From Athens we had to take a plane to Rhodes in order to take a ferry to Symi. We only had a short time when we arrived and didn’t have the energy to do much anyway, but on the way back we had five hours to kill. The information office kept our suitcases even though they said they normally didn’t (I think someone could make a killing on storing suitcases right by the ferry). We walked around Rhodes, an ancient city with centuries of history. I remember studying the Colossus of Rhodes, a giant statue that stood at the entrance of the harbor until an earthquake brought it down. People from all over the world came to see it even then. It was over 100 feet tall and one of the ancient wonders of the world. No one is sure what happened to it after it was sold. So, it wonderful being in Rhodes after reading and hearing about it for so many years. We were in old Rhodes, or Rhodes town as they call it, and we walked around and went into the museum until it was time to get the bus to the airport.

There were these rock balls everywhere used in catapults for protection.

A look down one of the alleys. The arches were put up to hold the walls up in case of earthquake. Rhodes was destryed several times because of them.

There were many places to eat. I particularly liked this sign in French saying Home Cooking With Love. I ended up eating a gyros with pita bread made of pork not lamb like I think it usually done. Good though.

A tomb covering. Rhodes was the home to crusaders, the Knights of Saint John, for hundreds of years on their way to the middle east to retrieve religious objects.

I really liked this Aphrodite with her hair down. It seems to me that all of the statues I’ve seen-at least those still having heads-have their hair up.

I saw an old photo of this Aphrodite being pulled from the ocean which is why she is so smooth. It was a great museum. It contained a lot of information about the Greek language which is basically the trunk from which all other languages branch off of although it did borrow from the Phonecians. I have to tell you how happy it made me to think of the French language. It may be difficult to learn but at least I didn’t also have to learn a totally new alphabet. The Greek language was hard to understand, even for Maurice. I thought it sometimes sounded like Italian or Spanish but never identified one word other than ne which means yes.

The patron of Symi is Michael the Archangel. One day Maurice and I rented a car to get a look at the island. We discovered that there isn’t a costal road circling the island although we did get great views here and there of the water below. We passed some small forests, visited a beach or two and finally reached Panormitis at the far south of the island with an ornate monastery dedicated to the Archangel. That’s just about all that was there but it was interesting.

I liked the interior of the monastery.

A look at the bell tower.

The bell.

A carving of Michael the Archangel. There was a much more elaborate one covered with what looked like silver but no photos were allowed. I bought a candle and the lady there gave me a card with his image on it which I’m keeping in my purse.

The ceiling as you entered or exited the grounds.

The couple that we sold our house to in Provence just happened to mention in passing that they had spent many vacations on an island called Simi (or Symi) in the Greek Islands just twenty minutes by boat from Turkey. On doing a little investigation, we decided to try it ourselves and found ourselves there just at the beginning of June before the crowds of tourists-and high temperatures-rolled in. We had such a good, relaxing time and I took many photos. Here are a few of them:

It’s not easy getting to a Greek island in general. We flew from Paris to Athens, Athens to Rhodes and then took a ferry to Simi. It involved spending the night in the airport which, I discovered, I am way too old to do but many young people do so to save money from what I’ve heard. There’s even a website that lists the best airports to sleep at. Anyway, this is the ferry, a catamaran, that we took. Very nice with airplane like seats. I fell asleep at on point and woke up with a shock thinking our plane was landing on water.

A look from up above at the harbor of Simi Town, the main town on the island. It has a very deep harbor and we saw some really huge boats pull in while we were there including this cruise boat that you can see.

The village was full of colorful houses in the Neo Classical design left from when there was prosperous ship building and a sponge industry.

This clock tower from the 1800′s stands at the harbor and we could see what time it was from our place.

A short distance from our hotel was a small beach that we went to every day except once. It was handy and had lounge chairs and umbrellas for rent. I’m one of those unfortunate people who can’t sit in the sun so I’m always looking for shade.

A look at our beach (Kos). Look at how clear the water is. It was just a tad cold for me so I only ever got up to my knees. One day the ferry unloaded a huge group of people and I think most of them came to this beach. I think they were Russian from the language and babushkas and the beach was covered with people and the water was so full that I’m sure the temperature must have gone up a few degrees. They left after a couple of hours, I think to take a ferry back to Rhodes.

Aren’t these great colored steps?

There were three sponge shops there and I almost bought some. They don’t harvest sponge here any more so most of that sold is from elsewhere.

Will you look at those steps. I never climbed them.

There was very little sand on the beaches on Simi. Most of them had huge gravel like that seen here. One “beach” was like a swimming pool with no sand or gravel just paved terraces. You could drive, hike or take a taxi boat to the beaches. We took a boat one day and it was nice but we were back to our little beach the next day which, by the way, was man made.

A sail boat caught in the light as the sun set. We sat on the terrace of our hotel every night just looking at the water and the boats coming and going. I can see why people return here year after year. It’s very expensive to buy here from what we heard.

Loved looking at the sail boats, some of them huge. Big yachts too, many from Turkey. It’s a very short trip to Turkey and we went one day for a market but were disappointed. I was expecting Byzantine architecture, mosques, that Aladin look, but it was mostly 60′s architecture reminding me a bit of Mexican border towns.
As for food:

Olives of course.

If you got the house wine, it always came in little metal pitchers. I love Greek white wine-so refreshing.

And Greek yogurt with honey!!! What a surprise. I’m not normally a huge fan of yogurt but some was accidentally put on our table and I started eating it before the waiter realized his mistake. I’m a convert. The honey made it fabulous and I had it several more times before we left.

You see goats around Simi. This one came up to the table and begged like a dog or cat.

I’ve been in Paris long enough that I’m repeating myself often here on the blog and taking photos of the same things as I am doing in this post but at least they are new photos.

An old typewriter surrounded by piles of books. I imagine most children these days have never seen one except maybe on TV or the movies.

Some more piles of books upstairs next to what is probably a bed. They still let writers sleep here if they meet the criteria.

If you look out the window upstairs to the roof you will see a little landscape set up. There were even two suspended airplane models.

Shakespeare’s face was out there too.

You never know what you will see up on top of Montmartre. It can be very lively with music, mimes, food being sold and, of course, artists. Here are a few shots I took the other day.

A bride and groom were posing in front of the little train that takes tourists up to the top of Montmartre from Blanche, in front of the Moulin Rouge.

An artist making a portrait of a little girl.

A look at a row of artists at work.

This artist was doing a group drawing of 8 ladies or so over for the day from England who belonged to what was called the Rock Choir. They said you didn’t need to try out to join which sounds like one I could join if I should move to England.

There’s a store in the Left Bank, it may be a chain, called Flamant. I like to wander through it as the have very nice accessories and great furniture although most of it is too large for our place but I like its style. It reminds me of Crate and Barrel in the States.

Flamant in French means flamingo but somehow I don’t think this is the meaning for this store but I could be wrong.

A nice kitchen set.

This was nice. I don’t know if you can see, but there are really nice plates on the table.

When you enter the store you see an ancient section of a wall that was preserved.