Kos

Greece and Turkey have a long, intertwining history dating back to Alexander the Great's invasion of Asia Minor in 334 BC. Following that time, Greeks colonized Asia Minor and many of the famous Greek cities and heroes were from Anatolia, the peninsula which is now Turkey. Anatolia was primarily Greek-speaking until the Ottomans conquered Constantinople and spread across Turkey in the 15th century.

But even during the days of the Ottomans, and after Greece declared independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821, taking most of the Aegean Islands with it, there was a significant population of Christian Greeks living in Turkey. However this ended when, following a series of nasty wars in the early 20th century, Turkey and Greece signed a treaty to exchange populations. At this time, all Muslims were forcibly removed from their homes in Greece, and all the Christians were likewise removed from Anatolia and resettled in their respective "homelands."

Since the 1970s the two countries have generally gotten along, and most Turks I know seem to have a positive view of Greece, with the exception of a few disputes regarding the origins of baklava or other cultural items that both countries like to claim.

But I find this interesting because although I knew that Greece had a lot of islands, I didn't realize that they owned practically every island between Greece and Turkey, including the ones that are literally right next to Turkey. So like an idiot, I wandered into Bodrum and saw advertisements for ferry boats to the Greek islands of Kos, Rhodes, Lesbos, and Kalymnos, and was kind of surprised to learn that these were day trips. But I couldn't resist the idea of a $17 round-trip ferry boat ride to a Greek island, so I signed myself up for a day trip to Kos.

Every single other tourist in Bodrum appeared to have the same idea as I did. The customs and passport authorities, on the other hand, seemed to be greatly surprised at the increase in tourist traffic during a major national holiday in late August, and had not made any sort of adjustments to their normal administration of passport and visa control. So our ferry, scheduled to leave at 9:30, pulled out of the harbour at a little after 10:00. Thankfully, the one hour boat ride was worth the wait.

And yes, the Apostle Paul stopped off here at least twice, once at the end of his final missionary journey, on his way back to Jerusalem for his final trial. He was probably not fully able to enjoy the scenery, knowing that he was headed for prison.

That's Kos, up ahead.

Cruising on the top deck of a ferry on a sunny day, wind blowing in your face and watching the coastline glide by-- pretty much like heaven.


The sun and scenery hypnotized me to the point that it never occurred to me that I'd be one of the last people off the boat when we arrived. And oh, was there a price to pay. Greece had even less forethought than Turkey as regards the holiday traffic, and those of us unfortunate enough to be in the back of the line were treated to a full two hours of standing in line in the sun. The Europeans standing behind me were less than thrilled about this: "15 billion Euros in aid, and we have to stand in line for two hours? I want my money back!" By the time I actually got through passport control, I had only three hours to wander the island before having to report back to the ship. Lesson learned! Don't listen to the sirens enticing you to relax in the sun. Get off the boat!

Kos harbor, lined with lots of bicycles and scooters available for rent.


You can see the mixture of history here in the middle of the town square. Side by side there is a large Orthodox church, and a mosque.



Kos was the home of Hippocrates, the father of medicine, and there's a large tree in the center of town that he supposedly planted. The other thing I discovered walking around town was the ruins of the agora, which according to the informational plaques was one of the largest in the ancient world.

However, it's not much to look at now. That archway behind me is really the only thing still standing. Everything else has been knocked down by entropy and earthquakes.

This pile of stones behind me was once a sanctuary to Aphrodite. I'm sure Paul was less than thrilled by that one. Maybe he's the one who knocked it over?



The best part of this to me was that the ruins were just lying about, fully accessible to anyone who wanted to climb on them or, like me, have a pita picnic upon some fallen columns. I guess Greece has so many ruins, a number of which are in much better condition than these, that they don't really care if tourists run amok on their ancient agoras. Besides, the majority of tourists are from Turkey or Europe, which are countries also full of ancient sites. It's only us New World folks who get so worked up over a pile of broken-down stones.

Three hours was just enough time to explore the city a bit, do a bit of shopping, grab a cold drink in a feeble attempt to free my body from its memories of too much sunlight. After that it was another magnificent boat ride back to Bodrum, and then immediately onto a bus back to reality in Ankara, far from the sea.

It was a short, sweet visit which only left me with a desire to go back and explore more of these islands. Now that I know how close some of them are, I might just have to do that.