The medieval city of the Knights — cobblestones, crusader walls, and Aegean sun
Rhodes Town contains the most complete medieval walled city in the world — four kilometres of 7m-thick crusader walls enclosing an entire functioning neighbourhood of cobblestone lanes, Gothic chapels, Ottoman mosques, Byzantine churches, and Jewish synagogues layered 2,400 years deep. The Street of the Knights is the best-preserved medieval street in Europe, and the Grand Master's Palace has been restored to its 14th-century grandeur. Outside the walls, the modern city is a Greek seaside resort with ouzo and fresh octopus.
Rhodes was controlled by the Knights Hospitaller from 1309 to 1522, who built the fortifications that still stand. After the Ottoman siege of 1522, Suleiman the Magnificent expelled the Knights, converted the churches to mosques, and ruled for 390 years. Italian colonization followed (1912–1943), adding fascist-era buildings to the mix, then German and British occupation, before union with Greece in 1947. The Old Town has been UNESCO-listed since 1988.