[ Sept.2019 ] Because we arrived in Rhodes in Greece at night, we could not see the view of the town on the first day, but next morning, when I looked out of the window, the view lifted me up.
The cobbled street we had dragged our luggage on the night before was so pretty.
Our accommodation was located in the quiet area in the old town and we saw an old church nearby.
That was fine, but we had to find somewhere to have breakfast.
At the Mini Mart where we had got off the taxi the night before, there were some people, so we asked them.
Our accommodation this time was a house, which was very interesting, but the problem was that there were no receptionists and we could not get the information easily.
We walked to the centre of the old town and found that it was lively and touristy with many shops, restaurants and cafes.
We had our breakfast at a cafe with a big red parrot.
Sitting at the outside table, we had crepes and cappuccino.
The old town of Rhodes Town is listed as the World Heritage of Unesco.
The reason is that it is a well kept medieval town which was built by the Order of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem.
According to our guidebook, the Genoese admiral who had been ruling here sold Rhodes to the Knights in 1306.
Since then, for 3 years, the islanders fought against the Knights bravely but Rhodes came under the rule of the Knights of St John on the 15th May, 1309.
In 1522, Rhodes Town was under siege by Turkish force led by Suleyman I and the town gave in.
That was the end of the rule of the Knights of St John.
Our guidebook says that there was a disaffected knight called D’Amaral who told Turks the weak point of the castle and that was the cause of the defeat.
The traitor and his accomplices were put to death, but the Turks captured the town anyway.
The Knights had an agreement with Turks so that they could leave Rhodes safely with their possessions, but the ordinary people were suffered badly.
They were expelled from the old town and within the city wall, only Turks and Jews lived.
The Turkish rule lasted 390 years apparently.
Anyway, after breakfast we went out of the old town to see the blue sea and on a sudden impulse, we got on the hop-on-hop-off sightseeing bus from near the port where a huge cruise ship were moored.
And that was a wrong decision.
It cost as much as €12 per person, but it was completely full, the earphone was broken and the English explanation was on and off, and they did not stop where they should have stopped.
It was a waste of money.
We did not get off until it came back to just outside of the old town and pulled ourselves together and went to the tourist information office.
The information officer there was professional and we got quite a lot of information.
We should have come here first.
