Words to live by
Ionian Islands, Greece A cruising friend once gave us some very good advice. “Always remember, any docking...
Rhodes, Greece
We had heard horror stories about the Greek island of Rhodes, particularly the conditions for cruising boats in Rhodes Town. The word was that the main harbor of Mandraki is impossible to get into, as it is filled with tour boats and charter fleets. And when one could find an open space on the dock, the experience was chaotic, with crazy boat drivers and crossed anchors. There is talk of a new marina, but after years in the making, it has never been completed. And, according to sources, there is no place to anchor, cruise ships abound, and the island is “touristy.” Imagine that. “Don’t go there” was the advice we received.
But we needed to check into Greece, Rhodes was in the right location for our planned cruising path, and we wanted to see one of Greece’s most popular and most visited islands. So with a little research, we found a “super yacht” agent who was willing to help a little boat like Berkeley East. We’ve never used an agent before for fear of the associated expense, and they typically just want to work with “super yachts” which BE definitely is not. But we had recently heard about a yacht that did not follow procedure when clearing into Croatia and was scolded then charged a whopping 600 Euros per person; we figured using an agent might cost a bit more than we’re used to, but at least we’d be legal.
After an uneventful sail from Turkey, we arrived in Rhodes Town to two of the agent’s representatives at the harbor entrance smiling and waving us in. Two more caught our dock lines. Need a rental car? The agent had one delivered to the boat. Want a good restaurant? The agent got us into the best. So far it was painless, but we really had no idea how much this hospitality was going to cost us. We asked, but they never really answered. They took no money up front. They did, however, keep our boat papers.
It is rumored that one of the 7 wonders of the world, the 100′ bronze statue, Collosus, straddled the entrance of the harbor. Unfortunately no one knows for sure as the statue fell in the earthquake of 266 BC.
We put the fear of having to empty our bank account to pay the bill out of our minds and set out to see the island of Rhodes. The capital of the Dodecanese island group, Rhodes was part of both the Roman and Byzantine empires before being conquered and occupied by the Knights of St. John from 1306 to 1522. Ottoman and Italian rulers followed, which explained why sometimes it felt more Italian than Greek. We spent five days exploring the big, beautiful island, all the while keeping one step ahead of the cruise ships and tour buses.
The Old City of Rhodes is surrounded by 2 ½ miles of medieval walls with seven gates. The walls were built over 200 years and are 40-feet thick and surrounded by a moat that was 70 feet wide. The impressive Palace of the Grand Master is a medieval castle built in the early 14th century by the Knights of Saint John now houses medieval relics, ancient sculptures and mosaics. Unfortunately much of the beauty of the old city is masked by tourist shops and restaurants.
The Archaeological Museum is housed in the medieval Hospital of the Knights constructed in the mid 1400’s. The building itself was impressive, as was the Mosaic floors from the Hellenistic and Early Christian periods.
A central industry in Rhodes is their wine production, located mainly in the mountaintop village of Embonas, in the shadow of Mount Attavyros. Here, several small family wineries produce some excellent wines. Most of them labeled the bottles as we bought them. At one, they actually filled the bottles from the tanks after the purchase.
There is a beautiful monastery at the top of Filerimos hill, originally built in the 14th century and then rebuilt in the 1920’s by the Italians, after being destroyed by the invading Ottoman’s in 1876.
Ancient Kamiros on the north-western shore of Rhodes, runs dramatically down to a cliff that overhangs the Aegean sea.
Only the shell of Kritnia castle, built by the Knights in the 16th century, survives today. It sits atop a hill, with a breathtaking view of the Aegean Sea and the island of Chalki . Unfortunately our selfie blocks the breathtaking view.
Spectacular Lindos is so popular, we passed numerous buses at the entrance but by the time we found a place to park, the town was quiet (you gotta love cruise ships and tour buses with their quick-moving schedules). Some time at Pallas Beach, a walk to the Crusader castle and acropolis, a wander through the winding lanes of the town, lunch at a real Italian restaurant; a perfect afternoon.
And we thought our neighbors in North Carolina had a lot of cats!
During our time in Mandraki Harbor, we saw boats come and go, next to us and across the harbor, without any of the bedlam that had been described. Was it because we were on the inside of the harbor where the agent secures their boats, or were we just lucky? We’ll never know.
When it came time to leave, we nervously went to pay our bill. And to our surprise, the agent’s fee, along with the charges to enter Greece, five-days dockage, plus electricity and water were far less combined than we have paid many other places for the dockage alone. And they took our credit card! Perfecto!
We asked for assistance leaving the dock and two smiling men arrived on scooters, threw off the lines then raced around to the harbor entrance to wave goodbye. BE is not a super yacht, but on Rhodes she certainly was treated like one.
Previous Comments
Vanessa
Ok- I was going to Turkey until I saw the cat photo.
the Follower
Was that a selfie stick? Thank goodness you bought a drone and don’t have to do that anymore!