History buffs will not be bored in the capital of Rhodes: the island's namesake city boasts one of the largest medieval fortresses, which (unlike the Moscow Kremlin) you can safely walk around at any time of day.
Inside, there is a lot of mixed stuff: buildings that have survived since the time of the Knights of St. John, Catholic and Orthodox churches, mosques and baths that appeared during the rule of the Ottoman Empire... Some buildings were carefully reconstructed (and sometimes even rebuilt) by the Italians during the occupation of the island by Mussolini's troops - Italian architects, of course, worked hard to preserve the ancient heritage, but were often guided not by historical data, but by their own ideas about how romantic knights' castles should look, so their work added originality to Rhodes. Modern owners of cafes and shops "decorated" all this historical heritage with advertising signs and shop windows. The result of centuries of multicultural activity is stunning at first sight, so you have to spend several days getting to know the old city.
In Old Rhodes and under its walls there are several tourist offices with polite employees, free maps and guides. But they work only on weekdays from 7.00 to 15.00. At the same time, the city museums are open seven days a week from early morning until evening in the summer season, so it is more convenient to walk around the city in the afternoon, spending the morning hours on the beach, and the peak of the daytime heat - in a room with air conditioning. Accordingly, it is not always possible to get to the tourist office. However, inside the fortress walls at every step you can find maps indicating your location and attractions.
Route one: philosophical
Whether you enter the Old City through the Porte d'Amboise, the Porte Eleftheria or the Sea Gate from the commercial port, you are destined to walk at least once along the classic route: Socrates Street, Hippocrates Square (fountain topped with a funny owl), Aristotle Street, Jewish Martyrs Square (fountain topped with seahorses), and then to the square and the Panagia Gate, near which the very picturesque ruins of the church of the same name have been preserved, and to the port.
"At least once" is not quite accurate; in fact, you will have to walk along streets named after Crusaders and Greek philosophers many times, because other, more exotic routes through the city will sooner or later lead to these main tourist arteries anyway.
Of course, the streets here have nothing to do with Plato, Aristotle and Hippocrates, and the taverns and souvenir shops here are dizzying. But there are also important sights along this route: for example, Socrates Street passes by the Suleiman the Magnificent Mosque and the Muslim Library, which you can enter for free.
Route two: knightly
You can't avoid the Street of the Knights (Ippoton) either, but this is a special case: there are no stalls or restaurants here, everything is strict and colorful: 200 meters of cobblestones downhill (or uphill, depending on which direction you're going).
At the beginning of the climb is the Archaeological Museum, the former New Hospital of the Knights of St. John (don't let the word "new" mislead you, this is a 15th-century building). At the top is the Palace of the Grand Masters. Between them, along the street, are the ancient residences of different "languages", since the Knights of St. John were divided within the order by nationality. It is worth visiting the residence of the language of France - usually there are free exhibitions here, allowing you to get acquainted with the interiors of the building.
During the summer season, museums in the Old Town of Rhodes are open from 8:00 to 20:00 seven days a week, in winter they close at 15:00 and are closed on Mondays. It is better to check the schedule at the tourist offices - even if they are closed, the opening hours of the main museums of the city are usually posted in the windows.
The Archaeological Museum is a must-see: even if you are not an archaeology buff, you will love the first building. For some reason, the knights, when designing the hospital, allocated a lot of space not to the hospital wards, but to the courtyards and gardens located on different levels of the building. Now these inner gardens are home to ancient mosaics and fragments of statues, complementing the interior.
The Palace of the Grand Masters is also a legacy of the knightly times, but, unlike the hospital, it was almost completely destroyed in the 19th century (having survived two sieges of Rhodes by the Turks, the palace was badly damaged by a gunpowder explosion in the cellars of the neighboring Church of St. John) and rebuilt by energetic Italians. Its reconstruction is the most criticized - in fact, the outer facade and the second floor with the palace halls are a free fantasy on the theme of the "knightly Middle Ages". However, this does not mean that you should not visit the palace - it is interesting to see what the Italians dreamed up, especially since the governor of the island de Vicci decorated the reconstructed halls of the palace with antique mosaics from the island of Kos and other valuable heritage.
The Archaeological Museum costs 8 euros, while the Palace costs 6 euros, so it is better to visit both museums with a combined ticket for 10 euros. The combined ticket also gives you the right to visit the Byzantine Museum in the church of Panagia tou Kastrou (Our Lady of the Castle), located opposite the New Hospital, and the Museum of Modern Greek Art.
Route three: fortress
It can be considered a continuation of the knightly one, because the walls and towers of the Rhodes fortress were also built by the Johannites and remember the history of battles with the Turkish Janissaries during the famous sieges of Rhodes in the 15th and 16th centuries.
The entrance to the fortress wall is located in the courtyard of the Palace of the Grand Masters, and to enter you will need to purchase a separate ticket at the palace box office for two euros. But the schedule of the "wall's work" is bizarre: according to the mysterious logic of local museum workers, you can get to the wall on weekdays from 12:00 to 15:00, that is, in the thick of it. Why it can't be opened earlier, if the palace receives visitors already at 8 am, is a mystery.
If the weather is hot, the walk will be difficult - there is practically no shade on the wall, and there is nowhere to go off the route - you can only go down in another part of the city, near the Gate of St. John. In the middle of the wall, under a spreading tree, there is usually an employee with a first aid kit and a radio in case one of the tourists gets sick during the walk. At the same time, she probably counts the travelers to make sure that no one gets lost along the way. In short, your trip will have elements of extreme sports. But if it is not a very hot day (or you stocked up on water, sun hats and sunscreen and are ready for difficulties), it is definitely worth climbing the wall - a completely different Rhodes opens up from here. Inside the fortress, it is easy to forget that this is, in fact, a fortress - the military past is lost behind a jumble of restaurant menus, counters with magnets and cats lounging in the sun. But once you find yourself on the fortress wall, you realize the scale of the construction and vividly imagine the history of the city’s defense.
Another, less extreme walk is along the fortress moat around the walls. This moat has never been filled with water, and now it looks more like a park: palm trees, bushes against the backdrop of all sorts of fortifications. Entrance to the moat is free and the route is open from morning to evening, you can enter the moat from the Eleftheria Gate (without entering the Old City, turn left into the courtyard with restaurants and taverns and walk through it), as well as by going down the stairs at the d'Amboise Gate or the Acandia Gate. Again, a great opportunity to diversify your impressions and appreciate the scale of the activities of medieval builders, and also take a break from the bustle of the tourist streets.
It is not worth walking in the heat of the day - after all, part of the route goes through open terrain. But it is also not recommended to go down into the ditch in the dark - local gypsies often hang out here, and if during the day the gypsy kids behave decently, play the accordion and beg for alms, then at dusk, when the ditch is empty, the young representatives of this tribe become impudent and start pestering late lonely tourists. This does not threaten anything serious - well, they will run after you along the path and curse you in different languages of the world if you do not give them some change. But to avoid unpleasant impressions, it is better to walk along the ditch in the morning or in the afternoon, before dusk.
And, of course, the best route through the old town of Rhodes is the one you create yourself, traveling through the back streets on your own, with the help of a map and advice from locals. On this route, you will surely find a shop with original bracelets or antique lamps, a tiny cafe with a couple of tables in the courtyard, an old church or mosque, a shady dead end where Rhodian cats take a siesta, a bench under a spreading tree in a small square with an unknown name, a mini flea market under the city walls - everything that is not shown on tourist maps, but for which it is worth going on a walking tour.
Source: travel.ru