A Traveling Fool

June 7, 2020

Around Edinburgh Part 1

There are several Hop On Hop Off bus tours around Edinburgh offered online through Viator. I booked one of them that was going to the places I wanted to go (I actually think it was the same one I had done several years earlier with my mom). They all depart from the Waverly Bridge near the Scott Memorial. I planned to spend the day hopping on and off to explore different locations along the way, so I was at the starting location at 9:00am.

I was met by a woman who was checking our online receipts and giving us the appropriate tickets for the tour we had selected. When she saw my receipt, she suggested another tour that had a live commentator instead of a recording. There was no further exchange of money needed. She just printed out a new receipt for me, gave me the ticket and route map, and I was all set. I thought that was great. A live commentator is definitely better than a recording. Not only can you ask them questions, but they tend to add a certain amount of humor as well as extra information to their commentary.

The route was different from the other tour, but went to all of the same locations. I hopped on the bus and went upstairs to the open air seating. The first place I hopped off was near the Scottish Parliament building to visit Holyrood Palace. Although I tend to visit this palace (which is the Queen’s official residence when in Edinburgh) most times I am in Edinburgh, this time I didn’t have any time limits. I could take as long as I wanted.

I know that palace almost as well as I know my own house. There is a portion of it that dates back to Mary Queen of Scots — basically one tower with her suite of rooms, her husband’s rooms, and the turnpike staircase that linked them.

The rest of the State Rooms were created when Charles II refurbished the palace after Cromwell’s troops had burned down part of it and abused most of the rest of it. So, for most of Holyrood, you feel you are in the late 1600s and then step into the late 1500s when entering Mary’s rooms. The original palace had been built by David I of Scotland in the 1100s. But most of that was gone.

I have my certain favorite rooms. Mary’s rooms of course. Then the Throne Room with the portraits of the Stuart kings, the King’s Bedchamber with the huge red curtained bed, and the Gallery with what are supposed to be portraits of every Scottish king. I get a kick of the portraits because they mostly look alike and tend to have fairly prominent noses, like Charles II had. Should you visit and burst into laughter when you see the portraits, you can always blame it on me.

Because of Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, they had an exhibit of the Queen’s gowns and suits plus a tartan gown that had belonged to Queen Victoria. If I hadn’t already known that Victoria had been tiny, the gown might have been a surprise. She was super tiny at only 5’0”. She was also petite with a very small waist at the time she wore that gown, which was 1835 to 1837 (she became queen in 1837 at the age of eighteen).

In Mary Queen of Scots’ bedroom, there was a place where I could actually sit down. I sat for a while looking all around the room. It was pretty much empty at the time and I could really take it all in. I explored the side room that was used as a dining room for very intimate groups (it’s a tiny room). This was the room from which her secretary, David Rizzio, was dragged and then stabbed to death in front of a very pregnant Mary by her husband, Lord Darnley, and his pals.

After that, Mary fled to Edinburgh Castle to give birth to her son, James, who became James VI of Scotland and succeeded Elizabeth I as James I of England. James was taken to Stirling Castle after his birth to be raised Protestant (his mother was Catholic). This was just the start of Mary’s troubles.

Darnley ended up getting murdered a few months after James was born. Lord Bothwell kidnapped Mary and took her to Dunbar Castle. For some reason, Bothwell and Mary got married. Then Mary ended up being imprisoned at Loch Leven Castle, where she miscarried twins. She was then forced to abdicate the throne of Scotland in favor of her one-year-old son.

She escaped from Loch Leven, raised an army, was defeated, and taken to Carlisle Castle. She spent the rest of her life imprisoned in various locations, involved in various plots (both to regain her own throne and to take Elizabeth’s) until she finally stood trial for one of the plots to take the throne of England. She was found guilty and eventually executed. She was buried at Westminster Abbey by her son, James, (who had her moved from Peterborough Cathedral) on one side of the Henry VII Chapel while her cousin, Elizabeth I, is buried on the other side of that same chapel.

I find the whole Mary Queen of Scots story to be quite fascinating. But she didn’t seem to be the brightest bulb in the fixture. So many of her life choices were doomed to failure.

Since I had all of the time that I wanted to see what I wanted, after spending time in the palace and then in the ruins of the abbey next door (also built by David I), I took a garden path from the abbey through the grounds. I had never had the time to do that before.

It was a lovely walk in a beautiful garden which circled around to the rear of the abbey where the foundations of the rest of the abbey had been recently discovered. It was once about double its current size. I could also see the back side of the palace, which consisted of the private royal quarters. I could see the private stairs to the royal apartments. There was also a parade ground back there.

Coming around to the other side of the palace provided a really great view of Arthur’s Seat. This is another extinct volcano. There are the remains of an Iron Age hill fort at the top and some miniature coffins containing wooden figures were found in a cave. Nobody is really sure where it got its name. Some association to King Arthur perhaps? There was a prince of Dalriada (prior to Scotland becoming Scotland) back in the 500s named Arthur.

As I was heading out of the palace grounds to have lunch at the palace café, I was offered some champagne and a cupcake by palace staff in honor of the Queen’s 90^th birthday. I had my dessert first and then some lunch.

Between the Palace and the place where I needed to catch the hop on hop off bus was a place called White Horse Close. This is a little group of buildings off of the Royal Mile through what looks like an alley. I found out a long time ago that things that look like alleys are often very old streets and have some great places hidden in them. White Horse Close dates to the 17^th century and used to be a little residential area behind the White Horse Inn. The lovely buildings in the Close were turned into housing for the working class in 1889 when the neighborhood was somewhat run down. Currently these buildings would cost a very pretty penny to live in.

I stayed on the tour bus for several stops until reaching Edinburgh Castle. A relatively new Radisson Blu hotel on the Royal Mile was built to resemble a row of medieval townhouses. I love that. It fits in with the existing architecture.

The National Museum of Scotland consists of a modern building and a Victorian building, combining a museum with collections of Scottish antiquities and another focusing on natural history and science. These museums are right by Greyfriars Bobby, the pub made famous by the little dog who stayed by his human’s grave for years after his owner’s death. The entrance to the cemetery is next to the pub. Mom and I visited both Bobby’s and his owner’s graves during a previous visit.

Next time – Around Edinburgh Part 2

May 31, 2020

Rosslyn Chapel, Melrose Abbey, and Part of Hadrian’s Wall

In addition to Rabbie’s, the other small group tour company out of Edinburgh that I really liked was the Heart of Scotland. They left from the same location as Rabbie’s and had a day trip to Rosslyn Chapel, Melrose Abbey and the portion of Hadrian’s Wall known as Housesteads Fort. So I hopped on the tour coach with about 10 other people this time and we headed for the village of Roslin.

I don’t know why the spelling of the chapel name is different from the spelling of the village name. The castle is also spelled like the village even though it belongs to the same family as the chapel. That family is named Sinclair or St Clare. St Clare was the original name of the Norman French family. They arrived in Scotland in the 11^th century, building a castle at Roslin in the early 14^th century. They got around, having spent quite a bit of time up in Caithness in northern Scotland and on Orkney – a group of islands north of mainland Scotland. I saw loads of Sinclair castles up in Caithness on a previous trip.

The castle at Roslin was heavily damaged during the Rough Wooing Wars between Scotland and England during the time of Henry VIII. The East Range of the castle was rebuilt in the 16^th century and has been steadily inhabited ever since. It only looks like a house from up above, but it is located on sheer cliffs above the River Esk and has three more levels under the two that can be readily seen. These lower levels were built directly into the rock upon which the castle sits.

My previous visit to Rosslyn Chapel was during a very heavy rainstorm. So the small group of us that went there on the city bus from Edinburgh didn’t go down the rather steep dirt trail from the chapel to the castle. It was pretty much a rushing stream of water instead of a path. I was really glad to be back at the chapel so I could see the castle.

Another reason I was happy to be back was that the chapel had been completely encased in scaffolding at the time of the 2009 visit. For the 2016 visit, the repairs had been made, the scaffolding was off, and the entire building could be seen. It was nearly as exquisite outside as inside. They don’t allow photos inside. They sell them in the gift shop. I had hoped that they would allow interior photography this time, but they didn’t.

What wasn’t the least bit disappointing was the talk given inside by a very knowledgeable guide with a great sense of humor. The building is not all that large, so a fairly central seat enables the listener to gaze around in awe and see everything the guide talks about. After they are done, there is plenty of time to walk around and take a closer look. You know where everything is after listening to the guide.

After closer looks at many items upstairs and down, I ended up near the guide and we had a very interesting conversation about the town, the castle, the chapel, and The DaVinci Code film. She had been there during the filming and had several anecdotes.

The tour set off for the town of Melrose closer to the border with England. We had a good amount of free time to have lunch and explore both the town and the abbey. I had lunch at a sandwich shop connected to a chocolate shop that made its own chocolate. Needless to say I bought some of their chocolate both for myself and for small gifts for various people back home. Scottish chocolate is quite good. It also goes well with Scotch Whiskey.

Between the sandwich shop and the abbey was Priorwood Garden. I had some time before the abbey was open to tourists, so I explored the garden. It was a very lovely, large garden and I wandered around it for a while.

Then I headed over to Melrose Abbey. The abbey had been founded in 1136 by King David I of Scotland. King Richard II of England had the abbey burned in the 14^th century. Then it was badly damaged by King Henry VIII of England during the Rough Wooing. But what remains is still very impressive and quite large.

Back when the movie Braveheart was made, it was full of historical inaccuracies. I could write an entire post on just that. But the one in particular that pertains to this trip is that William Wallace was never nicknamed ‘Braveheart’. That was Robert the Bruce, who became king of Scotland (he also didn’t betray Wallace; that was John de Menteith).

After death, Robert the Bruce was mostly buried at Dunfermline. But his heart was removed, placed in a silver casket, and taken on a crusade in Spain by his friend Sir James Douglas. Sir James and most of the rest of the contingency were killed. The silver casket was brought back to Scotland along with the Scots and the casket with the actual Braveheart’s heart was buried at Melrose Abbey. I took a photo of the heart’s location, which I have included here.

From Melrose, we headed down to the border and crossed into England on our way to the portion of Hadrian’s Wall called Housesteads Fort. This was a Roman fort along the wall and up a steep hill.

I have always enjoyed the idea of the wall. In 122 AD, the Romans, after managing to conquer much of England, headed north, encountered the Picts (Scotland as such didn’t exist yet; the people known as the Scots didn’t arrive in the area until a few hundred years later), decided that they just didn’t want to deal with them at all and built a wall to contain them instead. The official reason for the wall was to “separate the Romans from the barbarians.”

For the most part, the wall was about 10 feet wide and 16 to 20 feet in height. Despite hundreds of years of people taking stones from the wall to build their own walls or other buildings (such as Carlisle Castle), there is still a pretty substantial amount of wall standing. The various forts, milecastles (small forts placed every mile along the wall) and turrets were dismantled more than the wall itself.

Because the actual name of the fort isn’t known (there are several possibilities, one of which is Vercovicium), Housesteads Fort (built in 124 AD) was named after the farm on which it stood for several hundred years after the Romans left (about 409 AD). The fort has been the property of the National Trust since 1930, though sheep still graze on the land between the visitor’s center and the fort.

In addition to the Roman baths and the other usual Roman buildings that can be seen at such sites across Britain, this particular fort has the best preserved stone latrine found in any Roman excavations in Great Britain. Just outside the fort itself is a building called ‘the murder house’ as two skeletons were found beneath a newly laid floor when excavated.

Our guide mentioned the films The Centurion and The Eagle, which were both loosely based on the legend of the disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion into Caledonia (the name the Romans gave to the land north of the wall). However there isn’t any actual historical evidence that the Ninth was ever involved with anything having to do with Caledonia, so nobody is certain what really happened to them. They were, however, in Britain from about 43 AD until the record runs dry. They were involved with Boudica’s rebellion in 61 AD and were reportedly trounced by her forces at what is now Colchester.

On our way back to Edinburgh, we made a stop for photos at Jedburgh Abbey – another border abbey founded by King David I of Scotland. This one, though damaged during the Rough Wooing, made it through until the Scottish Reformation. As it is, there is a fair amount of it still standing and it is quite beautiful.

Next time –taking a Hop On Hop Off tour around Edinburgh.

May 24, 2020

Alnwick Castle & the Scottish Borders

My first full day in Scotland, I had a day trip booked to visit Alnwick Castle and the Scottish Borders. As a fan of both Downton Abbey and the Harry Potter books and films, I was really looking forward to seeing Alnwick (pronounced Ann-ick). The castle was used as the home of the fella who ultimately became Edith’s husband in Downton. In the Harry Potter films, it was used for many of the exterior shots, and a few interiors, of the Hogwarts School of Magic.

The tour left from just across the street and down the road a bit. The tour group – Rabbies – does small group tours with a maximum of 16 people. I booked all of my day trips through Viator online. They were through various tour groups. Rabbies was one I really liked.

The tour coach was packed and a woman asked if she could sit with me. Her name was Naomi and she lived in Israel. We hit it off immediately and ended up spending the day together. We continue to stay in touch.

Our first stop was Kelso Abbey. As with most of the abbeys along the Scottish border with England, Kelso was destroyed in the 16^th century as part of what was known as the Rough Wooing. King Henry VIII of England wanted Mary Queen of Scots in marriage to his son Edward. When the answer came back as “no”, Henry started a war with Scotland. As part of that war, he destroyed all of the abbeys he could in Scotland. Henry did not take “no” for an answer ever.

After the destruction of the 12^th century abbey, much of the stone was hauled away to be used to build other things. There is one section of the building remaining. It gives an idea of both how strong and how beautiful a building it once was. Most of the land around it is a cemetery.

We took a walk into the town through the cemetery. This was so folks could get their morning coffee. Not being a coffee drinker, I went along just to see the town. It was a small market town with a central town square, where it would have been difficult to lose one’s way.

To get to Alnwick, we needed to cross the border into England. This included crossing the great salmon fishing river, the River Tweed. We stopped for some photos.

In Scottish Gaelic, the river is Abhainn Thuaidh, and in Scots it is called Watter o Tweid. Scottish Gaelic is the unique language of Scotland, which is still spoken in some parts of the Highlands, but not too much elsewhere in Scotland any more (unlike Welsh which is having a great revival). Scots is an archaic hybrid of Scottish Gaelic and English that was mainly spoken in the Lowlands of Scotland. It is the language in which the song “Auld Lang Syne” was written. “Auld Lang Syne” means roughly “days gone by.”

The seat of the Dukes of Northumberland, the 11^th century Alnwick Castle is the second largest inhabited castle in England, after Windsor. Over its long history, it has been involved in several battles, including the Wars of the Roses between the Yorkists and Lancastrians. Although it changed hands a few times over the centuries, it was never severely damaged and still looks very much as it did in the 12^th century on the outside. The inside and the parks were altered in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. New gardens were created in 2003 for the purposes of a charitable trust.

The castle has several Harry Potter displays and experiences for children and families. While we were there, a Downton Abbey costume exhibit was going on inside of the castle. Unfortunately they didn’t allow photos inside.

The dining room looked just as it did in Downton Abbey and there were several mannequins around the room wearing gowns that had been worn in the scenes shot there. This was another castle that, despite its size, seemed rather cozy.

Wanting something associated with Downton Abbey, I purchased a very elegant ‘cake slice’ which looked like something that would be used at a formal dinner there. A couple of my friends (also Downton Abbey fans) and I have an annual tea during which we use this special purchase to serve desserts.

Naomi and I had lunch together at the Treehouse, which actually was a treehouse. Then we walked around the garden and grounds until it was time to leave. I can’t remember who the person was whose statue on horseback I photographed, but I am sure it was a family member (the Percy family) and I really liked the statue.

Originally the site of an ancient fort built by the indigenous Celtic Britons, Bamburgh Castle had its origins in 547. That castle was destroyed by the Vikings in 993. The Normans built a new castle on the site in the 11^th century. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to tour the castle (and I think it was either closed for the day or about to be).

Just before crossing the border back into Scotland, we made a stop at Berwick-on-Tweed to take photos of the bridges. Berwick started as an Anglo-Saxon market town. Taking a photo of the bridges properly lined up with one another, there are three bridges from three different centuries.

Dunbar Castle was begun in the 7^th century on a rocky outcrop at the harbor of the town of Dunbar. The castle was then rebuilt in stone in the 11^th century. But in the 16^th century, the castle was blown up.

Back in Edinburgh, Naomi and I decided to have dinner together. Although it was my first full day in Scotland, it was her last. She was returning home the next day. I proposed the bar at the Balmoral. They had food as well as drinks in a casual atmosphere.

We shared a vegetarian grill that was huge (I think it was intended to be shared by two people) and delicious. Along with that, I had a mojito that added some cherry juice and champagne to the usual recipe. It too was quite tasty.

After our dinner, when we entered the lobby from the bar, we were called over to the desk by the Assistant Manager. He had some chocolates to give us. And then he also gave us some of the most light and airy macarons I have ever had. I thought that was so nice.

After sending Naomi off in her taxi to her hotel, I headed up to my room. My bed had already been turned down, with some hotel slippers next to the bed and more chocolates on the nightstand.

Next time – Rosslyn Chapel (and Castle), Melrose Abbey & Part of Hadrian’s Wall

May 17, 2020May 24, 2020

Edinburgh: St Giles Cathedral & The Real Mary King’s Close

All of my previous times in Edinburgh had been as part of a tour. So I only had a day or two in Scotland’s capitol on those past trips. This time I was traveling entirely on my own and had seven days planned in Edinburgh and on day trips from Edinburgh.

I love Edinburgh. It is a unique city with some of the nicest people you’ll ever want to meet. Central Edinburgh consists of the Old Town and the New Town. The New Town is Georgian (1700s) with some Victorian as it expanded its boundaries. The Old Town is Medieval and perched on an extinct volcano. Edinburgh Castle is at the top with the main road (called the Royal Mile) running down the lava flow. Buildings, other roads, and bridges spanning the area between the Old Town and New Town fill in the rest.

I arrived in Edinburgh about a quarter to eight in the morning. After collecting my luggage and getting through customs, I took a taxi to the hotel. The airport is not far from Central Edinburgh, so it was only a £10 (about $12.80 USD) ride.

I usually don’t get too much into specific hotels on these posts unless the hotel and/or the deal I managed to get was special. This hotel was special in every way. It was the Balmoral – a five star Victorian Scottish Baronial on Princes Street in the New Town. Normally I wouldn’t even begin to be able to afford a room at the Balmoral. But, for some reason, when I did the hotel search, they had a room for only slightly more (about $10 per night USD) than I normally pay. Maybe it was the time of year, or the number of nights, or just a fluke. I figured that was possibly my one and only chance to ever stay in one of the premier hotels of Edinburgh, so I nabbed it.

The location was amazing too. A small shopping mall, which included a grocers, was next door along Princes Street. I only had to go over the North Bridge to get to the Royal Mile. Most of the day trips picked up and dropped off just across the street. And getting the train to London wouldn’t be too difficult since the Waverly Train Station was next door behind the shopping mall.

When my taxi pulled up, the driver got my luggage out and handed the two bags to the kilted doorman who, in turn, swept me and my luggage up the stairs and into the hotel. There, he handed my luggage off to a bellman and me to the fella behind the desk, who was the assistant manager of the hotel. Then he gave me a small bow and headed back to his post.

The assistant manager checked me in, gave me all pertinent information (including that the breakfast buffet – which came with the room – would be open for another hour). He slipped the bellman the info as to where my room was and then escorted me to a special lift that would get me closer to where my room was than the main elevator. The Balmoral is known for its service and they were already giving me a demonstration of what staying there was all about.

Now, this is not a small hotel, however the assistant manager and the lady who seated me at breakfast every morning both remembered my name and referred to me as “Ms Lichty” each time they encountered me. The breakfast lady also remembered my preference in newspapers and where I liked to sit in the restaurant. I found that very impressive.

The breakfast was an enormous buffet. You could have anything you wanted from just some toast and butter to a full Scottish breakfast and everything in between. As anxious as I was to go exploring, it was raining and I was hungry, so I took my time with a modified version of the full Scottish. I don’t like blood pudding, but I do like haggis. Eggs, sausage, mushrooms, pork’n’beans, toast and jelly, orange juice and tea rounded out my meal.

By the time I was done and had grabbed my jacket, cap, camera and camera bag from my room, it was raining more lightly and I set off up and over the North Bridge. As I reached the Royal Mile, I also reached a souvenir shop. I knew there were several along the road and decided to walk a ways down the road to see what else there might be. I had a few people to get things for (especially golf items from St Andrews) and wanted to get some quality items without paying premium prices.

Down the road a ways I could get a good shot of St Giles Cathedral showing its very unique crown spire. The shops I chose to buy most of my gifts from were back down the road near that first shop I encountered upon reaching the Royal Mile. After buying what I needed and stashing most of it inside my camera bag, I headed back again towards St Giles. Before entering the cathedral, I decided to take a closer look at the Mercat Cross.

A Mercat Cross is essentially the Scottish version of a Market Cross. This was a central location in a city, town or village where people could find out the latest news, and where punishments, including executions, were often meted out. The current Mercat Cross in Edinburgh is a Victorian version of the original, located a short distance (a few feet) from where the original (14^th century) was located. The Mercat Cross is still a meeting point. Several of the walking tours that were offered in Edinburgh departed from the Mercat Cross.

From the Mercat Cross, I walked to the entrance to St Giles at the other end of the cathedral. There was somebody playing the bagpipes near there, so I sat down on a now dry bench by the entrance and listened before going inside.

The oldest part of St Giles Cathedral was originally built in the 12^th century and rebuilt in the 14^th century after it was burned by King Richard II of England during the First Scottish Wars of Independence. Inside it looked like several different churches were sort of knitted together with a few mismatches here and there. It was a fascinating church because of all of the different aspects to it.

There were memorials to such people as author Robert Louis Stevenson and Mary Queen of Scots’ half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray. As the High Kirk (church) of Edinburgh, the cathedral contains one of the original copies of the National Covenant, which was signed in 1638 and adopted by the Church of Scotland. A chapel for the Knights of the Thistle, which is a special Scottish knighthood with St Andrew as its patron saint, was added onto the cathedral in 1909.

The tombs of James Graham, Marquess of Montrose and Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll are on opposite sides of the church. It was Argyll who had Montrose executed during King Charles II’s exile. Charles had Argyll executed when he returned. He also had Montrose interred. Since Montrose had been hanged, drawn and quartered, he needed to collect all of his parts first. Argyll was merely beheaded.

While I was there, a prayer service was held. I sat down and participated. Most of the people in the cathedral at that time did the same.

Not far from Argyll’s tomb and the last thing I checked out before I left the building was a statue of John Knox. He was the minister at St Giles from 1559 to 1572, one of the leaders of the Scottish Reformation, and founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

After my long visit to St Giles, I went across the street to The Real Mary King’s Close. This was a series of closes (narrow streets, more like alleys) that were underneath the buildings of the Royal Exchange and City Chambers. The streets were bricked up during the plague in 1645 because of the overly large number of victims in that area (it is rumored that some of those victims were bricked up with the streets).

In the 18^th century, the streets and buildings were partially demolished and buried when the Royal Exchange was being built. The area was forgotten about until about 1970, when it was rediscovered. The area was opened to the public in 2003 for guided tours. The tour concentrated on the history of the area which included people who lived there, the professions of the people who lived there (as the remains of the buildings are toured), and the time of the plague. There was also discussion of the reported hauntings.

This leads me to an anecdote. Just after the photo of me looking happy and rather ghostly on the actual Mary King’s Close was taken, I walked slowly down to the bottom of the close at the request of the guide. I had been first to get my photo taken, so I was alone on that part of the darkened close. When I reached the bottom, there was a small amount of light. I turned around and looked back up at a group of people who were being photographed after me when one of the women screamed. She thought that I was a ghost. I thought it was quite funny. I do have a very pale complexion and very light blonde hair.

Since I had such a large breakfast, I hadn’t been too hungry until about 3pm at the end of the tour. The Real Mary King’s Close had a gift shop and café so I took a look at what they had on offer. I really like Cullen Skink, which is a creamy soup with haddock, turnips, potatoes, carrots and onions – usually blended until smooth. I got some of that and some Irn Bru, which is a Scottish soft drink that tastes somewhat like a cross between an orange soda and a cream soda.

As I left the close, a young man who had heard me speak to a couple who had been on the tour, asked where I was from. When I responded, “Minneapolis”, he told me about what a big fan of Prince he was. This ended up being just three days before Prince died.

Instead of returning to the hotel via the North Bridge, I swung down Cockburn Street to the Waverly Bridge. There I took a photo of the monument to Sir Walter Scott at the junction of Princes Street and the Waverly Bridge. It looks rather medieval, but it is Victorian. There is a statue of Scott seated inside.

Next time – a day trip to Alnwick Castle and the Scottish Borders

May 10, 2020

Upper Manhattan

My second day of the Hop On Hop Off bus tour, I boarded the Upper Manhattan route at Times Square, which then set off for Columbus Circle. From there we went to Lincoln Center (which houses the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, and the Juilliard School of Music) and into my former neighborhood. When I had lived in NYC, I spent part of my time in Queens (in Elmhurst, then later in Jackson Heights) and part in Manhattan (on West 73^rd between Central Park West and Columbus).

Three of my favorite residential buildings – the Ansonia, the Dakota, and the San Remo – are also in the vicinity. The Ansonia was built in the 1890s as a luxury residential hotel. Now it has apartments and condos – still luxury. The Dakota was built in the 1880s and supposedly called the Dakota because that part of the city was so sparsely populated when it was built. It was even more luxurious than the Ansonia. The San Remo was the newest of the three, having been built in the 1930s. It has also become the most expensive and deluxe of the three buildings.

The building I lived in (right around the corner from the Dakota) was built in the 1870s, so was already there when the other three buildings were built. It was originally a private house later turned into apartments, two per floor over five floors. I cannot imagine what the rental price would be now for my tiny apartment at the back of the fifth floor (formerly servant’s quarters). Most likely three times as much in monthly rent as the mortgage payment for my whole house.

In 1892, construction began on the Cathedral of St John the Divine in the Morningside Heights area of Manhattan. It is still only about 2/3 completed. Even unfinished, it is the world’s sixth largest church. There are several reasons for the building taking so long to complete. One is that ancient, manual stone cutting methods are being used throughout the building. Then there have been a few wars, the Great Depression, changes in what the style of the church should be, ups and downs in funding, etc. What is completed is stunning. I got off the tour bus there and spent quite some time walking around, looking at everything and taking photos. Then I wanted to pop over to Columbia University briefly.

Founded as King’s College in 1754, Columbia University changed its name in 1784, outgrew its Lower Manhattan location and moved farther up the island to midtown (around Madison Avenue) in 1857. In 1889, it moved to its current site in Morningside Heights, a short distance from the Cathedral of St John the Divine. I had attended some music classes at Columbia when I lived in Manhattan, so I was fairly familiar with the school. Hamilton Hall was the building where I wanted to take a quick photo.

When I got back on a tour bus, we rode to Grant’s Tomb. The old joke is “who is buried in Grant’s tomb?” That would be President (and General) Ulysses S Grant and his wife, Julia. It is in quite a nice location with great views of the Hudson River and New Jersey beyond. It is a rather impressive monument besides.

Next, we crossed into the Manhattan neighborhood known as Harlem. This is a part of the city with some really nice brownstones. Originally founded as a Dutch village in 1658, Harlem (then Haarlem) evolved into a mainly Jewish and Italian settlement in the 19^th century, becoming predominantly black and Puerto Rican in the 20^th century.

The area which is now Harlem was occupied by the Manhattan tribe of Native Americans before the Dutch settled there. During the American Revolution, the British burned Harlem to the ground. The village rebuilt slowly, but then began an economic boom after the Civil War. Prosperity ended with the Great Depression when roughly 25% of the population was hit by unemployment. Once again, it was a long recovery.

Harlem is also home to the Apollo Theatre, which opened in 1934 in a former burlesque house. This venue gave a start to the careers of numerous musicians and singers throughout the next several decades, especially through its Amateur Night contests. Jimi Hendrix won first place in one of those contests in 1964.

On our way back down the island towards Fifth Avenue, we passed a group of beautiful townhouses that were built in the 19^th century and are on the National Register of Historic Landmarks. We also passed the Masjid Malcolm Shabazz, a Sunni Islam Mosque which, when a Nation of Islam Mosque (named Mosque No. 7) was where Malcolm X was an Imam before leaving in 1964 for Sunni Islam. We were turning a corner as I was taking a photo from the rear of the upper deck of the tour bus, so the photo looks a bit tipsy.

Along Fifth Avenue, we passed several museums such as the Museum of the City of New York, the Cooper Hewitt Museum, the Guggenheim, the Neue Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Frick Collection. Then we passed Temple Emanu-El, where I used to attend services.

The Plaza Hotel was someplace that I went to a few times when I lived in NYC – to attend various recording industry events (the industry in which I was working at the time) and to take my mom to lunch in the Palm Court one of the times when she came to visit me.

When we reached Carnegie Hall, I left the tour bus to get some lunch and switch to the downtown loop so I could complete it. By this point, I was getting tired, so I stayed on until after we left the South Street Sea Port. Then we visited Chinatown, Little Italy, Delancey Street, the United Nations, the Chrysler Building, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, and Radio City Music Hall.

When we returned to Carnegie Hall, I found that, instead of ending at Times Square, the tour was ending there. Times Square was a bit of a jaunt from Carnegie Hall. I stopped off for some refreshment (ice cream) and set off down Seventh Avenue.

When I got to 45^th Street, I took a detour to Shubert Alley to visit the theatre shop at One Shubert Alley. Then I turned on 44^th to head back to Seventh (my hotel was at 41^st at about the middle of the block between Seventh and Eighth). I ended up going right by the theatre where David Tennant and Matt Smith were doing a “Meet the Doctors” event – they had been the 10^th and 11^th Doctors in the BBC series Doctor Who.

Next time – A very special time among the Scots in and near Edinburgh with a lot of time spent at Hadrian’s Wall

May 3, 2020

Lower Manhattan & Harbor Cruise

The morning after seeing the play, I started my first day of my two day Hop On Hop Off tour of Manhattan. They had two loops – Lower Manhattan and Upper Manhattan. I started with Lower Manhattan.

Taking photos along the way, I waited until the tour bus reached the vicinity of St Paul’s Chapel way down in lower Manhattan before hopping off for any length of time. The church’s nickname is “The Little Church That Stood”. This is because of its close proximity to the World Trade Center and all of the debris that rained down on it. The church was spared any heavy damage – mostly because of a very large tree that protected it (and gave its life to shelter it).

I used to visit both Trinity Church and St Paul’s Chapel often when I lived in NYC. Sometimes I took friends or family who came to visit (we would visit the Trade Center and then the churches) and sometimes I just went on my own.

Back in 1764, when the St Paul’s Chapel was built, it was the tallest building in the city. A militia group at King’s College (which later moved farther north and was renamed Columbia University) used to drill in the churchyard. Alexander Hamilton was one of the officers of this unit.

In 1776, when the British captured New York City after the Battle of Long Island, there was a huge fire which destroyed about a quarter of the city, including Trinity Church. St Paul’s Chapel survived.

Starting with his inauguration in 1789 and lasting for the two years that New York City was the new nation’s capital, George Washington worshiped at St Paul’s Chapel. His pew has been preserved as it was.

Just outside of the church, in its graveyard, is the Bell of Hope. It was given by the Lord Mayor of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury (St Paul’s Chapel is Episcopal, which is what the Church of England is called outside of the UK) on the first anniversary of 9/11. Created by the same Whitechapel foundry that made the Liberty Bell and Big Ben, the bell is rung every September 11^th.

Since 2016 was my first time in NYC since 9/11, I was very interested in visiting the memorial and museum. I started with the reflecting pools, which I thought were beautiful, and then got in line for the museum. Although it was a long line, it moved fairly quickly.

The bent tridents were the first things I saw while riding the escalator down to the main part of the museum. The last column standing was very prominent as was the slurry wall (which can be seen on the left of the photo of the column). This was the original wall that held back the Hudson River.

I photographed the survivor staircase from both the top and the bottom. That was where hundreds of people were able to successfully evacuate down from the plaza on which the Twin Towers stood.

There was one room where, as I approached, I could hear the sounds of recordings of the final phone messages of some of the victims and could see parts of some photos. I began to tear up and shake and knew I could not go in that room, so I skirted it as best as I could. I was now not following the path that we were being led through and needed to do some maneuvering to find my way back to where I would have come out of that room.

After leaving the museum, I found a nearby place to sit quietly and have some lunch before continuing on to Trinity Church.

Trinity Church, at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway in Manhattan, has long been one of my favorite churches – along with Westminster Abbey and Temple Church in London, York Minster, St Giles in Edinburgh, Notre Dame de Paris, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and King’s Chapel in Boston. I have loved these churches not just for their historical importance and beauty, but for their unique personalities as well. That is difficult to put into words, but what I mean is that each of these churches has an atmosphere all their own that draws me inside and which I find welcoming and comforting.

Then there is Alexander Hamilton. When I lived in NYC I had very little money –certainly none to go traveling. So Hamilton, being the only founding father whose grave I could visit, became my own personal founding father. I happily showed him off to everyone who visited me, sometimes having to explain who he was.

The Trinity Church currently standing is the third on the site. The first one, built in 1698, benefited from the use of the runner and tackle from Captain Kidd’s ship to hoist its stones. That version was destroyed in the Great New York City Fire of 1776 which took place after the British troops conquered the city and the Colonial troops had fled.

The second version was completed in 1790 and was pulled down after being weakened by severe snow storms in the winter of 1838-39. That was the version of the church where John Jay and Alexander Hamilton were active parishioners. That would have also been the version of the church that was standing when Hamilton was buried there.

The current version of the church was completed in 1846. During the September 11^th attacks, a large number of people took refuge inside of Trinity Church.

In addition to Alexander Hamilton and his wife, Eliza, their son, Phillip is also buried at Trinity, but nobody knows where. Eliza’s sister, Angelica Schuyler, is buried in the Livingston family vault. Where Hamilton’s friend, Hercules Mulligan, was buried is now underneath this larger third version of the church, but there is a Mulligan family vault in the churchyard.

After leaving Trinity Church, my next stop was at Federal Hall (the building with Washington’s statue out front). The original building on the site was completed in 1703 and was New York City’s first city hall. After the American Revolution, it served as the first congressional meeting place and was also where George Washington was sworn in as president. That building was torn down in 1812. The current building was constructed in 1846 and, after serving as a custom house and then a sub-treasury building, became a memorial to the events that once took place where it stands.

In 1671 a private home was built on the site where Fraunces Tavern now sits. The original owner’s son-in-law then built a new, larger home on the site in 1719. In 1762 this home was sold to Samuel Fraunces, who established a tavern in the building. The Sons of Liberty used to meet there prior to the American Revolution.

During the Revolution, a student militia, of which Hamilton was a member, commandeered some cannons and fired upon a British ship. This was met by the British lobbing cannon balls at the city, one of them hitting the roof of Fraunces Tavern.

In 1783, one week after the British had finally left the city, George Washington and his officers had dinner in what was known as the Long Room upstairs in the tavern. This was when he gave his farewell address to his troops. Once Washington was sworn in as President, the newly founded departments of Foreign Affairs, Finance (Treasury), and War were housed in the building.

The bus had a pickup point at The Battery (a park at the tip of Manhattan). Not far from the pickup point was the James Watson House. The house was built in 1793 and extended in 1806. Though now across the street from The Battery (which had been built up and enlarged over the centuries), it was originally right at the water’s edge. It is also one of the last surviving mansions of that era in lower Manhattan.

I stayed on the tour bus until we reached the South Street Seaport. This has been a seaport since 1625 when the Dutch West India Company set up an outpost in what became New York City. From 1815 to 1860, it was called the Port of New York. This was where my maternal great-great-grandparents (who are buried just steps from my mom) would have entered the US in 1843.

Eventually the waters were deemed too shallow for newer ships and the seaport became derelict. In the 1960s the South Street Seaport Museum was created. Then, in 1982, refurbishment of the port itself, as well as the surrounding area, began.

As part of my two day hop on hop off tour, I also had a ticket for a free harbor cruise. So, since I was starting to get a little tired, I decided to hop off the bus and hop on a boat. It was a very pleasant little cruise around the southern end of Manhattan, which finished by the Intrepid in midtown near. They then had a bus to take everyone into Times Square, which was where my hotel was located.

Next time – Upper Manhattan and finishing the Lower Manhattan leg from South Street Seaport on.

April 26, 2020

The Met & Richard II

When I found out that the Royal Shakespeare Company was bringing Shakespeare’s King Cycle to New York with David Tennant playing Richard II, I started planning. David Tennant is my favorite actor and this was my chance to see him onstage. I quickly joined the Brooklyn Academy of Music (where the King Cycle would be playing) so I could hopefully get a ticket immediately after they went on sale.

The season tickets went on sale first. Since I don’t currently live in NYC, that wasn’t an option. I needed to wait about a month before the single tickets went on sale. BAM members still had an advantage over the general public, however. As soon as I was able to purchase a ticket, I also booked my airfare, hotel, and the rest of what I had come up with while planning.

Since I had lived in New York City for several years back after university graduation, I planned four nights in NYC followed by six nights in Edinburgh and six nights in London. Being able to investigate and book everything online is an enormous plus. I got all of the air travel, train travel, and airport transfers, all three hotels, and several day trips booked as planned.

This was April of 2016 and several of the presidential hopefuls were in NYC, which tied up traffic considerably. It took two hours to get from LaGuardia to the hotel at Times Square. I was so glad that I had booked a shuttle transfer instead of a cab. I was also glad that I didn’t have anything important planned for that first day.

As I was checking in, I asked about a car service for the following night when I would be going to the Brooklyn Academy of Music Harvey Theatre to see Richard II. They said they would get something arranged and let me know. When I got to my room, I called and confirmed my Super Shuttle to get me to the Newark Airport in four days. Although the plane wasn’t leaving until 8pm, they said they would be there at 2:35pm.

Then I spent some time walking around the neighborhood and getting re-acclimated. I hadn’t been back to NYC for several years and a lot had changed.

Breakfast was included at the hotel. So the following day after breakfast, I took the subway to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before entering the museum, I went around to the park and found the statue of Alexander Hamilton that one of his sons had placed there. I had also tried to get a ticket to Hamilton, but had been unsuccessful.

After grabbing a map of the museum, I set off to see the Egyptian Art. I am a huge fan of ancient Egyptian art. The Met also has a temple that they moved in pieces to the museum and reassembled it. I spent a lot of time in the Egyptian section.

Then came Byzantine Art, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Arms & Armor, and Medieval Art. The Arms & Armor included Middle Eastern and Asian as well as European. The dagger second from the bottom in the photo was similar to one that I bought while in Jordan, though mine was without the gold and jewels.

After lunch (which was in the museum cafeteria), I had enough energy to tackle Greek and Roman Art. There was a bust of Alexander the Great, which I thought resembled Brad Pitt. They had a very intact statue of Perseus with the head of Medusa that I really liked and some cool Roman armor. Then I took the subway back to the hotel. I never did get to any of the paintings.

The driver who was taking me to the Brooklyn Academy of Music had felt that we needed to allow for quite a bit of time to get there. So he picked me up at 6pm for a play that began at 8pm. He was right. It was a little after 7:30pm when we arrived at the theatre. The play went for three hours. He would be back to get me when it finished, but we exchanged phone numbers just in case. Good thing. He had some traffic to deal with to get back to the theatre and I needed to wait a bit.

The seat that I had managed to get was on the end of the second row and essentially on the stage. I was often very close to several of the actors in the play, including David Tennant. I was absolutely mesmerized by the entire production. The acting by all was superb.

The photo I have included here from the play was not one that I took myself. In NYC, it is illegal to take any photos inside the theatre itself, even when nobody is on the stage. I just include it to give an idea of the play. It was said at the time that this was the other production, besides Hamilton, that was completely sold out.

Next time – a Hop-On/Hop-Off tour of Lower Manhattan and a harbor cruise

April 19, 2020

Return to Athens

After spending the morning in Chios, we returned to the ship for cocktails and lunch. We were supposed to go to Mykonos in the afternoon. But when we arrived, we encountered a storm which wouldn’t allow us to take the tender from the ship to the port. Like Santorini, the harbor couldn’t handle large ships and the sea was too choppy for the tenders. I took a photo of Mykonos as we went by.

This was the start of a big storm, so the ship’s captain decided to just head back to Lavrion. Our little group had signed up for a tour of Mykonos plus dinner for our last night on the cruise. Instead, the ship changed both the dinner and the show to two seatings each. They advised women not to wear high heels and everyone to stay away from the open decks. It soon began to rain heavily, so nobody wanted to be out on the open decks anyway.

Although the ship was a little rocky, I didn’t think it was as bad as the storm when on that overnight ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm a few years earlier. I just stayed near the walls where I could grab a railing when needed. Fortunately the rocking was not too violent and I wasn’t tossed around during the night like I had been on the ferry. So I slept well.

We arrived in Lavrion earlier than planned. Lavrion is itself an interesting location. It was the site of the oldest silver mine in the world, dating back to prehistoric times. The silver from that mine financed the Athenian fleet that was victorious over the Persians in 480 BC. It also financed the buildings on the Acropolis in Athens.

We headed for our hotel in Athens (the same one as when we arrived), but they weren’t ready for us. They also didn’t have any place to lock up anyone’s luggage. So we were stuck with sitting in the lobby and waiting as one by one our rooms were made ready. Yep. You guessed it. Mine was one of the last.

By the time I got into my room, everyone else had already departed for whatever they had planned for our last day in Greece. I had a list of options, but only really had time for the Acropolis Museum. I have included here a photo of the museum that I took from the Acropolis when we were there at the beginning of the tour.

This museum was built to house the artifacts found on the Acropolis and on the slopes. It replaced a much smaller museum that had been built on the Acropolis itself back in the 19^th century. Because it was being built over some Roman and Byzantine ruins, it was perched on top of pillars with glass floors and some open areas through which the ancient ruins can be seen.

Once inside, the first space has a sloping glass floor through which parts of the excavation below can be seen. Displayed on both sides are artifacts found on the slopes of the Acropolis. This leads to a staircase representing the ascent to the Acropolis. There were a couple of Athena Nike statues along the route as they would have been at the Acropolis itself.

Once up the hill and stairs comes a very large hallway of statues from the Archaic period. This would have been from the 7^th century BC through the end of the Persian Wars (roughly 480/79 BC). The statues were scattered around on pedestals so they could be viewed from all angles.

From there you are supposed to go up an escalator to the Parthenon Gallery and see the other items on this floor on the way down. But I was very anxious to see the Caryatids from the Erectheion, so I sort of jumped the gun, moved out of the prescribed order of things and visited the ladies next. These are the originals. The statues on the Acropolis are copies.

I rejoined the plan from where I left off and went up to see the statues and friezes from the Parthenon itself. The level on which these pieces were housed, had floor to ceiling glass walls. Views of the Acropolis and the Parthenon from there were amazing. I kept taking photos of those views as well as of the beautiful art.

On the way down, the last grouping was from the 5^th century BC to the 5^th century AD. There were some great statues and pottery from that era as well. There was one bust that I thought had a very pleasant, gentle-looking face. They actually knew who he was — Tiberius Julius Sauromates II. He was a Roman Client King of the Bosphorus Kingdom (which was just north of the Black Sea) from 174 to 210 AD. Not much else is known about him other than that.

I had a good view of the entrance from up there when I went over to the windows to sit down for a bit. Somewhere along the way my left foot had begun to hurt. I reconnoitered with my museum map, deciding to have some lunch at the cafeteria one floor down and then check out the shop before heading back to the hotel.

On my way back to the hotel, I encountered Barbara, Roberta and Chris. Chris wasn’t feeling well and wanted to return to the hotel, so I escorted her back. The four of us planned to meet up in the hotel lobby later to go to dinner together. In the meantime back at the hotel, I pulled out an ace bandage and my folding cane. My foot was really hurting.

We had a delicious Greek dinner at a café near the Acropolis Museum. We toasted our time in Greece and headed back to the hotel to get everything ready for our departure the next day.

When I returned home, I found that I had a stress fracture in my foot and ended up in a big, black boot for the next couple of months. It matched the sling I got in another week from planned surgery on my left shoulder.

I didn’t take another trip for a couple of years until I flew to NYC to see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform Richard II. From there I flew to Edinburgh and then took the train down to London. That trip begins next time.

April 13, 2020

The Greek Islands of Symi & Chios

We left Rhodes at about 3pm, arriving at the island of Symi around 5pm. Symi is a mountainous island known for shipbuilding, sponges and a very tiny shrimp that is pan fried and eaten whole, shell and all. During the Trojan War, Symi fought on the side of Greece. It’s king, Nireus, was considered to have been the most handsome man in the Greek forces other than Achilles.

An optional dinner had been offered on Symi, but Chris, Barbara, Roberta, Maureen, Mark and I had all opted to dine on the ship instead. So, from arrival in the port of Symi to our dinner time of 7pm, we wandered around taking photos. It was such a beautiful town with colorful houses perched on the mountainsides. We each had a favorite or two picked out.

The next day we arrived at the island of Chios. Our first encounter with anything on Chios was with Mastik trees (I have a somewhat fuzzy photo of one here, taken while on a moving tour bus). Chios is famous for Mastik (or Mastic), which is used as a gum and as a sweetener in many foods, including Turkish Delight. It is also used to make a rather tasty liqueur.

Other than Mastik, Chios’ main claim to fame was as the birthplace of Homer. He was the author of both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Both of these works were long considered to be fictional, but in more recent years, archaeological discoveries have proven that some parts of them (such as the Trojan War) were based in fact.

Chios had a very big problem with pirates. They were raided regularly during both Byzantine and medieval times. Several towers were erected around the island to alert the inhabitants if pirates were spotted. It that happened, a fire was lit at the nearest tower. As the people manning other towers saw the fire, they lit one at their tower until all of the towers were lit and all of the inhabitants of Chios knew they were about to be raided.

Many of its villages were built and fortified specifically for protection against pirates. We visited two of those villages.

The first one was Mesta, which was built in the 12^th century during the Byzantine era. It was built as a maze with only one way in and one way out. The houses were built up against one another. Animals were housed on the bottom floor while the actual house was one flight up and accessible via a retractable ladder. Many of the streets were vaulted over with roof gardens at the top of the houses. People could travel from house to house over the roofs without ever going down into the street.

The village had a small Byzantine church called the Church of Palois Taxiarchis. Taxiarches are archangels (such as Gabriel and Michael). The photo I have included here is a wee bit fuzzy since I was taking it in a somewhat dark indoor space without a flash and didn’t hold the camera still enough. A lot of these old places will allow flashless photography, which my camera allows nicely. But sometimes I just need to take more time on getting the photo.

Mesta also had a newer church they call the New Taxiarchis (or Big Taxiarchis), which was built in the 1800s and is quite ornate. It is also very well lit. No shaky photos there. This church was just off of the Village Square in the center of town. It had been built where the central tower of the town once stood. I thought that Mesta was really a cool town – very cosy. I am definitely not the only one as it is still quite inhabited and vibrant. Mastik and tourism are its main sources of revenue.

We next drove along the West Coast of the island and could see several of the pirate alarm towers along the way. We also passed or drove through many medieval villages. We were heading for Anavatos.

Anavatos was built high on the top of a rocky precipice and blended in so well with its surroundings that it was difficult to see it. It was also built in the Byzantine era.

Chios is very close to Turkey, which made it very susceptible to raids from Turkey as well as from pirates. When the Ottomans took over in Turkey, it was only a matter of time before they would take a look at nearby Chios and decide they needed to conquer it as well.

After the Ottomans took over, they allowed Chios a certain amount of autonomy due to the importance of Mastik. This was up until the Greek War of Independence in 1822. Chios’ close proximity to Turkey made it the perfect target for the Ottomans to make an example of what happens when you mess with them. Over several months, roughly 40,000 Turkish troops arrived in Chios. They were ordered to kill all males over twelve, all women over forty, and all babies under three. All others were enslaved.

In Anavatos, the decision was made by much of the population to take their own lives rather than be brutally massacred or enslaved. Those who didn’t commit suicide were slaughtered. Here and there someone has moved in (at least for the tourist season – there was a café and a little shop) but, for the most part, it is quite literally a ghost town.

Next time – Return to Athens

April 5, 2020

The Island of Rhodes

I have been fortunate to visit the sites of five out of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Only one, the Great Pyramid of Giza, still exists. It was so cool to be able to touch it and even climb on part of it. Also in Egypt, I have been shown where the Lighthouse of Alexandria once stood. There is a fort there now built with some of the stone blocks from the lighthouse.

At Ephesus in Turkey, I saw the few remains of the Temple of Artemis in 2011. During this 2014 tour of Greece and the Greek Islands, I saw where the Statue of Zeus used to be at the Temple of Zeus in Olympia.

At Rhodes, we were shown the entrance to the harbor where it was believed the Colossus of Rhodes once stood. It was a statue of the Greek sun god Helios that was erected in 280 BC and stood about 108 feet high. But nobody knows for certain if it stood on the side of the harbor, or straddled the entrance. It collapsed during a 228 BC earthquake. However it was standing, it wasn’t standing long.

It was said that it snapped at the knees and fell over onto the ground. The Oracle at Delphi told the Rhodesians something that made them feel they had offended Helios by building it, so they decided not to rebuild. It is said that the remains of the statue lay on the ground for over 800 years.

Since the remains fell over onto the ground, and since building it straddling the harbor would not have been too likely (since the harbor would have had to have been closed while building), and since it was made of bronze which would most likely have collapsed under its own weight if built with its legs spread apart, most of the experts don’t think it straddled the harbor. Although its location is still being debated, a fairly prominent possibly is where the Fortress of St Nicholas currently sits. The very large, circular platform on which it sits is much older than the fortress (which is 14^th century). Also this site would have allowed the statue to lie on the ground without blocking the harbor.

We passed the harbor entrance on our way out of town. Instead of touring the medieval old city, we set off for Philerimos . We would tour the old, walled city of Rhodes later.

Philerimos (or Filerimos) was once the ancient city of Ialysos, which dates back to the 3^rd millennium BC and was one of the Rhodesian cities that participated in the Trojan War. Ruins of ancient temples to Zeus and Athena lie just outside of a church of the Order of the Knights of Saint John Hospitaller (14^th century). A monastery belonging to the same order stands on the other side of the church. We toured the church and the monastery.

One of my favorite parts of the visit, involved the peacocks. There were a very large number of them. It was mating season, so they had a lot to say. The males were especially noisy and aggressive. We had to keep our eyes open as to where they were the entire time. They were large and could be fallen over or bump into you, especially when they flew by.

I have a photo of a gorgeous male who posed for me (I did not zoom in; he was that close), followed by another who was spreading his tail feathers. As I was taking that photo, another flew right past me, brushing me with his tail feathers as he did so. I took a photo of him sitting up in a tree.

On our way back to the city of Rhodes (both the city and island have the same name), we passed a Hellenistic (5^th – 3^rd centuries BC) Temple of Apollo on the Acropolis of Rhodes. It was on the other side of the tour bus, so I couldn’t get a decent photo. But I have included a fuzzy one that shows it still had three columns standing.

In 1306 – 1310, as the Byzantine period ended, the Order of St John Hospitaller took over the island. They went on a building spree, most of which still stands, including the Fortress of the Order of St John and the Palace of the Grand Master.

They withstood attacks by the Sultan of Egypt and an Ottoman siege, but finally fell to the 100,000 strong (to 7,000 knights) of Suleiman the Magnificent during a six month siege. The Ottomans retained control for roughly 400 years. They didn’t destroy what the knights had built. They just moved in. The Order of St John made their new headquarters in Malta.

We entered the largest medieval town in Europe (population of about 6,000) through the Gate d’Amboise. We viewed a number of fortifications on our way to the Palace of the Grand Master, also known as the Kastello (the castle).

The building was originally built by the Byzantines in the 7^th century AD and greatly enlarged by the Hospitallers. In 1856, there was a large ammunition explosion in part of the Palace that destroyed a portion of the first floor. Once the Italians took over, the Palace was renovated and used as a holiday residence first by the King of Italy and later by Benito Mussolini.

The Palace was very large. Several mosaic floors had been taken from their origins on the Greek island of Kos (which was also under the control of the Hospitallers) and re-laid in the Palace. There is one from the 2^nd century BC of Medusa. I took a photo and have included it here.

After we left the Palace, we headed back towards the harbor down the Street of the Knights. This was where the knights themselves lived. There were seven inns – one for each of the seven countries from which the knights originated. They are all still in great shape. The most spectacular of them all is the one built for the French knights, to which the majority of the group belonged. This inn was built in 1492 and was being used at a French Consulate as of 2014.

Once we reached the main square, we had a little free time before heading back to the ship. I chose to get ice cream (no surprise there) and sit and do some people watching.

Next time – the Islands of Symi & Chios