Rhodes Day 2 - Old Town

 After a wonderful breakfast and orientation from our host Patrick at Hotel Andreas, we decided to take a stroll around old town. This is the first time any of us have hung out in a medievial town. It is one of the oldest in existence in Europe. The streets are so tiny and yet small cars and scooters zoom around us. You can only have a car or scooter if you live in old town so it isn't too many.

Most of the streets are quiet in the morning and we watched as the tourist shops with souveniors set up their wares. The weather was pretty nice. We spent time catching up as we meandered. We haven't seen K&L since last October when we visited them in Barcelona. Now they live on a beach in a town outside of Barcelona.

There is a nice port along the outside of the walled city. We snapped some shots and then headed to the Archeological Museum. Here they had nice rooms, a peaceful garden, and even a house with Turkish-style rooms. The crowds were very light here so it was quiet and pleasant. Once we exited, we walked the Street of the Knights up to the Palace of the Grand Masters. This is basically the center of the old town. The Knights of St. John arrived in 1309 and built up all this stuff. The city is believed to have been built in 408 BC.

After the palace, we were starving so we headed to a restaurant recommended by Patrick at our hotel, Romeo's. We ordered a Greek platter, pita, pork slouvaki, butter beans, grilled octopus, grilled halumi, avocado salad, and it was all tasty. The grilled octopus is interesting because they let it dry outside on a clothes line in the sun before they grill it. It is not chewy at all. I enjoyed it! Romeo's also had the tastiest baklava, super tall, very light, and oozing with goodness.

After the refreshing lunch, we headed out of the walled city again to Mandraki Harbor where statues of a doe and stag sit on tall pedestals where some believe the feet of the Colossus of Rhodes stood.  On our way back into Old Town, we went in search of gelato. Earlier, we had come across a tiny truck and the guy was really nice so we went to find him. When we found him, a bride and groom were getting gelato and their pictures taken at the truck. It was very funny to watch them. Once they moved on, we ordered. I ordered melon, Alan mint chocolate chip, Laurel ordered strawberry and straichetella, and for the life of me, I can't remember what Kevin ordered.

After our sweet treat, we wandered some more. The Street of Knights was deserted, probably because all the tourists had to be back on their cruise ships. At one point we came across the smallest truck and some guys arguing. Turns out that you can understand a lot more about language and people if you just think about the context. The guys were arguing because the driver of the truck had hit the wall and made a mark about 1 inch wide by 3 inches long. The guy who lived at this particular section of the wall was really angry about it. Mind you, a mark is a mark but these walls have seen invasion and cannonballs, a ding from a truck is barely noticeable. We moved along and let them argue.

We wandered through more of Old Town and then trekked to the Acropolis of Rhodes. We left the quiet smallness of the walled city for the bustling activity of the new city. Buses, cars, and people were all around as we walked up and up. We finally reached the site and caught the end of a kids birthday party. How strange it must be to have your birthday in ruins from so long ago.

After watching the sun start to descend, we headed back and wandered around old town so more and then headed back to our hotel for refreshments before dinner. We had talked about pizza earlier in the day so it was on all of our minds. We asked our hotel for a recommendation for Greek pizza and then sent us to the Walk Inn. It was a hopping place and the music was very good (80s!). We had a Greek salad, a Neopolitan pizza, and much fun with our charming waitress. A great day with friends! I was so tired I can't even remember going to sleep.