Thirtieth Post From Türkiye: Marmaris & Rhodes

Hey, this is Jack. Rather than hound my wife to update the blog, thereby giving her a reason to begin her post by complaining about what a pest I am, I volunteered to do posts on the last couple trips under her CLOSE supervision. She pointed out that my posts would not be as clever or witty as hers. In fact, she said I would, “write things nobody wants to read.” True enough. Just look at the pictures.

I promised the family a trip to the beach this summer, and I wanted to go to a Greek island. I’ve wanted to go to Rhodes since first reading about Kanuni Suleyman conquering the island from the Knights of St. John. I figured it was the best way for the beach-loving half of the family to get sun and sand, and for the medieval fortifications-loving faction to be satisfied as well (Trum is represented on both those teams). Also, it was my b-day, so I should get what I want. Right? To get to Rhodes we had to take the ferry from Marmaris, Turkey.

Merry's Feet and Sunburned Limeys at Marmaris 

 

 Marmaris is a party town. It's full to the brim with working-class cockneys who come to booze and karaoke the nights away, while turning themselves as red as lobsters under the burning sun in the daytime. Downside of Marmaris: drunken reveling and pulsing dance music until 3 am. Upside of Marmaris: Full English breakfast. Where else you going to get real pork in Turkey? 

Better than Miami Beach? Maybe, but no Crockett and Tubbs. 

The Heat is Filling Merry with Rage

 The ferry ride to Rhodes was short, around an hour or so on a super speedy hydrofoil. The main city on Rhodes is Rhodes Town. Like every other chunk of rock in this part of the world, it has been inhabited by, well, everybody. Back in the day, it was home to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. After the ancient Greeks came the Romans, Byzantines, and then the crusading Knights Hospitallers captured it in 1307. The Ottomans took over in 1523 and held it until 1912 when the Italians absorbed it into their empire. It didn't become part of Greece until after WW2. 

Knight's Street. Each section was inhabited by knights from different parts of Europe.

 

Main Gate of the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes 

Palace Courtyard

There's no way Trum can pass up a dress-up photo op.

Church Steeple and Minaret

The Former Hospital of the Hospitallers

Trum Discovers an Ancient Lego

That kid has ALWAYS hated water in his face.

Trum and me eating fish, b/c, hey, we're on an island.

After our first day in Rhodes Town we decided to rent a car and drive down the coast to the ancient city/modern village of Lindos. It was my b-day, but we decided to forego the nudist beach. After I work on my abs some more we'll reconsider.

St. Paul's Bay at Lindos. Paul supposedly landed here when he brought Christianity to the island.

In case you were wondering, the Mediterranean is MISERABLY hot in the summer. I mean UNENJOYABLE. I mean you take a shower and then 5 minutes later buckets of sweat are coursing down your face. Last year we went to the Aegean in July and I swore I would never go the beach again at that time of year. Apparently I have lost my memory/gotten dumber since last summer, b/c I agreed to do it again. The sun that day in Lindos reduced us to puddles of sweat.

You can see the carving of a Greek Trireme in the rock behind these two.

Trum Seeking Any Shade he can Find

Part of the tourist fun in Lindos is riding a poor spindly-legged donkey up the old acropolis hill. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the donkeys on the way up. We did find them at the top, however, and for my b-day present I made Merry and Trum ride them down, so I could walk alongside and take pictures.

Trum loved the ride, Merry, however...

That night we headed back to Rhodes Town, and walked around the old walls.Old Rhodes Town has the most impressive medieval fortifications I have ever seen. Its massive Gothic walls and towers, built by knights of Western European extraction, are oddly juxtaposed with their Mediterranean surroundings—sun-bleached rocks, scrubby thorns, palm and olive trees. Besides all that crap, the temperature was at least 10 degrees cooler walking around in the old moat.    

After a couple enjoyable days of copious pork consumption in Greece, we boarded the ferry back to Turkey-land. We had a day to kill in Marmaris, and to escape the scorching sun we paid to see the Fantastic Four. The movie was terrible, but, mercifully, we got to be in a semi-air-conditioned theater for a couple hours.

By all means visit the Mediterranean...just do it in the fall.