Archipelagos, Turkey Rocks and Turkey Gelato

As our mid-size prop plane took off from the Rhodes Airport, I looked over at our carry-on bags sitting on the seat across the aisle from me and thought, “that’s Greece.” then I looked out the window and thought, “That’s Rhodes?!”

The airport is on the west side of the island and we had only explored the east. The west is lush and green with an entire coast line of that amazing crystal blue water that makes you not only want to jump in it, but to also take it to Home Depot and have it paint matched.

I watched as we ran Rhodes’ length and thought about not only how large it is, but how long people have been living there. I spotted a small Byzantine fort toward the southern part of the island. The medieval walls are so old, but almost young by Greek standards. No one sacrificed a goat to Apollo on those walls. But maybe on the spot the walls were built….

It made me think about how we were doing nothing too different than the ancient Greeks did – running a route between Rhodes and Crete. Only instead of choosing between the 3:30 pm flight and the 7:30 am slow ferry that takes 12 hours, they may have sailed for a day or two. And this was their quickest communication. It was how they sent news, organized wars, traded, defended and most amazingly, created a common culture.

Archipelago nations are fascinating creatures. I’ve lived in one once before – Indonesia, the largest archipelago nation on Earth. Unlike Greece where identity had formed and merged for thousands of years, the Indonesian islands were merged into a nation less than 65 years ago and even then only because the Dutch refused to release their colonial claim unless the islands formed a single republic.

Today they are far from a unified group. While a common language was literally developed and taught to the nation, most places retain their own dialects and many islands kinda’s hate each other. Before the Dutch, they were each autonomous and within many, even divided into kingdoms.

The islands joined together to fight off the Japanese and then the Dutch, but had no intention to be bound together forever. Bali had even proclaimed itself an independent nation at one brief point between kicking out the Japanese and the Dutch returning.

For Indonesia, the challenge of developing a nation as well as basic things like bringing phones, electricity and mail throughout the archipelago was a huge challenge. Until the early 80’s Bali didn’t even have telephones and until satellite communication became common, many islands other islands did not.

Greece has a lot more in common than not. In the millennia that people have lived in these islands, they developed a common language of their own accord. While I’m sure there are differences I don’t see, there also seems to be a common culture and definitely a strong Greek identity. If you stop and think about it, this is pretty amazing. Many of the islands – such as Rhodes and Crete were independent kingdoms and could easily have stayed that way. The draw to remain insular on an island can be strong – especially if you have successful agriculture and trade.

And even more amazing, While the very name Greece brings up an ancient civilization we admire and whose ideas are foundations of the Western world – they weren’t really independent for most of the last two millennia. Between Rome, the Byzantines, the Ottomans, and a little tinkering here and there from the British, Austrians, Italians, and Nazis, Greece was under foreign control and divided for a very long time before the modern state.

Being here today, you would never know it. Although delayed by the three hour smoke break every employee seems to be on, Greece seems to have great infrastructure and every modern convenience. Despite its financial and political issues, it is a modern European country. And we’ve sensed no rivalries or divisions between islands – no subcultural identities. No one on Rhodes told us how stupid those Cretans are….

Sometimes the big achievements are overlooked because they are the resolution and absence of issues.

Turning to the far more shallow….we have found rocks. Literally everywhere there’s shallow swimmable water in this part of the Mediterranean, there are large rocks on the sea floor. They’re easy to bump into when beach going and I’m very sure we are not the first to discover them or to be sort of shocked by both them jutting up just when we think we’ve swum past them.

We have deemed them Turkey Rocks because their origins in our consciousness began in Turkey and because of their large size and annoyance. Anyone who may attempt to swim in the Mediterranean should note that Turkey Rocks can be very painful when bumped into, managed when you learn to co-exist, and that they will let you step on them gently, but they are shockingly fuzzy with plant life. But that’s okay.

More surprisingly, we have uncovered Turkey Gelato so named because it is shaped like a turkey and a host of other familiar animals – mostly avian and aquatic. This flock of gelato caught our eye in Rhodes and Emily things this should be how Gelato is presented everywhere.

At present, we are in Chania/Hania (pick your spelling) Crete where we have a gorgeous view from our hotel room and an even more gorgeous view from the amazing and affordable restaurant downstairs. We have yet to explore the Old Town which is the raisin d’être for Hania tourism, but just sitting on the breezy balcony already makes this a promising beginning.

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