Rhodes, Greece

We arrived in Rhodes, Greece this morning. This is our first time in this port of call.

Before we went to bed last evening we reflected on what an outstanding time we had at last evenings Classical Concert at Ephesus. The music was wonderful and to listen to this music at such an historic site and having the backdrop of Ephesus directly behind the musicians and the beautiful stars in the sky was truly amazing. This is one of these special events that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

We awoke early this morning and went to the Lido Café for breakfast. There were only a few passengers up there including the regulars who have eaten up there very early as we do since the start of the world cruise. As usual, we received wonderful service from the Lido Deck Stewards. We’ve included a pictures of Anne Marie with the just some of the Lido Deck Stewards and from left to right there is Raymond, Benjamin, Ross, Anne Marie and Nat (pronounced as Nate). They are so very helpful to us each and every morning. By the way, Benjamin was selected as employee of the year for 2006, which was announced at the Captain’s Farewell Reception on the preceding segment.

After breakfast it was time for our daily morning workout with Anne Marie working out on the treadmill and Keith working out on the elliptical machine. It is so very nice to be able to walk up one flight of steps from the Lido Café to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. There were just a few people working out.

After our workout we decided to get a couple of loads of wash done in the laundry room so that we could then have the rest of the morning to explore the port city of Rhodes. As we knew we could walk around this lovely city we decided to walk around on our own rather than taking a shore excursion. There are some similarities to this walled city and the walled city of Dubrovnik. However, within this walled city there is store upon store.

We enjoyed walking around the old town of Rhodes. Several attractions are contained in this old town area including the Medieval Town, the Grandmasters Palace and the Chora Old Town. Today, there are about 6,000 people who work and live in the same buildings in which the Knights of St. John lived six centuries ago.

We walked around for quite awhile and on our way back to the ship we found the Kahal Shalom Synagogue. This is the oldest Jewish Synagogue in Greece, and the sole remaining synagogue in Rhodes, Greece which used to have six synagogues. It was built in the year 1577. During the height in the 1930’s the Rhodes Jewish population totaled 4,000 people. About 45 days before the end of World War II, 1,673 members of the Jewish community were arrested and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp and unfortunately there was only 151 survivors. Today, there are only a handful of Jews living in Rhodes.

We spoke with a man who has just started helping out at the synagogue and his sister is working fulltime in its restoration. It is a beautiful synagogue and they have established an area for a museum and are just now starting to collect artifacts from the museum. We look forward to visiting this city down the road and hope to see all of the progress made at this synagogue.

We walked around the old town a little bit longer before we decided to return to the ship for lunch. We ate in the main dining room. After lunch, we decided to go back to the old town area to walk for another couple of hours. The weather was quite nice and it has been nice to just walk around the last few days in port. On a side-note yesterday a sister ship of the ship that sank off one of the Greek islands the other day was in port with us yesterday in Kusadasi and was in port with us again today. The way the lifeboats are hung are quite different than what we are used to seeing and one can tell that it would be quite a challenge to lower them into the water.

At 5:00 PM there was a sail away party. Complimentary beverages were also served. We did not attend as we had been invited to attend a reception
reception in the captain’s quarters that he hosted for some of the passengers. Since the reception started at 5:30 PM and the attire for this evening was semi-formal we did not attend the sail away party.

We enjoyed talking with the captain and some of our fellow passengers at his reception The captain has done an outstanding job ensuring the safety of the vessel and its passengers and he has been a wonderful sport in participating in so many different activities. We greatly appreciate all that he does for all of us on board the Crystal Serenity. We have chatted with Captain Otto from time to time as we have seen him at a variety of venues during our time on the Crystal Serenity.

After the reception we dined at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. We can’t say enough about the quality of the food served in this restaurant and the wonderful tasting dishes. We also enjoy the wonderful staff we have come to know quite well during the course of this voyage. They are all such very nice people and we can’t say enough about what outstanding individuals they are. We have learned so much about many of them and their loved ones back home. Several of the staff came by our table during dinner and the waiter who we normally have brought us a special from the chef before our regular courses arrived.

After dinner, we went to see the Repertory Theater At Sea Play which was called Sylvia. Playwright and novelist A. R. Gurney who in 2006 was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters wrote Sylvia. We enjoyed the play as we do all of the other plays that we have seen on the ship.

Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Nafplion, Greece.

Keith & Anne Marie