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'....

Farewell to Turkey

 Following our customary 4am call to prayer from the mosque opposite the hotel ( it really works. We were moved to exclaim 'Oh God! each time we heard it), we headed back out to join the coach for our return journey to Rhodes.

Somewhat foolishly, Doner Trump had provided us all with feedback forms regarding the quality of hotel rooms, meals, the excursions and, crucially what we thought of our guide......

Initially, there was much excitement as people began mapping out the best phrases to describe the less than stellar Doner.

 And then.....

Someone pointed out that our names were also written at the top of the form . Most then backed away from outright criticism, fearing another trip to the carpet factory. 

As I'm sure you're aware by now blogmates, I'm made of sterner stuff. I had considered just putting the link to this blog by way of feedback but settled in the end for a few choice words.

I won't deny, it made for a slightly frosty five hour coach trip to the ferry port.  It was apparent that Doner had read the forms.

Once in Marmaris we boarded the catamaran for our 'scenic cruise ' back to Rhodes.  In fact, you're seated so low and the windows are so salt-encrusted that visibility is nil. But still, I suppose it was a catamaran and we were cruising along, so two out of three......

At last, we docked in Rhodes and after a mere one and a half hours of queueing (outside. And it was very windy) we were stamped back into Greece.

We're now settled into our hotel which at first glance seems very nice.

Stay tuned though.........

Kusadasi

 Here we are then, on the outskirts of the seaside town of Kusadasi.

Remarkably, today was a free day. No coach trip, and thus we're all on a knife-edge wondering if Doner's daughter ( very very intelligent) will get her scholarship in the USA (very very good college)

Actually, there was a trip, to Doner's home town of Izmir, but as it was optional, only eight people were sufficiently broken to sign up. (Obviously, we feel for them, but ultimately it's  a far better thing etc..)

As for the rest of us, I confess we're all a bit stir crazy. The hotel is lovely and right next to the beach. (Although you are greeted by some fairly dubious statuary as you enter...)

Apparently they're not boobies strapped to         her front, but are, in fact, bull's testicles.            (Turkish stonemasons eh? What will                             they think of next?.....)

Refusing to be put off  by the filthy figurine, JB and I decided that a stroll along the promenade would be just the ticket.

And, guess what? It was!............

Its back to the grind tomorrow as we embark on the 5 hour journey to Marmaris and the ferry back to Rhodes.