Category: Seafood

Energized after a cup of espresso, we decided to take a walk outside the imposing wall of the old town. The walk took us through the area called the "New Town". During Ottoman rule, the Greeks who didn't leave with the Knights of St. John were not allowed to live within the city walls, this is where the New Town sprouted. It looks like a fairly modern European town, skinny streets, lots of shops, banks, etc.

Still, there's quite a bit to see out here. This is the Mourad Reis Mosque and the old Turkish Cemetery,

There's an area called the New Agora, which I'll cover in another post. There's also Mandraki Harbor.

The passage into the harbor is guarded by the Tower of Saint Nicholas and the "Platoni", bronze statues of a Platoni deer stag and doe.

Platoni deer are one of symbols of Rhodes. But this spot has a larger historic significance. It is claimed that the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, once straddled the entrance to the harbor. Sadly, it was destroyed in an earthquake in 226 B.C. Still, it's probably better not to have any trace and leave things to the imagination then to have mere fragments of a column in an empty field like what is left of the Temple of Artemis.

We walked past the Temple of Virgin Mary's Annuciation…..

Past the commercial harbor and through the massive Thalassini Gate.

It's quite an imposing sight. It looks so imposing, that it's hard to imagine the old town being over-run and conquered.

By this time, the bright Mediterranean sun was getting to me and I was getting hungry. We decided to try out a place that Chris, from the Hotel Saint Michel recommended to us called Alexis 4 Seasons.

There's indoor seating on the second floor and a nice peaceful courtyard in the rear. Which seemed like a great place to escape all the noise and bustle of the street outside.

The menu was seafood based which made us happy……

We settled in with our wine and bread to get off to a nice relaxing lunch…..

At which time a large party of Taiwanese tourists on a "tour" from a cruise ship came in. Loud, demanding, and argumentative, this party of 12 just killed the atmosphere. Our Server, a really funny guy, saw the look on our face, and told us, "do not worry, they want to eat as cheap and fast as possible, and be gone in 20 minutes!" The one amusing thing was that the kind of eccentric woman with the tripod and camera I described in my previous post was part of this group. Even with all these folks she knew, some of which were possibly her relatives; she still insisted on placing that dinky little tripod on the ground turning on the timer, running into position, assume a pose, then "click" the photo would be taken. She did this about 6 times during the meal….never once did she ask someone in her party to take a photo, no……she needed that tripod, even when asking others to take a photo with her! I guess she trusted that tripod more than anyone else! Still, this group had nothing on the Russian tour that pushed everyone aside to get to the front of the line in Cappadocia, nor the Koreans who walked in front of all the folks trying to take photos in Selcuk, or the worst, the Chinese tour who pushed their way to the front of the line at Saint Peter's Basilica, then tried to force their way past the guard at the metal detector. Then there was the whiney German tourist who demanded free drinks because the bus from Halong Bay back to Hanoi was taking longer than it should.

Things started with a fairly routine roasted pepper and eggplant dish.

Ditto the salad….

Then it got really interesting. I decided to order something called the "Deep Blue Plate", the description of which was "mix local shell food".

 I'm so glad I ordered this. There was seaweed, of course, nice but nothing really special. Then there's the collection of various limpets, sea snails and such, some of which were really tasty; the flavor of the Mediterranean condensed into a single bite. Loved the various textures, some soft and buttery, other chewy like abalone. I looked at a piece…..and it looked like opihi and even tasted like a milder version of it. There were some very briney barnacles as well. By now the tour groups had indeed left, to the relief of the three tables of customers in the place. I realize that having tour groups keeps these places in business, but man, that was painful.

We love octopus around the Greek Islands and our Server recommended the grilled octopus and calamari with squid ink pasta.

 The octopus was a bit more chewy than I prefer. Perhaps the fantastic stuff we had at Vasiliko in Chania has kind of ruined me. The calamari was excellent quite tender, with a nice smokey, grilled flavor. The pasta was meh, al dente, but under seasoned.

We also had the mussels with white wine.

The mussels were decent, it was perhaps a bit under-seasoned for my taste. These were small, but quite tender…there are time I prefer the smaller mussels because they tend to have more flavor, but this was like something I'd make at home.

There was one item on the menu that I delighted to see. I'd come to really enjoy Raki during our time in Crete. I saw it by what the rest of Greece calls it Tsikoudia. It was the perfect way to end my meal.

 The meal was decent, but not outstanding. The service was nice, but at over 70 Euros (over $100 at that time) for lunch in Rhodes, I expected a bit more.

Alexis 4 Seasons
Aristotelous 33
Rhodes Town, Greece

Still, we were full, the sun was shining brightly, Rhodes Town was in full tourist swing….it was time for a nap.

*** Nothing but a cup of coffee in this one. We'll have a new post with more food tomorrow.

Compared to the busy and buzzing late mornings and afternoons, the walled Old Town of Rhodes seemed quite tranquil and relaxed in the morning. The Mediterranean sun shone brightly on the streets even at 7 am! Busy Ippokratous Square seemed downright tranquil.

The Kastellania Fountain is one of the Old Town's landmark as is the usually packed Kastellania Stairs, which date back to 1507, which used to lead up to, duh, Kastellania Palace.

Walking around Rhodes Town during this time of day you're able to see the usual tourist filled town in a new light (no pun intended).

Walking within the rather formidable walls of the old town, you start understanding the history and importance of this medieval city, once the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The commercial and strategic location of Rhodes means a long and colorful history as well as the island was in turn ruled by the Greeks, Roman, Isaurians, Arabs, Genoese, Ottoman, Italians, finally back to the Greeks. None of these captured my imagination more than the Knights of St John and no walk created more drama for me than an early morning wander up the Street of the Knights. This was where the Knights lived, you can find the "Inn of France", the "Inn of Italy" and so on. The Knights were divided into eight "tongues" – Aragon, Auvergne, Castile, England, France, Germany, Italy, and Provence. Each had their role and a "gate" of the city for which they held responsibility.

The road originally led up from the harbour to the Palace of the Grand Masters, an impressive structure. You can almost imagine knights on horseback galloping out the gates.

It is so large that I had a hard time trying to fit it in a single photo. This castle like structure was built in the 14th century on the site of an ancient temple to the god Helios. This was where the Grand Master of the order of the Knight Hospitaller lived. When the Ottomans defeated the Knights it became a prison and storage for ammunition. This lead to the event called the "Great Gunpowder Explosion of 1856", when lightning triggered an explosion which basically demolished the structure. When the Italians took over Rhodes, they rebuilt the palace, which became a vacation residence for Mussolini. There's actually a plaque near the entrance with Mussolini on it….sort of "Mussolini slept here" I guess. I took a photo but it didn't come out.

The photo that did come out was of the rather grand stairway in the palace.

I was told that most of what is located in the "museum" does not reflect the "Knights", rather the mosaics and art were taken from Kos and were brought here by the Italians as was the antique furniture.

Still, the place is quite an impressive site.

So what happened to the Knight of St John after their defeat at the hands of the Ottoman Turks? Well, the Knights, badly outnumbered made a spirited defense, so it is thought that Suleiman the Magnificent, allowed them to ransom themselves and leave Rhodes. Where did they go? Well, take a look to the right and I'm sure you'll figure it out. This simple display also served as inspiration for one of the stops in our most recent vacation.

We left the palace and just a short walk down the street you can see one of the remnants of the Ottoman occupation.

The Suleyman Mosque. This was also where we first saw this rather eccentric tourist. She was a very thin Taiwanese woman, who looked to be in her mid forties. She carried this really dinky looking mini-tripod with a camera attached. Every few steps she'd place the tripod on the ground and click a button and run up the steps do a "pose" just before the camera and flash went off. A couple yards later….she'd do the same thing. The Missus and I walked past her just cracking up. We just had to get out of there, so we ducked out St George's gate. As we exited the Old Town we walked over the area that must have been the former moat. It had been replaced by a nice green area.

We wandered around the "New Town" a bit. Through some of the shops and markets, just getting a feel for the area. Man, I was running low on gas, so the Missus suggested we get a cup of espresso.

Not as good as Tunisia, but it did the trick. I was ready to head on back out in the sun drenched streets of Rhodes Town.

Thanks for reading!