Mediterranean: Rhodes!

We visited the island of Rhodes.  It is one of the larger Greek Islands and as you can see it is very close to Turkey--about 10 miles away.

Rhodes is at a crossroads between Europe, the middle east, and Africa, so it has an interesting history. It is most famous for the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, which was a huge statue of Helios, the Sun God, at the harbor entrance. It was believed to be about 130 to 140 feet tall.  A strong earthquake hit Rhodes about 226 BC badly damaging the city and toppling the Colossus.

This is the opening to the harbor.

Our guide, Stefanos, took us on a bus tour around part of the island. The city has an Acropolis like Athens and there were a few ruins to see there.  Stefanos told us many interesting facts about the island's history and we made a few sightseeing stops.  One of the stops was to see this Evangelismos church at the port, by architect, Florestano Di Fausto, built in the 1930's by the Italians. 

 After visiting the island in antiquity, some Chinese traders called the island of Rhodes "the other great civilization."  Julius Caesar and most of the members of the Roman Senate over the years came to study at Rhodes which was for them like going to Harvard or Yale.  Rhodes had a population of about 200,00 in antiquity.  Today the population is 120,000.  The island has over 2 million visitors per year staying at their hotels, and planes landing every minute during the summer months. Lots of sun, beaches, and shopping.

The rest of our tour was a walking tour of the Palace of the Grandmasters and the medieval Old Town including the Street of the Knights.  The palace was originally built by the Knights of St. John during the period of the Crusades. 7,000 knights successfully defended the castle against 200,000 Ottomans until a traitor from within revealed their weaknesses.  Captured by the Ottomans and then held by the Italians, the palace is now a history museum.

The Knight has no face to represent all of the Knights.

Beautiful mosaics on the floors:

Valuable Ming Chinese vases:

We walked down the street of the Knights...on these cobblestones!

"The Street of the Knights is completely restored or preserved beautifully, and is lined by the buildings where the holy warriors spent their time in prayer or military practice. The Street of the Knights  is one of the best preserved and most delightful medieval relics in the world. The 600m (1,968 ft.) - long, cobble - paved street was constructed over an ancient pathway that led in a straight line from the Acropolis of Rhodes to the port."  

The old Bazaar is a wide road with tourist shops and restaurants.    This street, once patrolled by Crusaders, is now lined with shops and stalls. It's a shopper's paradise with jewelery, pottery, clothes, embroidery, bags, coats and just about everything else you can think of.

We bought our Greek souvenir in one of the shops:

Vase of Hestia, goddess of hearth, home and family.

Last view of the Old Medieval town and Grand Master's Palace...

...and the beautiful beaches

Since it is the off-season we are the only cruise ship in port. Often in the summer there are 4 or 5 cruise ships in the port.  So it wasn't crowded and the weather was very pleasant. We loved visiting the island of Rhodes!