Glazed – Handle with Care.

Last year, I visited Nassos Keramik on the island of Rhodes, Greece. This particular outlet has been producing handmade ceramics in a traditional style since 1964. Its founder, Nassos Mylonas, had learnt his trade at the ICAROS factory which had been established by the Italians in Rhodes in 1928 to reproduce the traditional, regional ‘Iznik’ designs.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to visit Nassos Keramik with a friend who was learning how to decorate the ceramics in that traditional style. Even more so, the next day, to be taken on a guided tour around the exhibition ‘ICARO – ΙΚΑΡΟΣ The Factory of Rhodes 1928-1988’ at the Grand Master’s Palace in Rhodes Old Town.

This visit was a while ago, but it is never far from my mind. My memories can travel, even while I cannot. They have a fine, translucent glaze and I handle them with care.

Spring in the Step

Blue Thursday

Views of Rhodes Old Town, next to the Bastion of St. George, as seen from my bedroom this April Thursday morning.

Lanterns

Taken outside the Grand Master’s Palace at the top of the Street of the Knights in Rhodes Old Town, Greece on 3 October, at midnight. I much prefer the place late at night, off season. Fewer people and less noise make for greater atmosphere.

October Teeth

From the Inn of the Tongue of Auvergne to the eleventh-century church of St Mary of the Castle (Our Lady of the Castle), Rhodes Old Town, Greece.

High Hopes

A Rhodian ceiling in search of symmetry.

Eastern Angles

Views from an East Anglian at Ippodamou 29, Rhodes Old Town, Greece. Facing due east on 26 September 2018.

The Moat

Taken on a spring walk in Rhodes, Greece.

St. George

The church of St Mary of the Castle (Our Lady of the Castle) faces up Ippoton (the Street of the Knights) in Rhodes Old Town. Now a museum, it has had an interesting past. It dates back to the eleventh century, when it was the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Rhodes. By 1322 (when it was mentioned in a Papal Bull of Pope John XXII), it had become the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Mary. After 1522, the building was used for Islamic worship as the ‘Enderum Cami’.

I visited recently, alone in the building apart from an attendant in heated discussion with her mother on the phone. The structure has both a light and airy aspect, and an air of peace and calm (despite the best efforts of said attendant). It wasn’t my first time visiting and won’t be my last – the place appeals to me. To mark St George’s Day, I took these two photographs of the work of unattributed seventeenth century artists.

A Place Apart

At the beginning of this month, September, I holidayed in Greece.

I revisited places I already thought I knew well, yet this time was able to see them in a different light.

I stayed in two towers.

The first, the Tower Suite at the Villa Andreas, Rhodes Old Town, afforded me a a sea-captain’s eye view of that UNESCO World Heritage site.

The second, the Jasmine Room at the Emporio Hotel, Nimborios, Symi, gave me clarity.

After only two nights there, I left feeling completely refreshed.

I would have liked to stay longer, greedy with bliss.

I would have liked to keep this to myself, selfish with luxury.

But if I never left, I couldn’t go back.

And if I never shared, there’d be no joy.