Shot Away

Time I did a photo-heavy post again. Don't forget, clicking on any photo gives you a larger view. Right-clicking on that one gives you the option to open it in a new tab. When you do that, you can click for an even larger view again...

One final shot from Patmos. This was a bag from the small bakery near the harbour. I loved the name. It means "Baking Poems" when you separate the word into two components, ie. 'arto-pymata'. Put together as one word, it simply means 'Bakery' or 'bakery products'. I like that play on words. Pretty accurate too.

Another Rhodes Old Town stroll coming up then...

That sign is visible from the tables at the Odyssey Taverna and is fixed to the wall beside Romeo's, across the way. Anyone care to take a stab at what they think they mean by "Heets"?

View through an arrow-slot in the wall at Ag. Athanasios gate into the Old Town. That path below leads between the exterior of the real wall and one of the 'dummy' walls that the knights constructed to confuse invaders.

Nope, not the Old Town at all. Just goes to show, it's well worth a wander in the northern sector of the 'new' town too.

Entrance to the moat from the gate behind the Taxi rank in Mandraki. How the hell did they get those balls into that cannon? (before you write in, I AM trying to be funny! Failing miserably, as usual)

The very arrow slot that I was looking out from when I took the shot three-up from this one.

...and the actual path visible from that arrow-slot shot. It's not hard to imagine a rather hopeful army marching up here, expecting to find a way into the city, only to find that they have to turn around at the end, while a few of those huge stone balls are raining down from above, along with a few burning pitch-covered arrows for good measure. Can spoil your whole afternoon, that.

Same place, but taken from the other end. No escape.

When you get to the top end of that path, there is this tunnel through the 'dummy' wall, which gets you back out into the moat, via a courtyard where you'd once again be very vulnerable to attack from above. Plus, for an army to get through here, they'd have to resort to single file.

Taking the dark-looking tunnel beneath the wall into the Old Town from the area of the moat where you see the outdoor amphitheatre,  you emerge here, at Nafsikas Square.

Leon Rodiou Square, just metres from Nafsikas.

And finally, this shot demonstrates the lunacy of the recently enacted law banning tavernas nationwide from serving up their own, locally-produced, draft olive oil. This was my table at the lovely Filippos Taverna on Tuesday. That stupid little very un-environmentally responsible bottle of olive oil is now what law-abiding taverna owners are reduced to. This new law is entirely the doing of the big olive oil conglomerates in an attempt to boost sales. It means that tavernas that continue to place refillable bottles of oil on their tables are now risking a fine. I could go on about this for a long time, but it's an unmitigated disaster. Think of how many extra tiny plastic bottles are going into the trash as a result of this ridiculous measure. It's ostensibly to "ensure that the oil offered to diners is only of the highest quality." Balderdash. More likely it's to swell the profits of the big boys. All the local tavernas I've ever eaten in have presented their very own, fresh, extra-virgin oil to their customers. Now they have to shell out for oil from one of the big Greek oil-producing companies in these completely unnecessary plastic bottles. Money in the Government's pocket? Allegedly. And at a time when the plastic problem with the environment is finally being highlighted. Oh, I need to go and have a lie-down, I'm so livid. The world is going mad.