Thu 30.Dec.2010
Rhodes, Greece
The downpour and thunderclaps of the last couple of days
were gone when I got up today. Instead, a cloud-free gorgeous sky. If
I'd known, I should have gotten out under it earlier. As it is, I gave
the nice Laundromat people this week's load at about 2:30 this
afternoon, and set out aimlessly.
I was walking down a street I rarely take - historically important but
rather bare and sterile - when I noticed a gate open that is usually
closed, leading to a section of the old palace gardens I'd never seen
before.
You don't need to hit this kid in the face with a wet mop. In I went.
Beyond a parking area, a sign on a low gate said No Entry. I entered, and from the
inside the sign didn't say anything so I continued.
This was a large former garden, apparently used now for storing
archaeological finds, pending restoration or whatever they do with this
stuff. There were bronze Roman-looking statues, larger than life, some
missing their heads; white stone slabs with arabic-looking script on
them, lots of stone pieces of goodness knows whats. Most of it was
already in shadow under tall trees.
This whole "Secret Garden" area was high up in the castle, with a
great view over the harbor. I've never seen it from up here. Well, I
have now.
There was even another little door standing open in a small watch tower
on the wall. Up a steep spiral stair. Careful... there are no safety
walls on this little watch platform. It would be all too easy to fall
right back down onto the stairs. Or over the outside. Nice harbor view
though.
As the sun got lower and the air cooler, I headed back the way I had
come in. Surprise - the gate I came in by had been returned to its
"original locked and upright" position.
Heavy on the locked.
Further exploration found me the main entrance to the palace complex -
also locked.
Would I become the first foreign visitor to break out of the fortress of Rhodes?
One of the locked gates was at
the bottom of a wide flight of steps. From the in-side, I could reach
the top of the wall without clambering.
The problem was a stone column that stood right where I would need to
be to get from the wall on to the gate. The column left no room to
crouch or manouever without falling far enough to do myself damage on
the stone street... or on the steps if I should land on the inside. In
my 20's I would not have had
to think twice. At 64, wobbly and none too strong, I was pretty nervous
about it.
The gate itself is a grille, like a portcullis without the spikes on
top (Gott sei dank!). I was
able to hold the top, lower myself down the bars to a lower crossbar,
and step gently to the historic Street
Of The Knights, anticlimactically. Let's hear it for anticlimax!
Next Day (Friday): I went back today
and got this
picture of the gate and column (over the top of an
inconveniently-parked car).
Epilogue
I know I've posted lots of pictures before of this clock tower next to
Suleiman's mosque.
I can only plead that the late sun on it under the rain-washed sky was
too great a temptation to resist.
I don't remember noticing that red rooster-thingy on top before.
Before it got dark, I collected my now-clean laundry from the nice
laundromat people, wished them Chronia
Polla, which is what you say to people in Greece at year's end,
and headed for home.
Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Bulf