I can see Turkey from my house…The signal phrase that we are no longer in Athens. The group has arrived on the island of Rhodes, and yes we can see Turkey from our rooms. We can also see lovely Elli Beach as our front lawn. Its not as impressive as the summertime view, but we all still appreciate it nonetheless. This is probably because we so badly want to escape winter. For another escape from reality we walked through the Old Town of Rhodes and stepped into another time. We will be touring the area and its museums/palaces more later in the week, but the already the parts we saw took you to another time with stone walls, breaching fortresses, and the Knights of St. John. Somehow we have already made it through our first day at Rhodes, and though the night ended in rain we had the unique experience of watching a lightening storm right off the coast. Our group sat in a café with drinks, good music, the rush of waves, and the striking view of flashes of light on water and al around us. Once again seemingly taking you to another place. We still have class and work and its not all vacation, but I have to say the short times of escapism are worth it, so whether we see Turkey, or a beach, or lightening storms we’ll take those times of escape.
I can see Turkey from my house!
I think I’ve found myself in paradise. Today we arrived at the bus for a 7 am departure to the airport for our flight to Rhodes. After a short 40 minute flight, we landed at the Rhodes airport and took another bus to the City of Rhodes. Once we got to the waterfront, Dr. Finitsis pointed out that Turkey was just across the water. Of course this sparked some Sarah Palin jokes (which are, by the way, especially hilarious when you’re Alaskan). But in all seriousness, it’s very cool that I can see another country from the balcony of my hotel room. The balcony of my room was the first place I wanted to go when we arrived at our hotel. I walked outside to find a grand view of the water and beach. I went over to the beach and breathed in the wonderful ocean air. Before we went out as a class, my “team” had our presentation on Rhodes. After our presentation, Dr. Finitsis explained that Rhodes is about as close to the Middle-East as we can get without actually being there and that people from many different cultures reside on this Island. This is one of the safest tourist destinations for Israelis and people from different cultures live side by side. This was evident as we walked around and passed at least one church, mosque, and temple. Standing on the seaside, I heard the song of an evening prayer on the wind and knew immediately this was a very unique, special place.
I can see Turkey from my house
Well, at least from my balcony.
Our group has now moved on from Athens to the beautiful Greek Island of Rhodes. And yes, you can indeed see the country of Turkey from my hotel room balcony!
I have only been in Rhodes for about half a day now, but I can already see that the culture of the island is very different from that of the city.
Rhodes’ economy is based on tourism, meaning that many places are closed a lot of the time right now since it is the off-season. This makes old town, which we walked through this afternoon, feel desolate and abandoned. In the places where there are people, there is so much diversity. There are several different buildings for worship of various religions and much diversity in cultural background. People from many different nations have financial interests in Rhodes, and also vacation here. This makes Rhodes a truly unique location.
I look forward to the week ahead and the opportunity to explore the island and experience the coming together of such diverse peoples and ideas.