snimmo243
22-06-2014, 10:20 PM
Hi everyone
I've just returned from a holiday in Rhodes where I visited the bee museum near Pastida. It is run by Melissokomiki Dodecanisou, a beekeeping company that covers the Dodecanese group of Greek Islands.
http://www.mel.gr/en/content.asp?id=4
The museum is housed in a modern building with 3 main distinct areas, a beekeeping supply shop selling hives, tools, suits etc, a shop selling honey, gifts and honey products and the museum itself. As a beekeeper I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the museum, although I can see it's appeal to non-beekeepers. The displays were nothing you haven't really seen before, life cycle of the bee (I did like this slightly humourus poster), 2082 also examples of log hives, modern hives, frames, smokers, tools etc. There was also a honey extractor with frames that you could burl.
The most interesting part for me was the small fact sheet which I've transcribed below:
18,000 colonies in Rhodes
200 Beekeepers
90 Colonies per Beekeeper on average
400,000 kg total honey per annum (Ave.) of which:
50,000 kg Thyme
120,000 kg Pine
45,000 kg Spring
160,000 kg Mixed
They don't explain the other 5000 kg!
Rhodes island is 544 sq miles with a population of 115,500.
There didn't seem to be any beekeepers in attendance so I didn't get a chance to speak to anyone about beekeeping practices etc. This was perhaps most obviously illustrated by the state of the two observation hives, one had plenty of bees but very patchy brood whereas the other had a lot less bees and high numbers of dead bees on the floor!
Overall I was disapointed especially as I drove for an hour specifically to visit the Bee Museum.
Whilst driving around Rhodes we did notice row upon row of hives sitting in fields and at the roadside, it seems to be Langstroths in universal use, also there are small stalls everywhere, on the roadside, selling various honeys as well as fruit, veg and Souma.
We went to a village called Siana where almost every shop sells honey, olive oil and Souma! All of these shops allow you to taste the various honeys (as does the museum), in one shop we tried every kind they had including some lovely Erica and Orange honeys.
I've just returned from a holiday in Rhodes where I visited the bee museum near Pastida. It is run by Melissokomiki Dodecanisou, a beekeeping company that covers the Dodecanese group of Greek Islands.
http://www.mel.gr/en/content.asp?id=4
The museum is housed in a modern building with 3 main distinct areas, a beekeeping supply shop selling hives, tools, suits etc, a shop selling honey, gifts and honey products and the museum itself. As a beekeeper I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the museum, although I can see it's appeal to non-beekeepers. The displays were nothing you haven't really seen before, life cycle of the bee (I did like this slightly humourus poster), 2082 also examples of log hives, modern hives, frames, smokers, tools etc. There was also a honey extractor with frames that you could burl.
The most interesting part for me was the small fact sheet which I've transcribed below:
18,000 colonies in Rhodes
200 Beekeepers
90 Colonies per Beekeeper on average
400,000 kg total honey per annum (Ave.) of which:
50,000 kg Thyme
120,000 kg Pine
45,000 kg Spring
160,000 kg Mixed
They don't explain the other 5000 kg!
Rhodes island is 544 sq miles with a population of 115,500.
There didn't seem to be any beekeepers in attendance so I didn't get a chance to speak to anyone about beekeeping practices etc. This was perhaps most obviously illustrated by the state of the two observation hives, one had plenty of bees but very patchy brood whereas the other had a lot less bees and high numbers of dead bees on the floor!
Overall I was disapointed especially as I drove for an hour specifically to visit the Bee Museum.
Whilst driving around Rhodes we did notice row upon row of hives sitting in fields and at the roadside, it seems to be Langstroths in universal use, also there are small stalls everywhere, on the roadside, selling various honeys as well as fruit, veg and Souma.
We went to a village called Siana where almost every shop sells honey, olive oil and Souma! All of these shops allow you to taste the various honeys (as does the museum), in one shop we tried every kind they had including some lovely Erica and Orange honeys.