After a quick lunch on the ship, we headed back into Rhodes for a tour of the city. We entered the walled city via St. Catherines gate and weren't prepared for what to see in this area. We didn't do our homework.

We wandered around the streets viewing ancient castle like buildings that were remnants of the Knights of St. John from the 14^thcentury. Apparently the knights were expelled from Palestine and settled in the Dodecanese and fortified this area and held control until 1522 when Suleyman the Magnificient finally defeated them with an army of 100,000 and the Knights were exiled to Malta.

Not knowing what we were about to see, we wandered aimlessly down the streets of Rhodes. There were many interesting shops, and fountains along the way.

Eventually we chanced upon the main castle building, the Archeological Museum, at the top of a steep long street leading to the water front. And fortunately there was some sort of holiday such that the admission fees were suspended for this day. We were able to tour the many different rooms with the various displays which the pictures below show. The first set shows some of the mosaic tiled floors that were present throughout the museum.
The next set of pictures illustrates some of the angel statues that adorned most of the rooms of the castle. Also prevalent in the rooms were displays of the ancient Gods such as Poseidon, and symbols from the time of the Knights of Saint John. Finally there were rooms that included ancient manuscripts and icons of the blessed virgin with the child Jesus.

After touring the upstairs and the downstairs, I met Remy eating ice cream. She brought me to the restaurant where I got myself one also. Then we made our way back down the street of the Knights and along the shore to the boat.

Back on the boat and off to Patmos. Before dinner, we celebrated mass in the theatre area of the boat. Sherri Weddle read Paul's we all have different gifts readings Click here for the Rhodes Reading.