Pictures today are a continuation of our cruise stop on the island of Rhodes.

There were three different Rhodes tour packages available. The one we opted for started by a short walk through the medieval port town, then a bus ride down the coast. After a stop at a ceramics place to watch a demonstration of the pottery technique - and of course a few minutes to shop in the store - we got back on the bus down to Lindos. We were returned to the port so we could have lunch on the ship then still had several
hours we could go back into the port town to walk around, after having learned the layout on our morning walk. This was the longest port of call (10 hours) and the tour was good but in retrospect this was the place where we maybe should have been daring, rented scooters, and explored the island on our own. There wasn't enough time to do that on any other stop. Kim and I really appreciate having a guide who knows the area and can tell us interesting things (though they will always be compared to Filiberto) but we also dislike being told how long we have to look in a particular place. In spite of the fact that we bought something at the ceramics shop we would

have preferred to use that time elsewhere. Also when you travel alone you don't have to deal with other people in the group holding everyone up, but that's a story for tomorrow.

This picture is the base of the acropolis of Lindos. As the guide explained, many Greek cities had an acropolis. Acro - Greek for high and polis meaning city. The site had three different civilizations that developed it over time. You can see the difference in the construction style. There is still some of the ancient construction but most of that was replaced in the middle ages or even more recently.

This temple at the summit is almost all completely reconstructed. It's there pretty much just to show how it used to be.

Yesterday I had coffee with Alec. He is retired from US foreign service after posts in several countries including Greece. His Greek wife is an actress so they live in Greece on her salary, his retirement and a little consulting work he does. We had talked about getting together since we
met back in March but this has been the first chance we had. In some ways four months in a country is not nearly enough time. To establish some contacts it can take a lot longer. In my last week here I'm being told about people I should have met.


I also had lunch yesterday with Niko, my primary contact at the Greek Fulbright office. He's the only one from Fulbright I had contact with before arriving and helped me establish a connection with the university. Like coffee with Alec, this something we've talked about for a
couple of months before we were able to make it happen.

This is St. Paul Bay as seen from the Lindos Acropolis. Legend has it that Paul was here - whether he just stopped or was shipwrecked is a matter of who you ask. One of the reasons we had a group of Franciscans from EWTN (you know, Mother Angelica's channel) leading a tour and a church group on the cruise is because this one hits several historical sites related to the apostles. One of the comments Martha made that has stuck with me is that the ancient Greeks
were very skilled at locating their important monuments at very scenic locations.


From yesterday's paper: Bar Staff Hail Smoking Limits. Greece's restaurants and bars will go smoke free (sort of) July 1. A lot of people I've spoken with are very skeptical of whether people will follow the regulations, which will require all bars and restaurants larger than 700 square feet to provide 60-80 percent of their establishments as non-smoking areas (smaller places must declare to be either smoke free or for smokers). The skeptics say that the restaurants will have

smoke-free zones but that people will just ignore them and smoke if they want to. Police are not going to go around town enforcing the rule and the bar owners aren't going to be the bad guys. Smoking is pervasive here. People don't just light up after a meal: I've been with people who smoke during the meal. I'm not talking about just when others are still eating - I mean while they have food in front of them. But they have managed to keep people from smoking on public transportation, so maybe it will work. I'll be curious to find out what happens in July.

These last four pictures are back in the port town after lunch. This street is the Knight's road. All along this street were the "hotels" for the various nationalities represented. The town was protected for centuries by the Knights of St. John, who established hospitals in Rhodes and other places. In the 15th Century they turned back multiple attacks from different armies. Finally in the 16th Century Suleiman (visited his mosque in Istanbul) took over the town after a six month siege. The Knights withdrew and eventually became the Knights of Malta.

With only four days remaining until we return home, we are both in travel mode. We're trying to eat everything from the refrigerator. Kim has started packing. I've been trying to tie up loose ends (as evidenced by the two meetings with people yesterday) and my travel anxiety has kicked in (woke up at 4:45 this morning). Kim is also intent on trying to squeeze in more sightseeing although I'm hoping to just be in a fetal position drinking heavily until we leave.