The Dodecanese

The Dodecanese are a crescent chain that follows the southeaster Turkish coast curving west towards Crete. These twelve islands banded together to protest about being deprived of their special tax benefits granted to them by the Turks in the 16th century. These people don’t forget a thing. Like most of this part of the world, they have flipped back and forth between foreign occupiers more than a pinball in a high point game. The Venetians, Genoese, Romans, Turks and a few other countries have all occupied this part of the world at one time or another. As a result, some of the islands look more Italian, for example, than they do Greek. Simi, our first stop is one of those islands. With charming homes all with pediments that give them a strong Italian look rise up the steep slopes of the harbor. It looks a bit like Positano, Italy. At night when the sun goes down, the lights seem to glow all around the quay that the town is built around. Doug, one of our charters was celebrating his birthday. So we got all of the surrounding boats to sing happy birthday to him while we lit a sparkler stuck in a lemon of the appetizer tray. He was politely embarrassed but took it in fun. We had a wonderful meal at a restaurant recommended by our new floating neighbors and then came back to the boat for a special dessert on the moonlit bay.