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It was only a one and a half hour flight to Rodos as it is called here. Taxis were charging an arm and a leg for the 16 km drive from the airport to the old town so I waited and took a bus.
The fortifications erected by the Knights of St John to protect the old city are really impressive.
The Knights of St John purchased the islands of Rhodes, Kos and Leros from the Byzantine emperor of Nicea in 1306 and held them until they were finally driven out by the Turks in 1522.
The main entrance to Rodos has no less than four successive gates. This is the first one.
Then comes a second gate that leads into the space between the outer and inner walls around the city.
A third gate has to be crossed...
.. before reaching the fourth gate that takes you across the inner walls.
Below left, the Ippoton (avenue of the Knights), with the seven national Inns. The Knights acquired great wealth and power even though they never numbered more that 600. They came from noble families in, France, Provence, Auvergne, Italy, Spain, England and Germany, each "tongue" having it's own building in this street.
Below right, the entrance to the Palace of the Grand Masters who were elected to office by the assembly of knights..
The Palace of the Grand Masters is evidence of the great wealth the Knights enjoyed in their heyday. Here is just one of the many great halls.
And one of the many corridors.
This is the courtyard of the Palace of the Grand Masters.
The Pyli Ekaterinis gate in the outer walls gave access to the city from the port.
A view of the city walls on the port side. There are a few fishing boats, many tourist tour boats and...
... several of these huge cruise ships that disgorge hordes of eager tourists who can be found in every nook and cranny of the old city during the high season.
Here are some tourists around Castellania Fountain.
And here are some more tourists on Aristotelous street.
I had the patience to wait for the tourists to thin out from the two streets below like sometimes I have to wait for the clouds to let the sun come out.
All joking aside, Rhodes is a very beautiful place that is really worth visiting and it's not expensive if you stay at the youth hostel on a small side street off the Agiou Fanouriou street shown here (left and right).
Here is the courtyard of the Rhodes Youth Hostel where I had a bed in a dorm for only 10 US$ a day. It was run by a friendly lady called Poppy and was inhabited by a good bunch of travellers, Stefan, the Francophone German artist dreaming of the loved one he left behind, Chad the American plagued by complicated complexes, Jean-Marie the voluble French cook who suffered from verbal diarrhoea and of course me with all my own quaint idiosyncrasies. We had a ball!
