Rhodes (Cats and Hospitallers)

It's fitting that Nick and I do a fact finding mission in the dead of winter. Winter has a wonderfully thinning effect on the crowds of tourists--as does exploring a city mostly before 10am. We had wandered through a significant portion of Rhodes’ old town before turning a corner and suddenly finding that all the shops had opened and there were people everywhere.

We visiting the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes (aka the Knights Hospitaller) as well as the Street of the Knights. The Hospitallers won Rhodes in 1309 AD (after being pushed out of Jerusalem and eventually ending at Cyprus, then they decided that Cypriot politics were a bit messy and they should leave rather than become hopelessly entangled. Funny how things stay the same over time.)

Cannon's view

The Courtyard.

It took us a little while to find our way in:

Alas, we didn’t do much research on the history before we left, and the Europeans do not believe in plaques--so I hadn't a clue that I was walking in the former home of the Knights Hospitaller--the only signs to be found read: “don’t walk on the mosaics” and “Children Must Be Held by the Hadn (sic)” (yes, engraved on a plaque: “Hadn”). Sometimes, though, those mosaics were in dreadfully inconvenient places:

The Street of the Knights:
Another attraction of Rhodes is that the Collossus, one of the 7 Ancient Wonders, once stood there. No one is really sure where since it fell over. Popular myth is that he straddled the entrance to the harbor, but I'm not sure about this because the statue fell in an earthquake--breaking at the knees and somehow toppling onto land...However, again, I knew none of this when I saw "the Feet of Colossus" on the map. I knew about the Colossus' existence, and that it had fallen, but maybe there were a couple toes left! We walked out the looooong breakwater to see all that remains:

A pair of ibex on what appeared to be cement pillars are a beautiful, but much less imposing, welcome to Rhodes. I was a bit disappointed. Then again, maybe the moral of the story is that Giant Feet turn into antelope when left in the sun too long.

And this is what I'm facing in the above picture: the Byzantine Ft. St. Nicholas. with a modern lighthouse on top.

It is guarded by a gaggle of cats--and there was a black cat that had taken up residence behind the portcalus.

There are tons of cats in Rhodes. I don't know why, but there seriously were dozens and dozens of them on the rocks. Someone had put catfood out, and of course there are fishermen around. Cats are much more pleasant to walk past than other wild things found in cities, so I was purfectly happy. *snicker*

We ate lunch with probably a dozen cats running around, 4 or 5 of which sat and patiently stared at us with Puss-in-Boots eyes.

No, kitty, you may not have our true-honest-to-goodness-Greek-gyros, sorry...

Rhodes was a beautiful city. We could have taken the tour to Lindos to see the famed Acropolis (you know, the one built so it plays with your eyes) but a ruin is a ruin. We got to wander through a living old town (we even had time to toddle through the residential part of old town) If you get a chance, study up on the rich history, then go to Rhodes: