Fethiye has a lovely little museum of its own, and if you walk there you see yet more Lykian sarcophagi….. like this one just sitting in a public school yard…. Aslan welcomes you into this fine one floor museum. Once inside the air conditioned museum (unlike the big one in Istanbul— hint, hint), there is a useful map which shows us not only where Fethiye is but where the Lykian kingdom was…. And while you’re pondering that, here is a... Read more

We left Rhodes and headed to Fethiye to see the Lykian rock cut tombs, explore a museum, and to celebrate an anniversary and a birthday. Ann and I were celebrating our 37th anniversary on June 4th, and our guide and good friend Mel was soon thereafter celebrating a birthday. So, party first, explore later….. here are some shots from the surprise party on the boat! Here are the cakes! As Marie Antoinette once famously said… ‘let them eat cake’. A... Read more

There are two decent museums in the old city in Rhodes, one in the former palace, one in the former St. John’s Hospital. We will explore a few of the things there. What they reveal is that there was a very high level of culture on this island and considerable wealth (those two things often go together). This was no Gilligan’s island. On the way to the museums you have to run the gauntlet of the vendors, so how about... Read more

I got up early the next morning to take some shots before we headed off to Lindos, some third miles down the coast where lies the famous St. Paul’s bay, and a very impressive acropolis worth a visit. Acts 21.1 says Paul came somewhere at Rhodes, and it may have been this small ancient harbor. We do not know. In any case the chapel at the harbor commemorates his presence, and the setting is so beautiful that Yuliya declared she... Read more

While Rhodes is a Greek island, it is really much more cosmopolitan than many of the quaint little Greek islands. Today, only a minority of the citizens are Rhodians by descent or even more broadly Greek. All kinds of people live here and move here even to retire. So take post cards like this one with a grain a salt…. Much of the architecture and design looks non-Greek. It looks either Italian…. Or medieval as we saw in the last... Read more

Riding the boat is great fun in good weather, but we are not just wandering around, we are heading for Rhodes, a Greek island famous for its now long lost colossus. Here Ann and Yuliya are discussing what’s next while sailing to Rhodes.. Here’s a little Wiki summary about the Colossus, which once was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world…. “The Colossus of Rhodes was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.... Read more

I can smell the salt air, I can feel the sea breeze. It’s a great treat to go for a week long sail in a Gulet Boat. This time we were in a bigger boat than when I went in 2010. And here is our able captain, Ahmed. And here are our able young energetic deck hands… And here’s the whole crew including our fabulous chef…. with Levent. And here’s the sleeping quarters… And here’s the dining area on deck,... Read more

On the way to Marmaris our friend Mark Fairchild suggested we stop at Nysa, not to be confused with Nyssa (as in Gregory’s turf in Cappadocia). It is not a Biblical site, but it was once a pretty impressive Greco-Roman city, as you will now see, but first a pit stop at another one of those wonderful truck stops where we bought Magnum bars, Turkish coffee beans, and even zeytinyagi=olive oil… Here’s a brief summary about the city of Nysa..... Read more

After leading a tour as extensive and intensive as the tour we did of Israel and Turkey, what do you do for an encore? Well, before the encore….. we went to the beach. A really nice beach, Chesme (which means fountain), on the east coast of Turkey, and not far from Izmir, which served as a sort of home base. And Chesme means……. well…. this… And this…. And this… In case you are wondering, the Aegean is cool, but not... Read more