The coats of arms
Fleurs-de-lis and dates carved on the inns' fronts.
Bernard Gagnon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Julian Lupyan — CC0
A paved stone street climbing some six hundred metres from the harbour to the Palace of the Grand Master, and **the most completely preserved medieval street in Europe** — no signs, no shopfronts, no cabling, only honey-coloured sandstone on both sides. It was built by the **Knights Hospitaller** (the Knights of Saint John), who ruled Rhodes from 1309 to 1522 after leaving the Holy Land. The knights were divided into **"tongues"** according to their languages and homelands — France, Spain, Italy, England, Germany, Provence, Auvergne and Aragon — and each tongue had its own **inn** on this street, housing its knights. Those inns still stand, their frontages carrying the carved **coats of arms** of each country — French fleurs-de-lis, bishops' arms, dates. Walking it, you read a map of medieval Europe off the walls. ⚠ Note that what you see is **carefully restored**: the Italians rebuilt much of it in the 1930s during their rule of the island, on original foundations and with close documentation. The street is part of the **Old Town of Rhodes**, inscribed by UNESCO.
Fleurs-de-lis and dates carved on the inns' fronts.
The street ends at the Palace of the Grand Master.
No signs, no cables — as close as you get to a street of 1500.
Ippoton, Rhodes Old Town, 85100 Rhodes
The Archaeological Museum (Knights' Hospital)Rhodes' museum is a building before a collection: the Knights' New Hospital (1481 minute walk4.5
Panagia tou KastrouA large stone building near the Street of the Knights whose history sums up the 1 minute walk4.3
The Medieval City of RhodesRhodes' old town is Europe's largest inhabited medieval city: the Knights of St.2 minutes walk4.7
The Grand Master's Palace & Street of the KnightsThe Grand Master's Palace is the Knights' city's crown: a fortress within the fo3 minutes walk4.7
Hafiz Ahmed Agha LibraryA small Ottoman building with a stone frontage and a latticed window on **Sokrat3 minutes walk4.4The **Knights of Saint John** were a military order founded in Jerusalem in the eleventh century to care for sick pilgrims, which became a fighting force during the Crusades. After the fall of Acre in 1291 and the crusaders' expulsion from the East they moved to Cyprus, then took **Rhodes in 1309** and ruled it for **two hundred and thirteen years** as an independent state, fortifying it with enormous walls that withstood two Ottoman sieges before falling in **1522** to Suleiman the Magnificent. They then moved to **Malta** and became known as the Knights of Malta. Everything you see in the old town of Rhodes is their building.
**Before eight in the morning** — the only realistic answer. Rhodes old town depends on **cruise ships** that dock in the morning and unload thousands into a small city, and the Street of the Knights is the first stop on virtually every guided tour. Between ten and four it becomes a queue. ⚠ Check the day's **cruise schedule** — it is published — and plan around it. The alternative is **after sunset**, when the walls are lit with warm lamps and the town empties completely — far and away the loveliest time on this street.