Rhodes TODOTC.com To Do in the Twin Cities Trips Rhodes Date: May 14, 2025

Day 10 Rhodes: An INCREDIBLE day on the Aegean May 14, 2025 NCL Viva

Rhodes and Cyprus would be amazingly different. On our daily sheets we had nothing planned for Rhodes. I thought we had an Aphrodite temple and a clothing optional beach. Well after a bit of investigation this AM we determined that was planned for yesterday, but the dollar/Euro thing would have kept us from doing that anyway. Damn and I was so looking forward to a 5,000-year-old pile of rocks.

After actually LOOKING at our sheet for Rhodes we were going to walk around and Rhodes far from disappointing was possibly the pinnacle of our Med cruise. As much as Cyprus is anti-American Tourists, Rhodes celebrated us. The Rhodes does not look like there was just an air-strike. The place is clean, drivers aren’t honking and running on the sidewalk. Rhodes is a nice, clean place steeped in history. It was such a pleasure to be at a modern place where we felt safe and could see us living there.

Now I’m not saying anything I write, gets to NCL mission control. But unlike yesterday, when we got to the fourth floor to exit, there was a very nice NCL lady that asked us how we were doing and asked if we had any questions. It was the NCL we remember… Thanks! We told her we were going to just walk around and asked her if US Dollars were fine, and she said yes, and that Rhodes was safe place be back on-ship by 9PM. It was the cruise and NCL we expected and hoped for.

We checked through security with no issues. Downtown Rhodes was a few blocks within view. We started our tour by walking through a group of cab barkers. A few hundred yards later was a nicely dressed 40ish guy that asked if we desired a history tour for an hour or so of Rhodes. Something seemed right so I said tell me what you have. He had a three-ring showing us pictures. I said how much.  He said, it is not all about money, at which we almost walked away. I said: “That is where we start.” He said I have several options: 2,3,4 hours. I said, “how much for two hours?” We HATE long tours and 55 minutes is the adult attention span time anyway. He said $100 and hour for two hours. I said do you do dollars or credit card? He said Yes. But I have credit card fees. I said: How much fees? He said 10%. I said let’s do it.

He smiled and led us to an incredible looking Black Mercedes that looked like a Limo, very comfortable. I don’t do this often, but he was a great guy, approved and gave me his card. His name is Sevdalakia Manolis xouris145 at gmail dot com +30 697 7616 725 He charged us $264 on our credit card with tip for two hours which was a great tour.

I try to write the same day, so I forget very little, but his tour was so informative that is difficult to do. He started with and explanation of who ran this island for the past 5,000 years, the Med has amazing history. I am a student of history. One of the areas I enjoy, and I might thank Lucas and Spielberg was the Indiana Jones and the Great Knights and the societies of a few thousand years ago.

Do you know who invented the credit card? No, it was NOT George Visa. Back about a thousand years ago people traveled, some say vacationed in the Holy Land. Back then carrying money was not safe. So, the Christian Knights Templar set up a system where you could give the church in say London then take that money out of banks on the way because of the Knights Templar security escort to the holy land and the great accounting system they kept. You did not need to carry vast sums; the Knights Templar would ensure you had YOUR cash on the way. It was this system of money management that made the Knights Templar VERY RICH. And was also their downfall as royalty across Europe & Asia borrowed money from them and then had the Knights Templar inedibility exterminated when the royalty could not pay back their loans. Rhodes is smack dab in the middle of that trip to the holy land. Part of securing their/your money meant building forts to protect your/their cash on the way.

Going back even further Rhodes, because of its strategic position, harbor and tillable land became a very important trading port for early Greece as far back as 1000 BC. Rhodes was an integral part of the building of Hellenistic (Greek) society. Which was the precursor to Roman Society and the world and systems we use today. You might say Rhodes was the place where modern society started.

There are fourteen great places that are called the Wonders of the world. That is broken up in Seven ancient wonders of the world and seven modern. The seven Ancient wonders of the world include: the pyramids which we visited a few days ago, which is the only ancient wonder left. Also on the list is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Lighthouse of Alexandria where we were a few days ago and of the most famous The Colossus of Rhodes.  

The Colossus of Rhodes was a huge 33 meter, 108-foot-tall statue towering over the entrance of the port of Rhodes the base of which we could clearly see from the ship less than a mile away yesterday. Ships would enter the harbor by going under the statue’s legs. The statue was destroyed in 226 BC by an earthquake and never was rebuilt. Though several companies have made offers to the Greek government to rebuild the Colossus so far denied by the Greek government.

Sevdalakia our guide, said he enjoyed his job. But never so much as when he spends time with people, he drives on his tours that are knowledgeable of his country as I was. Not that everything I know is perfect, but it is pretty close. He stopped and we got pictures of the harbor and the base that is left.

After we got done touring the harbor we filled the rest of our two hours driving around Rhodes. We ask a lot of questions on tours. E my lady from South Dakota who grew up on a farm and is one of the best cooks I know asked about the cactus alongside the road. She asked if they were brought in just as the Palm trees our guide spoke of. Sevdalakia said those are not cactus those are wild Figs and spent five minutes talking about them. We had a jewel for a guide. Considering a few days earlier our guide knew nothing about the Library of Alexandria many considered the greatest library of all time created by Aristotle the teacher of Alexander The Great.

We continued to drive around the island and stopped at the Olympic Arena the last remaining Olympic site. It is still intact because it had no columns to fall with the area’s earthquakes.

From a high point on our trip Sevdalakia pointed out the brilliant wall of water where there was a clear line in the water where the darker Mediterranean Sea met the much lighter colored Aegean Sea.

Then Sevdalakia took us to the beach. I asked if it was clothing optional as our tour yesterday included. We were told all beaches in Greece were so. So, if that is what makes your day you can tour the beaches we will be seeing in the rest of the tour. But PLEASE, leave people alone and don’t photograph anyone. Other than the tightness and few pounds people all look the same. Yes, there were topless people at the beach, the guys could have lost a few pounds… lol

After that we were brought back to the ship parking lot and E said she did not want to shop so we returned to the crew at the Vibe Beach Club to find out what they discovered on this beautiful day in Rhodes, a place that delivered FAR MORE than we expected. What a beautiful place!

We ate at the Local Bar & Grill last night.

Contact us Dennis@ToDoTC.com