All Rhodes Lead to Turkey

As promised, we were back into the Old Town of Rhodes for a history lesson - the place oozes charm, especially if you veer away from the more well travelled streets to look for a quiet lane.  

In some areas, it really does look like nothing has changed over the past 500 years.

The kids' classroom today was the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes. Long name, I know, but fascinating place. In the medieval period (during the time of the Crusades), Rhodes was controlled by a Christian military order (like the Knights Templar). Separate sections of the huge walled old town was in turn controlled by knights of different Tongues (as in the languages they spoke). But the heavily fortified castle housed the one Grand Master of the Order.

The interior houses some great exhibits, but among its nicest attractions are the unbelievable mosaics. Not all are original to the castle, as some were salvaged from ruins across the island and brought here over the years.

The time to complete these would have been staggering. Some were about 20 x 30 feet, and had individual mosaic pieces measuring just a few millimetres across.

But history class is over, and in the spirit of labour disruption which is affecting the kids' school back home, we decided to have a rotating strike of our own....

So it's off to the water park!!

The originally named "Water Park" is actually pretty large. It has about 20 slides, but unfortunately for Annie, she wasn't tall enough for the adrenalin rides (about 5 of them), so it was up to Dad to show her how it's done!  

Even Shirley, who swore she would have nothing to do with the water + gravity combination, joined in the fun.

Off to the races! While Owen did indeed cross the line first, it should be pointed out that he didn't wait past "on your marks" before taking off.

The Space Bowl should have been named the Toilet Bowl, as you come flying down a tunnel at breakneck speed and then enter and circle this enormous bowl until you finally get 'flushed' down the bottom - I felt like one giant supersonic turd.

They're not really missing school - today we are covering topics like momentum, friction, and centrifugal force. 

Haven't seen this before - a giant bouncy bubble in the little kiddies section (but Annie and Owen were still allowed to use it (top right).

Not sure about this guy though.... 

"Sir, aren't you a little too old for this?"

"Uh, just supervising my kids, ma'am"

But it was time for our four days in Rhodes to come to an end, and we experienced our first border crossing in a port, as we hopped on the ferry to take us to Turkey. We're off to the southern beach town of Fethiye.

And the mighty King Saron will get us there. Had to look his name up later on - and it turns out he was a character in Greek mythology who built a sanctuary of Artemis Saronia. However, more troubling to note is that he drowned in the sea! Who the hell names these boats?

Goodbye Greece....

....Hello Turkey. Or is it Bowen Island? Can't really tell the difference.

Our boat actually took us to Marmaris. In a very rare (but explainable) planning error on my part, today was the only day of the week when the boat to Fethiye does not run. So we had to take a different ferry. No big deal, as Marmaris is a very beautiful town and this mistake only added a 2-hour bus trip to our journey to Fethiye.

On the walk to the bus station we witnessed this fine display of parenting skills. Definitely adds a dose of adrenalin to the whole 'jolly jumping' experience! That's a 4th floor balcony by the way. Not too sure where the baby went. Hopefully he's just inside.

Bus from Marmaris to Fethiye has a maximum capacity of 20. For a while we were 23. This is a photo from the back row. Yeah, pretty crowded. 

Best part of this bus was that we arrived at the station after it had already left. So how could I have possibly taken this picture, you ask? Well, great question. It seems (for whatever reason), that the Turkish bus ticket agent really wanted us not to miss the 12:30 express to Fethiye, and so he actually loaded the four of us (bags and all) into his little car and he roared off after the bus, catching it about 10 minutes later as it went up a slow hill. We did a quick roadside transfer and off we went. Strange. Especially since there's a bus every hour.

As luck would have it (or incredible trip planning by yours truly), it's the Tuesday Market in Fethiye. If I'm lucky, she won't notice the purses on the left. Nothing to see here, Shirley.

Hey, whatcha lookin' at buddy?

There has been very little in the way of fruits and vegetables over the last couple of weeks in Greece. I suppose red wine counts as a fruit, and potatoes could pass as a vegetable, but that's about it. It was so nice to see this place, and we quickly loaded up on peaches, strawberries, cherries, apricots. Time to get regular again!!

Fresh

The best part was paying for it - or at least not paying very much for it. Just a few dollars for several kilos of fruit.

New country, new beer. That's just how it works.

And our first Turkish meal turned out to be a winner. Amazing chili salad and chicken shish, plus some grilled liver. As we left Greece we were determined to either eat less, begin trying to fit some running into our daily routine, or both. It's only our first day in Turkey and things aren't looking good.