Return to Rhodes Adds to New Experiences in Cypress and Turkey

Days 91-93, 2025 European Odyssey

Saturday to Monday, Sept. 27-29, 2025; Limassol, Cypress; Rhodes, Greece; and Bodrum, Turkey.

Limassol, Cypress, taught me that even when I haven’t planned ahead, wearing comfortable shoes and carrying a sketchpad can add up to an enjoyable day in port. By the time I turned my attention to planning my first foray into Cypress, the ship’s tours were sold out and there wasn’t a recorded port talk on the stateroom television.

Our Saturday daily planner mentioned a city bus for 2€ into town, so off I went. It was a good thing that I had downloaded a map onto my Pocket Earth Pro app back on the ship, because my Airalo eSim didn’t pick up a signal here, and it seemed we were dropped off at a random corner.

It was too early for much activity along the nearby waterfront, so I headed in the opposite way toward the castle, which for once wasn’t at the top of a steep hill. Surrounding it were mostly pedestrian streets with shops selling lace, clothes and lots of local souvenirs.

I have become drawn to sitting in a shaded café with an interesting scene to sketch. As I later wrote on social media, preferably “in the Mediterranean because it is beautiful and I am here.” Better yet to have a glass of dry white wine, which seems to have replaced my interest in local beer. The Mediterranean seems made for this practice, but anywhere in the world is fine — so far this year from Norway to La Reunión in the Indian Ocean. I no longer regretted that I didn’t book a tour to (another?) Temple of Apollo.

Back on the ship, I joined a table of other solo travelers for the first Cellar Master Canaletto dinner since July. I think the special Cellar Master dinners, with their five courses each with a different wine, are generally only on longer cruises. The Nieuw Statendam has scheduled one on each of the next few cruises, in the Italian-themed Canaletto because we are in the Mediterranean. It was good, but the servings way too big, making it hard to pace myself. I have booked four more, but I may cancel a couple of them. I do hear the menu will change.

On Sunday I returned to Rhodes for the first time since my first cruise in the Mediterranean 18 years ago. On that cruise I bought an oil painting of three brick windmills, so I headed to the breakwater to sketch them. Sadly, there were no shaded cafés serving dry white wine, but just a few benches in the unrelenting sun. I’ll paint them later from my photographs.

Within the walls surrounding the old city lie a maze of twisting lanes. The many shops reflect more the city’s current status as a tourist mecca than the history of former rulers, from Minoans, Athenians, Spartans, Byzantines, Knights of St. John, Ottomans, Italians and finally Greeks.

A menu board for Greek gyros caught my attention in one of the busy cafes under large trees. Sadly, it was probably the worst gyro I’ve even had. The pork not only was mainly fat and gristle, but also flavorless. The best part of the meal was the dry white wine (no surprise). When I’m back twice more this fall, I’ll do my research before sitting down to eat just anywhere.

Monday’s port of Bodrum, Turkey, was a pleasant surprise. Again, I had failed to plan, but as we docked I could see that the Bodrum castle was on a small peninsula across the harbor. My weather app indicated that rain would start around 11 a.m., so I left the ship shortly after we docked and headed along the mile-long walk along the water’s edge. Villas and small hotels lined on one side and beach chairs, café tables and anchored fishing and tourist boats lined one the other.

I stopped frequently to check the view of the castle and eventually found a good café from which to sketch and drink coffee (too early for wine).

By the time I reached the castle, the narrow lanes were crowded with tourists – most of whom were not from the ship. The ticket line for the Underwater Archeology Museum in the castle was too long for my liking, so I turned around headed back to the ship in time for lunch. The rain didn’t come until around 4 p.m.