Rhodes Old Town

The Jewish Quarter of Rhodes Old Town Is the Least Visited Section and Arguably the Most Important

Before 1944, around 1,700 Sephardic Jews lived in the Ovriaki quarter of the walled city – descendants of those expelled from Spain in 1492 who had lived here for 450 years. In 1944, the German occupation deported them to Auschwitz; fewer than 200 survived. The Kahal Shalom Synagogue (1577), the oldest functioning synagogue in Greece, is open in summer. Plateia ton Evreon Martiron (Square of the Jewish Martyrs) has a memorial. Walking through the largely empty buildings and quiet lanes carries a weight the more touristed sections of the city do not.

Rhodes Old Town is enclosed by 4 kilometres of medieval walls built by the Knights Hospitaller, the crusading military order that controlled the island from 1309 until the Ottoman conquest of 1522. The walls were durable enough that most of them still stand. UNESCO listed the site in 1988. The peculiarity of the Old Town is that it remained continuously inhabited through Ottoman rule, Greek independence, and Italian Fascist occupation (1912 to 1943), so it was never abandoned and never comprehensively rebuilt. What you walk through today is genuinely layered.

The Street of the Knights

The Street of the Knights (Ippoton) runs from the harbour to the Palace of the Grand Master and is one of the best-preserved medieval streets in Europe. Each building was the Inn (hostelry) of a different national grouping of Knights; the facades are largely 15th-century Crusader Gothic. Remarkably quiet even in summer compared to the tourist areas nearby.

Palace of the Grand Master

Built in the 14th century, blown up by an accidental gunpowder explosion in 1856, and rebuilt by the Italians in the 1930s as a summer residence for Mussolini (who never used it). The exterior is largely authentic; the interior is Italian-colonial with Roman floor mosaics relocated from Kos specifically to impress a dictator who did not come. Entry around EUR 8.

The Archaeological Museum

The museum occupies the medieval Hospital of the Knights, a beautiful 15th-century building. The collection includes the Aphrodite of Rhodes, a 1st-century BCE marble figure, and Hellenistic grave stelae. Better than most visitors expect; allow 90 minutes.

The Walls

A section between the D’Amboise Gate and Koskinou Gate can be walked on the rampart (entrance at the Grand Master Palace), giving views over the city rooflines. Free and almost no one does it.

Timing

July and August are overwhelming in the tourist sections, with cruise ships contributing thousands of additional day-visitors. May, June, September, and October are substantially better. October is excellent: most restaurants remain open, cruise ships taper off, and the light is exceptional.