The Greek island of Rhodes was our first of five stops in the country and what a difference from our last summer visit a couple of years ago. For one thing, there was no one here. Perhaps it was simply because it was Sunday morning, maybe because it’s still early in the season or maybe because of the sad state of the Greek economy, but Rhodes’ old town was practically deserted. As we left our floating hotel to go ashore there were literally no immigration or customs agents—zero. Just come on in.  In a way, this makes sense because once you’re here, where would you go? It’s an island for goodness sake. 

As we strolled along the Street of Knights, again no one.  Last time we visited, the street was filled with tourists. Likewise, nearby streets were empty, with the exception of some guy feeding the local cats, who outnumbered the visitors.

We went to the Palace of Grand Masters, where last time we moved cheek-to-jowl along with gobs of tourists. Today, it was essentially deserted, with not even security people to watch over the beautiful floor mosaics.

We had the place to ourselves. Our takeaway from this was that early April is a pretty good time to explore Rhodes without the crowds, but don’t tell anyone.