Kalispera and when we’re around then all Rhodes lead to… getting lost in the Old Town.
And all because the lady loves a holiday and loveholidays and it’s 32 years since we honeymooned in the Greek islands.
And she feels a debt to Saint Phanourios for finding her set of keys from the recycling bin after Christmas.
When I prayed to the heavens for intervention which is as we all know is where you go for lost and found.
Mapping Phanourios’s journey
And so we’re pounding the cobbled stones of Rhodes Old Town looking for the chapel dedicated to Phanourios.
Only to find that we’re going around in circles.
Sure, we find the excellent Path of Gods museum, an old Turkish library and Stavros sports bar.
But Phanourios’s pad, no chance.
Now, a word or a dozen here while she’s turning her map around, on Phanourios.
When you’re lost
The saint is revered on the island of Rhodes where he revealed himself in icon form when the invading Turks ransacked a chapel.
The rest has been handed down to us about the seemingly hundred different ways he was martyred.
And how the spectre of the holy man came to the rescue of three priests.
After a right odyssey with our old stomping ground Kythera also getting a name check.
And then the vengeance he sent on their captors.
It’s all in the name
Where he gets tied up with finding lost things is rather more prosaic.
With the name Phanourios deriving from the Greek verb ‘phanerono’ or to reveal or to disclose.
Which means that the islanders, and further afield, pray to Saint Phanourius to help them find lost objects.
And the object is retrieved, they bake a sweet bread and share it with the poor.
And offer prayers for the salvation of saint’s mother.
Anthony’s partner in rhyme
Now if there are shades of the Saint Anthony of Padua’s secret powers about this story we reckon that’s no coincidence.
And that Western Catholicism’s finest Anthony and the pride of the Eastern Orthodox church Phanourius likely divvy up the requests.
So efcharisto Phanourius for finding her keys back then at Christmas.
And maybe you could help her with her map which she left somewhere when bending down to pet one of Rhodes’ many cats.
Or maybe ask them because they seem to have the run of the streets.
The full package
Your friendly neighbourhood Bandanaman is travelling with loveholidays and EasyJet from Edinburgh.
And staying at the Amphitryon City Hotel, 800m from the Old Town.
All for £1,028 for two, B&B and evening meals, for a week with airport transfers.
