Grecian Islands - Rhodes, Crete, Santorini

Kalinichta,

Cruising on, we docked at Rhodes for the next day. I joined an optional tour of the historic Old City 'it's ramparts & palaces built by the Knights of St John during the Crusades'.  Some amazing buildings, mosaics, furnishings, all great to see & wander around. I was the only one from our group to do this tour to the Old City & Philerimos so it was a bit strange to be with other people. You get used to being with the same people each day. But all the others chose to do a tour of Lindos & the Temple of Athena. I chose the tour I did to have a look around a Byzantine church - I really like the Byzantine style. The church at Philerimos had the added attraction of a special Stations of the Cross, but it's not in the church. The Stations are set outside along a pathway, I'd guess about 300m, leading to  an extremely large Cross. I took a photo of each of the Stations & the Cross & will eventually do something with them, not sure what yet. I'm glad I went there. Even with all of us tourists, I found it quite peaceful there. There was a flock? of peacocks, peahens & various ages of chicks meandering around too.

A little story about meandering - when I was working in home furnishings in Christchurch there were distinct motifs for various regions, like the bird in a cage for French style. I sold quite a few pieces of furniture with the rectangular Mediterranean motif, also known as the Greek Key, & just took it for granted. In Greece it is known as the Meander design. While there I bought a silver ring with the motif & love it. Anyway the Meander design takes it's name from the river Meander, a river with many twists, mentioned by Homer in The Iliad apparently. Hence the term 'meandering' meaning wandering this way & that, etc. Interestingly when we went to Kusadasi in Turkey & did the tour at Ephesus, the guide kept talking about the Turkish river Meander, which I now know is an historical name for the Buyuk Menderes River in Turkey. That got my attention so I asked our Cosmos guide, not the Turkish guide, how come? She said the river in Turkey was named by the Greeks when they invaded & ruled Turkey many centuries ago. I don't know if the Turks would agree with that, lol.

Anyway, I enjoyed seeing Rhodes & after the tour went back into the town with a few of our regular group, just for a meander & a bit of window shopping. Then it was time to get on board again & cruise away.

Audio!