Expedition Team: Jacque Kelly, Dave Miller Expedition Date: April 2018
We flew 460 kilometers from Athens to the Greek island of Rhodes or Rodos in the Aegean Sea just 18 kilometers off the southern part of Turkey. When we walked into our hotel there were police everywhere. The President of Greece was just leaving a meeting and we snapped his photo in the lobby (Photo #1). I am surprised Jacque didn’t rush him for an autograph. We had a magnificant view of the Aegean Sea from our hotel room (Photo#2).
The city of Rhodes Town was established in 408 BC. Rhodes has been famous for thousands of years as it was the home of the Colossus of Rhodes one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Built around 300BC, the Colossus was a giant statue of the Sun God Helios and overlooked the harbor. An earthquake destroyed it.
The main part of downtown is a walled city with a medieval town within called the Citadel of Rhodes, one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe. There are 11 gates to enter the city (Photos#3-#5). We visited an old castle called the Palace of the Grand Master (Photos#6 & #7), the Rhodes Archeology Museum (Photos #8 & #9), the Avenue of the Knights (Photo #10), the tight corridors within the medieval town (Photo #11 & #12) and many shops.
Being a Moraine Rotary Club member, we met several Rhodes Rotarians at a local restaurant where they treated Jacque to a huge piece of chocolate cake. I was able to exchange club flags. Rhodes Rotary flag had the Colossus of Rhodes on it.
