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   Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-2026 11:10:15 JST Infoseepage

   Didn't sleep. Going to make this transit to Rhodes less than fun. No taxis or buses running in the early morning, so humped my pack across town. Made the ferry with about a half hour to spare and didn't get mugged or anything.

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     Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-2026 11:13:25 JST Infoseepage

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     Some interesting night time sights of Heraklion. Very few people - many cats.

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     Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-2026 14:38:28 JST Infoseepage

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     After close to three hours at sea, we are still off Crete. We just stopped at a port called Sitia. It features a small Venetian fortress called Kazarma, which dates back to the 13th century. The Venetians slighted the defenses to try and limit its use by the Ottomans when they decided they were overmatched.

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     Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-2026 14:55:28 JST Infoseepage

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     The fortress consists of a large rectangular tower with an unusually high batter. I don't know if this was to increase stability of the structure or to protect against the impact of missiles. Given the date of its construction indicated on Wikipedia, it would have been built before the advent of gunpowder weaponry for siege-craft. There's a high walled courtyard and the walls are crenellated, but there doesn't appear to be a stone-built walkway at least on the seaward side.

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     Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-2026 14:57:36 JST Infoseepage

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     Basically on that side, there was nowhere for a bowman to stand to make use of those crenellations. Maybe there was a wooden walkway at one point with memes set into putlog holes in the wall to support a walkway. Can't see that level of detail from here unfortunately.

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     Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-2026 15:04:01 JST Infoseepage

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     Got some better views of the fortress as we left.

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     Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-2026 20:28:12 JST Infoseepage

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     Left the island of Karpathos a little while ago. The ferry stops at a lot of places on its way to Rhodes. I wonder how much shorter an express version of the trip would be. Interesting to see some additional islands along the way, but some days you just want to get there and be done.

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     Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-2026 22:44:21 JST Infoseepage

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     Can't really see it very well due to haze, but I'm pretty sure that's the Acropolis of Lindos. It has an Ancient Greek temple dedicated to Athena, as well has some other large columnar buildings. The Knights of St. John built a castle surrounding the citadel in the 14th century. I took some pictures with my Nikon and will have to take a look at them later. Can't see much in the cell phone pics.

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     Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-2026 22:56:09 JST Infoseepage

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     This is Feraklos castle. It was built during the Byzantine era and was captured by the knights in the early 1300s as their first foothold on the island. They started repairing it about a century later and considerably fortified it. Lindos, Feraklos and Rhodes itself were the three strongholds of the knights on the island. Feraklos was captured after a long siege by the Ottomans in 1523. Rhodes fell first.

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     Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-2026 23:21:59 JST Infoseepage

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     Rhodes.

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     Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 13-Aug-2026 23:47:29 JST Infoseepage

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     We've docked. There are several fortresses and wall systems going right down to the harbor. During the siege of 1522 there were two chains going between three towers to protect the port.

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     Infoseepage (infoseepage@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 14-Aug-2026 01:23:34 JST Infoseepage

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     Stopping for a water break as otherwise I'm going to quite possibly faint before getting to my hotel. 950m left to walk. Brutal day physically and mentally, but seen some amazing things today.