Kostas Restaurant Adventure, Rhodes, Greece

Last October, 2007, we went to Greece, and while on Rhodes, we arrived at the B&B and dropped off our luggage and since we were starved, we asked another couple for advice on a seafood restaurant. They told us the restaurant was Kostas, but there was one little thing to know...they allow cats...on the tables.

Well, we have 2 cats that sleep with us and walk everywhere, so it did not bother us, but it made that couple squirm to describe the scene to us. We were intrigued. Greece has no health department laws and leash laws like we do, and we were starved for cat petting time, so we decided to go to this Kostas restaurant. I have photos attached.
Yes, there were many cats and kittens everywhere. On the tables sleeping, in the chairs, on the floor.

If you have ever been to Europe, you know that all the bathrooms are either upstairs or downstairs, never on the same floor as the diningroom. Well, This can be a problem for someone like me, who uses a wheelchair and walks slowly and takes her time on stairs, if I can do them at all.

At the entrance to Kostas, just inside, was a spiral staircase leading upstairs, and I had to go to the bathroom, so I sent Darling Husband to go get us a table while I climbed up the spiral staircase. Along the way I had a very affectionate kittycat that demanded my attention as I climbed the stairs.

When I got to the top, the door was stuck closed, so I pulled hard to open it, and a dog came out and ran down the stairs. I went down the hall and into the bathroom.

The seat, nor the bowl had never been cleaned, and the sink was covered with a man's whiskers. I had to take toilet paper and wash off the seat before I used it; I am no good at hovering. This bathroom was typical of European bathrooms, so the shower was next to the toilet, a tiny square of tile without a curtain, and no, it had never been cleaned either. Multiple cats came into the bathroom to be petted, as animals expect you to pet them while you are sequestered and your hands are not otherwise occupied. I did not dare touch the bath towel: it was hard. A man's underwear lay on the floor. The Ew factor had peaked. I had to wash the sink before washing my hands, then dried them on my jeans and went downstairs, followed by my adoring new friends.

As I came into the dining room and saw my husband, I grinned at him, and for some strange reason, he was laughing too. That made me curious. When I got close, I whispered in a singing voice, "I've got something to tell you!"

"No," he said, "I've got something to tell YOU!"

"You just invaded someone's apartment!"


Just then, the restaurant owner, Mr. Kostas, came over to our table and asked me to never go upstairs again. That was not the bathroom. That was his home. Darling Husband just laughed his ass off while I apologised over and over, turning beet red. The whole time I was climbing the spiral staircase, Mr. Kostas was calling to me, "Madam, Stop, Madam, Stop!" but I have hearing loss and I never heard anything.

Of course, Darling Husband heard and saw Mr. Kostas calling to me, and he knows I could not hear Mr. Kostas, but he just let me get into trouble anyway.