The Roadhouse Report – March 2024

The wharves of Cyrene extended out in graceful curves to the left and to the right. Up the hills in back of the harbor a jumble of tile roofs jostled for place with acacia and tamarisk trees, full-blown canopies providing a defense from the heat and glare of the noonday sun. Here and there large roofs indicated the palace, the public baths, various theaters and markets and other public buildings.  Before her the port swarmed with activity, longshoremen and sailers, soldiers and slaves, fishermen, housewives, and businessmen, all preoccupied with their own concerns, none of which had anything to do with the forces of war massing on their horizon.

It was a beautiful city, as cities founded by Greeks usually were. Seven hundred years before, emigrants from the island of Thera arrived here, bringing their white columns and carved friezes, along with all the gods in their pantheon, and their love and mastery of the sea. No Middle Sea harbor had been safe from the Greeks, and this was a nice one.

Across the way the Hapi II bobbed at its moorage. Evidently Neb had already done a bit of shopping because the crew was taking on cargo.

Dana sez–I do love me a road trip.