Greetings from the Isle of Rhodes,

The Isle of Rhodes is a place that lives on tourists. In some ways it is a lot like Santa Barbara or even Big Bear Lake (without the snow). As it is the off-season, there are not that many tourists right now. Things are pretty quiet here. The walled city reminds me of Dubrovnik with its ancient defenses and cobbled stone walk ways (See this excellent photo-essay.). The old city is full of gift shops and little cafes serving Gyro sandwiches and other things soaked in olive oil.

The ferry connecting this place with Turkey and Cyprus arrives/departs only once a week, so I'm stuck here until Friday. It's not a bad place to be stranded. The first three nights I splurged and stayed in a truly deluxe boutique hotel called the Rodos Park: the rate was only $70 per night. I'm now in the still excellent Hotel Mediterranean where the rate is but $27 per night. I'm torn between just relaxing and enjoying everything and feeling guilty for not hurrying on to Africa. But, this is a journey of serendipity, so I'll just let it happen. I am delighted to realize I have been living within my budget so far on this trip... and not really suffering or feeling deprived at that.

Several of my friends told me horror stories about someone they know that let some little spot on their skin go untreated too long and suffered a catastrophe. As it turns out in my case, the swelling and blood I discovered had nothing to do with the mole! Apparently some little hungry, sneaky creature decided to make lunch out of me and chose a spot right on the margin of that still unchanged brown marking on my back. It only appeared that the mole had changed size, color and was bleeding! Now, only a week after I got worried, the thing is back to its normal benign unremarkable self, no bigger and the same brown color it always had. I guess that is why doctors are cautioned never to treat themselves.

I took a lot of photographs during my weeklong stay on the island. Of course, the little Pencam I'm using precludes anything approaching professional, so "snapshots" will have to do. There are over 150 shots in my collection for the Isle of Rhodes - available under the little camera icon at the top of this page. Today is Tuesday and the ferry leaves on Friday, so it looks like I have some serious loafing to do. Internet access is expensive here so I'll cut this short.

Peace,

Fred L Bellomy
20 March 2001

Greetings again from Rhodes.

I just finished processing the pictures I took today and decided to make the link available for anyone who might be dying to see what it looks like. I haven't had time to do much annotating.

I'm off to Cyprus tomorrow... traveling by ferry for 18 hours. It will be my second trip to that divided island. The last time I went in by way of Turkey and only could see the upper half of the island occupied by Turkey. The Greek border guards were rather nasty when I tried to cross down into the Greek side. This time I presume it will be different. I do plan to once again cross the border, this time into the Turkish side. We'll see. Should be interesting.

'Til next time,

Peace,
Fred L Bellomy
22 March 2001

PS: Missed the ferry! So, had to fly to Cairo by way of Athens after another night in the Hotel Mediterranean. FB

 

Isle of Rhodes: Men laying new cobble stones in the walled city using centuries old techniques.

Isle of Rhodes:one of the traffic bridges across the moat.

Isle of Rhodes: the ol' guy looks pretty healthy, doesn't he.

Isle of Rhodes: I enjoyed great sandwiches at this little open air cafe. 

Isle of Rhodes:one of the foot paths that wind their way out of the old city.

Isle of Rhodes: Layout map.

Isle of Rhodes: within the moat that surrounds the old city.

Isle of Rhodes: a view of the fortifications in the wall.

Isle of Rhodes: a view of the fortifications in the wall.

Isle of Rhodes: Display of the history - a little hard to read, but important enough to include.

Isle of Rhodes: Inside the old city.

Isle of Rhodes: Inside the old city.

Isle of Rhodes: Inside the old city.

Isle of Rhodes: Old Roman ruins archeological site.

Isle of Rhodes: more motorbikes. They are everywhere.

Isle of Rhodes: Inside the old city.

Isle of Rhodes: Inside the old city.

Isle of Rhodes: Inside the old city.

Isle of Rhodes: Inside the old city.

Isle of Rhodes: View from the lobby of the $27 Hotel Mediterranean where I stayed the last few nights on the island.

Isle of Rhodes: Archeological site for Byzantine ruins.

Isle of Rhodes: Archeological site for Byzantine ruins.

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Isle of Rhodes:

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Isle of Rhodes:

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Isle of Rhodes: on the streets of the modern city just outside the walls of the old city.

Isle of Rhodes:

Isle of Rhodes:

Isle of Rhodes:

Isle of Rhodes:

Isle of Rhodes: on the streets of the modern city just outside the walls of the old city.

Isle of Rhodes:

Isle of Rhodes: Open air fish market.

 

End