Day 5: Rhodes, Greece

This morning we docked at the port in Rhodes, along with another cruise ship that seemed to have mostly British passengers.  Due to some, ahem, miscommunication, we walked about 15 minutes to the Sea Gate before someone found a text sent back on March 3rd, instructing us to meet our guide at the ship. So, back we walked along the very nice boardwalk.  Yes, our guide was just outside the ship, holding a sign with TOLBERT on it….

Maria walked us through a secret gate, invisible in the long and immense wall that has protected the city for centuries.  She explained the three areas of old town Rhodes, la Juderia (Jewish area), the Hora (Muslim), and the Collachium (Knights’ Quarter), separated by religion.  She is a professor of Ancient Greek literature at the university, so was fascinating to listen to.  I’m not sure we’d pass an exam, but we heard a LOT about history and culture. I’m going to post a lot of pics, mostly to give you a the flavor of such an ancient city.

Catch a glimpse of our ship through the gate

Church of St. Panteleimon, built in 1480 to commemorate the Christians’ victory over the Ottoman Turks


Roman ruins are visible in many places.

The connecting arches are typical of Jewish areas here and elsewhere.

My cat photographer dropped the ball framing this pair. Cats are everywhere here!




We admired the rooftop terrace on the yellow house.

All of the paths are paved with pebbles.  Wear sturdy shoes!

I walked by this parrot without noticing him!

Ancient ficus trees

The next two photos are inside a research library not open to the public. It was formerly a hall of justice.



We stopped at a bakery for pastries.

This house’s courtyard is a pebbled mosaic—very striking!

Our guide explained that pebbles are ideal paving in areas with frequent earthquakes.

Then we took a break for Greek coffee, and our guide warned us never to try Turkish coffee because it’s muddy!


Palace of the Grand Master

We then stopped for a mezze plate and ouzo, followed by our pastries.  Sadly, we utterly failed to take any photos. Sorry!  We sampled olives, sliced tomatoes, feta, a pepper-cheese spread, cucumbers, tzatziki, and an eggplant spread.

The building pictured below was built to house the Knights of St. John who weren’t allowed into the Palace of the Grand Master because they were uneducated and didn’t know Latin. The crest above the door identified their country of origin.

We were glad to get back to the ship and put our feet up after 8000 steps. All aboard was early today, and we’re already sailing, heading to Cyprus. We have a small group wine tour booked through Celebrity there tomorrow.

Comments

  1. PatrickApril 14, 2026 at 10:57 AM

    Imagine walking right past a sign with your last name!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JanieApril 14, 2026 at 11:44 AM

    What an interesting city! Your tour guide sounded like she'd be fascinating to listen to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AmandaApril 14, 2026 at 7:47 PM

    I’m loving all of the architecture! And imagine being the one to have to make the stone mosaics! My back and knees hurt just thinking about that!

    ReplyDelete

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