We didn't have anything planned apart from a walk around the Rhodes Old Town. We started early to beat the heat. The Old Town is inside a wall, the entrance right on the waters edge a mere 10 minute walk from our ship. The Old Town is very touristy, full of restaurants and stores selling clothing, jewellery and souvenirs none of which interested us (or so we thought, read on...).
We arrived in town a little early and watched all the shops opening up, carrying their wares outside, taking early deliveries from the many delivery vans and scooters. The day was already hot, so much for leaving early. We had no a map so followed our nose. We were told it's hard to get lost, yeah right! Inside the town we turned right and walked uphill the whole way and as luck would have it, we found a clock tower which for 5 euro each, we could enter and climb to the top. Bundled with this, a free drink in the cafe and free internet. Score! As we were early, we had the clock tower to ourselves, which is a good thing as there isn't much room inside and the staircase is very narrow. The climb was worth it as the views of the city were incredible. After that we had a juice each and Helen made use of the internet.
I liked wandering through the quiet streets away from the main tourist routes, where ordinary people still live in this incredibly old town. Here's a few pictures of the pretty lanes although some houses are in fact derelict.
We meandered back downhill via a different route, finding the Road Of The Knights.
At the bottom I located the Archaeological Museum which is apparently architecturally very interesting inside also. I went inside for a look around while Helen rested in the shade inside the entrance. I didn't spend long but indeed it is an interesting building especially the arches which hold the upper floor up.
Next we sat in the square and people watched. Some restaurants had noisy birds outside (as a way of attracting customers) which were most entertaining. The heat was building fast so we retired back to the ship, a 10-15 minute walk.
We enjoyed lunch on the ship (free and air conditioned) then decided to venture back into town. I had been storing up photos and copy for the blog, so we wanted to find WiFi to get them posted. You may have noticed I posted many at once, this is how it was done. We pretty much found the first comfortable restaurant with shade and WiFi and sat down. We ordered a drink each, mine being a Alfa beer. This restaurant serves beers in glass boots. I didn't fancy a 2 litre boot full of beer, so asked for a "pint". Instead I got a smaller boot, easily still over 1 litre worth. It was ice cold so suffice to say, I enjoyed my blogging session very much! Helen had a girly cocktail with fruit and umbrellas.
Straight across the road was a dress hanging in a shop that caught Helen's eye. So while I blogged, she went and purchased. She got a good deal.
Mission accomplished, we returned to the ship for a swim and generally relaxing for the evening. Later we took in a more formal meal and a music show to pass the evening.
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