Our sixth landing on the ORCA Saga Eastern Mediterranean Cruise was Rhodes, which was awarded World Heritage City status by UNESCO in 1988. The city is surrounded by four kilometres of well-preserved city walls.
We were making our final approach around seven to the unimaginatively named city of Rhodes: Rhodes is the main city on the island of Rhodes. This Greek island lies about ten miles South of the South East corner of the Turkish mainland
We were tied up by the time it was light. A number of the passengers were pleased to see the Blue Sapphire tied up on the adjacent mooring. These passengers had travelled on her when she was the Saga Sapphire, until she was sold in Autumn 20 when she was replaced by our ship, the Spirit of Adventure. Interesting as the Blue Sapphire was, I thought the closer quayside fortress was more interesting.
The Blue Sapphire and the quayside fort
The quayside fort was separate from the main city walls
The city walls continues around the far side of the harbour
The ship had cleared customs while we were having breakfast and we were free to go ashore for the day as soon as we were ready.
The wall of the harbour fort: These are two of fourteen ancient Windmills around the old harbour that were used to grind grain in the times of the Knights Hospitallers
The wall of the harbour fort looking towards the sea
It was good to see this lovely Dolphin statue on the quayside
Terry had been here in Sep 24 and he mentioned there was a park area just outside the city walls that had been worth a visit on that trip, as it had attracted a few migrants. I decided to take the big camera and see if there were any migrants this early in the year. Sadly, there weren't any migrants, but there were a few wintering Black Redstarts, Chiffchaffs and Chaffinches, as well as, a few expected Sardinian Warblers.
A final view of the harbour walls, before I headed off into the town
It was impressive how much of the original town walls had survived. All too often as fortresses go out of use, their stone get robbed and sold on as building material for local houses. Much of my neighbouring village of Corfe Castle is thought to be built on stone sold on after Corfe Castle was destroyed in the English Civil War. One piece was found in my neighbours farm house as he was extending it twenty years ago.
This site of an old church was just inside the city walls
There was a small park beyond the old church
Most of the streets inside the city walls were narrow and windy
This building must have been impressive given the signs of a vaulted ceiling
Just inside the main city walls
A good way to use the moat within the main city walls
The main city walls were impressive
Another view of the main city walls
Black Redstart: This Black Redstart wasn't very photogenic. I didn't try to get better photos, as the day was focused on enjoying the heritage, rather than photographing common Bird species
Further along the city walls, I saw three or four Hooded Crows getting very excited in the tops of some trees. Initially, I couldn't see what was exciting them, but assumed it was likely to be a Bird of Prey or an Owl. Moving a bit closer, I saw the trouble maker was a Steppe Buzzard that was perched in the tree. It endured the mobbing for several minutes, before it flew.
Hooded Crow: One of three or four Hooded Crows mobbing the Steppe Buzzard
Steppe Buzzard: Steppe Buzzards are the Eastern subspecies of Buzzards. This is the vulpinus subspecies which is one of two subspecies which are called Steppe Buzzards. They occur in the North Palearctic and winter to South Asia and Africa south of the Sahara. The other subspecies of Steppe Buzzard occurs from South Crimea & the Caucasus to North Iran
I carried on through the park outside the city walls until I reached St John's Gate. This was an impressive gate with a set of defences to help defend it.
St John's Gate: This bridge funnels any attackers into a narrow area where they could be killed by archers
Any attackers would be in the moat which are surrounded by high walls and overlapping fields of fire
Looking back on the inside of the first gatehouse: Under the gatehouse, there was a narrow twisty entrance which would have made it difficult to attack, as defenders could fight back without the risk of being shot by attacking archers, who couldn't get a good line of fire. Meanwhile the attackers would have been targets for the defenders, who were protected within the gatehouse. Originally, there would have been heavy portcullis and other defences which would have slowed down any attackers who had breached the first gatehouse. Finally, there was a second bridge and further defences around that
The sign shows how many historical sites lie within the city walls
Having passed through all the defences around the city walls, I was back in the narrow, twisty city streets. There were quite a few mopeds passing, which were the most effective transport option in this part of the old city. There were also a few cars, but they were all small Fiat 500 sized cars.
This was the road from the main gateway
Further along the same road
I carried on meandering through the old city.
Another old building near the Square of the Hebrew Martyrs: Rhodes didn't escape Jewish persecution during WW2 from the long established Jewish quarter of the city. Over sixteen hundred Jews deported to Auschwitz in 1944, with only around one hundred and fifty surviving
A Seahorse Fountain in the Square of the Hebrew Martyrs
Part of the walls surrounding the harbour
Next, I headed back to explore the harbour.
Hooded Crow: Finally, one decided to perform well for the camera
The Fortress of St Nicholas helps to guard the harbour: The inner tower was built between 1464 and 1467. It was extended after the siege of Rhodes in 1480
The harbour edge opposite the Fortress of St Nicholas
The Rhodes Windmills: These Windmills date to the era of the Knights Hospitallers and were used to grind grain brought into the harbour
Deer Status next to the Fortress of St Nicholas: This statue in on top of a pillar at the inner harbour entrance. It is one of the suggested locations for the Colossus of Rhodes, which was a thirty-three metre bronze statue built between 292 and 280 BC. There is a lot of speculation for the location of the Colossus by authors who lived many hundreds of years after the Colossus was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BC, but there is no real historical evidence as to its appearance
Yellow-legged Gulls: Adults. This is the nominate michahellis subspecies which occurs on the Macaronesian Islands & North West Africa East through the Mediterranean
Yellow-legged Gull: Adult. This individual allowed me to get a bit closer
After a good morning walking around Rhodes, I headed back to the Spirit of Adventure for lunch.
White Wagtail: White Wagtails are the nominate alba subspecies of Pied Wagtail. They occur from South East Greenland & Iceland to Faeroes, Europe (except the West coast of Europe adjacent to the UK), the South Urals & Asia Minor
White Wagtail: The same individual
After lunch, Terry, Lexie & I decided to return to explore more of the city. I will cover that in the next Blog Post.
