POSTCARD FROM RHODES
In the midst of myth
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Time keeps a different beat in this Greek island.
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Rich heritage: Rhodes bears the stamp of many civilisations.
OUR aircraft effortlessly cruised over the Aegean Sea and the cluster of Greek islands. The curlicues of the coastline, the expanse of the blue waters, the land, the foliage, all stretched in infinite continuum, radiating nature's uncompromising generosity. The aerial view stirs your unsuspecting nerves and senses and you feel you are on a ride in an extra-terrestrial orbit.
Fantasy, myth, legend, poetry, drama, politics, philosophy have crisscrossed and nestled in the Grecian landmass for centuries. The oracle imparted wisdom (at Delphi), Socrates, Plato and Aristotle conceived and pursued their ideas here. Democracy and political thought found an accommodating cradle here. The world got its Olympic Games from this territorial area. These intense activities gave Greece immense deposits of tangible and intangible wealth, esteem, glory of power. History and fate have given this civilization its fair share of harsh lessons as well. Years of subjugation, strife and a pace of change that accelerated with the European Union replacing the drachma with the Euro took their toll on the nation's psyche. Yet, the core of Greek spirit and ability to cope is liberally doused with resilience.
Probably it has to do with the Mediterranean air and olive oil.
Hybrid island The old town of Rhodes (on the spear-shaped Rhodes Island) is the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe. The town has an assertive mesh of Byzantine, Turkish and Latin architecture. The mixes of civilisations have left an indelible impression, giving Rhodes a Turkish Byzantine sensitivity and creating a hybrid Greek island.
The walls that encircle the old city are the finest surviving illustration of the defensive architecture of that period. The stonewalls look surprisingly well-preserved despite all the hurtling missiles they have faced. I felt the stone curtains (as they are called) still stand as righteous disciplined sentinels. In the enclosed area, the twisting alleys and the cobbled stone pathways lead to lively squares with shops. A small sense of the past slowly creeps up, as if you are in a medieval bazaar. There were stores selling replicas of ancient Grecian urns, chess sets with Roman and Greek figures, swords and daggers. Amidst these wares I could hear whispers of centuries gone by, and I felt I was watching an invigorating matinee show of a period film. The reality check of the present moment were the beeping cell phones.
One of the cobbled avenues led to Rhodes' most important and most visited site — the Knights' Quarter (they once ruled over Rhodes). The avenue stretches for about 500 metres, the honey-hue stone edifices of the Knights exude an air of rooted constancy. These monuments finally outlived their creators.
Like many travellers before us, we too made a valiant empirical search for the site of the Colossus of Rhodes — one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Some reports (that sound more like anecdotal folklore) state that the statue stood near the harbour entrance while others claim it lay on the breakwaters of the harbour. The huge bronze statue of the sun god Helios collapsed during an earthquake (it is rumoured that an engineering defect was the cause of the now very common human problem of the "weak knee"). For over 800 years, people respected the reclining hero. We reached centuries later to encounter the heavy shadow of mystery surrounding its exact location and the nature of its lost journey.
Informal tavernas
Food, anywhere on a Greek island, enjoys as enhanced a status as religion and the Greek Orthodox Church. The obvious choice to savour a meal is at a Taverna situated away from cities, off a road on the island. The Greek tavernas lack the cosmopolitan spectre of a London pub or the chic hauteur of a Parisian Café. They are more like an informal family living room. The management team comprising the mother cooking, the father keeping accounts, offsprings serving, and grandchildren playing around.
Right across the villages and towns on islands like Lindos, Lahania and Siena, we came across tavernas so very essentially Greek. They had startling white painted walls with bright blue or yellow doors welcoming you through courtyards with intriguing pebbled mosaic floors (an art called "hohlakia"). The names for these tavernas ranged from the sublime to the literary, like Athena, Sapphos, to the basic like Mama's Kitchen. The owners by and large do not allow time and clocks to overwhelm them. They get passionately involved in your process of ordering and run you through a virtual dictionary of Greek cuisine. They invite you into their open kitchens to let you choose your fish and happily reassure vegetarians that they will not starve but can feast on zatziki, moussaka with aubergines, olives etc. All the dishes are served with poetic perfection, a home-grown tradition, right through to the dessert of Greek yahourt (yoghurt) with honey (from apiaries next door) and nuts.
It is only in the choice of coffee I saw a clash of tradition. The older generation sip on a coffee brewed in a special copper pot called "briki" (a Turkish legacy) while the younger lot prefer frappe or iced coffee. Both resolute in defence of their choices.
Postscript
The ripples on the seawaters, under the play of shadows and light, encompassed almost every variant of the colour blue. The palette ranged from aqua to turquoise to indigo to, of course, "Mediterranean Blue". A pity no artwork could reproduce the visual delight of nature's brushstrokes to carry back as a keepsake.
SADHANA RAO
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