I - Day: A Windy Day on Rhodes

After 9 months of planning and booking, the day has arrived. We are boarding the MYRA this afternoon. The adventure begins. The weather changed substantially since yesterday. The hot and humid but stale air was replaced over night by a strong north-westerly. As usual it blows down the Turkish Straits through the Aegean and then peters out behind Rhodes.

The fluttering Flags indicate a Wind Speed of 3 to 4 (10 to 15 kn)

The Myra will be ready later in the afternoon. There is time for visiting the Acropolis of ancient Rhodes. Built in the 4th century, the site was completely destroyed by the earth quake in 227/226 BC. What we see today was rebuilt after the quake. The ruins were discovered by Italian archeologists who excaveted them from 1912 to 1940. Stadium, Odeon and the Temple of Apollo were partially restored. Located high above the western cliffs, it was ancient Rhodes' center of worship, education, sport and relaxartion .

One of Rhodes' Stray Cats enjoys the Shade of the Library just

above the entrance to the restored Stadium

The biggest surviving structure on the Hagios Stefanos Hill is the ancient stadium. It is 200 meters long and 33 meters wide. The race course was used for athlets - some voices say that it was even used for chariot races. Possibly true because Helios, the Sun God, was Rhodes' traditional protector. But I believe the stadium is too narrow. Helios' chariot raced through the sky pulled by a quadriga of 4 horses. Nonetheless, the stadium is big and could seat 28'000 visitors or 35% of Rhodes' population.

The 600 Feet long Stadium is partially restored in 1930s

Once on the top of the cliff, we enjoyed the wonderful view towards Loryma on the Turkish side which we visited last year on our trip from Cyprus to Bodrum. Loryma is a natural harbour which Rhodes' enemies planned to use for invading Rhodes. Could not find our whether they ever did or whether they used a different naval base.

View from the Stefanos Hill towards Loryma in Turkey

High above the waves we noticed the many white crowns on the sea below. The wind had freshened up indeed. We may have to change the sailing plan for tomorrow to avoid 1.5 meter high waves. Whilst our sailboat can take it, it is built for calmer cruises. We thus decided to sail down Rhodes' east coast and visit Lindos with its beautiful temple site.

Wind Speeds as per this afternoon at 3 pm

Time to head back to the old town, have a Greek coffee, pack our bages and move to the New Marina to join the MYRA.

We passed the massively fortified Saint Athanasios Gate which revolutionised the building of Fortifications everywhere in Europe. Not even Suleyman the Magnificent was able to break through this Gate which was well protected by cross fire batteries.

The Trenches are still full of big Turkish stone cannon balls which proved ineffective against the walls of the Knights of Saint John in 1522. Whilst such stone balls were able to collapse the triple walls of Constantinople in 1453, they were too brittle for Rhodes. After months of fighting, Sultan Suleyman had to let the Knights depart in honor. They sailed with all their men and weapons to Italy. Their next permanent residence was Malta. For the Knights, the fight with the Ottoman was postponed to another Day. It would come in 1565, during the Big Siege of Malta.

We then crossed the living quarters of the Knights which were restored by Italy during the time Rhodes was its colony (1912 - 1944). Next was the Medieval harbor and the place where the Colossus of Rhodes once stood. Then it was time to return to the old town.

Rhodes impressive Harbor Gates look like in 1522