As we did also in 2013, today we are visiting the Greek island of Rhodes and are docked in the city of Rhodes which is located on the northern tip of the island. The island lies just south of Turkey a few miles. Rhodes is the 4th largest Greek island. It is a popular tourist destination because of two medieval sites: the Acropolis of Lindos and the Palace of the Knights in the walled Old Town of Rhodes. It is also know for its resort beached and nightlife. The island’s population is 120,000 with half of them living here in the town of Rhodes. Today Rhodes is still a city of two parts: the old walled city and the new one.
WHAT WE DID TODAY:
We docked here at 10:00 this morning. When we opened our balcony curtains this morning the Mediterranean Sea was smooth as pond water. The clouds were reflected on the mirror like water.
We both worked out in the morning followed by a very light lunch before heading off the ship for our 12:15 pm tour, "Rhodes-Old & New with Wine Tasting". There were only 21 on our bus so lots of extra room and the bus was VERY nice. Our guide, Tina, was very good with almost too much knowledge.
We started the tour with a drive through the "new" part of Rhodes. It is a very clean, modern, and beautiful city with no ugly skyscrapers. There were 3 other cruise ships here today but it did not seem that crowded for its fairly small size, especially in the old walled city. We drove by some nice beaches but Tina said the water was very cold. Unlike other places there were some people on the beach during the day. Next we drove up to the highest point of the city where the ancient Acropolis of Rhodes used to be. It dates back to the 5th to 3rd century BC. Now there is just a few ruins of the Temple of Apollo. Hardly anything left up there however. Then we descended back to the old city passing the ancient Olympic stadium of Rhodes dating back to the 2nd century BC. The Olympics back then was not like today's.
We departed the bus and walked through a gate to enter the "old" walled city. The wall surrounding the old city is over 5 miles long. We actually passed over two moats with 3 walls before we were finally inside. The moats never had water in them, ever. Our first stop during the walk was to see the Palace of the Grand Masters. It was built in the 14th century as the headquarters for the 7 different clans, for lack for a better word, of crusader knights. In 1856 the gun powder storage blew up after being struck by lightning blowing the top part of it off leaving only the first floor. The Italians reconstructed it during their occupation of Rhodes. We toured the rooms inside but about only thing left to see was the mosaic tile flooring.
Next we walked down the Street of the Knights. Although the Knights did not live here they had quarters for visitors on one side and their horses were on other side. At the base of the street was their hospital which was built in 1489. Today it is used as the Rhodes Archaeological Museum. I lasted in it for about 10 minutes. We decided to use that time to visit some souvenir shops. There were LOTS of them!! Bought two frig magnets: one for Maria, a bartender on the ship, and one for our suite door.
Last stop, still inside the old city and close to the museum, was a restaurant where we enjoyed some wines and bruschetta. You could either take the bus back to the ship from here or take a short 15 minute walk back. Since I had left my backpack on the bus we rode back and arrived just before 4:30 pm. Worked all evening uploading and writing captions to today's photos.
Here is the link to today's photo's.
https://goo.gl/photos/cjpYsqtpuB6uTVSz7
This evening we had dinner with David and Melody Hermann from Florida. We have know them for several years now. I had requested veal parmesean for dinner and it was super. Funny thing is Melody brought some after dinner sweet dessert wine that she bought today and I brought a dessert wine that I bought yesterday in Cyprus. We had a great evening!!!!
We sailed from Rhodes at 8:00 pm for our next destination on the island of Santorini, Greece. We will be anchoring offshore there tomorrow morning at 8:00. Our tour will be departing as soon as the ship is cleared shortly thereafter.
Link to photos taken in 2013 on our "Rhodes and the Acropolis of Lindos" excursion. There are some excellent photos, if I do have to say so myself, of some amazing sites.
https://goo.gl/photos/X3xxpaF7GVjhhsVF7
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