Avenue of the Knights

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  • Address
    Ippoton, Old Town

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Lonely Planet review

An appropriate place to begin an exploration of the Old Town is the imposing cobblestone Avenue of the Knights where the knights lived. The knights were divided into seven 'tongues' or languages, according to their place of origin - England, France, Germany, Italy, Aragon, Auvergne and Provence - and each were responsible for protecting a section of the bastion. The Grand Master, who was in charge, lived in the palace, and each tongue was under the auspices of a bailiff.

To this day the street exudes a noble and forbidding aura, despite modern offices now occupying most of the inns. Its lofty buildings stretch in a 600m-long unbroken wall of honey-coloured stone blocks, and its flat façade is punctuated by huge doorways and arched windows.

First on the right, if you begin at the eastern end of the Ave of the Knights, is the 1519 Inn of the Order of the Tongue of Italy; next to it is the Palace of Villiers de l'sle Adam. Next along is the Inn of France, the most ornate and distinctive of all the inns. On the opposite side of the street is a wrought-iron gate in front of a Turkish garden.

Back on the right side is the Chapelle Française (Chapel of the Tongue of France), embellished with a statue of the Virgin and Child. Next door is the residence of the Chaplain of the Tongue of France. Across the alleyway is the Inn of Provence, with four coats of arms forming the shape of a cross, and opposite is the Inn of Spain.

On the right is the truly magnificent 14th-century Palace of the Grand Masters. It is now a museum, containing sculpture, mosaics taken from Kos by the Italians and antique furniture.

Housed in the old 15th-century knights' hospital is the archaeological museum. Its most famous exhibit is the exquisite Parian marble statuette, the Aphrodite of Rhodes, a 1st-century-BC adaptation of a Hellenistic statue. Less impressive to most is the 4th-century-BC Afroditi Thalassia in the next room. The Museum of the Decorative Arts, further north, houses a collection of artefacts from around the Dodecanese. A around €10 inclusive ticket covers all three of the above sites.