Piraeus does not have piranhas

Or at least, I didn’t encounter any. (Fish experts will pooh-pooh me since I'm not in South America, native land of the carnivorous fish...)

I’ve always associated the port town next to Athens with the carnivorous jaw-chomping fish. I guess it’s the way both are spelled! Although many will tell you that Piraeus has it’s fair share of metaphorical carnivores, being the gateway for sailors to enjoy what land has to offer. The seedy alleys and neon signs dotted throughout the dusty streets are a far cry from the sparkle of tourist-oriented Athens.

But that was till we hopped into a cab to head over to the other side of Piraeus. There we saw where the affluent resided and well-heeled tourists headed.

On the opposite side of town from the main port, Mikrolimano is a small, circular bay lined with fancy bars and seafood restaurants touting the catch of the day. Overlooking Mikrolimano is the neighbourhood of Kastella, built into the hillside of Profitis Ilias and affording its residential homes picturesque views of the bay.

Pity we only had one night to spend in Piraeus, after arriving back from Rhodes and before we were off to check out Classical Greece the next morning. Otherwise we could have taken a walk to explore Kastella and Mikrolimano further.

Wandering around Mikrolimano looking for a restaurant to fill our empty stomachs for dinner was an arduous task. Perfect competition at its best, restaurants lined side by side with great views and all selling seafood specialties. We walked up and down the stretch twice, before deciding to settle for a cute outlet that had the funkiest interior deco and shelves lined with toy collectibles.

Ok I know , I know, one should not judge a shop’s food by its furniture.

But thank goodness the food was just as excellent as the colourful chairs we were sitting on. Plus they topped the meal off with 2 shots of mastic complimentary!

Even the napkins are colour coordinated!

Brightly coloured chairs brightened up the ambience and made me feel happy :)

The menu has a robot!

This lighting structure is made up of multiple lampshades strung together...





This one is made of white buckets and water jugs!

And this one is made out of jerry cans!

 

Fresh, crisp prawns, so good that you can eat the shell with it too!



Catch of the day - some of the freshest fish I've had seriously.
Succulent and juicy, just the way it should be.

Grilled cheese with the texture of firm tofu, topped with warm pesto
and served on a bed of tomatoes. What's not to like??

Blue, yellow and Rhodes

Walking around Rhodes got me loads of candid camera shots and beautiful moments.

One thing i did notice though, blue and yellow seem to be the island's coat of arms! Everywhere you turn, blue doors, yellow walls, blue walls, yellow doors....

Blue wall, blue car! And Addii's red skirt adds a dash of spice to this great photo moment.

Cats everywhere in Rhodes! Contrast to Athens which is full of dogs! (And did you see the blue and yellow walls??)

Cat fight! Cat 1 getting territorial and snarling away at Cat 2 who scampers away quickly

Shadow play on the ground by an interesting weave of branches and leaves created to form a shelter of sorts above one of the alleys next to the restaurant, La Barca.

A little Rhodesian girl and a little Israeli boy befriend each other over lunch and find a third friend, the furry dog

The adorable little boy was fascinated with my huge camera lens and wandered all the way up in front of it!

Identical hairstyles!! :)

Stuffing a yummy banana in my face



The steps of St. Paul's Gate



An old man watching the 2 bumbling tourists from the comfort of his home window as we wandered around

Ah ha! The Greeks do as the Asians do - air their laundry in public! Heh.

The funniest sign I've ever seen - in the common area of our pension Isola

Knights of the Rhodes Table

Back to the Greek trail....

After spending a short 48 hours in Athens, we were to hop over to Rhodes to spend the next 2 days.

Rhodes - the largest  in the cluster of islands known as the Dodecanese – is situated at the far end of the Greek territories. In fact, it much nearer the mainland of Turkey (just 11 miles), than Athens, that it takes only a mere 1 hour ferry ride to the nearest Turkish port compared to 16 hours to Athens. (We took a 1-hour plane ride instead. On Olympic Air. The plane literally has the Olympic Rings as its emblem. We almost missed our plane, given that the Athens Metro did not have a train running to the airport frequently on Easter Sunday. But we managed to get there 20 minutes before the plane took off and they let us on!)

Rhodes Town (capital of Rhodes) holds the single largest inhabited medieval town in Europe, preserved from the Middle Ages during the crusading Order of the Knights of St. John. St. Paul also brought his Christianity here.

Given the proximity to Turkey and the ineveitable Ottoman occupation in the 16^th century that lasted 300 years, much Turkish influence is also discernible throughout the fortified citadel.

Being within the fortress walls of Old Town, I felt like I was in a Robin Hood movie set: cobble-stoned streets and little alleyways that turned into nooks and crannies; tavernas and old wooden doors and windows; signboards that looked like they were designed a lifetime before. I half-expected an armoured knight to jump out of nowhere, brandishing his glistening sword and claiming gallantry by offering protection to the 2 damsels on vacation. J

Rhodes reminded me a lot of Carcassonne - another medieval city preserved from the Middle Ages in the south of France.

Chances are, if you allowed yourself to be led by the maze of side streets, you would end up finding little conclaves of cafes and restaurants and comforting homes of the Rhodesians. Good luck finding your way back out the same way though!

Flying past one of the many Greek islands dotting the Aegean Sea

View from our Olympic Air plane window on the way to Rhodes

Hotel Isole - our Santorini-themed pension situated in a little alley right in the heart of Old Town. 
Run by Franco - a ponytailed Italian man who spoke broken Italian and French and rode a Vespa :)  



The side streets of the medieval city - cobble-stoned with high arches and wooden doorways - just like in the movies! Being Easter, paintings depicting the scenes of Christ (for Catholics - akin to the Stations of the Cross) are placed above the archways for an entire stretch. The paintings are covered in translucent film on Good Friday and revealed on Easter Sunday. This particular painting is of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.



Crystal clear water lapping at the Rhodesian coast. With the shadow of the fortress cast on the sand.

St. Paul's Gate - one of the 11 entrances providing access into and out of the citadel in the olden days. However, not all the gates are currently open to the public.

The Mandraki harbour of Rhodes - the old military harbour. It was the main harbour of Rhodes for almost 2500 years. The entrance is guarded by 2 deer, each atop a pillar - Rhodian symbols of power and wealth. It is believed that the Colossus of Rhodes - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - was situated there.  

Ever seen this ladder to heaven on motivational posters?? Now you know it really exists in Rhodes!! Found along Elli beach - a 10 minute walk from Old Town - it actually serves as a diving platform for a jump into the clear blue sea.

The sands of Elli beach (aka Rhodes Town Beach)



And to prove my point about the crystal clear water.....



Ippokratous Square - the main activity hub of Old Town - with an old Castellan fountain in the middle. Surrounded by cafes and restaurants filled with tourists, almost all of the main streets lined with touristy shops lead to Ippokratous Square.

The commercial harbour of Rhodes

The Kahal Shalom Synagogue in La Juderia - the Jewish quarter. Originally built in the 12th century, the Sephardic synagogue was destroyed during the war between the Turks and the Knights of Rhodes and rebuilt in the 15th century. Today, it is the oldest synagogue in Greece An informative museum is situated next to the synagogue with an interesting historical narrative of the Jewish community in Rhodes.

A vendor watching her wares along a cobble-stoned side street



Care for an Aladdin lamp by any chance?
Photo credit: Adeline Wong 



One of the many small crypt churches in Rhodes

For a bird's eye view of Rhodes, climb up the Clock Tower for 4 euros and be blown away by the breathtaking landscape and infinite horizon. The ticket even comes with a drink at the base of the Tower - great way to rest those thighs after making the steep climb up!

View from the Clock Tower - right in front, the domes and the minaret are part of the pink Mosque of Suleiman. Built in 1522 over the site of the devastated Church of the Apostles to commemorate the Ottoman Sultan's victory over the Knights of Rhodes.

One of the main shopping streets in the Old Town. Behind, you can see the minaret and pink dome of the Mosque of Suleiman.

Ipoton Street - also known as the Avenue of the Knights - a 600m long unbroken cobblestoned stretch of honey-coloured walls, huge doorways and arched windows. The knights lived here in inns, divided into seven tongues based on their place of origin - England, France, Germany, Italy, Aragon, Auvergne and Provence. Each "tongue" was tasked with protecting a section of the medieval city. The knights reported to the Grand Master, who lived at the top of the inclined street, in the Palace of the Grand Master.

Restored in the 19th century, signs along various doorways of the street mark out the various inns of the knights. Modern offices now occupy the lofty inns.

Chapelle Française (Chapel of the Tongue of France), embellished with a statue of the Virgin and Child.
Photo credit: Adeline Wong  

Heavy arched doorways that line the Avenue of the Knights
Photo credit: Adeline Wong

Don't jump!
Photo credit: Adeline Wong

Saved! My knight in shining armour. (literally)
Photo credit: Adeline Wong



Inside the Palace of the Grand Master



Colourful walls and cute doorways mark homes of local Rhodesians throughout the medieval city.

Photo credit: Adeline Wong







I’m the lady of leisure, don’t mess with my grandma and I’ll try not to burn the house down

I need to temporarily interrupt my Greek travelogue.

So.

Today.

Start of 2 weeks of free time to twindle my thumbs. Wake up late. Read. Go to the gym. Watch tv. Catch up on my photo backlog. Reply long overdue personal emails. Attempt to cook. Stake out facebook (disclaimer: I don’t do that. I’m just saying I could do that.) Stare out of the window.

Basically do nothing.

This was my schedule today, mostly unplanned:

9.30am                 Consciousness hits. Roll around in bed and relish the fact that I can.

10.00am               Roll out of bed.

10.30am               Walk over to grandma’s to get some basil leaves for a recipe to attempt in the evening. Ended up with a stalk of mint leaves instead. Oh well, they’ll have to do.

11.00am               Pack grandma and mum into car for supermarket trip. Getting excited about preparing dinner after a friend loaned me her Everday Harumi cookbook. Supposed to be really easy Japanese recipes that tons of people swear by. Ambitious plans of producing the exact same dishes in the cookbook photos spur me on.

11.15am               Arrive at supermarket. Grandma wants a snack. So we sit down for a snack.

11.45am               Still snacking…..

11.50am               Ok time to hit the supermarket aisles. Wait, why are pumpkins so expensive? And longbeans too? Surely I’m not that out of touch with supermarketing?? Oh wait. Yes, I am. Took the imported Japanese pumpkin and the organic longbeans instead. Clever indeed. Great way to start the cook fest. Ok recipe needs mirin. What the hell is mirin? Japanese aisle….teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, ponzu sauce, sushi vinegar….where is the mirin?? I wouldn’t even know it if the bottle was staring at me right in the face. Darn, they don’t sell it here. Time to move on.

12.30pm               Feed the family lunch. Thank goodness the domestic helper had lunch ready at home. I was already tired. And the day had barely begun!

1.15pm                 Need ground toasted sesame seeds. Says recipe. None at home and no mortar and pestle to grind anything anyway. Grandma says she’s got some at home. So we trot over where I sit on the floor and pound sesame seeds.

1.30pm                 Grandma says she wants to go for foot reflexology. (read between the lines: can you fetch me?) So we pile into the car again. Drop her off and then run over to the nearest ang moh supermarket in search of this elusive mirin. Seeing a blank in the Japanese aisle. “Excuse me, miss, do you sell mirin?” “Only got big bottle left, small bottle no more.” Big bottle is 600ml.  I only need 2 tablespoons. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers. I’ll take it.

1.45pm                 Grab a kopi-ping to go. It’s hot as hell outside. I am melting in my market clothes. In Holland V. Oh oops what would Holland V Samantha think??

2.00pm                 Change money for Krabi trip.

2.30pm                 Pick grandma up from reflexology. She says its teatime. We cross the road to the koptiam. Then she looks at the crowd spilling out and says she wants frozen yogurt instead. My grandma wants froyo. Wow. Ok we cross back to the other side of the road for froyo. After a 40-second drama of which fruit topping would go with the lychee flavour, we gamely sit at the bench along the road to feast on the cool delight. Then she discovers the horror. In the middle of the froyo spiral (or rather underneath, after you’ve eaten off the top swirl), is a big gaping hole of….emptiness. She thinks it’s an abhorrence. How can they sell you a hole? She waddles back to the counter and asks why her froyo has a hole in the swirl. The 18-year-old behind the counter explains that it’s “like that”. Sensing my grandma’s disapproval of her reply, she asks if my grandma wants her to fill the hole up. So that’s how we ended up with 2 servings of froyo. For the price of 1, mind you.

3.15pm                 Drop grandma home. Head over to see mum at physiotherapy. Mum tells the physiotherapist that I should have 4 children. And that dad will look after them. Dad’s not there to realise he’s been arrowed. And sorry Mum, I’m kinda behind the curve here.

5.00pm                 Finally home. Time to start cooking! Let’s hope it’s not a disaster.

5.30pm                 Oh crap. I’ve put the sugar into the sesame paste meant for the longbeans instead of into the boiling water meant for the pumpkin. Hasty recovery. Dig out as much sugar as possible from sesame paste. This is what happens when 2 different recipes are on adjacent pages.

5.40pm                 Sesame paste is tasting sweeter than it should be. Oh well. Too late to change a dish. Sweet longbeans is what it’s going to be.

5.50pm                 Oh! The glazed pumpkin is a success! Although the longbeans are not quite. Last dish to complete – main course of tsukune. I suddenly feel like I’m in masterchef or something. The heat is on! (It is very warm in the kitchen indeed.)

6.10pm                 Thank goodness for my helper. I’m moulding meat patties while she pan fries them.

6.30pm                 Still frying…looks like I overestimated the amount of minced meat we would need to feed the brood. We’re going to be standing here for a while…..frying…and frying….

6.45pm                 Yes! Tsukune is also a success! And I’m starving. Not to mention hot, sweaty and tired. I’m so not used to multi-tasking in the kitchen. This is even more challenging than what I do in the office. Clearly not my calling in life. Oh oops, time to bring grandma over for dinner.

7.00pm                 Finally get to sit down. Mmmm….the pumpkin and the tsukune are actually quite excellent (if I should say so myself!) Dad thinks the wrongly sweetened sesame longbeans are quite nice. I shove him the whole plate and encourage him to finish it. Then I don’t have to worry about finishing it. Ha. 

8.15pm                 Supposed to meet a friend for farewell drinks but rescheduled. Aunt asks if I want to go for a walk instead. Since I’m already sweaty, fine, might as well.

9.45pm                 Back from walk. I’m exhausted.

10.00pm               Plonk in front of tv to watch some HK drama serial. I don’t even follow the serials but I happened to catch the tail-end of last night’s episode and now I’m hooked. Trying to multi-task and read the newspapers at the same time. Not successful.

12 midnight        Here I am. Writing this entry.

Where did my day go?? So much for being a lady of leisure. I’m more exhausted than a regular day in the office. And I haven’t done anything of leisure that I thought I would be doing (or not doing).

Although I did step into the kitchen. Rather proud of myself. J

My version of Japanese tsukune with teriyaki sauce
(recipe comes with homemade sauce but I got lazy and used the bottle instead....)

Glazed pumpkin with sesame seeds

And the semi-disaster (shouldn't be sweet) sesame longbeans