Rhodes - Greece!
Where should I start? We are anchored in a teeny-tiny bay just south of Rhodes, Greece on the island of Rhodes. We dropped our anchor and took a line to shore so actually we are tied to a huge rock that could only be moved by an act of God. Our friends, Morris and Maggy Thompson on Dawntreader, were married in the little chapel just a few meters from Grace. The bay is St. Paul's Bay because of his visit to the island, but the locals call it Wedding Bay because so many people come here to be married. We have watched at least a dozen beautiful brides climb down the ste-e-e-e-p path in their spiked heels to tied the knot.
Since I last wrote our new mast and rigging has been installed and, of course, we sailed from Turkey to Greece which is only a sail of a few hours. The things we have seen and the things we have done are so innumerable, however. but everything seems to be going well. Tomorrow, we will begin our return to Turkey to be pulled once more to add a few more improvements to our old girl. One of those being a stern anchor roller. The system of Ellen putting the anchor over the rail and waiting for the captain to say, "Heave" has got to go. The last time I was a little slow in getting the anchor to the bottom. We almost reached the dock before we were hooked. Because of my bum shoulder, Jerry usually backs out as I pull in the line then when we get to the anchor, I hop into the cockpit to take the wheel so that Jerry can lift the anchor. For those of you who are not sailors this is probably gibberish, but always an experience for me.
We have traveled by car through the mountains of Turkey which is much like Yosemite or the Black Hills. We were astounded by the beautiful, high mountain roads with wonderful view areas, water taps coming out of the mountain sides. the stands of enormous pines, and the camping and park areas intermingled with old Roman bridges from the 3rd century and off roads of Alexandrian ruins. We hiked to the top of one mountain, almost killed us although Jerry's blood pressure was 20 points lower the next day, to Termessos. One of the most perfect cities from 300 B.C. with its theater and city perched on top of an inaccessible mountain. Even Alexander bypassed this city because of its tough inhabitants. They had to be to live here and to build such a city is unimaginable.
Today we will hike to the Acropolis at Lindos. Tomorrow, we plan on sailing back to Rhodes, the island of Rhodes and its principle city have the same name. From there, we will return to Marmaris, although the captain will probably discover some detours along the way.
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- May 30, 2005