November 28, 2016 - The Old Colossus

Note: I still haven't gotten the issue with photos settled. Be sure to check the online version of the blog to see both of my posts today. The Old Colossus Emma Lazarus wrote a poem called The New Colossus, about the Statue of Liberty. "Give me your tired, your poor . . . " etc. So I am guessing that the old Colossus would have been the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was a bronze statue of Helios, the sun god. Built in the late third century BCE, it was 110 feet tall on a 50-foot pedestal (maybe one pedestal for each foot?), about the same size as the Statue of Liberty. It only stood for 56 years, falling victim to an earthquake. The remains of the statue have been lost, but the supposed location is marked by two pillars on either side of the entrance to Mandraki Harbor, topped by small bronze statues of deer. However, after showing us the pillars, our guide told us all the reasons why this robably wasn't the actual location of the Colossus. Never on Monday For the second time we have arrived in Rhodes on a Monday. Everything is closed on Mondays, including museums, archaeological sites, and the walk along the top of the Old Town wall. Boo. Don't come here on Monday. Most of Rhodes is also closed for the season now. Rhodes is part of the Dodecanese group of islands. It is just off the coast of Turkey, but it is part of Greece. Rhodes is supposed to be sunny over 300 days a year. The law of averages was not working for us today. It was overcast, and later on it rained. It was also very windy. Rhodes Trip Having walked around the closed for Monday/closed for the season Old Town last time, we opted for a tour this time. It was a Princess tour called Villages and Traditions. We drove around the island for most of the day (50 miles long x 25 miles wide). The tour wasn't particularly good, but it was ok. Our guide, Demetrius (James), was pretty good. Some of the places we went were kind of lame and the lunch was really not very good. We stayed much too long at several of our stopping points. We visited the site of Rhodes' ancient acropolis. There were only 3 1/2 pillars left, and they were surrounded by scaffolding. We also saw the ancient sports stadium, which was very large and in good condition. Next we drove out of town on some winding mountain roads (my favorite kind). We stopped at a tiny chapel that was sort of old and sort of crumbling. It had damaged frescoes that were hard to see. Stayed too long.  After more driving we arrived at the village of Appollona, where we visited a "museum." Three small rooms showed 1) what a village house would have looked like 200 years ago, 2) traditional clothing inside dusty display cases, and 3) farm implements, olive presses, and stuff like that - none of it labeled. Of the two shops in the village, one was open, and some of our busmates actually bought home-produced olive oil there. Another local specialty is soap made out of olive oil and donkey milk. Don't worry, I am not bringing any back as gifts for my friends. Stayed here too long. But we did get to see an interesting thing while we were waiting for our time in the village to be up. A small van drove up, stopped in the middle of the main intersection, and the drive started shouting things in Greek using an amplified megaphone. Some local woman walked up and he opened up the back and he had fresh (I assume) fish for sale. A few minutes later another guy drove up, parked on the other side of the intersection, shouted, jumped out, and opened up his boxes of fish - different types of fish. Within a few minutes they were both gone. Next stop was a tourist trap where we got to taste ouzo, local wines, local honeys, and jams. After that we stopped in a little village for lunch at a place only tourists on buses would eat at. I asserted myself when the guy next to me coughed and blew his nose and then tried to pass a plate of food to me. I really don't want to get sick on this trip. Then a long drive back down the other coast and back to the ship in the wind and rain. I didn't really see anything that would make me want to come back to Rhodes. We sailed away with a little extra help from a giant tugboat. The wind is howling and we are rocking and rolling. The entertainment tonight was another "mentalist" named Alex Crow. Kind of lame and boring. I think I slept through half of it. Tomorrow at dinner we will discuss how he did some of his "tricks."