Rhodes Old City


October 4, 2018
Old Town Rhodes

Today was our first day with full energy, and we needed it all. 

Thursday is market day in the neighborhood just outside the Red Door Gate, and our inn is just inside that gate.  We walked over the moat on a modern bridge:




 We went to the streets just outside the old city, and found a temporary market with food, clothing, and whatever.  Here’s a view including a fishmonger (note the minimal use of ice):



We then walked through the old city to the St. Paul Gate, the entrance to the old city from the Mandraki Harbor:


From there we walked the long jetty on which there are three medieval windmills which remain of the dozen or more which were here.  They were used to power the grinding of the grain which arrived on commercial vessels.



The Colossus of Rhodes stood astride this harbor entrance (maybe).  Built from 294 to 282 B,C,E., it was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 B.C.E.  Nothing remains.  Although it's for sure the Colossus was real, the location is in dispute.

We then went to the totally stunning Museum of Archeology.  It is housed in the medieval Hospital of the Knights Hospitaller Order of Saint John and was built in the 1400s; the collection is wonderful, the signage is usually OK when it’s there, but some things are without labeling.  The main room of the hospital is enormous:



Along the walls there are coffin lids and sarcophagi of important people.  Here’s the Lion of St. Mark with the arms of the Crispi family from about 1400:



There is a Greek statue of Aphrodite which is spectacular.  She is in a Plexiglas case so photos are very difficult.  This one is from the internet:



There are many mosaic floors, some of which have been raised to vertical for presentation.  This one is a scene of the mythological hero  Bellerofon, on the winged horse Pegasus, in the act of killing the Chimera, an animal with a lion's head, a goat's body and a snake's tail. 



We spent hours in the museum, but couldn’t possibly do it justice.  After lunch we visited the Church of the Virgin of the Castle, dating from Byzantine times.  It has had many lives, including as a mosque during Ottoman rule:



There is an exhibit of Greek Orthodox iconography which, though small, was lovely.  Here’s a sanctuary door:



Dinner was in a lovely restaurant on a terrace overlooking the main square of the Old City.



Tomorrow we have arranged for a guide to take us through Jewish Rhodes including the very special synagogue.  More later.

Comments

  1. xctravelerOctober 5, 2018 at 8:31 AM

    Travel seems to be filled with more museums and galleries that really need more time than we have. Missing labels are especially hard unless you know the subject really well.

    ReplyDelete

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