Veendam arrived in Rhodes this morning, but I continue to recuperate in my cabin. By afternoon, I’m feeling better and venture on deck …
… to find myself looking at the supposed site of …
… the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. I’ve not been in Rhodes, so risk an easy walk. Among the first things I spot …
… Colossus of Rhodes coins, only two Euros, about $2.40 (US) …
… and a cat. This disdainful puss owns Rhodes and I’m just another irritating tourist in a long line of invaders and tourists.
Rhodes was a Christian stronghold …
… conquered by the Ottomans and eventually, by way of the Italians, came into Greek hands.
This tiny Greek Orthodox chapel, scarcely bigger than my walk-in closet ...
... is tucked into one of the city walls.
I nervously start to scuttle past a frail structure, but …
… a photogenic barricade briefly delays me.
Two old friends while the afternoon away …
… a motorcycle emerges from beneath a green and purple canopy …
… and on the medieval Street of the Knights, normally heaving with visitors, I am again reminded of the pleasures of travelling in the off-season.
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In the early morning, along with a small ferry, Veendam slips into Suda (or Souda) Bay on the island of Crete.
We pass a NATO base with vessels including HMS Ocean, a Royal Navy helicopter carrier and assault ship. Which in a way is appropriate because today I hike to …
… a Commonwealth war cemetery with fifteen hundred graves, mainly from the 1941 Battle of Crete.
Suda Bay Cemetery was laid out by Louis de Soissons, born in Canada. His son, only seventeen and serving in the Royal Navy, was killed during the battle.
As with all Commonwealth cemeteries, this one is lovely …
… and I am here to leave flags for the five Canadians, all in the RCAF, but flying with the RAF. I feel it is important to list their names and additional information available on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s website.
Pilot Officer Joseph Alexander Goyer, age and home unavailable.
Warrant Officer William Walter Duncan, twenty-four years old, from Shell Lake, Saskatchewan.
Flight Sergeant William Jeremiah Porritt, DFM (Distinguished Flying Medal), twenty years old, from Vancouver.
The grave of a six-man British and Canadian crew, buried together as the bodies could not be separately identified.
Flying Officer Edmund David Fleishman, AFM (Air Force Medal), age and home unavailable. Warrant Officer Lawrence Edgar Mathews, twenty-four years old, from Trail, British Columbia.
And there is one other grave I should mention.
Before the war British Captain John Pendlebury was an archaeologist excavating in Crete. He was summarily executed by the Germans in 1941 while working for British Intelligence. Valiant beyond my comprehension.
The inscription on his gravestone is from Shelly’s Adonis: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats:
‘He has outsoared the shadow of our night’.
For nearly an hour, I walk the cemetery rows, say ‘thank you’ again and again and try not to weep.
