Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes

 

Palace of the Grand Master

The Palace of the Grand Master aka The Crusader Castle is a sight to behold.  Pictures do not give a clear view of the sheer immensity of the castle.  From the walk up to the castle on the narrow pebble road to the giant vaulted archway at the entrance you are awe struck.  

Entry way to the palace

Folks tend to refer to the Palace as the Crusader Castle as it built by the Knights of the Order of St. John during the time of the Crusades.  That Order still exists today!  Initially, it was a religious order founded in Jerusalem with a medical mission.  The 'Knights" started out as celibate monks!!  But as fear of a Muslim invasion grew the Order became more militaristic and switched from being peace loving monks to war seeking Knights.  In time they became a multinational elite fighting force but that still did not prevent them from being conquered by the Turks.  They were ultimately kicked off the island so they just went to Malta instead.  Thank goodness the Turks did not tear down the palace!

Road leading up to the palace

The Knights lived in separate regions according to their nationality and were responsible for protecting certain areas of the border wall.  The Grand Master was over all the Knights (and was elected for a lifetime appointment) and he lived in the Palace.  The rest of the townspeople lived within the walled city.  

Entry stairs to the palace

There are around 150 rooms in the Palace (Castle) but only a few are open to the public.  The architecture is stunning as well as the bronze and gold leaf statues scattered about.  

One of several statues - gold leaf

On the day Michael and I visited the palace there were 3 cruise ships in the harbor!  So we were trying to dodge the masses and still enjoy the palace.  

Courtyard to the palace

Sadly, there was not a lot of information regarding the palace.  The placards were mostly in regards to the mosaics on the floor.  Nothing about what the rooms were used for or the architecture or the statues or anything really.  So I am going to have to do some research.  

From the top of the entry stairs

 

 

The juxtaposition of the cruelty of the Crusades and the beauty of the castle have me baffled at the moment.  Its hard to put the two together.  I will post more pics in another post when I have internet again.  Tomorrow we head for Symi as we start our hop across the islands. 

Medieval Rhodes, Greece

 

Entrance to Old Town Rhodes

Greece is a very popular cruising destination and so they charge you to sail in their water.  There is  a "cruising fee" that is charged by the calendar month.  If you arrive on the last day of the month you still pay for the entire month!  Due to those cruising fees we were going to wait until September 1st to cross over.  But that was before Greece started to get nervous about their borders.  With the recent upheaval  in Afghanistan, Greece is intent on securing their borders with Turkey yet again.  Just a few weeks ago we thought we would have to sail to Cyprus in order to sail to Greece.  Greece had imposed restrictions on private vessels coming from Turkey that essentially made it impossible for the average person to comply.  But then on August 12th that all changed as Greece lifted those restrictions.  But... that ruling is being evaluated on a week to week basis and hence is always subject to change.  

Old Town Rhodes (now lots of shops)

And that is why on August 25th we set sail for Rhodes, Greece.  We checked out of Turkey (150 Euro just to leave Turkey!!) at 0920 and it was a peaceful enough day.  Once out of the harbor we put up the Genoa but within an hour it was flopping around as the wind had dropped off to almost nothing.  But by noon that had all changed.  Now the wind was up to 18 knots gusting to 20 knots and directly out of the west (the direction we were heading!).  And the waves were growing.  By 1300 we had a headwind of 23 to 25 knots gusting to 27.  Waves were breaking over the bow and giving both us and Talaria a salty shower.  By 1330 we had to slow down as we were getting hammered by the waves.  Now we were barely going 4 knots. Needless to say we were pretty happy to reach the harbor as we were just taking a beating.  By 1430 we were tied up and washing all the salt off of Talaria and us.  The only issue was some minor damage to one of our sails.

Torn batten on the staysail

It pretty much took the rest of the day to get checked in to Greece but we are really glad to be here!  Sailors know to always be flexible as sailing plans must change with the weather.  Albeit, the coronavirus has given new meaning to the word "flexible".  Anymore it seems as though plans must change by the minute😁.         

Old town Rhodes gate

We are staying at Rhodes Marina which is about a 10 minute taxi ride into town.  Old town Rhodes is the best preserved fortified, walled medieval city in all of Europe.  It is also a Unesco World Heritage Site - along with the Crusader Castle.  Very, very impressive.  We spent most of the second day here just walking around the Old Town and enjoying our first gyro from Greece!

Old town Rhodes

We had to find a sailmaker to repair our sail on short notice.  Once the sail repairs are arranged we will go to visit the Palace of the Grand Masters aka Crusaders Castle.  More pictures to come!

The Lady has a new dress

Before painting - tape indicates all the places to repair

 Talaria is 33 years old, so she is not a spring chicken.  But she is a classic boat with the features we wanted for safety.  For one, she is heavy with a full keel that is encapsulated.  That is important because she will never lose her keel.  Believe it or not boats have lost their keel. Of course, that has occurred with boats that have their keel attached to the hull with bolts.  Without a keel a sailboat is no longer to right itself if pushed over by the wind.  For two, she is a "double ender".  Meaning the stern of the boat is closed like the bow.  For safety being a double ender is great although it is inconvenient in the Med as it is virtually impossible to get off the stern of the boat. Boats in the Med typically back in to their slips and then they have ramps that allow folks to get off the boat.  In the US, marinas have "finger piers" so there is no need for a ramp or passarelle.  Many modern boats are open at the stern increasing your risk of falling overboard so we feel more secure with a "double ender".  Third, she has a relatively small cockpit which is important because only so much water can accumulate there.  A small cockpit allows the drains to drain whatever water does accumulate without being overwhelmed.  And last but not least she is a heavy boat.  She outweighs modern boats as over time safety was sacrificed for speed.  Talaria is definitely not a race boat but she is a safe boat. Even though she was not built for speed we still averaged 5.8 nm per hour going across the Atlantic.  Not too shabby.  For these reasons and more we chose an old classic boat over a new modern boat.  

Dinged up bow

 We are Talaria's fourth owners.  Over the years we have completed considerable upgrades.  Including a new engine and all new electronics.  Her paint was however original.  Over the years the wear and tear has taken its toll.  There were many dings and dents.  The gelcoat was so thin we could not even polish her anymore so she looked dull and drab. 

Collision with concrete wall in Marmaris

 

Her bow was especially beat up after too many encounters with the dock!  So... while here in Turkey we decided to see about having her painted.  We had considered it before but in the US the cost was way beyond what we could afford.  As it turns out a fellow we met suggested Uluç with ROTA to do the painting.  Uluç reminds me so much of our son that I liked him immediately.  And he did a perfect job.  The cost was very reasonable and the work was done in a timely manner.  She now looks like a new boat.  

Talaria with her new paint and Uluç

 We are just in awe of how good she looks.  They do not have big buildings to paint in here - the best they can do is cover the boat.  But even without the "paint building" she just looks wonderful.

Stern

 To protect the new paint we had fender covers made and are just waiting for them to be completed.  

Bow

 Although she looks really good these are not the actual "final product" photos. Uluç went back in straightened the edges on the bottom stripe and polished all the chrome.  We are also waiting for the graphics guy to come and put her name back on.  So... final photos will be coming soon!

Greece by way of Cyprus

 

Starboard fuel tank

Turkey and Greece are neighbors but are currently not being very neighborly.  Greece has opened its borders to foreign yachts of any flag, including Turkey.  However, if you are sailing from Turkey to Greece you must have professional crew!  Which means crew that actually work in the industry and have all the proper credentials.  Now that requirement is only for boats sailing to Greece from Turkey.  Private yachts from other countries do not have to meet that same requirement.  The requirement is only for privately owned yachts coming from Turkey (regardless of the flag they fly).  That presents a problem as most private yacht owners do not have "paid professional crew".  

Starboard fuel tank cut open

So there are two options: the first option is for Michael to hire professional crew to sail with him to Greece and for me to then fly over and meet them.  The second option, is for Michael and I to sail down to Cyprus and then back up to Greece.  We have decided to go with the second option.  Cyprus is the only EU country this side of Greece that you can sail to.  And, of course, there is no requirement for "professional crew" if you sail to Greece from Cyprus.  Politics!!  

 

Fuel tank out and in pieces

Meanwhile the work on Talaria continues.  The starboard fuel tank is out.  It had to be taken out in pieces but its out.  We are now waiting for the new stainless steel tank to be made.  While that is being completed the painting continues.  Both the fellow replacing the tank and the fellow making the tank had to evacuate due to the fires.  Their homes survived and they have moved back in but the fires have slowed the work down. The fires around Marmaris and other parts of Turkey continue but the smoke seems a little less today.  We are anxious to leave as we feel we should not be outside much due to the smoke.  The extremely high temperatures have relented a little as well.  Last week it got as high as 114 degrees!  Today it was 96 degrees when we went outside and we thought it was great! 

 

Day nine and Marmaris is still on fire

Progression of the fires around Marmaris

 The sky is completely smoke filled.  You can see little patches of the blue sky every now and then but for the most part it is all smoke.  There are now fewer helicopters here but that is only because they have been diverted east of Marmaris where the need was more urgent.  A fire near the town of Milas was approaching a coal power plant there.  All the resources have been diverted to try and stop the coal from catching on fire.  50 helicopters and 20 planes all trying to douse that fire!  Its amazing they did not have any collisions with everyone in the air at the same time and in the same airspace!  Apparently, now the fire near the power plant is extinguished but it was put out once before and then re-ignited.  So... we will see if its really out this time.  In the meantime, the entire town was evacuated via Naval ships.

Smoke filled sky

Yesterday we saw flames on the mountains again but not in the same area, it has jumped to another mountain.  There was only one helicopter dousing the fire with water as all the others were diverted.  There are fires all around us but so far the mountain closest to the marina has not caught on fire.  There is a lot of smoke but some of the smoke is being carried to us from nearby towns that are burning.  The wind has been blowing maybe 15 knots or more.  Enough to really fan the flames.

Smoky sunset

On a positive note, Uluç is putting the primer coat on Talaria today.  The painting portion of the work is going quickly so we are hopeful that it will all wrap up in another week or so and we can depart.  We will be leaving just as quickly as we can as it is so difficult to breath here.  Not so worried about the fire reaching the center of town now as most everything around us has already burned.  But the air quality is very, very bad.  We are still spending most of our time indoors to avoid the smoke but we do get out and check on the boat work progress every evening.  This tiny house is a little bigger than a "cell" but not by much!  I have never been a "prisoner" but am getting some idea of what that would be like😲.

 

Marmaris on fire

 

Fire across the bay

 

 As we sit here in the air conditioning avoiding the 107 degree heat outside we can still hear the helicopters overhead.  For five days now they have been scooping water from the sea and dumping it on the fire that is consuming the mountain.  Today is Sunday - August 1st.  The fires started on Wednesday afternoon - July 28th and it is still burning.  Fires started in the tourist areas of Turkey virtually all at the same time.  The Turkish people are very suspicious.

Smoke outside the house

We have moved into a "tiny house" here in Marmaris while Talaria is in the boatyard. This is what we saw when we opened the door to the house on Wednesday.  On Wednesday it was 98 degrees outside and windy!  The fire in Marmaris spread very quickly!  Michael and I were getting updates from the owner of the "tiny house" and decided that we should probably pack a "go quick" bag.  Homeowners and tourists from the hotels in the Icmeler part of town - about a mile from where we are - were being evacuated via Coast Guard boats and private boats. 

Although we were ready to go in a minutes notice we did not know where we would go!  Our boat is not in the water at the moment so sailing away is out.  We don't have a car so driving away is out.  And the fires are jumping from one mountain to the next so walking away is out as well.  Hmm... We were just hoping those firefighters are really good at their job and keep that fire from spreading to more of the town.

Needless to say there was not much sleeping on Wednesday.  Too much fire anxiety and way too much heat!  But on Thursday when we went out to check the situation we found that the fire was now on the other side of the mountain but had spread to nearby mountains as well.  This bay that we are in is ringed by mountains and the fire is consuming most of them.  We see more smoke than flames now as the fire has already burned this side of the mountains.  The helicopters are buzzing around all day but they don't fly at night.  And still yet, the fires persist.  We are keeping the "go bag" packed...