Rhodes

Rhodes was never even on my radar. When it came up as a stop on our itinerary I really didn’t give it much thought. Usually a planner down to the minuscule details, I viewed this as a bit of a rest day. Some take-it-or-leave-it time to explore without a plan.  We’re on a cruise and how wrong I was to dismiss this port as a bonus stop.  This is the real deal, a genuine medieval fortified city preserved in the most authentic and charming way.  I’ve hit the jackpot.

I look out from the port over the little harbor to the imposing walls and gate.  My heart beats faster and the realisation hits me that I have already underestimated the impact that this place will have on me.  I launch in through the huge stone gates and I’m in another world. It’s early and still quiet.

Just a few people disappear around a distant corner and my footsteps echo off the cobbled streets.  I’ve done enough homework to know that the Palace of the Grand Master (of the Knights of Saint John) is top of my list and I make a beeline, stopping in my tracks as I round a stone building into the full blazing  sunlight and look up at the Avenue of the Knights sprawled before me.

I make my way slowly up the long avenue, pausing to look into windows and examine plaques above doorways. I can almost feel medieval life happening around me, imagining priests attending to the sick in the hospital, preparing the daily bread in a small stone oven or praying behind these heavy wooden doors.  The details, mixed with the apparent age is incredible.

In my preoccupation with the details I manage to miss the entrance to the castle, something, in hindsight, that I guess I expected to be obvious.  It’s not and I retrace my steps, through a gate and now I see the modest signs pointing to the entrance.  Even once inside I still have to be directed to the ticket counter.  I’m early, it’s not open yet and whilst I can purchase my ticket, I’m sent away for another hour.  I head out to the streets and read the little bits of information that I come across .   I find ruins right in the middle of the city, it should form one side of the street but the building just isn’t there, instead, there are foundations abandoned and cordoned off indefinitely.

City ruins

There’s also an unmissable clock tower, clearly not medieval but still old that presided over a small rise. The views would be good from up there.   I follow the road along a street lined with restaurants and make a mental note for later.  There is a stream of people and I follow them through St Anthony’s Gate and around the walls outside the castle and through another gate, the Gate d’Amboise, until I find myself outside of the town again.   It’s tempting to follow the walls around for a bit but I head back to the castle, keen for the main attraction.

I’m there right on opening and there’s still no one around.  I plunge myself into the Palace of the Grand Master (see separate post), firstly the courtyard and the ground floor display rooms.  After trying to comprehend such a tiny portion of artifacts, I wander back through the courtyard and make my way up the Grand Staircase to the rooms on the first floor.  Divine.  I’ve been here for at least a couple of hours.  Realistically I could happily spend all day here but my tummy is starting to grumble and there’s still a whole town to see.  I make my way back out of the cool stone fortifications and out into the summer day.  It’s busy now but I still find myself a quiet place to sit for an espresso and a snack before heading back to the palace – I want to walk around the walls.

Palace and fortifications from the old city walls

Moat

The views from the walls are spectacular but it’s not only the views that make this worth the time and effort.  The space up here is quite incredible, vast and pebbly, the walls high and clearly (nearly!) impenetrable.  The sheer scale of the walls combined with their age comes with the realisation that, while tales of chivalrous knights in medieval times may sound romantic, the population faced danger every day and at every turn.  Enough danger to go to vast efforts to fortify their city in this manner.

City Walls

The sun is hot and I’ve worked my way around to the southern end of town.  I descend the walls and launch back into the quiet streets.  Clearly this is not the tourist end of town.  There are quiet little alleyways and back streets here.  Doors lead to boutique hotels, guesthouses or private homes with pretty corners decorated with pots of color and the odd church scattered here and there, almost as random as the cats sleeping on doorsteps or windowsills.

I stumble across a little church and peer inside.  It’s quiet and cool so I light a candle and take a moment to reflect.  Not much is known about St. Phanourios but this little gem feels very authentic and as I’m leaving, I notice an old nonna, sitting in the corner fingering rosary beads of some description.

Back out on the streets and I take a few wrong turns down quiet lanes and pathways, giving me a sense of the local lifestyle, as I make my way back to the busier part of town.

There are lots of little souvenir shops and treasure troves.  I test out a pyramid puzzle being sold on the street and figure that if it takes me 20 mins to reconstruct the small one, it should keep the kids occupied for a while.  Plus it’s handmade locally so it ticks all the boxes.

I have already purchased a combination ticket for the Archaeological Museum (with the Grand Master’s Palace ticket from this morning) and I don’t want to miss this as it sounds pretty incredible.  Also, I’m almost ready for a break from the cobblestones and the heat.  I’ve covered a lot of ground so I opt for a cooling gelato as I navigate my way to the Archaeological Museum.

The Museum has an interesting array of artifacts.  It’s also beautifully laid out with exhibition rooms and Byzantine & Post-Byzantine monuments, antiquities and objets ‘d art.  The gardens and courtyards are rather charming.

Gardens with views of the Clock Tower and a minaret from the mosque in the background

After a couple of hours I emerge from the Museum hungry and tired.  I can’t help but do one more lap up the Avenue of Knights and back down Sokratous, the main street, leading to the fountain near the Castellania.

I linger in a jewelry shop and find out that they’re all hand made.  I get chatting to the Australian shop assistant (detected by accent) who came here from Sydney for a summer holiday 10 years ago and has been here ever since.  We share some anecdotes and I can’t resist, negotiating an arm band purchase with my last 20 Euros.  It’s to be worn on my right arm only, indicating that I’m taken, unless I want to be mistaken for being single….

After this I’m really done.  I’ve got 30 minutes to get back to the ship but Kolona Harbour is on the way back out of town and the water looks so cool and inviting.  My feet would thank me, I know, and there are lots of people taking a dip but unfortunately I don’t have the necessary apparel, nor the time. Next time, I think to myself.

I pause just long enough to take a few pictures and daydream of the clear azure waters.

Back on our ship and I’m ready for a shower, a cocktail and perhaps dinner as the sun sets behind us.  However, the boys have had a busy day in the kids club making gladiator masks and new friends and they’re keen for a swim.  I guess I’ll have to settle for a cocktail by the pool instead…at least I can flaunt my new handmade Rhodean armband souvenir.

Would I Return?

Yes.  Rhodes is an incredible town and a certain highlight of this trip, both aesthetically and historically.  Lindos is on my must see list for next time.