritis to dislike of the shower screens in the bathroom. Strong stuff.

Nevertheless, by means of shouting loudly and disparagingly over any hint of grievance, he managed to avoid actual physical harm.

However, as Scarlett O'Hara said, 'Tomorrow is another day'....