We weren’t planning on stopping in Rhodes. It sort of got penciled in and I’m glad it did.
It’s been about a week since we were there, so I’m writing what I remember, but it’s not going to be as good as if I were still there.
We got in and they started by docking us in an exposed corner… so we were essentially anchored with one stern line out and rocks behind us to watch out for… not ideal. Well Dad and Chuck had called a boat agent before we got there and the guy came out and said that he would take care of it. They ended up moving us between all of the commercial boats that take people out scuba diving and site seeing, right on the main street of Rhodes. So we were able to tie up there and check in.
The guy that ran the marina was sort of a douche bag and kept saying he would have to move us, but the agent we ended up paying €150 for took care of it and we didn’t have to move, just deal with his rudeness. Some people shouldn’t be allowed to interact with other people as a rule.
A fun fact about the marina we went into – it was where the Colossus used to stand. In the 4th century BC the huge bronze statue of the sun god, Helios and is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. There are two deer statues that mark where it once stood. The 110 foot statue only stood for about a century and then in 227 BC an earthquake hit the city and it fell into the water where it hung out for about 8 centuries. Around AD 654 it was sold as scrap metal and carted off to Syria, allegedly by a caravan of 900 camels. So where we went through to enter the marina, we would’ve been going right under the Colossus’ legs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rhodes0211.jpg – This is a picture of what it was supposed to look like.
Dad took this photo of the entrance of the marina. You can see on either side of the entrance are the two deer statues and where the Colossus used to stand.
This is another view of the marina through the city gates. It’s a really pretty area.
We had dinner in the new town that night and I think Popeye was our waiter. The man was older, probably in his 70s, and his hands were the size of the plates our food was coming out on… not to mention his forearms were pretty impressive too. Dad asked if he was a fisherman and he said he had been for 33 years and now he was working here. I’m assuming it was a family run tavern, but once we looked around we realized that at least three of them were clearly retired fisherman. I guess you do what you have to in order to make ends meet.
The next day we went into Old Town.
Rhodes has been home to many different groups of people. It started with the Dorian Greeks in the first millennium BC. From the 8th to 6th centuries BC Rhodians established settlements in Italy, France, Spain, and Egypt actively trading with the mainland of Greece. The Persians took over the island, and then a league of city-states rose under Athenian leadership and reclaimed forming Rhodes. Then of course in 42 BC Rome took over, in AD 654 there were Arab invaders. It was on the road to the Holy Land during the Crusades and briefly came under Venetian influence, Byzantine, and then Genoese. In 1309 the Knights of St. John took over and took care of the Christian pilgrims. In 1522 the Ottomans took over and it wasn’t until after WWII that Rhodes became united with Greece in 1947. So you can imagine the architecture that is still standing on the island is diverse and very different from the rest of the Greek islands.
In Rhodes Town there are two parts: New Town and Old Town. Old Town is pretty cool and is encompassed in a huge medieval wall. Inside is the Palace of the Grand Masters, which we didn’t enter, but we checked out from the outside, an archeological museum that had some vases and statues, and a ton of shops, restaurants, and bars that come alive at night on the winding roads. We explored the touristy part of Old Town on the first day with Chuck and Judy.
This is the Street of the Knights. It descends from the Palace of the Grand Masters which is the highest point of the medieval city and ends towards the commercial port. It is the route that once connected the ancient acropolis to the harbor.
This is the Palace of the Grand Masters. The current structure is a Mussolini-era Italian reconstruction of the original which was destroyed in 1856 by an explosion of ammunition stored nearby in the cellars of the Church of St. John.
We went up to where the palace and the city walls meet and saw some cannons and things of that sort. Admission was €6 each and based on the description in the Fodor’s book we could’ve seen an extensive display of maps and a couple of mosaic floors. There may have been the secret to life too, but we will never know.
There was a garden on the outside of the palace walls that we thought was really pretty. It was essentially bridging the gap between the old palace and the lines of restaurants and tourist shops we were about to embark on. I like this photo of Dad and I though.
This suit of armor that was along the tourist walk had a sign attached to its crotch saying “Please do not touch” both the placement of the sign and where the knights left hand was placed made us giggle a little.
All of the bars and cafes had signs like this one advertising draft beer that you can drink out of das boot. I’m not sure where this came from because it’s not a popular thing outside of this congested area, but here the boot is quite popular. Who would’ve known?
This is the Mosque of Suleyman located right smack dab in the middle of all the tourist shops. It was built in 1522 and rebuilt in 1808.
The inside was pretty modest compared to the Greek Orthodox churches we have been seeing. It was really beautiful though.
They ask you to take off your shoes and there are cushy beautiful carpets all over the ground.
This is one of the windows. There is a small loft that we could walk up to and look out and this is a photo of the window taken from there.
After we saw the Old Town we all decided to do our own thing. I saw that there was an Aquarium on the island within walking distance and was intrigued. I know there are aquariums everywhere and it might be what you think to do in Greece, but I was ready to do something different like that. So I walked along the water and saw the high rise hotels and beaches that accompany them along the walk. At the end of the point is the aquarium which was a bit spooky.
All of those tourist covered in oil. There are luxury hotels lining the beach and lots of tourists out enjoying the great weather. I wanted to tell some of them it was time to turn over because the side up was getting a bit crispy, but didn’t get that close.
This is the swimming platform out in the water. It was pretty cool to see people diving off of it into the Med.
Mow and I took a moment and had a photo op at the beach on the other side of the aquarium which was not designated as a swimming beach. You can see the tip of Turkey in the background.
This is the Rhodes Aquarium. It was a really cool building and one of the first aquariums in Greece.
It was €5.50 to go inside and is a museum and aquarium. The first part is the museum. They talk about conservation and all the work the place is doing for sea turtles in the Med. There was a video and everything. There was also a second room that was a bit creepy. There was a wall with stuffed sharks, a stingray, and a whale in the middle of the room. There were mini shark heads in jars and pickled eels. The animals had all been found or killed in some way and someone decided to pick them up, stuff them, and hang them on the wall so people could oh and ah at them. I am not a fan of sharks. I have never liked them, they creep me out, and seeing them on the wall was a bit shocking. Then there was the whale on the floor. It is a small whale… but it was just sitting in the middle of the floor. Now looking at them I wasn’t positive that they were real… it almost looked like a paper mashay(sp?) job, but they were mutilated and I’m pretty sure it was just a bad stuffing job.
Look Mom! It’s Crush! I’m not sure this is what “Finding Nemo” had in mind for a sea turtle encounter. It’s a bit odd seeing it face to face like that.
I know this is blurry. I took my point and shoot with me to everything around Rhodes pretty much and some of the of photos suffered as a result. This gives you an idea of what it looks like to have a small whale in the middle of the room.
Another view of the shark wall. I was not a fan.
This is a close up of one of the mutilated sharks. He’s very… shriveled.
There was a tank with live things in it in the museum, including this nice crab. He looks friendly in comparison to the things surrounding him.
Then I went to the next “room” which was the aquarium part. They designed it so that it was like you were going underwater to see these fish. So you go down into a very dark, damp, room that has walls covered in porous stones to create an underwater cave like atmosphere. There is a sign that shows how sea water is actually filtered through the tanks down there and there is the sound of running water and everything is a little damp. The marine life on display was nothing to really write about. Star fish, eels, fish, and very active lobsters. The biggest fish was a grouper, and it was a big fish. The room is a circle that has the big grouper and lobster tanks in the middle and smaller tanks along the outer wall. A very different building.
This is another blurry photo of what the aquarium part actually looked like. It wasn’t all this well lit though so going around dark corners completely alone took some courage.
This is in one of the bigger tanks, and I just thought it was pretty.
This is a bigger tank too, but not so pretty. Eels are weird and this is the most I’ve seen in a confined space.
After the aquarium I decided to find the boat another way, and I got lost. Along the way though I found a place called Chicken Stories which is like a Popeye’s restaurant and asked a nice couple of Israel how to get back to the marina. Turn around and walk up that street, duh. I got a chicken strip meal to take with me and discovered a Starbucks and the Post Office on the way back.
This is Chicken Stories. Basically a fast food restaurant, but in Europe they generally don’t have fast food restaurants or fried chicken, so the novelty lies there.
The weather couldn’t have been better to get lost in. It was in the upper 70s, there was a sea breeze, and the sun was shining. It was great and I got recharged.
Once everyone saw I had found the friend chicken Mecca, that’s where Chuck and Judy decided to have their final meal in Greece. We said goodbye to them on Saturday and had a farewell lunch at McDonalds. I think they wanted to prepare for their trip back to the states. It was great having them on board and I was sad to see them go.
For anyone who would want a beer with their Big Mac, this is your chance. On all of the drink menus, McDonalds serves Heineken. There is also beer in vending machines all throughout Greece, but I didn’t have a chance to take a photo of that one.
Dad and I had our laundry done for only €6 a load to have washed and dried and spent the rest of the day cleaning and moving back into our separate spaces.
We had read about the night life in Rhodes and that night we decided to see if it was all it was hyped up to be. We left the boat at around 10:00pm and wandered around looking for the street of bars that was supposed to be in the Old Town walls. We found it and realized we were way underdressed. People were just starting to come out for the night, and they were all dressed up and looking fancy. It reminded me of Downtown Orlando in a lot of ways, same music coming out of the bars, same neon lights, and it seemed like a lot of the same people. We decided to get an ice cream and people watch for a little while.
The next day’s weather was less than desirable. It was rainy and a good day to just hangout inside and get some reading done. The rest of our stay there was pretty uneventful, until our encounter with customs.
The sign above this fruit stand says “No fruit, No sex”… I’m not quite sure who he is marketing to, but we noticed it.
Men’s underwear is pretty popular to put on display and it’s always slightly tight boxer briefs with fun designs. These stood out to Dad and I, what girl wouldn’t want to see her boyfriend or husband wearing tight underwear with chocolate cake on it?
Dad took this photo when we were walking around at sunset and I think it’s really cool and well done.
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