Mandraki Harbor

Source: Shutterstock

And speaking of cheating, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Colossus of Rhodes, may not have occupied the site that we were taught as children, straddling the entrance of the harbor allowing ships to pass between its open legs. The great architect and explorer Taki is convinced the statue of Helios was built on dry land near the palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes. The “wonder” only stood for 56 years, and it collapsed during a severe earthquake in 266 BC. The Rhodians took that as an omen and did not rebuild it. It lay in a heap for centuries. Then, in 653 A.D, the Arabs pillaged Rhodes, they tend to do this sort of thing, and sold pieces of the fallen Colossus to Jewish merchants. I don’t know how true it is, but rumor has it that parts of Goldman Sachs’ building in the Big Bagel include some pieces.

Rhodes was liberated from the hated Turks as late as 1912, by the Italians of all people, and reverted to us after the Second World War. The beautiful and authoritarian architecture is still here, overlooked by the magnificent Knights of Rhodes fort above. The rest of the town has been honky-tonked by my fellow Greeks, and no one can do that better than the modern Greeks except for some developers in south Florida. Still, some of the island’s waters are crystal clear and the people have a softer side to them, reminding me of the Ionian side of this tortured country. Next week I will be reporting to you with Swiss cows overlooking my copy.