Visiting the Old Town of Rhodes is like a trip into history. Excavations of antique Greek and Roman relicts are just beside or even within the in the 14 century built St. John’s fortress, that reminds of the days of medieval crusades. Scientists praise the huge Fortress as the best preserved throughout Greece. Extremely impressive is the massive city wall that shelters a lively Historic Town.
In the New Town close to the Mandraki Harbour you can find numerous buildings from the time of Italian Colonialism. Just a handful mosques and minarets remind of 400 hundred years of Ottoman ruling between 1522 and 1912. A visit of the Historic Town with its winding streets and alleys is a must for every visitor. In the small commercial streets with shops of all kind you can also find cafes, taverns and restaurants with shady backyards.
Rhodes Old Town
Off the most famous shopping street (Sokrates street and surroundings) it looks as time had come to a standstill. You can discover something new, small places, refurbished little design-hotels, excavations from the Roman and Greek period, remains of Turkish occupation and so on.
We particularly recommend a visit of the Grandmaster Palace and the Archaeological Museum as well as a walk through the Turkish and Jewish Quarters and the Historic District of Knights Housing.
the new town
Modern stores, restaurants and pub
In the New Town there are many modern stores. Directly adjacent to the Mandraki Harbour you will find the New Market (the white rounded building) with restaurants, fast food stalls and many small shops. Just behind the New Market there is the main bus station and a few yards further you enter the "bar street".
The New Market opposite the Mandraki Harbour
the colossus of rhodes
The short-lived Wonder of the World or just Greek myth?
Allegedly the 35 meter high Colossus of Rhodes stood with straddles legs above the Mandraki harbours entrance. It is supposed to be built in the third century B.C. and was already 227 B.C destroyed by an earthquake.
The Colossus of Rhodes
the rhodian maritime law
Good to know
Located between Asia Minor, Africa, Italy and the Greek mainland Rhodes was up to its destruction by Cassius in 42 A.D. a very important trading centre and a reputable naval power of the ancient world. The Rhodian maritime law was widely accepted at that time. Parts of it are said to be transferred into Venetian maritime law.
