Our World Travels...

Although we have visited many “medieval” towns throughout western Europe, none so far have compared to old town Rhodes. It is simply amazing. We felt like we were in the center of a castle, which in fact, we were. Rhodes Town was the headquarters and fortress of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, the last crusader knights. Many bloody battles and sieges were fought here against the Ottoman Turks. The castle finally fell in the 1500’s, but has been remarkably preserved. There are battlements everywhere, and the streets are made of the most elaboratly designed pebble-stone , not cobblestone, which is very interesting, but can hard on flip-flop clad feet. The knight's castle, city walls, and hospital are all still around and in good condition, making it a fabulous city to visit, deffinitly one of our favorites thus far. Because there are no direct ferries, and the roundabout way via boat takes almost 2 days, we flew from Crete to Rhodes, which was a bit of an adventure in itself, b...

The island of Crete is very large. So large, that we almost did not feel we were on an island. After the harrowing ferry ride, being on dry land was very welcome. We arrived late, and along with hordes of other backpackers, some headed in our direction, we caught the last bus at 11:30 PM, and arrived at our hostel shortly after 1 AM. We crashed, of course, and slept late the next day (we are on vacation, right?). We spent the next three days exploring the town and the local beach, as well as catching up on some much needed R&R time. We ate very well while on Crete, and our time here has perhaps been the most like a “traditional” honeymoon compared to the other places we have gone. Rethymno,(the city where we stayed) along with much of the rest of Crete, was built by the Venetians. In fact, there still is a huge Venetian “Fortezza” (fortress) at the north end of the city, near the harbor. The streets are windy and cobble-stoned, and the buildings have been designed with the ty...