Continued from yesterday”¦ From the museum we headed over to the palace, and on the way we passed the living quarters for the knights. The Knights were grouped together according to the language they spoke, and each group resided in the same house. The houses are lined up one after another on a long street. The houses were built at different times, ranging from the early 1400’s to the early 1500’s. All have a similar exterior façade, though if you look carefully you can see nuances that make each a little different. All of the houses are now government administrative offices. We don’t know if you are allowed to go inside. We didn’t try. One door was open and we peeked in and saw a courtyard with a beautiful garden surrounded by a rectangular building, very similar in layout to the hospital. There are also some floor plans on the informational signs, and they are definitely bigger inside than they look outside.

The palace is at the end of the long street of housing. This is everything you expect a real medieval castle to be. Huge, imposing, grand, solid. Three stories high with even taller round towers in the corners. A jagged roofline with canons poking over the edge, ready to fire if necessary. Like the hospital, you enter into a room that leads out into a courtyard, and the building surrounds the courtyard on all sides. Inside the courtyard are several human statues in alcoves along the outer wall.

The inside is just as impressive as the outside. Large rooms with high ceilings, many of them vaulted. Grandiose staircases. Thick walls and doors. Intricate mosaic floors. The palace was built in the 14th century for the Grand Master, the person who was in charge of the entire organization. It was destroyed in 1856 when a forgotten store of gunpowder exploded. The Italians restored it with a lavish interior, intending it to be a vacation home for Mussolini and King Emmanuel III. Today it is a museum with a wide variety of exhibits, including sculptures, antique furniture, old manuscripts, old uniforms, ancient oriental vases, paintings of knights, models of buildings within the old city, a history of the island from the beginning until now, an outline of the Hippodamus city plan including pipes and drainage systems, and much more. It is an extensive collection and we were there for several hours. Here is a photo of a statue that we studied in school. You can see some of the mosaic work on the floor, as well as the colorful brickwork of the walls.

After we finished at the palace, we headed over to the Hora Quarter. There was a distinct change in atmosphere when we transitioned from the Knight area. The Knight area is somber and robust. The buildings within the hora are similar to the Venetian buildings we saw in Chania, generally two to three stories tall, blocky, adjoining, with a shop on the lower level and housing above. The architecture style is more eclectic, reflecting the styles of the different eras that the city has been in existence.

We passed the clock tower and the bright pink Mosque of Suleyman, which was built in 1522. Somewhere along the line the Hora Quarter turned into the Jewish Quarter, but we have no idea where that line was. The areas look much the same. As a side note, we find it funny there are only three quarters. The end of the city has the shell of a church devoted to the Virgin Mary built in the 14th century and destroyed during the Ottoman reign.

Part of the Hippodamian plan was to have straight, wide streets in something of a grid. You can see that plan clearly in the middle of city still today. As the city grew and expanded, lots of small little side streets and alleyways were built. Much like Santorini, we found half the fun to be poking around the back side streets rather than staying on the main roads. We followed several of these small roads to the edges of the city. The quality of the buildings along these side streets varies drastically. Some look like they need to be condemned, but usually the house right next to the run down house will be immaculately maintained. A resident actually chased us off of one block, telling us there was nothing to see, just houses. She must not have realized how interesting some people find houses. Here is a picture of a residential street. Christi

From there we got lunch, then exited the old city and walked around the harbor along the new city until it was time to get on the ferry. We also went over to the beach, which was jam packed. From what we saw, the new city’s architectural style is diverse. You can clearly tell what was built by the Ottomans, by the Fascists, and by the Greeks since all three styles are so different. We like the diversity. We think it gives the town a lot of character. Here are a couple examples of totally different buildings in close proximity to one another.

We took the slow ferry back, which was a 4 hour ride instead of 2. At first we were disappointed about the longer transit time, until we boarded the ferry and realized we were in luxury. Rather than the rows of tight seats with high arm rests like the catamaran, the slow ferries have couches and cushy recliners. We laid down on the couches and rested for the trip back. It was so nice. And, like the catamaran, it was a smooth ride. The slow ferry is definitely the way to travel.

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