Neighbourhood Rhodes, Greece
Cats in Rhodes Old Town
A medieval walled city built by crusader knights, with around seventy cats living around the castle, fed by a local who collects for them in summer so they survive the winter.
Where to find cats in Rhodes Old Town: The medieval old town of Rhodes, inside the walls, from the Palace of the Grand Master down to the harbour. When: Early morning and evening. April, May, October for the weather. Winter is when the cats need you, and nobody comes. Why here: Seventy cats inside a crusader fortress, and a local who spends the summer collecting so they eat in January.
The short version
- Where
- The medieval old town of Rhodes, inside the walls, from the Palace of the Grand Master down to the harbour
- When
- Early morning and evening. April, May, October for the weather. Winter is when the cats need you, and nobody comes
- How long
- Half a day inside the walls. The moat and the walls walk add two hours
- What it costs
- The old town is free. The palace and the walls walk have tickets. The cats live in the free part
- Why here
- Seventy cats inside a crusader fortress, and a local who spends the summer collecting so they eat in January
What to bring
- Euros for the tinThe people who feed the castle cats collect from visitors in summer to buy food for winter, when there are no visitors. That is the whole system.
- Dry food, if you mustThey are fed. A little at an existing spot is fine; a new pile on the Street of the Knights is not.
- Shoes for cobbles and stepsThe old town is pebble mosaic and medieval stairs. The moat walk is gravel and long.
- A cruise-free morningRhodes is a cruise port. Check the schedule and go early on the days the ships are in.
Why there are cats everywhere
Around seventy cats live around the castle, and one person makes sure they see the spring.
The old town of Rhodes is the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe, built by the Knights of St John over two centuries from 1309, walled, moated, and still lived in. Inside it is the Palace of the Grand Master, the Street of the Knights, a Turkish quarter, a Jewish quarter, and a great many cats in a great many sunny corners of stone.
The ones around the castle are the best known. A local resident feeds them and runs an Instagram account for them, and in summer collects donations from visitors, because the problem with a cat colony in a tourist town is winter: the visitors go, the scraps go, and cats that were fat in August are thin by February. The summer tin pays for the winter food. It is a small arrangement and it works.
Around it, the island’s charities, Rhodes Animal Welfare, Kalithea Cats and others, do the trap-neuter-return work that keeps the number a number the town can feed. The cats you meet on the Street of the Knights are mostly neutered, mostly known by name to somebody, and entirely used to a million visitors a year walking past.
The cats are on the walls, in the moat, in the courtyards of the inns of the knightly tongues, and asleep in the sun on steps that were worn smooth before Columbus sailed. Turn off Sokratous, the tourist street, and they are everywhere.
The walk
In through the harbour gate, up the tourist street, along the Street of the Knights to the palace, and out around the walls. Three hours, with the cats thickest at the top and quietest in the moat.
- From Rhodes airportBus or taxi to Rhodes town30 minFifteen kilometres. The bus stops by Mandraki; the taxi drops at a gate.
- From The cruise portWalk through the harbour gate5 minYou are already there. So is everyone else on the ship; go the opposite way to the guide.
- From LindosBus up the east coast90 minAn hour and a half. Lindos has its own cats on its own acropolis.
Mandraki harbour
The harbour outside the walls, with the three windmills and the deer on the columns where the Colossus is supposed to have stood. Cats on the quay in the morning, fed by the fishing boats. Then in through the gate.
By the walls. Confident, and entitled to be.Jon Gudorf Photography, CC BY-SA 2.0 Sokratous
The main tourist street through the old town, shops end to end. Not where the cats are; too many feet. Walk it once and turn off it at the first lane that looks quiet.
Off Sokratous. This is the town, and this is the cat.Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan, CC BY-SA 2.0 The Street of the Knights
The straight cobbled street of the inns of the knights, one for each language of the order, climbing to the palace. Cats in the courtyards and on the steps of the inns, out of the sun. The most photographed street on the island; be there before nine.
A resident, on the Street of the Knights. Younger than the street by about seven hundred years.INDALOMANIA, CC BY-SA 3.0 The Palace of the Grand Master
The castle at the top, rebuilt by the Italians in the 1930s. The castle cats live around it, in the gardens and on the walls: this is the colony the tin is for. Sit on the wall outside and they come.
Castle cat. One of the seventy.Jon Gudorf Photography, CC BY-SA 2.0 The Jewish quarter
Down the eastern side to the square of the Jewish Martyrs and the synagogue, the quietest part of the old town. Cats in the doorways and on the steps of houses that have been here since the knights.
The quiet end. The cats know it too.Hannes Grobe 19:07, 3 September 2006 (UTC), CC BY-SA 2.5
Same numbers as the list. Worth keeping open on your phone.
The cats you will meet
Around seventy around the castle and many more through the old town, Aegean cats of every colour, most neutered by the charities, all sun-warmed. Friendly on the Street of the Knights, thinner and shyer in winter when the visitors are gone.
Castle cats
Tabby and ginger, on the palace walls.
The named colony, fed daily, collected for in summer.
Inn cats
In the courtyards of the knights’ inns.
Shade and stone. They have the run of buildings built for crusaders.
Harbour cats
Leaner, on the quay at Mandraki.
Fed by the boats. Working, not posing.
Everybody says Rhodes is overrun with strays.
Actually The old town has a managed population that the charities neuter and locals feed. What it does have is a winter problem: when the visitors leave, so does the food, and that is why the summer donation tin exists. The cats are fine in July. Help them be fine in January.
How not to be the annoying one
- Give to the tin, or to Rhodes Animal Welfare. The winter is the whole problem and the summer visitors are the whole solution.
- Dry food only, at a spot where a cat is already fed. Nothing on the Street of the Knights.
- The inns are a museum and a working street. Quiet in the courtyards.
- On a cruise day, be inside the walls by eight or after five.
- Do not carry a kitten to the ferry. The charities rehome properly, with papers.
