1. A spectacular view at dusk as I prepared to jump off this diving platform.
2. Our last night in Rhodes, the angel drawing the full moon up alongside the lighthouse.
Our time with friends on Rhodes was lovely. Yoga and meditation, followed by happy hour drinks next to the sea. Pretty simple. But Rhodes is noisy and touristy, so Danielle and I set off for smaller islands, further north in the Greek Dodecanese.
Halki
We found this tiny, one-town island to be absolutely enchanting. We wandered around at dawn taking pictures of the multi-color sea captains' residences in the unique, illuminating Mediterranean light. We climbed to a mountain-top castle built by the Knights of St. John. The only sounds reaching us from below were goats' bells, the calls of pigeons and hooded crows, and a man bellowing to his neighbor across the valley from atop his donkey. Everywhere you look, no matter how steep the slope, are stone walls and abandoned stone homes -- a legacy of the many hundreds of years when the island was more densely populated and intensely agricultural. Now all that remains are the herds of goats and sheep. There are also hundreds of tiny catholic churches dotting the landscape, large enough for a single monastic disciple, and still lovingly maintained.
Every afternoon we swam in the crystal clear emerald water. At night we ate seafood near the square, a mere 20 feet from the bobbing little boats that brought the bounty. As it was the only flat land on the island, children atop bikes with training wheels tore around the pier as we ate. We discovered here a tangible sense of tradition and calm. Because the island was so visually arresting, I will let the pictures tell the story...
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