I had been to Rhodes at least half a dozen times, sometimes spending just one day or less or the island, sometimes a few days more. During the high season, the Old Town is almost without exception overwhelmed with tourists from all over the world, and it is always difficult to really admire the Old Town of Rhodes with so many people walking around.
This winter I had the chance to spend an extended period of time in northern Greece, and I decided to book a cheap flight from Thessaloniki to Rhodes and have a look how things are like on the island in winter. It was a Sunday when I arrived, and the whole of Old Town was virtually deserted: I have never seen things like that before during my previous visits to Rhodes. All shops inside the Old Town were closed for renovation, the main street which was usually crowded with cafes, restaurants, and ice cream parlours were all out of action. In fact the whole old town was so quiet and empty, with no one in sight, it actually feels a bit eerie walking around the older parts of the town. Only the usual street cats still patrol the old quarters.
It is such a unique experience to be able to have the entire Old Town of Rhodes to myself. It is the first time I could take as many photos I like inside the Old town anywhere and anytime without having to wait for the throngs of tourists to pass through. The weather was still a bit chilly, but was already much better than the icy winter this year in Thessaloniki, and it feels really great to be able to walk around the harbour and look at the beautiful waters of the southern Aegean without having to shiver inside thick winter coats.
Of course, there is still a sizeable local population that lives, studies and works on the island throughout the year, so one can always find some places to shop, wine and dine. But without the tourist population, the whole place suddenly feels so 'un-Rhodes like'; perhaps I was already so used to seeing the Rhodes that is crammed with tourists, when it suddenly appears before me without all that fuss, it caught me by surprise and I did not know how to react.
The only sound that I heard on that afternoon inside Rhodes' Old Town was that caused by the occasional car that drove through the narrow cobblestone streets of the Old Quarters, and the prayer that came from the minarets of the several mosques situated inside the Old Town. There is still a minority Muslim population living on both Rhodes and Kos due to the fact that during the population exchange of 1923, the Dodecanses Islands were under Italian rule and its Muslim residents were thus exempted from the compulsory resettlement to Turkey. It was this unique cultural heritage of an Ottoman past blended with a Greco-Christian lifestyle with a slight touch of Italian flaire, that makes Rhodes stand out amongst other Greek islands.
Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
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