This is exactly how we felt as we entered the gates of Old Town in Rhodes, Greece. Even though it is now full of tourist traps and prodding restaurant staff that whittle away the charm, you can still imagine what this town really has to offer. Underneath the mask of tourist shops, restaurants, cafes, and museums, said to be more like a Turkish bazaar than any other Greek City, is a beautiful medieval city unlike anything I've ever seen before.
Rhodes is on of the larges islands in the Dodecanese. It's also most likely the most eastern island (closest to the middle east). The history of Rhodes is fascinating. We learned so much about this charming island while we were there. When the Byzantine era came to an end in 1309, the island was occupied by forces of the Knights of Rhodes. The city was built into a model of the European medieval ideal. Rhodes held a handful of Knights that were the last Christians in a part of the world that had become completely dominated by Muslims, in particular the Ottoman Turks. In defense of the city, 2000 Christians had died. The Turks lost 50,000 trying to take it. The city eventually did fall after a siege and the remaining Knights were offered safe passage. In 1523, they left Rhodes along with 500 Christians who choose to leave rather than live under the Sultan.
However before I get ahead of myself, I should wrap up our beautiful story from Santorini. Our last evening in Santorini, we enjoyed the sunset from our scooter and spent the evening eating Gelato and walking along the classic cobblestone streets of Fira.The baklava in Fira was AMAZING-how I wish I bought some for the road. Our ferry was leaving at midnight so we packed up the car and headed down the windy road to the port.
The midnight ferry from Santorini to Rhodes was surprisingly a lot of fun. It was so great taking advantage of the night to travel. You board the ferry at midnight-we booked a cabin so we were able to sleep comfortably-and you wake up at 7 a.m. in Rhodes. It was a treat! Plus, what a deal- hotel room and transportation in one. We checked into our room, took a walk around the ferry and went to sleep. I thought I would be panicked sleeping on the boat, but nope. I slept great! In the morning we woke up, grabbed a cup of Greek Coffee (which we now call 'crude'), and took some photos as we approached the Greek island of Rhodes.
The water was SOOO Blue! I could stare at it for hours.
The medieval city of Old Town, Rhodes
Since we arrived in Rhodes around 7 a.m., we had the whole day to explore. We checked into our lovely hotel (The Spot Hotel-LOVED IT). A new-yorker actually manages it. It's right in the heart of Old Town, with Greek art and decor in the whole hotel.
We spent the morning exploring Old Town. The old buildings, wall, streets, & structures were unreal. The castle walls that protect the city was jaw dropping. Old town is the oldest inhabited medieval town in Europe. Some of the city gates date back to th 3rd century BC. I could have took a million photos. I always want to remember it. Especially for this girl-part of me wishes I lived as a princess in medieval times (the very nice, clean, modern type medieval times in my head of course). The whole 'castle' idea seems so much fun. It was seriously like walking through a town in a Disney movie. We were so happy and taken in by the charm. In other words...it had us at Hello. (hehe)
Seriously, doesn't this remind you of Belle singing down the street in Beauty & The Beast?
The Street of Knights. This street is lined with buildings where the knights spent their time in prayer and in military practice.
We made our way to the outer wall of the castle city. To our dismay the moat was empty! Okay, just joking, however you can walk through the moat which was very surreal at first...
Tyler had a lot of fun playing on the cannon balls and the cannons.
These were REAL cannon balls. Look at the size of those things!
We were able to get some great photos of the outside of the city walls from the moat.
Then we realized there was no way OUT of the moat until you were a quarter around the city (which was very big). We walked for about 45 minutes in the moat. To help you understand-there was NO shade. It was SOOO hot. We had no water (who would have thought we would need it). Every time we saw something that looked like a door... it was locked. Eventually we found our way to another entrance. Luckily it was right were we wanted to go-The Palace of the Grandmaster of the Knights of Rhodes.
The palace was built in the early 14th century by the Grandmaster. You get to walk through the palace, which they now use as a museum and library. I loved how they took effort to make some of the rooms look original.
The mosaics were the real star of the show. They were incredible. The talent these artist had is unbelievable.
After walking through the inside, we made our way out into the courtyard.
After our tour of the Grandmasters Palace, we finished our stroll around Old Town (or at least a part of it).
After that long, hot walk in the moat...we couldn't wait to get to a place that could guarantee water. The beach! We were told the walk was only about 10 minutes-it took FOREVER. By the time we got close we were a little tired and hungry, so we stopped for food (which always helps!). We were also able to get a few fun photos along the way.
We finally got the beach, and it was worth the walk. I've never seen water this color-it was lovely.
Tyler attempted to skimboard-although the beach was too pebbly. He then enjoyed himself by jumping off of this platform. Seriously just some random platform about 100 feet out into the ocean.
We loved the beaches in Greece. They ALL had beach chairs and umbrellas that you could rent for the day for the low price of 4-8 Euros. Not bad for a day's worth of sun protection. Oh and this was the beach I mentioned that made me get on the grumpy side-seriously topless women EVERYWHERE. There were even a few that were interested in Tyler's skim boarding, so they decided to go closer and watch. Fun huh. (sarcasm thick). At least Tyler had good stories to tell his friends at school.
Ialysos Beach
That evening we searched out a dinner spot. We choose a traditional tavern of course-the city was covered in them. Instead of choosing 2 entrees, we decided to have a little fun with a sample of appetizers. We LOVE Greek food!
Oh and the restaurant staff are crazy! They stand on the street and ask you to come in, look at your menu, have you eaten?, what about just a drink? It kind of got annoying (especially with 4 different restaurants right next to each other) and also a little entertaining.
Here is a map of Rhodes for your reference:
Oh my goodness it is beautiful
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