Sat 18.Dec.2021
Rhodes, Greece
Time flaps along. When I arrived here on Rhodes late October, it was still Summer.
T-shirts, seeking out the shade for walking, you name it.
Now it is mid-December, and I have been kvetching about the friggin' cold for most of this week,
We haven't had the fierce northern wind yet. My phone swears the temp is really about 50F.
Something makes it feel colder - maybe the snow on the mountains across the channel?
Anyway, here is my traditional Winter grumble about the cold.
Mind you, my Finnish neighbors on both sides have faint sympathy with my complaints
about Winter. I notice though, that they are both here in the Mediterranean, not in Finland!
In December 1522, following a bloody siege, Sultan Suleiman The Magnificient entered the
city of Rhodes through what is
now called the San Francisco Gate. In modern December, the gate is perfectly positioned for
the late afternoon sun light. I sit outdoors at a hole-in-the-wall cafe just inside the gate,
sipping Greek coffee, and waiting for subjects to come through that shaft of light to make pictures
for me.
The story goes that Suleiman ordered the gate sealed, so that no other conquerors could
follow in his footsteps. The Italians re-opened and restored this entrance to the
medieval city in 1922, for the four hundredth anniversay of the 1522 siege,
Next year will be the 500th anniversary. I wonder what kind of hoopla will go down for that?
The view from brunch after a rain.
The past set in stone.
"One and only" used to be the motto of the local "hypermarket". I heard
it on the store audio while shopping. No longer - they have changed name and owners. But the
old slogan lives on in the sidewalk outside!