Our Venice Cruise Chapter 19 part 2: The Medieval City of Rhodes
After touring the Palace of the Grand Master, we wanted to check out one of the elaborate gates through the city walls. The Gate d’ Amboise, one of the nicer ones, is very near the Palace of the Grand Master. Walking through the gate you cross a bridge overlooking a grassy area. It’s dry now, but this was the moat. It added another layer of protection to the city.
All of this sightseeing made us hungry. We made our way to Hippocrates Square. The square is surrounded by shops and restaurants. The centerpiece of the square is a large fountain. We picked Archipelagos restaurant for lunch. We had a table on the balcony with a great view overlooking the square. The food was great and the drinks were refreshing!
After a rejuvenating lunch, Barb and some of the others wanted to do some shopping. Barb loves to shop, she got in as much shopping at each port as she could. I wanted to walk around and take some photos. Robbie and Jerry kept on relaxing downstairs in the sidewalk cafe. I find some of my best photos by just following my nose. I started following the shoppers down the main shopping street. This was not the type of area I was looking for. I found a narrow cobblestone street and followed its winding path. I found myself in a residential area. This was what I was looking for! I loved the colorful stone walls and the narrow streets. The creepy puppet hanging on the wall was awesome! When I came across the door with the tattered and torn picture of Venice, I knew I was in the right place! There was a Cuban restaurant that reminded me of our cruise to Havana. I saw an African Grey parrot on a perch outside of a home. It reminded me of Bogie, our African Grey at home, Sandy, Spencer and Loki too! I really enjoy getting off the beaten path. Amazingly, I found my way back to Archipelagos to meetup with everyone.
We made our way through the city walls to the waterfront area. The old wooden fishing boats in the crystal clear Mediterranean Sea were amazing! Walking along the old port we saw the old stone windmills of Rhodes. Along with shopping, Barb likes cats. I have several photos of Barb with cats. Continuing along the port brings us to our old friend Saint Nicholas. The fort of Saint Nicholas anyway. It was built to protect the harbor from enemies. A lighthouse was built in the fort that now protects ships in the area. The deer statues on pedestals on either side of the port could be one of the places where the Colossus of Rhodes once stood. There are several places it could have stood, nobody knows for sure. It was a huge statue of Helios, the sun god. Built in 280 BC, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It only stood for 54 years when it was toppled by an earthquake. It laid on the ground for 800 years! At that time the bronze was melted down and sold. It was so impressive even laying on the ground that it became an ancient tourist attraction. Because Colossus was the sun god, I think it would have been in a high place, closer to the sun. A more likely place for it to have stood would have been the Acropolis of Rhodes. Also it had been laying on the ground for a long time. If it had been in the harbor, it would have fallen in the water. After a wonderful day of exploring the beautiful medieval city of Rhodes, we made our way back to the ship.
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Our Venice Cruise Chapter 19 part 1: The Medieval City of Rhodes
Our next port was the old city of Rhodes on the Island of Rhodes. I enjoyed all of the ports on this cruise. Rhodes was one of the ports I was looking forward to. Rhodes is a well preserved Medieval city. The whole city is protected by a huge Medieval style stone wall. There are several gates that have castle style facades. The cobblestone streets are filled with Medieval stone buildings. Just the type of place that I like to explore.
The cruise terminal of Rhodes is just outside of the old town city walls. There are lots of sights to see within walking distance of the ship. So a few of the others in our group plus Robbie and I, opted to save some money and see old town on our own. Disembarking the ship become much better. After a very short walk, we found ourselves at the Gate of the Virgin. I think this gate has been added in recent years to provide access to the city closer to the port. Just inside of the gate were the ruins of the Church of the Virgin of the Burgh. It was a large Catholic cathedral that was bombed during WWII, most of it was destroyed. The three apses at the end of the church and they are all that remain. A few blocks down the street we came across a restaurant that had several parrots on perches. Robbie and I are parrot owners, so we were very interested in seeing the parrots. This is also why we could not be away from home for too long. Our dear friend Cassy was watching over our flock while we were away, thank you Cassy! The guy at the restaurant let us hold one of the macaws! That was nice, we were missing our birds! It was too early for lunch or we probably would have eaten there. We continued our stroll through the city. The beautiful cobblestone streets were lined with restaurants and shops. It was like strolling through a Medieval bazaar. The shops were selling all sorts of wares, they had art, clothing, gifts and some very interesting bottle openers.
One of the most significant buildings in Rhodes is the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes. The island of Rhodes was an important stopping off point between Europe and the Holy Land during the Byzantine era. We visited a lot of Byzantine era sights on this trip. In a nut shell, the Byzantine era began when the Roman Emperor Constantine came into power. The Roman Empire became fragmented, Constantine ruled the eastern portion. He moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium, modern day Istanbul Turkey. He renamed it Constantinople. He also converted the empire to Christianity. Rhodes was sort of a base camp for the Knights Hospitaller or the Knights of Rhodes. The Knights Hospitaller were protectors of the Holy Land. The palace was the headquarters for the knights and the home/office for the Grand Master. The palace is a large Medieval castle Today it is a museum. We paid a small entrance fee and took the self guided tour. I wasn’t sure how interesting the castle was going to be. It turned out to be a very nice tour. This was a beautifully restored Medieval, stone, fairy tale style castle. The halls would have been echoing with the sound of knights in shining armor moving from place to place. When you think of a Medieval castle, you think dark, dingy, and cold. This actually would have been a very nice place to live. It was far from dark, dingy, and cold. It was fit for a king! The Palace was heavily damaged in an accidental explosion in 1856. It was restored to its original splendor by the Italians when they had control of Rhodes. During the restoration, the beautiful Hellenistic mosaic floors were brought in from the island of Kos. It was used for a summer home for the Italian king and later Mussolini.
The Street of the Knights is a main thoroughfare leading up to the Palace of the Grand Masters. There were several countries that sent knights to Rhodes. The street is lined with buildings from each country. The buildings were the living quarters for the knights.
roy thoman photography 