Rhodes - Part I: Rhodes Town

One of the huge perks of my job is the opportunity to travel.  In September 2014, I was part of an international collaboration that culminated in a conference in the ancient city of Rhodes , Greece, on the island of the same name (Ρόδος - pronounced Rodos - in Greek).  This post will focus on the city itself and its long and rich history.

Greece.  This country may have some severe economic issues, but it is rich in so many other things.  Its ancient culture is proud and rich, and it boasts some of the most beautiful land- and seascapes in the world.  Flying from Athens to Rhodes over the island-sprinkled Aegean Sea is a good way to develop some appreciation for Greece's geophysical wealth.  The topographically complex islands shoot up out of the sea, teasing from below with their intricate coastlines and glowing beaches.

As with much of Greece, and all the rest of its islands, Rhodes is intimately connected to the sea.  Rhodes' famous harbor is testament to this.  Unfortunately, the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, no longer stands astride the entrance of the harbor, but there are still plenty of ancient and very old sites to see around the city.  The windmills along the harbor, one of which is seen here, are one example of some remnants of the past.  Windmills are common on Greek islands, allowing islanders to benefit from the strong, near-constant winds that travel down the Aegean much of the year.

As I've already mentioned a couple of times now, Rhodes has a very rich and long history.  The old city is one of Europe's best preserved examples of a medieval walled city.  Rhodes was founded during the Classical Greek period during the fifth century B.C.E.  However, the walls that you see around the city today are not remnants of that ancient time; they are from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, when Rhodes went from being a Byzantine to a Christian Crusader (under the rule of the Knights Hospitallers) to an Ottoman city.  Needless to say, with its strategic position between Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa and its well established harbor and fortified city, Rhodes was a strategic objective and one of the focal points of ancient and medieval history.

The complete walls around the city are very impressive.  Rhodes is one of those special places in the world that actually make you feel as if you've been transported back to a different time.

One of the few gateways through the walls to the old city.

Inside the old city, "old" is definitely an accurate adjective for just about all of the architecture.  It would be brilliant to see some kind of time lapse video of the city itself and how it has evolved and changed over the centuries... with the most impressive aspects being some of the oldest features and how they have endured the trials and tribulations of time.

Inside the old town, most of the main streets are named after famous Greeks.  Some examples include: Sokratous (Socrates), Omirou (Homer), Perikleous (Pericles), Sofokleous (Sophocles), Aristotelous (Aristotle), and Pythagora.

One of my favorite things about the city is the seemingly random mixture of different architectural styles and features.  The Greek, Roman, Byzantine, medieval, Ottoman, and Italian styles are all present in one form or another around town.  This owl statue at the top of a fountain in one of central squares was one of my favorite features.

Rhodes' clocktower.  This old structure offers some great views over the old city.  Note too that unlike the blue domes seen around many of the Greek islands, Rhodes has gone for red.

Oh, and that's something you don't see too often in Western Europe, an old mosque.  Thanks to the Ottoman influence on the city, there are several huge mosques around the old town plus several Turkish bath houses.

I loved the candy striping on this mosque, though it was in a sad, yet charming state of disrepair.

These domes made me feel almost like I was in Turkey...

Signs of the Ottoman rule are all over... like these public washing stations.

Looking up the Ippoton, or the Gothic Street of the Knights.  This is one of the remnants of the medieval period, when the Knights Hospitallers ruled Rhodes.

Many countries from Western Europe had their own "knight's house" along this street.  The reason for this?  The armies of the Crusades were made up of knights from many countries, speaking many languages.  These houses offered a little taste of home while they were away crusading.

Looking back down the street from the top.

And just around the corner at the top of the Street of Knights is the Palace of the Grand Masters.  

Unlike the facade (previous pictue), the Palace's interior is not at all true to the original, which was destroyed by an ammunition explosion (triggered by a lightning strike) in the mid-1800s.  Under Italian occupation in the early 1900s, the palace was reconstructed as a summer retreat for Mussolini.  Supposedly, however, the Fascist leader never spent any time on Rhodes.

There is no denying that the restoration is beautiful though.

The main courtyard of the Palace.  You can tell several things in here... first, that this structure isn't so old as the renovators might have liked you to believe and second that this isn't quite so Greek either.

Inside the Palace is kind of like a small museum.

These mosaics are just amazing.  They are Greek, having been moved by the Italians from elsewhere in Greece as decoration.

I'd love to know what master laid these out and see the process for constructing such mosaics.  They are incredible works of relatively utilitarian art.

Then there were touches like this... they just don't fit in the medieval style of the place.  But I guess you have a lot of that in old European castles and palaces.

These merlons, seen around various parts of the city fortifications, reminded me a lot of Morocco and its casbahs.

Back on the streets... the oh so very charming and romantic streets.

There is no doubt that Rhodes is a very romantic city.  There were couples all over the place enjoying strolls around the labyrinthine old town.

Wandering around the old town, you are surrounded by character oozing out of pretty much everything.  What is it about a certain state of decay that is just so charming and endearing?

My favorite part about the old town were all the signs that people, actual Greek people,  really still live there.  Unlike so many major tourist destinations, which have managed to push out so many of their locals due to explosive real estate costs and competition to hotels and other tourist accommodations, Rhodes is still very much a locals city.  I loved that.  It makes you feel so much more authentic, and less like you are just in some theme park, when you see locals going about their daily routines.

Wandering around the old city, you'll notice these arches between buildings.  These are actually earthquake supports.  Over the millennia, the architects and engineers of Rhodes have learned how to safeguard against the seismic activity that has rocked their city so many times in the past.  In fact, it was an earthquake that toppled the ancient wonder of the Rhodes Colossus.  

I like doors, and Rhodos has some cool doors... I just couldn't leave these out.  I swear, I should make a coffee table book of the doors of the world or something...

The wreath above this door was a pretty common feature around town.  The subtle pastel colors in it contrasted so well with the bright paints on the facades.

Speaking of those bright paints, I just loved the mess around this door in a back alley.

Now onto food.  Being a tourist destination, there are tavernas all over the place in the old city, many of which offer some great options for food.  However, some of the best food we ate was actually outside the old city in the new city that surrounds it.  Though, you can't really beat sitting and enjoying a drink and some small bites surrounded by the ancient charm of the old town.

The food in Rhodos was good and very standard Greek, and the seafood was fantastic.

There are also a few rooftop bars and some great nightlife around town.  One of my favorite spots was in a square adjacent to the Ibrahim Pasha Mosque.  There were a bunch of great little cafes and bars there around the square, which was just a perfectly atmospheric place to enjoy a nice cool beer and some deliciously flavored nargile (Turkish water pipe with flavored tobacco) on a warm Rhodian night. 

Helsinki II

Helsinki, Finland... Part II: A lesson in foraging

I knew this was going to be a good visit to Finland when one of the first stops on the itinerary was a great sushi restaurant the evening of my arrival.  I knew it was going to be a great trip when the first stop the next morning was this farmers market.  I owe everything on this recent trip to the Finnish capital to my friend and brilliant colleague, Heli.  You see, Heli is Finnish, and she was a wonderful tour guide and ambassador!  So this post goes out to her; thank you so much for giving me an insider look into your country and culture!

So, this is a view of part of the skyline around the market.  Nothing special really, but the market was great, and I just loved the kauppahalli sign.

Gooseberries anyone?  I must admit that I had never seen a gooseberry before this market.  And not only did I see them, but I got to taste them too.  Despite their grape like appearance, they are actually very tart.

Scandinavia is a place blessed with berries.  They grow everywhere, and there are so many different types.  Here we have blueberries and red and black currants.  The colors in this market were just stellar.

How about some tomatoes and chanterelles?  The chanterelles supposedly grow very, very well in Finnish forests... making them a gourmet export good.  Also, keep an eye out for all the "Suomalainen" signs here, which translates to "Finnish"... aka locally grown or harvested products.

Raspberries, more gooseberries, cloudberries, and a few lonely strawberries over there in the upper right.  Oh cloudberries... definitely my favorite type of berry.  They are miraculously sweet and buttery and tart all at once... pure deliciousness (especially smeared with butter on toast).

And more blueberries...  more on these below.

We had a beautiful morning for the market.

The gorgeous weather continued on into lunch, where we met a colleague from the University of Helsinki.  Not a bad setting, eh?

And for dinner, some fine Finnish food and micro-brewed beers at Zetor.

I had the braised reindeer with red currants, pickles, mashed potatoes, and gravy.  So, so good.

If you feel like something a little lighter though, you can always go for some "sapas", that is "Suomi (Finnish) tapas".  These are small plates inspired by the Spanish staples but using predominantly Finnish ingredients.  The hunk of salmon over lightly pickled cucumber was out of this world good.

Or if you are feeling more like some quality desert and coffee/tea with a relaxing spot outdoors by an open wood fire, you should check out Cafe Regata, northwest of the center.  This great little cafe is decorated with all sorts of charming and quirky bric a brac and had a line way out the door when we were there.  You can even make toasted marshmallows and s'mores over the fire!

Helsinki's domed cathedral on the city's central square, the Senate Square.

Another new tidbit that I learned from Heli is that the square was designed with the cornerstones of society around it: the cathedral sits on the north side, the main building of the University of Helsinki on the west side, the Government Palace on the east side, and shops (representing a market economy) to the south.  Helsinki's center was a designed city, laid out by Carl Ludvig Engel in the mid 1800s.

Another thing Helsinki is famous for is its variety of Art Nouveau architecture.

And then there is the Central Railway Station, with its famous stone men.

The stone men.  They have become icons of Finland's national rail service provider, VR.

The Stockmann department store and one example of the many works of public art found around the center.

This place is simply amazing, Helsinki's Chapel of Silence: this speaks wonders of the Finnish philosophy.  The chapel is actually Lutheran, but it offers people a quiet place to rest and collect their thoughts in one of the busiest areas of the city.  Finns can be very thoughtful and introspective people, and they all seem to love being in nature.  I can see how the city can drive you crazy sometimes, so having a good quiet place to collect your thoughts is priceless.   The fact that they've made a chapel that caters directly to this is just fantastic in my opinion.

Then there was this... 

Art?  Yes... I think it is, since it inspired an emotional response from me: I laughed hysterically and felt happy!

If you ever find yourself in Helsinki, I can now highly recommend that you take a cruise around the harbor... even if the sky looks ominously apocalyptic like this.

For one, the cruise offers some unique perspectives on the city skyline.

Another thing that becomes immediately clear once you are out on the water is that Finns love their sailing... and it makes sense too.  The Finnish coast is sprinkled liberally with thousands upon thousands of small islands, so sailing around them and exploring is both great fun and a beautiful treat for the eyes and soul.

 

Finns also love their saunas... touring the harbor by boat, you see the little huts adjacent to each house and cottage along the water.

The saunas are always located close to the sea so that you can intermittently jump out of the sweaty heat and take a quick dip in the frigid water.  Seriously, Finns love this and proclaim its health benefits.  Also, they always to to the sauna in the nude and it is a social affair.  Finns (and Estonians) don't have anywhere near the same taboo against public nudity that we have in North America and much of the rest of Western Europe.

And last but not least, into the national park...  Heli brought me and a few other great colleague friends to Nuuksio National Park, which sits just a short drive from Helsinki.  This park is made up of healthy forest, beautifully peaceful lakes, and rolling hills.

So Heli took us to the park for some quality Finnish foraging.  Apparently one of the national pastimes is foraging for the treats provided by the forest.  The first thing we found were blueberries, which were not at all difficult to find since they apparently grow everywhere.  Seriously, you couldn't throw a stone without smashing a few of the delicious little blue fruits.  And the best part was, these things are good to eat right off the shrub!  I definitely had my fill while wandering around this forest wonderland.

The star of the foraging show however was definitely the mushrooms... most of which are not good to eat!  Many Finns are trained from a very, very young age how to properly identify the tasty from the deadly poisonous when it comes to mushrooms.  And let me tell you, you want to be able to tell!  According to Heli, this was not one of the good ones.

This is an example of one of the forest trails... it was simply a beautiful way to spend an afternoon wandering through the woods.

Did I mention the serenely beautiful lakes?  Yea, the park (and Finland) had plenty of those too.

More mushrooms, and nope, this one is not safe to eat either.  I was on a mission... I wanted to find good, tasty mushrooms to harvest and take home for dinner!  Hunting for them was quite fun... rooting around off trail with your eyes scanning the underbrush and rich forest floor.

Everything was so very, very green... you can tell they get a lot of rainfall there (and snow during the winter).

Another sign of how much snow they get was the trail signposts on the trees... high up on the trees too I might add.  This clue also indicates that Finns like their winter sports like snowshoeing and cross-country skiing!

Another couple of lake shots... the lighting and stillness of the water made for some perfect reflection shots.

Loved this mushroom, but no, not good to eat yet...

More blueberries... so, so many blueberries

And finally, just when I thought we wouldn't find any edible mushrooms, we hit the jackpot: chanterelles!

We ended up finding more chanterelles, like the one above plus several other types of wild mushrooms, all of which Heli was quite certain were edible.  When we got back to the hotel, we made a wild mushroom omelette... which turned out to be the most delicious mushroom omelette I've ever eaten.  And Heli was right, we didn't get poisoned!  Now that shows faith in good friends.