Viking Cruises

A s far as ports go, it doesn't get much more romantic than Mandraki Harbour right at the foot of Rhodes' medieval quarter. I sweep the curtains of my veranda stateroom aside and gasp – literally gasp – when I first set eyes on it. Dawn's rosy fingers have pinked the sky and gilded the edges of the clouds above the port and the UNESCO- listed city centre, and the light-strewn Aegean twinkles like spilt glitter. Byzantine towers and stone walls coil from the water's edge, and a lone lighthouse stands proudly on a fifteenth-century fortress. It looks like something from another time period. It looks like something from a dream. Not all harbours are so charming. I'm on Viking's Ancient Mediterranean Treasures voyage – an eight-day, history-themed spin around the Aegean – and our ship, the Viking Sky, has just come from Athens and Crete, whose beauty and treasures lie beyond the harbour. After a day in Rhodes, the ship will go on to sail to Ephesus, Troy and Istanbul. But the sun-splashed island of Rhodes immediately steals my heart – even before I have a chance to set foot off the ship. As one of the world's only continuously inhabited medieval cities and as a one-time bastion for Christendom, the well-preserved old town of Rhodes (also called Rhodes' medieval city or medieval quarter) has objective, postcard-worthy appeal that only gets more remarkable with historical context. Born and raised on the island of Rhodes, Viking's on-the-ground guide Georgios has a knack for spinning stories and pointing out history hidden in plain sight. Rhodes is one of those handy destinations where you can simply stroll off the ship and be in the heart of the action; and in the short walk from the gangplank to the city walls, Georgios gives our small group a little overview of the island's long and lustrous heritage. According to Greek mythology, Rhodes is the birthplace of the king of the gods Zeus. (My love-at-first-sight response is immediately validated; I just knew there was something special about this place!) As the largest of the Dodecanese islands and the fourth largest island in Greece, Rhodes was also a one-time maritime power in the Hellenistic period; however, much of its legacy is connected with the Order of the Knights of Saint John, also called Knights Hospitaller and the Knights of Rhodes. The Knights ruled Rhodes from 1310 until 1522 when they were forced to depart after a successful six-month siege by the Ottomans. Later, the Knights would go on to set up their base on the island country of Malta, where they would eventually be known as the famed Knights of Malta. Georgios guides us into the sand-hued ramparts of the city, and the air immediately shifts once we're inside the city's walls – it's like you can taste the past on the fresh sea air. The city is a tangle of narrow lanes studded with wrought-iron lanterns P r e v i o u s p a g e T h e A c r o p o l i s o f R h o d e s T h i s p a g e W i n d m i l l s l i n e t h e c o a s t O p p o s i t e p a g e , c l o c k w i s e R h o d e s O l d To w n ; a p r e t t y a l l e y w a y ; t h e h a r b o u r f r o m t h e s t a t e r o o m v e r a n d a ; S t r e e t o f K n i g h t s ; a C r e t a n m a n i n t r a d i t i o n a l c l o t h e s viking.com 19

• Cover