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The view from room 305 at the Hermes Hotel in Mandraki, Rhodes last Sunday. |
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A rainbow over the Blue Star in Akandia, taken from room 305 at the Hermes in Mandraki. |
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The goldfish seem to have made it through the winter in this pond in Mandraki. Those are old stone cannonballs. Rhodes is littered with them and they are dotted all over the town. |
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Looking up the Kali Strata on Symi, from near the Old Markets boutique hotel. In a few weeks the step fronts will be whitewashed but there is no point in doing this annual task until the weather dries up a bit as the moss will return. The Kali Strata is on the shady side of the harbour and gets very little direct sunlight until about May due to the steep hills behind. |
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A cat snoozing on a reed mat at the bottom of the Kali Strata. The little boutiques and gift shops are all still closed for the winter and only essential shops are open. |
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An almond tree in full bloom near Lemonitissa church. |
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Bunting ready for Saturday's Dodecanese Day parade. The Dodecanese islands only became part of the modern Greek state in 1947 as after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire they were awarded to Italy and with the end of the Second World War were administered by Britain who then made the arrangements for the official hand over from Italy to Greece. |
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A neatly painted fishing boat. In the summer this is where the excursion boats berth at the head of the harbour. |
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A French owned traditional Turkish boat visiting Yialos earlier this week. |
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Occasionally one has surreal moments on this island. This is not a pointless photograph of a garbage skip by the bus stop. It is a photograph of a broom, suspended by fishing line, hanging off the power cable above the garbage skip. There is a story there, I'm sure, but I am afraid I don't know what it is! |
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Wild cyclamens in Lieni. They have a very delicate perfume. |
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Free range and proud of it! |
It is a blustery, windy day with gusts rattling the windows and banging the shutters. The
Blue Star managed to dock on her way through this morning by virtue of dropping an anchor to hold her steady, much to everyone's relief as it is a holiday weekend. The harbour is full of excited children, rushing about and practising their marching for the parade tomorrow. Rain is forecast but it should hold off until the evening so everyone can enjoy the day. Dodecanese Day and Independence Day are two holidays that always fall within Lent but fasting is lifted on these two occasions so that they can be celebrated with wine and feasting as appropriate.
The days are getting longer and the intervals between rainy days are widening. In a few more weeks preparations will commence for the season but at the moment it is still too windy to do much out of doors and all the doors and shutters are swollen from one of the wettest winters anyone can remember.
Dodecanese Seaways have announced that they are releasing their ferry schedule for the summer today but when I checked it was still only up to 31 March on their website.
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Adriana