"Do not let one's tongue outrun one's sense." – Chilon of Sparta
This morning we woke up to another perfect day, sunny warm and summery. Our hotel has an excellent breakfast of which we partake before our daily peregrinations. At home we rarely if ever have a cooked breakfast, however, on vacation we find that this is something that we love to start our day with. It certainly sustains one and provides the energy needed for the walking one does when traipsing up and down narrow streets, paths and steps (lots of steps!). There is ample to choose from, omelettes freshly made with your choice of fillings, fired, boiled or scrambled eggs, cocktail sausages, fried bacon, cheeses, cold cuts of meat, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh fruit, stewed fruit, croissants and pastries, cakes, coffee, tea, tisanes, milk, a variety of breads, jams, honey, cookies, etc! Needless to say after such a feast one needs to walk a little before doing anything else, and this became our daily routine while here in Rhodes.
We had decided this morning to start the day off by visiting the large park, called Rodini, to the south of the city. I have memories of this park from when I was young and we lived in Rhodes for a while. I still have a photograph of myself astride one of the marble lions that flank the entrance to the park. So once again it was a case of “à la recherche du temps perdu” as we made our way to this park. Renovations were in progress at the entrance, but sure enough the marble lions were still there gazing ferociously at the visitors. How much smaller they seemed now! I could not resist another photograph, however, this time standing next to one of the lions rather than astride!
We walked into the gardens and found that they were still beautiful, although their age is showing. Quite a few water features are interspersed with terraces of plantings, winding paths, steps and ancient trees that provide coolness and shade for the visitor on even the hottest of days. Rodini Park was in existence in antiquity and is probably the first landscaped park in the world. It was still popular with the Romans during their occupation of Rhodes, and one can still see a Roman aqueduct here.
The park lies in a green and shady valley where a stream gurgles lazily by. It is an ideal environment for the peacocks that live and breed freely in the park. A walk of about 10 minutes brings one to a tomb dug into the rock. It is known as the tomb of the Ptolemies. The tomb dates from the Hellenistic period and the edges of each side are decorated by 21 Doric half columns. The walk is extremely pleasant and as one relaxes, the fresh air carries the scent of cypress, pine and oleander.
We drove off, making our way to Filerimos. This is a hill 267 meters high, thickly planted with cypress, pine and other trees. It is about 15 kms away from the city of Rhodes, to the southwest and it used to be the citadel of the ancient town of Ialyssos, one of the large cities of antiquity. The top of the hill is a plateau and most of the buildings are found on its eastern side. When the Dorians arrived around 1100 BC, on the coast where the modern town of Trianta is found today, they founded Ialyssos that became a member of the alliance known as the Dorian Hextapolis. Archaeologists came across the necropolis of ancient Ialyssos between Trianta and Filerimos.
On top of the hill, in 1876 excavations brought to light Mycenaean pottery, a Doric foundation and a Hellenistic temple of Athena Polias, proof of the prosperity of the city down to the time when Rhodes city was founded in 408 BC. In the middle ages (around 1300 AD) the Knights of St. John used the site of Ialyssos and later the site passed to the Turks in 1522 and finally to the Italians. Remnants of these periods and lot of the successive conquerors can still be seen. On the way up the ancient road to the Acropolis, one sees the foundations of the temple of Zeus and Athena.
An early Christian basilica was built on this site, then a small subterranean Byzantine church and finally, the knights of St John built a Monastery which survives to this day, surrounded by cloisters and cells. This monastery was restored by the Italians who installed Capuchin monks in it. The monks made an excellent liqueur which is still available and which can still be enjoyed today.
Along the right side of a path flanked by tall cypresses, there is the Way of Calvary, where the Italians have left behind fourteen shrines, with scenes from the Passion of Jesus. This path leads to the western part of the hill, where an imposing Cross stands in the middle of a small square. One may climb inside and enjoy a breathtaking and picturesque view all around. Mt Ataviros, the highest mountain of Rhodes, can be seen in the distance. Walking back to the site of the monastery, the wild shrieking caws of the peacocks which are everywhere in the wooded slopes around the site are a rather distracting and unsettling sound in the otherwise Arcadian beauty of the landscape. It is a rather sobering reminder that nothing is perfect in this world. The beauty of the plumage of the peacocks is tempered by the ugliness of their shrieks. The idyllic landscape is marred by the presence of the omnipresent mark of civilization – a discarded plastic bottle or a plastic shopping bag blowing in the wind.
We left Filerimos as the temperature started to rise and decided to travel down towards the West coast of the island. Here there are numerous resort towns which have grown on the sites of old villages. This is reflected by the narrow streets (always congested) and the haphazard way in which the buildings are huddled together. The small village houses have given their place to apartment buildings, hotels, bars, discos, restaurants. Tourists favour these places and one can see half naked and extremely sunburnt Northern Europeans basking in the sun and looking much like freshly boiled lobsters. No doubt the pharmacies will be doing a roaring trade as well in sunburn lotions…
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