Rhodes Less Traveled

The plan was to be at the palace when it opened. That way, we reasoned, we'd avoid the lines of tourists waiting to enter.

However, we found that aside from a few staff members keeping an eye on visitors, we were alone in the Palace of the Grand Master, the crowning structure within the walled medieval city of Rhodes on a Friday morning in May.

As we made our way up the enormous empty stairway it really became clear that we were traveling in a Rhodes less traveled.

Alone in a Palace

The last time we visited the Palace, nearly a decade ago, the crush of tourists was so dense I let The Scout blaze us a trail and we walked single file at times as we made our way through the hordes filling this edifice that dates back to the 7th Century.

Empty Courtyard Palace of the Grand Master - Rhodes, Greece 

By the time we completed this recent visit to this massive palace we had encountered fewer than a dozen other tourists. 

Tourists were few in the ancient city

In pre-pandemic years it was normal to have this and other ancient sites within the walled city teeming with tourists. But this year, like last, is turning out to be not quite 'normal' in terms of tourism. Admittedly, our visit here came within a week of Greece re-opening the country to tourism. It will take some time for tourists to return.

Greek Island Hopping

Arriving Kastellorizo - island-hopping in Greece

Rhodes was part of a week-long island hopping adventure that kicked off our travel season in Greece. The ease of travel within Greece is among the many benefits of being expats living in the Peloponnese. We simply drove to Athens' port city, Piraeus, and boarded a ferry. Traveling by ferry is one of our favorite means of exploring Greece.

The far-flung island of Kastellorizo, also known as Megisti, located far south of Rhodes, off the coast of Turkey was our first destination. After three nights there we caught the local ferry that runs between it and Rhodes to finish our week on the larger island. The massive ship carried us between the two islands in 4.5 hours at a cost of 1.5 euros, roughly $1.80  per ticket. 

We had the better part of three days in which to reacquaint ourselves with Rhodes, or Rodos, as it is known here; the largest of the Aegean Sea's Dodecanese islands.

Rhodes/Rodos

Our focus was within the walled ancient city

Rhodes has a bit of something for every visitor:  the new Rhodes city (begun a mere 500 years ago) offers modern, sleek high-rise resort accommodations, a casino, dozens of dining venues and a plethora of shopping opportunities like found in any large city. Traveling outside the Rhodes metropolitan area one can find beaches and resorts and several small towns offering accommodations and endless dining opportunities.

Our room - Nikos Takis Hotel Rhodes

With only two nights we were content to focus on the history found within Rhodes ancient walled city. The Scout found us a stunning hotel, the Nikos Takis Fashion Boutique Hotel, which put us footsteps between two landmarks representing different periods of island rule: that of the Knights of St. John and the Ottomans.   

Nikos Takis Hotel patio with views to the harbor

Our room, one of eight in the small boutique hotel, opened onto the hotel patio from where we had views of the harbor. The nightly rate also included a full breakfast served in the patio.

Street of the Knights not crowded at all

We wandered about on foot, following narrow streets back and forth, up hill and down. We remembered these streets as being congested on our last visit, The reduced number of tourists rendered them delightfully easy to maneuver. A number of tourist shops and restaurants hadn't yet opened for the season but there were plenty of shopping, eating and drinking opportunities to keep us satiated during our stay. 

It is interesting to note, that while we think of the old walled city, surrounded by a moat, as a tourist destination, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is a very real and active neighborhood in the city - home to some 6,000 residents. 

Knights of St. John 

Entry Palace of the Grand Master

While the island's history, like many in the Dodecanese, is a checkerboard with periods of  Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Italian occupation, it seems the fortifications built, modernized and expanded by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem during their occupation dominate the tourists' top 10 favorite places.

Archaeological museum in Knight's hospital

It was in 1309 when the city was sold to the Knights. The Order had been founded in the 12th century to provide care for the poor, sick or injured pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land and the Crusaders.  It soon became a military unit, acquiring large amounts of land. It founded its headquarters in Rhodes. 

Church of Panagia Tou Kastrou

The Knights' hospital houses the Archaeological Museum. It was difficult to decide if the displays or the building itself was 'the best part' of that stop.  The nearby Church of the Panagia Tou Kastrou, with its towering nave, is a performing arts venue. 

We visited the hospital, church and the Palace as part of a package admissions ticket that got us into the three sites for 10 euros each. 

Ottoman Influence 

Mosque of Suleiman the Great from Sissito Restaurant

Our hotel was a short walk from the Palace of the Grand Master to our right and the Mosque of Suleiman the Great to our left.  We also were lucky to have our hotel recommend Sissito, a restaurant serving amazing food in its courtyard at the side of the Mosque. Suleiman the Great had founded a public kitchen in the area where the restaurant now operates and many of the buildings surrounding the restaurant in the complex host cultural activities and art exhibits. 

An Island Escape Artist

Patricia Wilson, and her latest book, Summer in Greece

One of the highpoints of our stay was meeting one of the best 'island escape artists' I know. British expat Patricia Wilson, author of several novels set on Greek islands, lives with her husband on Rhodes. Each of her books, set on a different island, is an entertaining historical novel that highlights a segment of the featured island's history, while providing a bit of contemporary romance and a very good Greek getaway. 

Over a long leisurely lunch, the Wilsons and we talked of expat life in Greece, writing and Greek island adventures. I am trying to convince her the next novel should be based in The Mani!  BTW, the novel in the photo above, Summer in Greece, was just released this spring. I won't give away the plot but if you want a great armchair getaway to Greece this year - this is the book to read.

Rhodes, Greece

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Medieval contemplation and exploration

"You'll either like Rhodes or you will love it," is the opening line from Lonely Planet's guidebook section on this Dodecanese island. A more appropriate opening may never have been written. . .from the books we had read (travel guides and novels) we thought we would like Rhodes, and now on our fourth day within the walls of the medieval city we are pretty smitten with this place.  It isn't every day you get off a ferry and head to your hotel through a gate such as this one; the Marina Gate.

We are back in the land of mass tourism though, unlike our travels in southern Crete where we often were among much smaller numbers of tourists.  Here they arrive by the thousands on a variety of cruise ships.  We counted seven such ships in the harbor outside this gate two days ago and yesterday only the mammoth Celebrity Equinox brought hordes of day-trippers to the town.  The cruise ships these days reach far higher han the fortress walls.

During the day it isn't unusual to be greeted with the question, "You from the cruise ship?" so we try to focus our explorations away from the heart of the tourist trek lined with hopeful vendors.

But by late afternoon the tour groups have loaded into their buses or have ambled back to their cruise ships and the streets and alleyways empty and call out for contemplation and exploration

Rockin' and rollin' our way to Rhodes

Although we kept extending our stay in Symi for 'just another day' we realized that if we were to get to Rhodes it was time to say goodbye to our new friends and finds and set sail.  Our ship for this trip was the fast-boat Dodekanisos which normally would have whisked us across the 24 kilometers of Agean Sea in an hour.  But we did have a bit of stormy weather -- some said it was the red-dust-blowing Siroco winds from Africa and others said it had changed to the northern winds -- that rocked and rolled our boat like a swing.  They finally dropped the speed a bit but because of our early departure from Symi  we found ourselves at the gates of the medieval city by 9 a.m. Tuesday.

We announced our arrival in this old town as we rattled and clattered our bags through the labyrinth of narrow cobbled streets and alleyways until we happened upon Niki's Hotel where we are now 'at home' in a room that opens on to a garden terrace, up so high that a lemon tree drooping with fruit provides a backdrop to the view.

This 2,500 year Old Town of Rhodes is the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe -- once home to 30,000 some residents it now has 5,000 living within he walls.  We quite literally cross a moat and enter the town through one of its 13 gates to 'get home' after one of our excursions.

The old town is surrounded now by a new town which provides an itneresting juxtaposition:  we can walk one direction and be in a palace  inhabited by the Knights of St. John for some 200 years after their arrival in 1309 or we can walk a few blocks outside the walls and sip a Starbucks coffee. 

The waters that surround Rhodes have got to be some of the most spectacular we've seen; the colors of the sea simply dazzle.

On the Road to Rhodes. . .maybe?!

The island of Rhodes

opened like a flower

from the watery depths,

Child of Aphrodite,

Goddess of Love,

and then became

the bride of the sun.

--Pindar

With that kind of description on a hotel web site, am I ready to head to Rhodes; land of the Knights of St. John, with a history dating back 2,400 years? Yes!

And maybe - just maybe - we will get there this year. It was on 'the list' last fall as part of our kick-back, go-where-the-winds-blow-us (and ferry schedules allow) vagabonding trip through the Greek islands. But Cretan travel gods cast a spell, captivating us and we found ourselves spending three weeks there -- on Greece's southernmost island -- and not having enough time to get to Rhodes.


As we consider proposed itineraries for future explorations we are continually drawn back to Greece. It's Dodecanese islands, that loop around Turkey's southwestern coastline are calling out for exploration. Will be fight off the temptation to return to Crete and its smokey, dark thyme-flavored honey? Will we pass up favorite stops among the Cyclades islands to pay return visits to the small inns and the many wonderful folks who own them and who made us welcome in previous visits.


Symi, a neighbor island to Rhodes, will be a stop if we reach the Dodecanese. The blogosphere has allowed us to armchair travel there-- we've watched the winter storms raise havoc with ferry landings on the island and in recent weeks have watched the cyclamen and lavender blanket its hillsides. We feel we have a new friend in Adrianne who writes a blog as part of the Symi Visitor web site. We want to meet her and explore her jewel of an island that she has brought to life via the Internet.