Our tickets on the Blue Star ferry to Rhodes indicate a departure time of 9:05, and so we arrive at the dock a little after 8am. No boat. But there are people. And cars. Trucks. Large tractor trailers. Surely a boat is coming.
8:45. Still no boat. Any arriving boat could never dock, unload, load all these people and vihicles, and depart by 9:05. I go to the ticket window to ask about the timing of the boat, but before I can get a word out, the man there says, "The boat will be arriving in ten minutes. The trip to Rhodos will take two hours and a half." Clearly, there is an important missing piece of information here. I try to ask the estimated departure time but receive only the same information again. I give up. I understand:We leave Kos at about 10am and arrive at Rhodes at 12:30.
The walled city of Rhodes is perhaps one of the most perfectly preserved medieval cities in the world. Modern Rhodes, much larger, rings it but seldom intrudes. What does intrude are the bones of the ancient past, bleached, abandoned, ruined, and irreplaceable.
Medieval Rhodes, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is slowly being restored. Dan and I wander its streets, named and unnamed, for hours and imagine we might have gone back in time. So there are streets full of shops catering to tourists--so what? When, in the city's venerable history, were there ever *not* such streets and such shops? Other streets, but for the occasional parked Vespa, have not changed in centuries.
In some parts of the city it seems that the only signs written in Greek are the street signs.
But those street signs can be great! The picture below is truly ugly, but it has special sentimental value for St. Johnnies and classicists everywhere: the corner of Socrates and Plato Streets!
The touristy parts of the city, though frequently crowded with, er, well, tourists, are pleasant and attractive. Even without poking into the back streets, you can see why this is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Click here for more images of medieval Rhodes
Acquisition of a microscopically detailed map of the medieval city makes us bold. Dan, geographically-oriented head on his shoulders and map in his hand, takes the lead. I, completely lost within two turns but camera relentlessly ready, follow. tiny streets, narrower than alleys, open onto pleasant, sociable squares.
Only once or twice does Dan have to double back to find his completely lost wife.
Click here to see some of the back streets of Rhodes.
"Tomorrow is Easter," said our innkeeper the day we arrived at the Hotel St. Nikolis just inside the walls of the Old City. "Nothing will be open. It would be a good day to go out of town. See the island. You can do it in one day." And she pulled out a map and circled the places we should go. And called a car rental place to make us a reservation.
And so, off we went. And so should you by clicking this link.
Cats. Gotta love'em. Can't get away from them. Not on Rhodes you can't.
Click here to see a few more pictures of the cats of Rhodes.
Click here to see an interactive map of our trip
Follow this link to start again at Istanbul
Return to Bodrum
Onward to Santorini