Day 25 - Monday May 8 - Rhodes, Greece

The weather just gets better and better. Today was absolutely beautiful; sunny and about 73 degrees. Absolutely perfect for our tour today. We arrived in Rhodes Greece and docked right in front of the Old City. Yeah Viking.

Our tour was the 'included' tour, Rhodes Town Walk and Palace of the Grand Masters. The tour left at 8 am and was to last approximately 2 1/2 hours. It was a full 2 1/2 hours of walking, a good bit uphill. And, as part of the defense system of the island through the many wars and take overs, many of their streets are stones ON END, to slow down the ability of horses to easily travel. Pictures follow.

We started, right from our ship you could see the fortress walls around the old city. It never had a moat with water, but rather a moat that was just clear space around the city.

Entrance (Sea Gate) to the old city

The Latin church of the Ladies of Mercy and their cats. Lots of them throughout the town

Just too pretty to resist

The old city of Rhodes is approximately 2,400 years old dating back to about 400 BC. The Romans came and took control about 200 BC. The Byzantines followed. And in 1309, The Order of the Knights of St. John were given Rhodes by the Byzantines. They stayed but only for two centuries. Then came the Turks who stayed for about 400 years. In 1912 the Italian fascists and Mussolini followed by the Germans (Nazis) took control through 1945. It wasn't until 1948 that Greece claimed independence on their own.

After passing through the gates, we stopped at the Latin Church of our Lady of Mercy. The buildings here mainly date from the 14th century.

We stopped at several squares in the old city, one of which held a statute and remembrance of the Jewish people that were taken to concentration camps and killed during WWII.

From there we made our way up the Knights Street. The street is line with "inns" (Palatial residences) of different nationalities. Seven nations and languages, France, Britain, Provence, Spain, Germany, Italy and Aragon (part of Spain). Only four of these inns remain on this street. The crest of the nation appears on each building. This street is still the main artery in the old city that leads UPHILL to the Palace of the Grand Masters. The street is 200 meters long, straight, narrow and 'cobbled' with the stones to make it difficult for those trying to conquer the city. It also made it a little difficult for us to walk on as well.

Part of the tour included an inside tour of the Palace of the Grand Masters. The original palace was built in the 1300's. At some point it fell into decay but was used as a catholic church. In 1856 it was destroyed by lightning. Ammunition was stored in the basement and when lightning struck the palace (church) it was totally destroyed. In 1930 when the Italian fascists arrived and took over the island, they decided to rebuild it on the original foundation of the palace to turn it into a holiday home for Italian royalty including Mussolini (who never actually ever visited it).

I took way too many pictures of this palace but i was intrigued by the mosaic floors. A close up will show the mosaics. All of these mosaics were brought from the island of Cos. To think of the job of picking up the floors and sending them by ship to this palace and relaying the floors! They spent a lot of money to do this!

The statues were also brought to the island strictly as decoration. They are Romans (known because the Romans never are shown with hats).

We spent quite a while in the palace including the second floor where most of the mosaic floors were located. Wayne has been in many castles and palaces. I guess this was my first one so I was intrigued. He was just looking for the next seat to sit on.

After we left the palace we walked to the Pink Mosque also known as the Mosque of Suleiman. It was originally built after the Ottoman conquest of Rhodes in 1522 and reconstructed in 1808. The plaster is a rose pink color. It was built to honor the Sultan's victory over the knights.

Our tour with our guide ended there at the Mosque with its imposing mineret. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence.

The presence of Turkey gets stronger and stronger as we get closer to that country. Tomorrow we enter Turkey. We've been told to wear pants that cover our knees and have a scarf handy to wear on our heads.

We will no longer be in the European Union. Wayne just went down to Guest Services and collected our passports. Now that they are returned to us, we will need them when we leave the ship each day until we return home.

We stopped for a coffee (more so Wayne could rest his legs) in the prettiest little garden restaurant. It's a lovely way of life to just sit and have a coffee and not have anyone chase you. You can spend hours over one coffee.

We wandered the streets a little, kind of shopping, kind of just wandering. We stayed long enough in the old city that we stayed for lunch. It appears the mussels "crisis" is over as I had some wonderful mussels. Wayne had calimari but I think the crisis hit. We were both expecting him to get a big plate full of calimari. He got 6 of them! They were good, he said. He wasn't sharing. We ordered some bread. You have to order bread. It doesn't just "come with the meal". I had a local beer (no surprise) Zythos. The translation of Zythos is "beer". What a surprise!

Wandering again, we made our way of the old city and back to the ship. I came back to do laundry. My last time for this trip (3 laundry trips in 4 weeks). I got lucky and found an empty washer and dryer my first try. Our launderette on our deck is closed for maintenance so the laundry rooms on the other decks are a little busier than usual.

Port talk at 4:30 and then dinner. Tomorrow, we arrive in Kusadasi and our included tour will take us to Ephesus' Ancient City.

7,200 steps today. Wayne counted 46 steps in the Palace to get to the 2nd floor so we earned a good dinner tonight!

The memorial to the Jews of Rhodes who were taken to the concentration camps by the Nazis. Only 40 Jews survived.

Views of the town squares and the fortresses amongst the shops in town

I'd like an answer to the uniform holes in the block The stones laid in the streets for defense purposes

The Hospital of the Knights which also served as an orphanage. Now it is the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes.

The British Inn and their crest

The long uphill walk up Knights street

Spain's "Inn"

There's a beautiful little garden behind the gates. I loved the gates!

Provence Crest over their "Inn"

The Palace of the Grand Masters

Pictures of the inside of the palace and the mosaic floors. For all my quilting friends, I see some beautiful patterns, don't you?

This is a copy of the 1 AD sculpture by Michaelangelo. The original is in the Vatican. It shows the struggle of Laocoön, a Trojan priest. Athena sent snakes to keep him from discovering or being warned about the attack on Troy (Trojan horse)