The Dodecanese Islands
In the emerald vastness of the
southeastern Aegean Sea, between Crete and Asia Minor, lie the
Dodecanese (=twelve) islands.
Rhodes
: sky-high walls with loopholes, Byzantine churches, narrow lanes and
pebbled pavements, vaulted houses, sunless rooms.
Kalymnos, the sponge-fishers' island. Tile roofs, deep-colored
doors and windows.
Kos , island of Hippocrates.
Whitewashed houses, roads full with hibiscus flowers.
Astypalea. Island of the Fish. Terraces covered with flowers.
Patmos, Jerusalem of the Aegean. Nowhere an empty landscape. At
a glance, we see the shape of one island - then another, and another.
Priceless chain of Greek memory!
Karpathos, Symi, Agathonisi, Leros, Lipsi, Tilos, Nisyros, Chalki,
Castellorizo, Kassos
- and thousands of smaller islands, pearly, sunburn and virginal.
Among them the soul of Greece,
tender and hospitable. Here, there, everywhere. The soul that gave
birth to light and to the Greek language. The stuff Greeks are made
of.
