The Medieval Town of Rhodes has been much visited and highly ranked, but not reviewed very often so far. I’ll give you a low down on the monuments, as I experienced them on my visit in early September 2022. Certainly, if you have just come from the quiet north of Greece as I did, you first have to get over the mass tourism of Rhodes. But I was out early on a Sunday so that I could explore the old town at my leisure. There is a lot to see, in a mishmash of different eras. For 10 EUR you can purchase a ‘special ticket’ that gives you entrance to the Archaeological Museum, the Grand Master's Palace and the church Panagia tou Kastrou.

City Walls To enter the old city of Rhodes, you have to defy the city walls that the Crusaders put up here. They took it seriously – I came through the Amboise gate and had to go through several layers of defense. Through a wooden gate, you eventually arrive at the Grand Master's Palace. In the early evening, I visited again, walking all the way around the city walls along the harbour, through the Bastion of St. Paul, to the Sea Gate.

Street of the Knights. Here the different countries represented under the Knights of Saint John had their seat. It is a 600 meter long dead straight street, overly restored. The coats of arms of the respective countries can still be seen on the facades of the mission posts. St. Trinity’s is the most decorated; it belonged to the English knights, and also was a small Catholic church.

The Archaeological Museum opens early, at 8 o'clock. It presents a good opportunity to take a look inside a typical building of the inner city of Rhodes: it used to be the knight's hospital. At the entrance, I saw many 'regular' tourists give up after reading the sign 'Archaeological museum' and the entrance fee of 6 EUR. But I spent almost an hour there. The collection focuses on prehistoric and ancient Greek and Roman finds from the island. Mosaics and sculptures predominate. The nice thing about the museum is that it is spread over different floors, inside and outside, and even through a garden. You’ll also pass through one large hall, where the connection with the Crusaders is re-established as the tombstones of many foreign knights are on display.

Wandering further through the city, two things actually stand out: the Ottoman and Italian influences. The Ottomans conquered Rhodes from the crusaders in 1522. During their time, churches were converted into mosques, and baths and original mosques were also added to the cityscape. The Retzep Pasa mosque has the prettiest setting at a quiet square, but it doesn’t seem to be well-maintained. Greece struggles a lot with its Ottoman heritage and rather would think it away.

The Italians in turn took over from the Ottomans in 1912. What you see around town are mainly Italian (fascist) reconstructions from the 1930s – Italy occupied the island between 1912 and 1945. When Rhodes was entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the “jury” was mainly dissatisfied with decorative elements such as fountains that the Italians added… Once I had read that I kept seeing these all over town!

The Italians have especially wreaked havoc in the Grand Master's Palace. This original knight's headquarters has been transformed into an Italian palace. It became a holiday residence for the Italian king and Mussolini. Its interior is quite boring, one empty room after another and no explanations of what they were used for.

Churches Near the palace is the Panagia tou Kastrou, a somewhat empty Byzantine church with the remains of a single original mural. It mostly houses a Byzantine icon collection now. At the end of the day, I arrived at the much-photographed remains of the Church of the Virgin of the Burgh. It was bombed in WWII and never rebuilt - it even seems that its ruined state makes it more appealing.