Rhodes, Greece 3

It was just before sunrise on Day 3 when we headed to the Mandraki Harbour, located next to the New Town. It was nice to walk in the Old Town without bumping into tourists or people talking to us to lure more customers to their restaurants.

The Street of the Knights was probably the most famous street in Rhodes. The 600 meter well-preserved medieval stone-paved street was once home to the Knights of Saint John, who occupied Rhodes during the Middle Ages. 

The 3rd century BC ruins of Temple of Aphrodite, dedicated to the Greek goddess of love and beauty was displayed near the Liberty Gate of the Old Town. This was just one example. The Old Town was an extraordinary open air museum showcasing the long and rich history of Rhodes.

The Church of the Annunciation of the Theotokos and Fontana Grande, a replica of the medieval fountain Fontana Grande in the Italian city of Viterbo were found near the Mandraki Harbour. Both were built during the Italian occupation (1912-1943).

The Rhodes Town Hall was also built in the same time period. The building was used as a police office in the Poirot TV episode. At least the exterior. We didn't go inside and don't know if the inside was also used.

We arrived at the Mandraki Harbour when the sun was rising! It was another Poirot filming location. 

A set of two bronze statues of the Rhodian deer (a doe and a stag) atop two stone columns were placed at the harbour entrance. The Rhodian deer, also known as the Dama-Dama deer or European fallow deer, are a symbol of Rhodes. They are a unique species on the island and have lived there for centuries. We didn't meet any deer during the trip. Instead we saw wild goats sometimes outside of the city area. 

Perhaps the most famous thing at the Mandraki Harbour is the Colossus of Rhodes. The 33 meter high colossal statue of the sun god Helios was built between 292 and 280 BC and stood at the harbour entrance until an earthquake destroyed it in 226 BC. Therefore you can't see it today but the mythical status is  recognized one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and has been standing in imagination of people who visit there.

We had breakfast at Ahni Kanela, a Greek bakary & homemade phyllo pie shop in the New Town. 

Since spinach pie wasn't ready yet, we both had a slice of leek pie. It was huge! J wanted the fillings to be more spiced, but it was just fine for me. The freshly squeezed orange juice was wonderful. A lady at the store squeezed at least a dozen of oranges to fill two cups, I believe. 

We walked back to the Old Town. A cat sleeping under the tree was in my photo...

Our destination was the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, located at the high end of the Street of the Knights. The Order of the Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, originally known as the Knights Hospitaller, was formed in the early 12th century, representing all the major European Catholic countries. The primary mission of the religious order was to look after pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land who are sick or wounded; on the other hand, the order acquired a military characteristic and took part in the Crusades to defend the Holy Land. After the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291, the Knights of St. John moved to Cyprus and then to Rhodes, which was then part of Byzantine Empire. Eventually, the Knights of St. John took over Rhodes in 1310 and had controlled the island for over 200 years until 1522 when they were defeated by the Ottoman army. 

The Grand Master of the Knights of St. John was the head of the order who was elected by the senior members of the order and was endorsed by the pope. Plus, who could live in the majestic palace! By the way the current palace is a modern copy of the original medieval palace that was restored by the Italian occupiers in the 1930s.

First we found the huge courtyard. Ancient statues standing under the arches were taken from the Roman Odeon of Kos, built in the 2nd century. A small chapel was also found on the ground floor near the long and wide staircase. 

The most rooms open to the public were on the upstairs. The large and small rooms were decorated with a collection of medieval furniture and statues while the highlight (at least for me) was a remarkable collection of ancient mosaics of the Hellenistic and Roman period, most of which were moved from the island of Kos by the Italians. 

Usually the part of the floors with mosaics were roped off and off-limits but in a couple of cases we had to walk on the mosaics to go to the next room. I tried to step on them very gently...

Besides the ancient mosaics, the wood curved armrests were my favorite, which were found in a few rooms.

From here some rooms were smaller. Their floors were decorated with beautiful tiles.

There was a sign of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (Sovrano Militare Ordine di Malta), also known as the Knights of Malta, on the corridor wall. After the Ottoman army took over Rhodes in 1522, the Knights of St. Johns (the Knights of Rhodes) escaped to Malta and established the headquarters of the Order, ruling the island from 1530 until 1798 when Napoleon's forces occupied Malta and the Order was forced out. Today the Order has still remained under the official name of Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta. Their headquarters has been in Rome since 1834. 

There was a small museum on the ground floor, which we almost missed...

We were heading to a public library in the New Town that was a filming location of the Poirot's TV episode via the Gate of Amboise after visiting the palace, but somehow Google took us into the medieval moat... 

The Gate of Amboise and its bridge was found over there. Oh dear, Google, we wanted to not only look up at the Gate but also passed through it. We returned to the way we came and found a proper route to be on the Gate.

The Old Town is protected with the very deep moat between the inner and outer walls and the terrepleins in middle of the moat, which means that there were two bridges that you would cross to get in or out the Old Town.

Hello!

Finally we passed through the Gate of Amboise! The medieval Old Town has 11 gates, as most are accessible nowadays. 

The view of the moat from the bridge looked familiar. We were accidentally down there in the moat some minutes ago...

Well, the public library in the New Town was closed and we wanted to see it unfortunately. We came back to the Old Town and climbed up the Medieval Clock Tower. The observation deck was small and crowded. We quickly took photos from the little windows and left the tower. The ticket to the tower included a free drink at the on-site cafe, which was nice. 

Then we spent a good time to wander in the Old Town. There were so many stores and restaurants especially in the middle and near the main gates, but the narrow side streets were quieter and charming. It was also enjoyable to look for streets that might be seen in the Poirot's "Triangle at Rhodes." There were several scenes filmed in the Old Town, but we didn't have information about where they were exactly. 

The center of the Old Town was getting busy with a lot of tourists before noon. Ferries bring tourists to Rhodes from various locations, including the mainland, other Greek islands, and Turkey.   

We stepped out of the crowded Old Town and walked to a Greek restaurant called Kava for lunch. It was located just about 5 minute walk from the Gate of Akandia, the far east gate of the Old Town, we didn't see any group of tourists in the restaurant. The neighborhood looked like where the locals live. The restaurant didn't have a printed menu. There were two black boards on the wall, which apparently a menu of the day and specials for the week??? Anyway, the hostess invited us to their kitchen and showed us what was ready to serve. We pointed the dishes we would like to try. She and the host (the owner? the hostess' husband??) brought the dishes as well as drinks to our table. We got Moussaka, stuffed peppers and potatoes. I don't know whether the bread was complimentary, but the hostess brought it. Also, the host brought a slice of feta cheese with olive oil, recommending it would be good with those dishes. At the end he also brought Halva, a Greek semolina pudding as a complimentary (?) dessert. Well, any price of a dish or drink weren't written anywhere. The host simply told us a total price when we asked a bill. It was very reasonable, so we didn't ask the details of the cost. First of all, the dishes were delicious and hearty as if a Greek grandma cooked for her big family.

We walked along the outer walls of the Old Town after the lovely lunch, looking at a series of the medieval bastions.

Passing the Saint John’s Gate, located in the far south of the Old Town.

We entered to the Old Town via Saint Athanasios Gate. 

We walked around the Old Town for a while and popped out to see the Kolona Harbor. We tried to walk along the harbour but it was pretty hot and there was no shade to escape from the bright sunshine. We came back to the Old Town immediately.

It looked that almost all shops in the Old Town were the tourist shops, selling jewelry, linens, clothes, Greek or local specialities such as olive oils, olive wood goods, wine/liquor, and natural sea sponges, etc... I was interested in natural sea sponges, but the "Old Town price" must have been marked up and I skipped it. 

It was time for dessert after a long walk! We got gelato at Giallo Verde. Mine was mango. J got coconut, I think. The fresh gelato cooled us off nicely. 

To be continued…