Saturday, October 5

Early morning found us at Rhodes, the "island of roses." By the standards of this journey, what we saw during our walking tour of the the old city was downright modern. Although Paul had indeed visited this port during his travels across the Mediterranean, what can be seen here today are primarily medieval structures from the period of the crusades. Alison reported, however, that during her wanderings through the city that she had stumbled upon the excavations of the ancient agora (marketplace).

Our first stop was in the remains of a 15th century church that was left unfinished when the island passed under Muslim control. Irene, our local guide, rehearsed the history of the island from ancient to modern times. She led us through the streets, up the Street of the Knights where the Knights of St. John had set up their headquarters. We arrived at the Palace of the Grand Master. It was at this site that the Colossus of Rhodes had stood in antiquity. The chief citadel protecting the ports of Mandraki and the modern commercial port had also stood on this site until a thunderstorm had ignited the gunpowder stored in its walls, destroying the castle and several surrounding structures. During the 1930s, the castle had been reconstructed to serve as a retreat for the king of Italy and Benito Mussolini, who because of the war were never able to visit  it.

Inside the Grand Palace were many ancient mosaics that had been taken from the island of Kos to decorate it during the reconstruction. Most of the mosaics, not surprisingly, had a nautical flair. There were dolphins and all manner of fishes. But the most impressive was perhaps the mosaic of the Nine Muses, the daughters of Zeus who inspire the arts.

Tonight was "Greek Night" aboard the ship, so as we made our way back for our 6:00 p.m. departure and dressed in blue and white for the occasion. (The buzz aboard ship was about four passengers who apparently did not make it back before departure, and so were left behind. Relax -- none of the Northwood gang was missing!) The menu included a variety of Greek cuisine -- some of which we have become very familiar with by this point, and some of which was new to us. We wrapped up the evening with a show of traditional Greek dances and songs performed by the crew. No one was too interested in partying the night away, however, because we disembark the ship at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow for our tour of the monastery of St. John and the Grotto of the Revelation on Patmos.

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