Tales of Terry's Travel's: Rhodes

Our time in Rhodes was a bit over a day and a half.

The view that first morning we were in the port of Rhodes

As our group gathered for our afternoon tour. I had not gone into town when Dale went for a walk in the morning as I assumed most things would be closed and if I am honest, he can walk me into the ground most of the time.

The lovely private sailing ships in our harbor

Walking though one of the small gates in the city wall to the old town of Rhodes

There were a great deal of people right when we got through the gate as this small church was having a baptism. Our guide informed us that baptisms and wedding were huge celebrations

In WWII Rhodes suffered many bombing. this building was totally destroyed

Cat pretty much are everywhere you looked in the old city. Dale said as he walked in the morning he kept a loose count of the ones he saw. He said it was over a hundred.

They are on pretty much every street

Another of the things destroyed by bombing, but the acoustic are still so good, concerts are held there in the summer.

This is the other side of the same building

Here you see many of the streets are partly or totally made up of the stones placed like in the foreground. The white stones with black designs were part of peoples houses and made up the indoor flooring also sometimes. The more black in the design, the wealthier that people who lived there

I love this flowering vine that is growing from that pot

One of the squares at the start of the main bazaar area

This tree was in the park near the seahorse well

The way some of the flowering bushes grew in pots right as part of the building. The old city dates back to the crusades in 1310 and old town Rhodes was built by the knights of the order of St John. They were in Rhodes from 1310 to 1522. They had purchased the land to build the city. They never lost a siege against the city. They were final defeat by treachery of one of the order. In revenge for not being made the grand master one of the knights hide all the gun powder and opened the gates for the Turks to come in.

After the order was forced to leave by the Ottoman Empire. He is a Mosque from the Ottoman Empire occupation that lasted until 1922

This is the central fountain in the Bazaar

This owl sits on top of it

This is some of the wall surrounding old town Rhodes

This is the main gate toward the embassy area. It could be blocked and had places to drop hot rocks, water, and oil on those who tried to attack

A closer look at it. At the top of the arch there are several wood hatches that could be lifted to pour things on those below.

This is the Grand Masters, remember that gun powder the knight who helped the Ottoman Empire defeat the knights of St John. Well, they never found where he hide it and it was forgotten, in 1856 a lightening strike hit the church across the from it. That started a fire which ended with all that gunpowder exploding and destroying much of the grand master’s palace. It was rebuilt by a person for Mussolini as palace in Rhodes. Mussolini never came and it is now a museum

The entry area. The steps going upstairs were very steep and I decided to sit out in the courtyard while the tour went up there

This was one of the embassies. It is under renovation still. In WWII Rhodes was bombed. During one session three bombs were dropped, one took out the church, one landed but did not go off in the museum courtyard and the third land in this the British embassy. The irony is that it was the British doing the bombing

The city was made up of several walls, so if necessary the people and soldiers could fall back behind the inner wall.

Just liked this door.

This was the harem garden of the governor during the Turkish occupation

Some of the rain gutter are formed to look like dragon heads

The coat of arms of the Knights of St John

Rhodes is Europes largest active medieval town. 6,000 people still live and run shops in old town Rhodes

Back to the Grand Masters Palace. Originally when it was built in the 7th century it was a citadel. Then 1300’s it was only one story high and occupied by the Grand Master of the order of St John on Rhodes

This is what was restored and added on to by the Italians

Each crest is different in each arch

There was a moat also around the walls

Sunday most of the shops of the bazaar were closed, with a few exceptions

The way flora and building merge in places is beautiful

So tourist traps have found their way there , but not many

More shots of the main bazaar street leading back to our boat

Was tempted by this shirt as cats are everywhere’s

Another example of the lovely mosaics

Outer wall. These are the same walls built in the 1300’s

The town Sunday night from our ship. We ended up staying overnight in Rhodes as our next port of call closed due to storms.

That meant Dale and I went out to explore Rhodes on our own the next morning also, as sail away was not until 1pm.

A good view of the several walls surrounding the city

It was nice to wander the quiet streets

Another place of worship. Churches turn into mosques during the Ottoman occupation, then most where turned back into church when the occupation ended

Some of the old frescoes still barely survive

Additions like these were added to the building for the Muslim women to get air. They were not allowed out on the streets. There would have been lattices covering the windows then.

This was a church of Nicholas circa 15th century

One of the shop owner on a back street we talked to took us to his home, where his family makes the jewelry they sell in their shop. Above are pictures of his family and a medal his grandfather was awarded. His family are fourth generation

This was the room we entered into from the street, part workshop, part sales area

Their kitchen, the bathroom is out the back door in a small building off a tiny courtyard. Also in the courtyard are stairs to go up to their sleeping areas