Rhodes: October 1–9, 2024
We began October by traveling to the eastern extreme of the Aegean—the island of Rhodes.
Rhodes was and still is a crossroads. It sits at the intersection between the Aegean and the Mediterranean and between Greece and Minor Asia. This made it a vital travel stop and military location in ancient and medieval times. It was also a cultural center; Cicero and Julius Caesar both studied rhetoric there.
Today, Rhodes is a key stop on many Mediterranean ferry routes. It is home to a busy army base and airport. It’s also on the flightpath of numerous international routes; every day, we watched airliners pass overhead on their journeys from Frankfurt to Nairobi, or Heathrow to Dubai.
And, of course, it’s a tourist mecca. For the first time since we arrived in Greece, we found ourselves in company—sometimes a little and sometimes far more than was comfortable.