Rhodes
 

We arrive on a cruise and have from 8 to 6 to see Rhodes. I know it is large and wonder what the best way to spend the day would be?

I just went on a cruise that went to Rhodes this last September. We spent the majority of our time walking around right outside of port - which is the old part of town. It was beautiful. I bought the majority of gifts to take home from here. There's the street of the knights, and aphrodite's temple (word to the wise, it's not much to look at-just some ruins-in fact, we walked right past it and didn't know it). My friend and I decided not to go to any beaches (we live in Southern California and have had our fair share) though I hear they're beautiful. A couple that we met on our cruise rented a car and went to the beach for the day, but they were from Alabama or something crazy and don't have the opportunity to just go to the beach when they want.
Word to the wise - don't, don't pay to go to the gold shop. If it's free and you really want to buy some jewelry-fine, but other than a couple of old pieces of jewelry in their museum, the jewelry is quite expensive and really not worth the time unless you have something specific in mind.
Walk through old town, find a nice place for a snack and maybe visit a beach if you don't live near a coast line.
Don't bother adventuring on foot outside of old town unless you want to be reminded of Tijuana, Mexico.

I stayed on Rodos for 5 days last summer. What are you interested in?

Thingorjus

PS That comment on the rest of Rodos looking like Tijuana is DAFT.

You get off of a cruise ship for a few hours and suddenly you know all about the island of Rodos???

Tourist.


Thingorjus

Sorry to hijack the thread - we are also going to Rhodes on a cruise. IF we want to go to a beach and NOT rent a car - how to best do that. Taxi? local bus? any suggestions for a specific beach not too far from the port. And if you want to know, we are from Atlanta and don't get to a beach very often.

Also, Wordsmith - if you are interested - on the roll call for my cruise there is some info about a taxi tour of Rhodes - I think it is a half day tour and costs 45E - if you want the specifics you can go to Cruisecritic.com - then the "Roll Call board for Oceania / Nautica - the May 12 cruise - Athens to Istanbul. You know there is a ports board on Cruisecritic? there might be additional info there on Rhodes.

hiya Wordsmith:

I noticed you were asking about sinagogas in Istanbul in another thread..therefore, I assume you might want to visit the old sinagoga in Rodos...it's walking distance from the port and the walk gives you a good feel for Old Rhodes. A very dear friend of ours was born there and her family emigrated a few months before the Occupation and eventual destruction of the 2000-person Jewish Community.

The only surviving sinagoga ("Shalom", restored in 1731)of the four that once stood in the walled quarter is on Symmiou Street, a little lane just off The Square of Maryrs .....when I was there in 1995, in that square a statue of a sea horse with a Star of David had been erected by the Greek government in memory of the eventually-murdered deportees.

Also, at the time, the lovely Madam Soulam (Auschwitz survivor) served as caretaker and she spoke an understandable English..she took us through the quite pretty sinagoga...she was one of the 40 Jews remaining at the time (30 of them survivors of the death camps to which they were deported)..a memorial plaque at its entrance, displays the names of those killed. If she is till there (I hope so) please tell her the writer and his wife from California send their greetings.

There is also a very well kept cemetery at the edge of the city...we took a cab there so i can't recall the exact directions.
The white crypts are all above ground, and there is a monument dedicated to the Jews of both Rodos and Kos who were victims of the holocaust. Very moving visit.

On the eve of WWII, there were 75,000 Jews in all of Greece...the majority in Salonica (Thessalonika)...60,000 perished in K-camps, 4,000 luckily emigrated to Palestine in time...today there are 6500 Jews in Greece.

Here are some very poor scanned pix of just a few sights in and around Rodos...the one of the yellow building with porticos and signs faces Martyrs Square and the sinagoga is only about 100 yards from there. (also a few Athens pics)

Have a safe, meaningful and educational journey to Turkey and Greece.

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/ScenesOfGreece#

Stu Tower (write if you wish, to
[email protected]

There is a beautiful beach out near the Aquarium of Rodos. You can take a taxi. You can also walk; it is not that far, maybe 20 minutes from where the cruise ships dock.

Thin

If you don't have much time there is a decent beach in the new town. The new town would be located, if you come off the cruise ship and the old town is in front of you, you would go to the right outside of the walls along the waterfront. A better beach is at Lindos but you would have to rent a car. There are other beaches along the coasts that you can get to by bus.

You can get to Lindos on a bus, of course you can... it lets you off on the highway and you walk down a sloping roadway to the town and beach. It's good to find out the schedule for the return busses. Otherwise, no biggie.

Thanks to all of you for your advice, especially to Tower. I am familiar with the terrible plight of the Jews of Salonika. It is one of the most poignant and horrific stories of WW II.

Please ignore the remark about Tiajuana, there's no comparison to that with Rhodes. BTW jello, look at a US map. Alabama is a coastal state so there's no reason a couple from Alabama would have no chance to go to the beach from home.

I was there for 4 days over New Years 2000 then I returned later that year. If you only have from 8 to 6, I would definitely visit the Old Town and the castle. And don't miss the harbor where it's believed the Colossus of Rhodes once stood. Ask anyone in town and they can tell you where to find the harbor.

I'm not a big shopper but I went nuts buying gold jewellry in Rhodes. I did my quite a bit of shopping around in both the Old Town and the New Town and I found many good deals. And once again, there's NOTHING wrong with venturing outside the Old Town!!

Thanks, PM. I just re-read jello's comments and I missed the part where she disparaged the gold jewellery on Rodos!

There is an ilias lalaounis shop in the Old Town and ilias lalaounis is one of the world's greatest goldsmiths. Jackie Onassis wore his jewellery. There is an ilias lalaounis on Rue St. Honore in Paris and also a shop on Madison Avenue in NYC. Hardly "not worth the time."

Jello's advice should be taken with a grain of salt.

Thin