Travel and Leisure

Discover a Worth Seeing Place – The Turkish Quarter in Old Town Rhodes, Greece

Tourists find the Rhodes Island very fascinating and attractive to explore. The centre of capital of the island is a well preserved ancient town bordered by medieval walls and gates. It is the old town of Rhodes on Rhodes Island that serves as a living museum and attracts many tourists for their Rhodes Holidays every year.

Old Town of Rhodes:

The old town architecture contains a mixture of several civilizations and cultures’ including the Turkish, medieval and Byzantine ones and it is therefore, one of the World’s Heritage sites in Rhodes Island declared by UNESCO.

This Medieval town of Rhodes is a distinctive place and contains some very impressive sites. The old town has been divided into three main parts: the Knights’ Quarter also known as Kollakio, Turkish Quarter and the Jewish Quarter.

The Old Town’s Kollakio is the place where majority of the medieval landmarks are situated. The Pyles or the nine main gates of Rhodes Old Town are used for entering the old town of Rhodes where you can experience the culture and living style of different nations including Turkish, Byzantine and Latin.

Therefore, when coming for Rhodes Holidays, visiting the Turkish Quarter is a must if you want to discover the historic treasures of old town.

Exploring the Turkish Quarter:

Innumerable Byzantine churches transformed into mosques in the west part of the old town makes the atmosphere of the place very oriental and you will also find small shops and stalls like the ones in old bazaars, the squares have vaulted houses since the front walls are embellished with arched bows and there is a fountain in almost every square.

From both the sides of the Socrates Street, narrow lanes take one right into the heart of the medieval town. You can reach the Turkish quarter by using the narrow road here called the Hippodamus Street. The 15th century’s Agia Paraskevi church is located on the right-hand side. Arhelaou Street is a narrow lane that you will reach when you go a little farther. Going farther leads one to the Arionos Square, the mosque of Sultan Mustafa and the Turkish Hamam.

Suleiman Mosque and the Hammam Baths:

The Turkish quarter is particularly dominated by the startling pink-domed Suleiman Mosque. Their Turkish legacies include the Turkish ‘Hammam’ baths that are still operated by the local municipals.

If you want to see the famous public baths and the mosque of Sultan Mustafa in Arionos square, you can take the street called Archelaou which is located behind the Suleiman mosque. These are the sacred Turkish baths (hammam) that have been fully restored.

Turkish library:

On the other end of Archelaou Street one can find the Turkish library. It was built by the Moslem Rhodian Ahmed Hafuz in 1794. Some great selections from the Turkish, Arab and Persian literature and documents can be found in the library. Amongst these manuscripts the important ones include

1. An anonymous chronicle of the 1522 siege
2. One richly ornamented Koran of 1412
3. One richly ornamented Koran of 1540

Kurmale-Medresse:

On the west side of the Suleiman Mosque is situated the Apollonion street that leads to the Byzantine-Gothic church of St. George. During Ottoman occupation this church was known with the name of Kurmale-Medresse which means the school with the date palm and was used as a medresse.

For memorable Rhodes Holidays we suggest that you avail all the entertainment and leisure opportunities as well as get a Aparthotel Rhodes, or one of the top Rhodes Town Hotels