Kosmos Travel Log

Eric was back at Customs at 0715, as told. He checked in with no problems. Then he walked to the tourist police, up a steep hill and four flights of stairs, to be told that the officers were all out checking in a cruise ship. They said to come back later. Grrr. Today is not starting out any better than yesterday!

After the unsuccessful trip to the tourist police, Eric went to the boat store next to the marina to ask about the gasket material, which comes as a board that you cut to the proper size and shape. They didn’t have it, but they could get it quickly. Great! He added a second supporting rope from the boom to the passarelle, which did the trick to make the passarelle stable. Here is a shot of our beautiful new passarelle. You can see what we mean about the angle being awkward against the sea wall.

It is a fairly long walk to the tourist police from the marina, so Eric decided to (more…)

This morning we got ready to go back to sea. At 1100, the lift came to pick us up and put us back into the water. The wind had been screaming yesterday, and the forecast was the same for today. But, so far, the wind wasn’t too bad and the sea in the bay seemed to be calm. This is a very good thing.

We had planned to take Ali and his family for a quick ride around the bay so they could experience being on a Nordhavn for themselves. There were a few cruisers staying at the yard that were watching Kosmos being put back in the water, so we invited them along, too. We were only out for 30 minutes, and it was a fun little ride.

We dropped off the guests, then took the 2 ½ hour ride over to D-Marina, where we tied up to the customs pier and checked out of the country. This was the fastest and easiest check out of all time. Within 15 minutes of tying up, we were pulling out again. We were so sad to see (more…)

Continued from yesterday… From the museum we headed over to the palace, and on the way we passed the living quarters for the knights. The Knights were grouped together according to the language they spoke, and each group resided in the same house. The houses are lined up one after another on a long street. The houses were built at different times, ranging from the early 1400’s to the early 1500’s. All have a similar exterior façade, though if you look carefully you can see nuances that make each a little different. All of the houses are now government administrative offices. We don’t know if you are allowed to go inside. We didn’t try. One door was open and we peeked in and saw a courtyard with a beautiful garden surrounded by a rectangular building, very similar in layout to the hospital. There are also some floor plans on the informational signs, and they are definitely bigger inside than they look outside.

The palace is (more…)

This morning we were up early to catch the ferry to Rhodes. Like Santorini, the marina in Rhodes is first come, first serve, and the anchorages are not good. We figured we were better off leaving Kosmos safely in Kos than to risk having to anchor her in an anchorage infamous for its poor holding.

The ferry over was a fast catamaran, similar to the one we had taken to Santorini. It was a quick two hour trip, and a smooth ride. We were dropped off at the main town on the island, the city of Rhodes. The imposing fortress walls of the old city of Rhodes loomed in front of us, similar to the walls in Kos. We walked from the bay to one of the city gates. Christi felt like we had walked into a history book. It is a true medieval city, different than anything we have ever been to before, with gothic buildings made of stone block and stone block roads.

Rhodes is (more…)

Continued from yesterday… We headed a few blocks north to the ancient stadium, which is now an empty field with no overt markers to indicate what it once was. As we strolled along, we enjoyed the sweet smell of figs in the air. Figs smell good.

Once we had passed the stadium, we were back in the heart of the old town. We continued one more block north we got to the bay, then followed the bay around to the fort/castle. To enter the fort, you go up a slope to the Plateia Platanou, a cobblestone courtyard with an 18th century mosque (now home to tourist shops) and one of the oldest trees in Europe.

From the Platiea Platanou, you cross a bridge over what was once a mote into the fort/castle built by the Knights Hospitalier in the 14th century. From the outside, the castle looks like it is intact, so we were disappointed when we paid the entrance fee and walked in to see that the outside looked a lot better than the inside. There are remains of a building in the center, but for the most part, the majority of the interior is dead grass with bits of broken bits of sculpture and other marble pieces strewn about. Here are some shots from various spots around the fort.

Like at the Western Excavation site, there are no signs. You can walk around the perimeter of the exterior walls, which offer beautiful views from the top.

There are little (more…)