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We absolutely loved our day at Rhodes, even though the rains
caught up with us again in the afternoon.

The medieval influence of the Crusaders is more evident on
Rhodes than anywhere we have seen so far. In
1309 the Order of the Knights of
Saint John of Jerusalem took control of the island. They maintained control, and
the island greatly prospered under their leadership, until 1522 when the Turks
conquered the island and the Ottoman Empire held sway.

The fortified walls and architecture of
the Knights era are still largely intact and set the atmosphere of this
beautiful island. We walked for hours
around the city, admiring the ancient marble paths and the solid stone
walls. The shields and emblems that were
built into the walls at regular intervals all around the city fascinated
me. The craftsmanship and sheer imposing
nature of these protective walls is incredibly impressive.
Later that afternoon, Tami and I decided to take the twenty minute walk from our ship to a beautiful beach. We couldn't hardly wait to put our feet in the sea. On the way, without much notice, the clouds rolled in and it started absolutely pouring

rain! We got thoroughly and completely soaked, despite the fancy

blue
plastic ponchos we had bought the day before. We stopped under the
protection of a canopy at a roadside cafe until the worst of the rain
passed by. Then, undaunted we continued on to the beach. Once there, we
found that it wasn't sandy at all, but covered with little rocks. They
were all pretty smooth and easy to walk on. After I went into the surf,
just to say I had put my toes in the Aegean, we noticed that a high
percentage of the gravel below us looked like marble. There is so much
natural marble on the Greek Isles that even the curbs in Athens are made
of marble. I guess you make use of what you have easiest on hand! That's just one more example of the amazing surprises we have so often found along every leg of this trip. Tomorrow it is on to Crete!
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