Rhodes Town

May 14, 2012

We arrived in Rhodes in the early afternoon and caught a taxi to our lodging at the Saint Michael hotel in the historical city, just inside the fortified walls. Other than for a few roads at the margins the old city is completely pedestrianized, consisting of a warren of narrow cobblestone alleys radiating south from the waterfront. Unfortunately our taxi driver had never heard of our small hotel and dropped us off at the waterfront entrance rather than one right at our hotel. So, our introduction to this amazing city was an obnoxious trip uphill through the alleyways, carrying our panniers and dragging our suitcases over the cobblestones. Kabump; kabump; kabump; kabump.

Our hostess at Saint Michael was welcoming, and readily took on the complex problem of shipping our suitcases to Mytilini several hundred miles and several ferry connections away. I forget what this cost us - 50 euros sticks in my mind now - but mostly I remember how glad I was to have someone that understood the language and had the right connections to make arrangements for us.

Rhodes town is of course amazing, and even this early in the season was packed with tourists. It is a remarkable place to wander around, and even with the crowds we thouroughly enjoyed our exploration. We stayed here for two nights before leaving on our bikes to check out the rest of the island.

Fort Agios Nikolaos at the mouth of the harbor, and the alleged site of the Collossus

Cannonballs in the moat outside the city walls

Much of the old town consists of cobblestone alleyways such as this

The payoff for our coffee break at a tourist trap cafe

The view from our restaurant table in the modern town

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