Ode to Greece and the Dodecanese

A daytripper from Rhodes soaks up the south Aegean sun and complements a typical stone mosaic floor in one of the courtyards of the rambling Panormitis Monastery.

The Rhodes coastline is pretty much this beautiful everywhere, all the time.

(Tsambika Monastery. Click on photos for slideshow.)

The ruins of Our Lady of the City in Rhodes Old Town.

Earlier this year, I finally made it to a country where no self-respecting travel blog covering the Mediterranean should be a stranger (besides Italy). Give you a guess?

I never actually thought my first Grecian vacation would be on the island of Rhodes, nor did I think it would take place in the month of April. The win here lies in the fact that low expectations often beget high returns.

Needless to say, an eight-day stay in a sun-bleached house facing onto a blue velvet Aegean, zero crowds and plenty of lovely natives (including goats!) has me scheming to get back to Greece as soon - and as frequently - as possible.

A house pet on the island of Symi. (Look closely.)

I expect that you, like me, have noticed that encounters with locals while traveling can make or break your experience in their native land - indeed, unique human encounters are a top motivator for travel in the first place. For this blogger, the people factor in Greece is on par with those of Tunisia and Morocco: my favorite Mediterranean populations so far. Their warmth and hospitality lift one's spirits as much, if not more than, the beauty of their respective countries.

Light a candle on Easter Sunday. The Panormitis Monastery inhabits its very own island and is dedicated to the Archangel. Its Orthodox architecture and decor stand in beautiful contrast to the Roman Catholic environs this blogger is used to photographing.

From Maria of Maria's Taberna (near Anthony Quinn's Bay) to an elderly couple of spirited mom-and-pop shop owners in the Rhodes Old Town, to the five Syrian refugees who had been just seconds from death and happened to walk off an Hellenic Coast Guard boat and into my pathway in Symi, it all comes back down to people.

Art, architecture, nature, music and food are the traveler's means to exploring life. 

Yet ultimately, it is the human connection around those things that move us to love life.

Last night, last drink in Rhodes Port. The isle continues to beckon with its cozy atmosphere, warm people, millennial history and impossibly beautiful landscapes.

...My recs: While I would recommend giving yourself at least four days on this beautiful island, you can drive the entirety of Rhodes in about a day; plan on renting a house somewhere between Rhodes Old Town and the halfway point on the length of the isle. This permits you to see everything from Lindos to the Butterfly Forest and still be back home in time for dinner. Take a day to enjoy the Old Town together with Anthony Quinn's Bay, and another to depart Rhodes Port on a ferry to Panormitis and Symi.

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Departures: An Encounter with Syria in the Dodecanese

One could say that during a daytrip to the Isle of Symi, I came into contact with a different category of Mediterranean adventurer. After an odyssey along the Turkish coast and across the Aegean into the Dodecanese - where the Fates are deciding on a hourly basis whether to cut or continue to weave the thread of life - five more souls were rescued and welcomed into Europe on an Easter Sunday, the birthing of new dreams shining in their eyes.

Such need not have been the case, however. How jarring is it to google Syria today and find that the majority of resulting images are labeled "before and after"? To see Syria in its pre-war state, you need only google "Damascus 2010". (If you are not currently in the mood to weep, do not google "Aleppo 2010" and, subsequently, "Aleppo 2013".) The entirety of a modern Mediterranean nation, that once formed part of the Cradle of Civilization, has gone completely black on the map.

Wherever they are now, continuing to hope for the best for these guys. (See more photos and storytelling on Instagram: Mediterranean_Moves.)

And this year we are mourning an incomprehensible loss of world heritage. You may ask yourself why UNESCO is calling the destruction of the ancient ruins of Palmyrah a crime against humanity. Thousands of years ago, beings with the same capacity to envision and create as we hold today are the reasons behind the Palmyrah site. Human blood, sweat and tears went into its delicate arches and columns, just as they raised the walls of the now-toppled Mar Elian Monastery in Homs. 

Art and architecture, music and food, and just about any idea produced from the imagination of man to better our world is a tribute to humanity. It is no wonder that the Italian translation for "World Heritage" is Patrimonio dell'umanita', literally, human heritage. Culture is food for the spirit, we humans are spiritual beings, and destruction as we have seen in the Middle East over the past two years is an attempt to chip away at humankind. The best we can do to combat it is to give what we can and welcome those who were forced to leave the year 2010 behind by jumping directly into a fight for their lives.