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Rhoding Solo Part II
- imogenbeth
- Oct 14, 2023
- 4 min read
Another solo dinner excursion, another death defying trip on a scooter. Seem to have mastered it now though.
Wanted a little keepsake of my travels and I’m not brave enough to get a tattoo yet so found a little Greek bracelet and chose the symbol for ‘optimism’ which is the sun (according to their marketing team) but I like the sun and the Greek God of Rhodes is Helios so it seemed fitting.
I asked the ladies in the store for a dinner recommendation or else I’d be needlessly repeating myself with feta and filo. They recommended a roof garden restaurant off the second fountain square. It looks a little tacky on the face of it but it’s well rated on Tripadvisor (which I how I make my important life decisions). The “need to get people in for dinner or he won’t eat for a week man” beckons me telling me he loves British people because not only do we spend money but we are polite. Therefore I have to be polite and go in and spend my money. He will be eating well this week.
Tonight’s table neighbours are brits with football on the agenda, and she has decided her favourite football team is Man City because she fell in love with the manager, but cannot name him and refers to him as the “bald headed dude”. That’s love.
I’ve been too busy listening to other people’s conversations to look at the menu yet so I panic and order pita and dips and a glass of wine while I actually look at the menu.
Not a fan of a menu in plastic wallets accompanied by photos of what the food might look like. But once again, we shall see.
At least this restaurant affords a wonderful vantage point for people watching, even if I did nearly die coming up the wonky steep triple set of stairs.
Pita and wine arrives. But only with two dips. One of which is an olive mash thing, which I hate. Olives are the devils food. Can I be cheeky and ask for some tsatiski? Turns out I can and I did. Need more wine to get rid of the taste of the weird olive mash. Not sure what the weird white mash is. Not taramasalata, not enough fish. Maybe a blended feta, it has that sort of crumbly consistency and zero taste.
Thought I’d change it up a bit and opt for a starter and a main. Which will probably turn into a pudding too as we all now know the quantity of food I’m capable of eating on holiday and the existence of the dessert stomach.
At this time of evening, the sea view promised on arrival is the top of the cruise liner lit up like the North Star.
Calamari has arrived. Lightly battered and appears very fresh. Being the food blogger that I am now I know to take a good photo of the plate making sure the flash is on so the staff notice and think I’m a food critic and give me free stuff. Still to be proven to be accurate. A deliciously light calamari with a very garlicy something as an accompaniment. Already learned to write as I go so as not to let the food get cold.
From my view I can see that “need to get people in for dinner or he won’t eat for a week man” is doing very well and even beckoned a couple over from the other side of the square past all of his rival counterparts. Oh no, they came up, had a swift look, and then went back down the three flights of stairs like they hadn’t earned their “just a drink please mate” by the time they got up here. They snuck out behind door man so at least he isn’t needlessly heartbroken by their terrible decision making.
Tonight’s portion would probably resemble dinner for four, but as a solo traveller there is no one to share with. Shame that. Side note, portions in Rhodes are huge. Come with more friends next time. Benefit of solo travel - you will smell like garlic the entire trip.
The square is quite quiet. I think there are now more cats than humans but that’s not a hard feat here.
Main has arrived. The waiter kindly offered me his recommendation that souvlaki trumps a gyros. So souvlaki it is. Time for another photo with the flash. Such a professional now. Apart from putting my phone back down in a pile of garlic something.
I no longer own a napkin though. Can I violently wipe my hands on the table cloth until someone offers me one or should I just ask. I asked. It was fine. He brought two. Winning.
Souvlaki was a great shout taste wise but how does one tackle it? I went for the ‘bit of this, bit of that, bit of the other on the fork’ method that seemed to work well.
Door man has suddenly swapped. I’m hoping it’s temporary. I like OGs energy (and bright orange shirt). Although new guy’s ’staring into the distance’ charm seems to be working well for him. That and his chiselled jaw line. OG has returned. Let’s see if his quick break ups his game. So far, it has not.
I wish I had started on the chips sooner. They are divine. Alas there is no separate chip stomach and at this rate I am at risk of sacrificing my dessert stomach.
Dessert stomach sacrificed for chips. I am defeated by souvlaki. Not a bad way to go.
Got a free shot. Ouzo and coffee. Must look like a professional. Yammas.
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