The Old Town of Rhodes: Europe’s Oldest Living Medieval City

Step through the walls of the Medieval Old Town of Rhodes and you enter the oldest continuously inhabited medieval city in Europe. One thing to know from the outset: it was never built on a grid — not even close. Around 200 streets and alleys wind through it, some without names, and getting pleasantly lost here is part of the experience rather than a problem.

Not a ruin — a living town

Don’t let the word “medieval” mislead you. Rather than a deserted historical site, you’ll find an intricate web of busy little commercial streets weaving between quiet alleys, in a place that has been lived in for two thousand years. Around 6,000 people still make their home here, working and living in the same buildings the Knights of St. John occupied six centuries ago. It’s little wonder the quarter has long been part of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage network. Whenever you need to find your bearings, ask for Sokratous street — the nearest thing the Old Town has to a main road.

What to see

The Palace of the Grand Master is the standout — restored by the Italians in 1940 after a century of abandonment, with an imposing entrance and beautifully preserved towers and battlements, its interiors rich with ornamental treasures. The Archaeological Museum occupies the Gothic building of the Knights’ Great Hospital, holding masterpieces and finds from ancient Ialysos and Kamiros. The famous Street of the Knights leads up to the palace, lined with the lodges of the Order. Also worth seeking out: the churches of Panagia tou Kastrou and Panagia tou Bourgou, the clocktower with its bird’s-eye view over the city, the synagogue, and the Suleyman and Recep Pasha mosques.

Old Town and New Town

Rhodes really offers two cities in one. The Old Town carries the atmosphere of the Knights of St. John and the Byzantine era, all medieval buildings and cobbled mazes; the New Town is the modern face, full of resorts and beaches. The Old Town fills with day-trippers and cruise passengers at peak times, so if you’d rather avoid the crowds, autumn is the ideal season to wander it at a gentler pace.

Walls, gates and quarters

The whole town is ringed by medieval walls, entered through a series of historic gates — among them the Marine Gate, the Gate of the Virgin Mary, d’Amboise Gate, St. Anthony Gate and the Gate of Liberty. Historically it divided into distinct quarters: the northern Collachio, home to the Grand Master’s palace; the southern Borgo, where commoners lived and where most of today’s cafés, bars and shops are found; and the more residential Jewish Quarter. Near the Gate of Liberty you can still see the remnants of a 3rd-century temple to Aphrodite, a quiet reminder of how many eras this single city has lived through.