Rhodes

Another beautiful day for an ass kicking!  

The day began early with a bus ride with our new found torture companions.  The first destination was to the ancient temple of Athena Polias located on the site of the Monastery of Filerimose where upon arriving, we were greeted by the residential peacocks.  We knew it was gonna be a rough day as soon as we saw the stairs….ours...specifically MY arch nemesis.

Up the stairs we go to the melodious serenade of the peacocks.  We made it to the top without holding up the line, I might add.  

This is still a functioning chapel but the monastery is no longer occupied.  The entire site has been rebuilt numerous time since the 3rd century bc with the tradition of reusing the existing stone. 

Here’s a picture looking down on the city.

After a short break, we loaded back on the bus to go down the hill.  Along the way, we got to see an ancient stadium where games were held.  If you look close, you can see the field and the stone seating.  I think the tour guide said it could hold 40k people and 12 games were held during the year. 

Next stop, the Palace of the Grand Master of the Kights of Rhodes. This is a medieval castle in the city of Rhodes built during the Byzantine Empire and is a UNESCO world heritage site. There are 3 waterless moats surrounding the castle.

Damn, more stairs

The castle houses beautiful mosaics which are not painted, each tile is a natural stone.

After viewing the castle we proceeded down this street where each building housed the knights from a specific country. 

At the bottom of the hill, our guide turned us loose in Old Town.  We found a local restaurant for some lunch and had pot roast on a bed of mashed potatoes.

We strolled through old town admiring all of the shops then headed back to the ship.  On the way we stopped to admire the view which I found to be a testament to human advancement. 

 A modern yacht docked by a portion of the medieval port.