Street of the Knights in Rhodes
The wonderful Street of the Knights in Rhodos, is the ancient road that connects the Hospital of the Knights of Saint John (the current Archaeological Museum), ending at the majestic Saint Catherine adjacent to the Grand Master Palace.
Odos Ippoton as they say in Greek, is the heart of the old town of Rhodes. Ancient noble palaces of the Ottoman period accompany it during the journey. However, the name comes from the many inns of the Knights of the Order of St. John or also called Knights of Rhodes who once occupied this street as, refreshment points on the return from the Crusades and also as accommodation for pilgrims who passed through Jerusalem to reach Rhodes. Two hundred meters long and six meters wide, it is a straight and narrow road with a small slope made up of cat-pebbles. The architectural style is purely Gothic and to the present day of the seven buildings that represented seven nations and seven languages (Auvergne, Provence, France, Aragon, Germany, England and Italy) only four remain.
Declared together with the old city since 1988 as a Unesco World Heritage Site, the ancient inns have now been transformed into consulates and offices of foreign embassies, and each one is recognizable by its own coats of arms on the facades. The largest of France on the right is recognized by the inscription dated 1492 dedicated to Emery D'Amboise Grand Prior of France and Grand Master from 1503 to 1512. The roof is bordered by crocodile heads in honor of Grand Master Dieudonnè de Gozon who killed a specimen who escaped from an Egyptian ship terrorizing the city. Also on the right, the Italian Embassy built in 1519 by the architect and Grand Master Fabrizio del Carrette with the armed emblem in the center. On the left instead we find the Embassy of Spain with a meeting room of about one hundred and fifty square meters and the Spanish coat of arms, and finally connected by an arch bridge to the inn of Provence.
A testimony still intact and present that will bring you back to the dark times of the Middle Ages.