It will be our pleasure to welcome you to Rhodes!
Discover Rhodes through our private tours and shore excursions and maximize your stay on the island. Let us drive you through the beauty of this magnificent island and share its history with you. All our tours are private and flexible and can be adjusted to the needs of any group. We can optimize your day so that you can see as many monuments as possible at your own pace.
Browse our Rhodes private tours and shore excursions and feel free to send us your comments and special requests. Our travel specialists can custom tailor our tours to match your interests or even create a totally new program just for you.
We create this tour for everyone who wants to see the main highlights of the island but who is also interested in its rich Jewish history and heritage.
Together with the highlights of Rhodes town and Lindos you’ll be able also to see the Jewish Quarter in the Old Town – La Juderia, the Square of the Martyred Jews, the Holocaust Memorial, the Kahal Shalom Synagogue and the Jewish Museum of Rhodes.
6 hours
All Year Round
We can start at any time which is convenient for your group
Your driver will meet you at the reception desk of your hotel or if you are coming on a cruise – at the pier, at the correct dock, with a sign on the car showing your name. We are licensed to get into the dockside and the car will be waiting for you just outside your ship.
We can easily add an extra hour for lunch at an outstanding traditional Greek tavern to relax and enjoy a fabulous lunch and local wines. Our drivers are very flexible to any change that you might want even during the tour itself.
Rhodes Jewish Tour + Lunch time – duration 7 hours
Our tour starts with visiting the Old Town of Rhodes and the Kahal Shalom Synagogue & the Jewish Museum of Rhodes which are situated on the same street inside the Old town.
The Kahal Shalom, also known as “Kehila Shalom”, is the oldest synagogue in Greece, and the only remaining Jewish synagogue on Rhodes used for services. The Synagogue was built in 1577 in the traditional Sephardic style indicative of the Jews’ ancestors. The Jews in Rhodes are primarily descendants of Jews who fled Spain during the Spanish inquisition. There is a reading table in the center and a women’s balcony that overlooks the lower room of the sanctuary where the men pray. The balcony was built in the 1930’s to replace the backrooms with small latticed barriers that women used to be allotted.
On the east side of the synagogue is a courtyard containing a plaque with an inscription of the founding date of the synagogue: Kislev, 5338 (1577). On the west side of the synagogue is a courtyard that until World War II held a library. Also on the west side is a plaque with the names of the families killed in the Holocaust. The eastern wall has a unique feature in that at either side of the central door there is an Ehal, a marble niche where the sacred books of the Torah are kept.
We will stop as close as possible as cars are not allowed to enter the Old town. Our driver will wait for you at the same place he left you.
Mandraki port is situated in the new part of the town where you will see some very impressive monumental buildings built by the Italians. Here at the harbor entrance is believed that once stood the great statue of the Colossus of Rhodes – one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World. We will stop for pictures of the area and you will be able also to enter and see the Church of the Annunciation which is the biggest Orthodox church in the town with very beautiful handmade paintings on the walls and spectacular chandeliers.
The Colossus of Rhodes was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the most ambitious and tallest statue( between 30 to 33 meters high) of the Hellenistic period. The statue was a depiction of the Greek Titan Helios and was meant to celebrate the victory over the Dimitrios the Besieger (ruler of Cyprus) in 305 BC. Bearing a striking resemblance to the Statue of Liberty in the United States, the Colossus of Rhodes stood for no more than 56 years when a strong earthquake destroyed it. In the seventh century A.D., the Arabs conquered Rhodes and broke the remains of the Colossus up into smaller pieces and sold it as scrap metal. Legend says it took 900 camels to carry away the pieces. A sad end for what must have been a majestic work of art.
Now we will continue through the city and see more of the great Italian architecture. We will stop for pictures also at the Northen tip of the island where the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas meet each other. Then we will drive to Monthe Smith Hill where you can enjoy exceptional panoramic views of the city and the seashore, and also visit the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, the impressive open-air ancient Stadium and the Amphitheatre.
Little before we reach the beautiful village of Lindos we will stop at a place for a panoramic view of the village together with its Acropolis on the top. Before the village we will also visit the picturesque St. Paul’s Bay. It is claimed that St Paul landed here in the year 51 AD to preach Christianity to the Rhodians. There is a small church built there after his name. We will make a stop for pictures to capture this stunning view.
You will have at least one hour stay to explore the village and to visit its famous Acropolis. The Acropolis in Lindos is the second most popular Acropolis in Greece after the Parthenon in Athens.
Upon request, during your tour, you can also have a stop at a pottery factory. You will be able to see how beautiful ceramics are made. Rhodes has a long history of pottery going back many centuries at least to the time of the ancient cities. Replicas of designs produced in those times are still been manufactured today together with new modern designs in a younger generation.
As we approach Rhodes on our way back we will stop at the Jewish cemetery – one of the best preserved in Europe which contains tombstones from the 1500’s to the present.
Those who lost their lives on Rhodes and many other Islands during the operations in the Dodecanese rest here. Here also lie 65 men who died on Cos, whose graves were moved into this cemetery from the small Cos War Cemetery which closed in July 1957. The headstones from Cos were re-erected over the new graves. The total number of burials in Rhodes War Cemetery is now 142. There are special memorials erected to those known to be buried in certain groups of graves, whose actual graves within these groups cannot be precisely identified. They bear the inscription ” Buried near this Spot”.
We will return back to the city of Rhodes and we can leave you directly to your hotel or ship or at any point of interest
Fantastic private shore excursion, would highly recommend !
What a wonderful day we had in Rhodes, thanks to our private shore excursion with this company. We are elderly and not good at walking and so the driver picked us up early and drove us into the old town so we could see it before it was closed to car traffic. This tour was Excellent in every way the driver spoke excellent English and was a delight to spend time with. the car was an immaculate Mercede sedan. This tour was tailored for us so we could see a great deal in just half a day and driving out into the countryside was a real plus. They took us to a private taverna overlooking a wonderful bay, not a commercial place with busloads of tourists. If you go to this beautiful island and want to do it right, then hire this company !
