Aegean Cruise – A Traveling Fool

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

March 29, 2020

Crete, the Minoans, the Labyrinth and the Minotaur

As mentioned in my last post, in addition to Akrotiri, another potential candidate for Atlantis has been Knossos on Crete. They were hit by an enormous tsunami when Thera erupted in roughly 1600 BC. There are numerous myths and legends associated with Knossos as well.

Our ship docked at Aghios Nikolaos on Crete. We were then driven to Knossos. Although the site had people living there as early as 7000 BC, it was when the Minoans built Knossos at about 2000 BC that it really began to flourish. By 1700 BC, it was a major city with a population of around 100,000.

There is evidence that Knossos still existed after the volcanic eruption and tsunami, but was not repopulated by the Minoans. The Mycenaeans moved in and took it over. The city ended up being totally destroyed in roughly 1300 BC. It isn’t clear as to why or by whom it was destroyed. But it does appear to have been set on fire by somebody.

The Palace is the main part that has been excavated and where we concentrated our exploration. We also concentrated on the Minoan period of habitation. This was where most of the myths and legends came into play.

King Minos, in Greek mythology, had Daedalus (the father of Icarus) construct a labyrinth in his palace to contain the Minotaur. The Minotaur was a man with the head of a bull which had been created when his mother (Minos’ queen, Pasiphae, as part of a curse placed upon her by Poseidon) mated with a magical white bull.

Because he was ticked off with Athens (King Minos didn’t seem to get along well with too many mortals or immortals) he had seven young men and seven young women from Athens sacrificed to the Minotaur every year. On one of those occasions, his daughter, Ariadne, assisted Theseus (one of the young men sent by Athens to be eaten by the Minotaur) in his quest to kill the Minotaur. She provided him with a ball of string so he could find his way back through the labyrinth. Theseus was successful in his quest and he and Ariadne ran off together (though some stories say he abandoned her once they escaped).

No actual labyrinth has ever been found. But some people speculate that the entire palace was Homer’s labyrinth. It is enormous and sprawling with hundreds of rooms, stairways, corridors and numerous levels.

In the far right of the first photo I have included with this post, you can see a double-bladed axe incised in one of the blocks of stone. This is called a labrys and is considered to be a symbol of a labyrinth. This symbol is carved on many blocks of stone all over the Palace at Knossos.

As for the Minotaur, the Minoans worshiped the bull. There are frescoes involving bulls in the Palace, including a large, charging bull near the North Entrance. A very famous fresco is in the room above the throne room of a man flipping over a bull while two women assist. Photos of both are included here.

Minoan columns were created from Cyprus trees, which were inverted to keep them from sprouting. This made the columns wider at the top than at the bottom – the opposite of Greek stone columns. Minoan columns were mostly painted red and mounted on round bases with round pillow-like capitals.

The throne room contained the original alabaster throne. Nobody is certain whether the throne was for a king or a priest or a priestess. Many think that the seat of the throne was clearly made for a female backside, so the priestess idea has become the leader.

I couldn’t get terribly close to it, but I personally didn’t see how the seat was made for a female instead of a male. It frankly looked uncomfortable for either gender. The flowing artwork on the walls featuring griffins has also been considered to be feminine.

When you look at the way humans were depicted in all of the frescoes, they all had the same hairdos and were dressed in just a little something around their waists, covering their buttocks and genitals. The only distinction between genders being that women were portrayed as milky white while men were portrayed as more of a dark red. All of the frescoes, whatever the subject, were colorful with undulating, curved lines. In short – feminine.

Across from the throne room was what appeared to be a ritual bath to the original archaeologists. But later archaeologists had determined that, since there isn’t any kind of a drain, it was more likely an aquarium. I photographed it from a floor above, so the opening you see to the right in the photo is into the throne room.

To the south of the throne room was where several snake goddesses were found. Most were broken into pieces, but two were in good enough shape to be repaired and put on exhibit in the Heraklion Museum.

One of my favorite parts of the Palace was the Queen’s Hall with its dolphin frescoes and the nearby Hall of the Double Axes. This was a double indoor/outdoor chamber that also contained a throne. This throne was not original, however, but a replica. It looks very similar to the throne in the throne room despite the idea that this room was supposed to have been the king’s.

We headed out by the North Entrance, taking a good look at the drainage system as we went. I know. Exciting stuff, right? But a drainage system dating back roughly 4,000 years to a time when hardly any other civilization had one is actually pretty interesting.

In nearby Heraklion, I spent some time in Plateia Venizelou Square with a Venetian fountain and an old Venetian church. The archaeological museum was by the Venetian wall and a bit of a walk from the square. But it was back towards where the bus would be picking us up.

We went back to the ship to have lunch. Mark and I had gyros by the pool and then went back to shore for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day to be on the island of Crete.

Next time – the Island of Rhodes

March 15, 2020

Istanbul, Ephesus and an Earthquake

Our first two days on the cruise consisted of stops at Istanbul and Kasudasi (Ephesus) in Turkey. Although I had been on a two week tour of Turkey which included time in both cities just a few years earlier, I was looking forward to returning. I had really enjoyed Turkey when I was there before. It was a great country with friendly people, an amazing history, and some fascinating things to see and do that were quite unique.

I had the option of signing up for tours of my choice or just hanging out in each place on my own. We had set sail for Istanbul as soon as we left Lavion and arrived shortly after breakfast. I had signed up for a tour that included Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.

When I had been in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople and, even earlier, Byzantium) the last time, I had been quite ill by the time we were touring those locations. They had also been experiencing a monsoon-like rain while we were at Topkapi Palace which greatly limited my getting around that particular location. This time, the tour began at the Palace.

On my previous visit, I had spent the majority of my time in the harem. I had never seen a harem before and doubted strongly that I would ever get the opportunity to tour one again. This one was famous, enormous, and had been in use from the 15^th century to the early 20^th century. So, armed with a map showing roughly 90 rooms (out of what is believed to be about 400 rooms total) open to the public, I had explored every inch of it that I could. As wonderful as it was to see, I didn’t have much time left to see much else other than the area with the Sacred Relics.

This time, I headed straight for the Imperial Treasury. One of the prize pieces in the treasury was the Topkapi Dagger. This dagger had been made in 1747 by the Sultan Mahmud I for the Shah of Persia. But the Shah was murdered before he could receive his present, so the dagger stayed at the Palace. It was featured in the film Topkapi during which a heist of the dagger took place.

There is also an enormous diamond called the Spoonmaker’s Diamond. Nobody knows the origins of the diamond, but there have been several legends put forth regarding who may have owned and why they parted with it.

The collection holds several more pieces of jewelry, solid gold candlesticks encrusted with diamonds, the throne of Mahmud I (layered with emeralds and pearls), various weapons decorated with jewels, and the right hand and forearm of John the Baptist encased in gold.

With all of the pieces of him that seem to be on display around the world, I wonder how much of John the Baptist could be left in the tomb that was supposedly his in Egypt. This is one of three alleged right hand and forearms of John in existence and the number of heads claimed by different places as his is staggering.

On my previous visit, I had gone into the part of the Palace containing the Sacred Relics. Most of them had to do with Muhammad, but there was also a room that contained what were reported to be Abraham’s Pot, Joseph’s Turban, Moses’ Staff, and David’s Sword.

This time I didn’t have nearly as much time at Topkapi as during the previous visit, so I wandered around the different courtyards and spent a little time sitting out on the terrace that overlooked the Bosphorus before I needed to rejoin the rest of the group for lunch.

After lunch, we sort of waved at the Hippodrome as we went by on our way to the Blue Mosque. We didn’t stay there long either. But the interior with its tiles and domes is the main thing to see.

Onwards to Hagia Sophia with which I had fallen madly in love when I was last in Istanbul. Built in 532-537 AD over an earlier 4^th century church, the building survived many earthquakes over the centuries and the Ottomans as well. Instead of destroying the church, the Ottomans simply covered up the mosaics and turned it into a mosque. Now that the building is a museum, the mosaics have been uncovered and they are glorious.

This trip, we didn’t have any free time in Hagia Sophia to be able to go exploring on our own, so I didn’t get to go up the ramp to the gallery. Instead of stairs, the building still has its original 1500 year old ramps to enable movement from floor to floor. I had really felt like I was traveling back in time with those ancient ramps and felt sad that I didn’t have the time to revisit them or the wonderful mosaics in the gallery.

One of my dream trips would be to return to Istanbul, spend a lot of time at the Hagia Sophia and maybe tour the harem again. Then take the Orient Express from Istanbul to Venice, spending some time in Venice before heading home.

From Hagia Sophia, we continued to the Grand Bazaar. I would have preferred to stay at Hagia Sophia, but…. It was not nearly as crowded or higgledy-piggledy as the one in Cairo had been. It was more shops than stalls. I had really loaded myself up with Turkish tchotchkes on my prior trip. So, other than a small package of pistachio Turkish Delight, I refrained.

Our little group of seven sat together at dinner again. Then we went to the show. It was a rock’n’roll show which might have been why we missed the earthquake. Honestly, there was a 6.9 magnitude (severe) earthquake in the Aegean between Greece and Turkey at roughly 9:30pm. Canakkale (where ancient Troy was located) suffered quite a bit of damage and a couple hundred injuries. There were buildings destroyed and people injured all over Greece and Turkey (and even some in Bulgaria).

We were heading to the Dardanelles from the Sea of Marmara when it struck. Maybe it was the fact that we were on a ship and/or that we were not yet out in the Aegean itself that lessened the impact of the initial earthquake and its several aftershocks (one of which was 5.3 and struck around midnight).

I think it was just a matter of timing. Had it hit right as we came out of the Dardanelles into the Aegean at Canakkale, it could have been very unpleasant, especially if there had been a Tsunami associated with it.

We weren’t docking at Kasudasi until around 3pm, so we could sleep late and do shipboard activities until then. Not wanting to disturb anybody, I didn’t knock on any doors for breakfast. But Mark caught up with me at the stairs (we were only one deck away from where they did the breakfast and lunch buffets), so we had breakfast together. He ran off to the casino and I headed for a Greek cooking demonstration. We were able to sample the foods they cooked and they gave us recipes so we could make the dishes at home.

At lunch time, out by the pool, they made a seafood dish with mussels, shrimp, crab, rice, various vegetables and some spices in a giant wok. It was delicious. Although I watched them make it, I haven’t been able to completely duplicate it (likely because I didn’t necessarily recognize what all the vegetables and spices were).

We arrived in Kasudasi at 3:30pm. I had signed up for the tour of Ephesus and the Virgin Mary’s house. This was where the Apostle John had brought Mary to live after Jesus entrusted her to his care. She had a tiny stone house way up on a mountain near Ephesus. We visited there first. I really liked the atmosphere of the place. It was very serene and peaceful.

Then it was Ephesus. I had been there before too and thought it was one of the coolest ancient Greek/Roman cities I had ever seen (originally built in the 10^th century BC). When I had been there before, Trajan’s Fountain had been in scaffolding for some restoration. It was done this time and I could see it in all its glory.

For about three years, the Apostle Paul had lived in a dwelling that had been just behind the Library of Celsus — an exquisitely beautiful building down at the end of the steeply sloping street we took down into the town from the Agora and past the Odeon from the entrance. It was in Ephesus where we began to hear about the earthquake of the night before. It had been felt quite strongly there.

On my prior trip I had begun to run out of time by the time I got to the theatre. This time I made it a priority. It had an estimated seating capacity of 25,000 and is thought to have been the largest theatre in the classical world. It certainly seemed to me to be the largest I had ever seen. Paul preached at the theatre. He got around quite a bit before he got arrested, hauled off to Rome and ultimately beheaded.

On our way back to the ship, we stopped off at a carpet place. We were given a delicious tea and shown loads and loads of carpets. Did I resist? Not 100%. I ended up buying a very intricately woven small wall hanging. I figured that it went well with the curved Turkish dagger I purchased on my earlier trip to Turkey.

We didn’t arrive back at the ship until shortly after 9pm and went to a dinner buffet that was open until 10pm. Slept very well for another night. The gentle rocking that sometimes happens on a ship was working its magic on me.

Next time – Thera (Santorini) and Atlantis