It’s ludicrously cold this week, and the robins eating our berries are fatter than ever. I’ve been coping with the chilly weather by knitting hats for holiday gifts. This particular hat is definitely not for Dulcinea. The storms came through and made everything beautiful. We had brunch at Chautauqua’s old dining hall, arriving in the […]
Author Archives: Jonna
Bodrum, Turkey
Our Turkish journey ended in Bodrum, a beautiful city on the Carian coast. The Castle of St. Peter looks out over the harbor, which holds so many gulets and sailing boats, it looks like a 19th century port town. Lots of gulets! In fact, there was a bit of a traffic jam waiting for us […]
The Isthmus of Knidos
Knidos is a fascinating ruin on the Turkish coast. From an archeological perspective, this ancient settlement really was the highlight of our entire gulet tour. There was so much to see at Knidos: Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine findings in remarkable condition, with no modern buildings competing for our attention. The city itself–which is perhaps less […]
Symi Harbor
This is gorgeous Symi Harbor. We stayed here for just one night, enjoying a hike up to the water towers above the city and then a fabulous meal in one of the old tavernas by the docks. The Neoclassical architecture in Symi is very striking. Ruins and boulders and villas jostle for space on the […]
The Isle of Tilos
Today’s post features Tilos, one of the loveliest islands in the Dodecanese. Highlights include beautiful mosaic floors, the bones of an extinct dwarf elephant, and a hidden monastery. With the sea beautifully calm, we kayaked and swam in the bay outside the port town of Livadhia. The kayaking was glorious. I wish I had photos […]
Nisyros and the Volcano
The Island of Nisyros: another post in our series about the South Aegean. Due to high winds and choppy seas, we spent an extra day on Kos. The next morning, our captain Tayfun decided we should leave at 5:30 AM to get to Nisyros ahead of the next expected windstorm. So, we set out before […]
The Island of Kos
The first island we visited on our South Aegean archeological tour was Kos. Only two miles from the Turkish coast, the city of Kos is defined by the giant fortress in the harbor. Built by the Knights of St. John of Rhodes, the fourteenth-century fortress was created in multiple iterations, responding to changes in military […]
Wine Dark Sea
Here begins a series of posts about our archeological cruise in the South Aegean. We flew into Istanbul and then sailed the Wine-Dark Sea, under a Turkish flag. We began our journey at Gümüşlük, a small fishing village near Bodrum on the Turkish coast. This isn’t our boat at Gümüşlük. This is someone else’s boat […]
