Still playing with photos, but not much luck. But here is a synopsis of our food experience off the ship.
When it came to trying food onshore, it was a case of, “I wish I knew then what I know now,” by the end of the trip. What confused me was what the tour company meant when they said, lunch is on your own. To me, that meant we would have an hour or so of free time to browse around, while finding something to eat at a local café. That wasn’t the drill at all. Lunch on your own meant we will take you to a designated spot, you will eat what we give you, and you get to pay for it.
The system they had was actually kind of slick, especially since there were 11 buses in our group. Typically, the buses were staggered and would pull into what we would think of as a large banquet hall. When we went in, platters of food would already be on the tables. All we had to do was sit down and eat. Typically, it was things like salad, hummus, beans, and dolmas (stuffed grape leaves). Then they would bring us the main dish, which was usually fish, chicken kebob, or kofta (ground lamb and beef). The food was okay, but it wasn’t the quaint dining experience I expected. These meals came at the end of our trip, when we were back on track with our tour excursions. During the initial parts of our trip, we did have several days on our own. However, since we didn’t know what was ahead of us, I ended up ordering a lot of things we would be served at the end of the tour.
That being said, we did have some great meals on our own while on some of the Greek Islands. The one that stood out was a restaurant we visited near sunset in Mykonos. It was located at one of the highest points of the island, where we could look out at the surrounding village and the sea. We had the best calamari I have ever had, and Lamb Exohiko (Lamb, Spinach and Cheese encrusted in Phyllo pastry). For dessert we ordered baklava. The waiter asked if I wanted it with ice cream. I never heard of having baklava with ice cream and was very sure he was trying to pad the bill a little. Before I could say anything, he said, “You know everything tastes better with ice cream.” There was absolutely no way to refute that logic or statement. I don’t know what was in the baklava, but the taste was very unique and was simply outstanding, (especially with the ice cream)!
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Topic: Change of Plans (but still cruising) (Read 1549 times)