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Rhodes Dodecanese Guide Page 7

mosqueThe Turkish Quarter is south of Sokratous Street, with wooden balconies up over the street and stone arches, open shops and cafes. The atmosphere is still very Turkish. The Mustafa Mosque and the Mustafa Hamam/Turkish Bath are both on Platia Arionos in southwest part of Old Town. (Opens various hours; get a schedule;.90 euros). The bathhouse was built in 1558 and remodeled in 1765, when rooms were added for resting. Still heated by a ton of olive wood a day, it is an atmospheric place, with mosaic floors, marble fountains, and an ornate ceiling, and is divided into men's and women's sections

Mosque Ibrahim Pasha

Off of Sofokleous Street is the Ibrahim Pasha mosque (1531) in front of which executions were held. The Redjep Pasha Mosque (1588) which was once completely covered with Persian tiles, is near Omirou Street.

The Ottoman Library (Mon-Fri;7:30am-2:30pm and 6-9pm;Sat and Sun 8am-noon; no admission but suggested donation to custodian). Built in 1793, the library contains rare Persian and Arabian medieval manuscripts and illuminated copies of the Koran.

Odos Sokratous down from the Suleymaniye mosque, now a big tourist street, was once the center of the Ottoman bazaar.

Square of the Jewish Martyrs

The Platia ton Evreon Martyron/Square of the Jewish Martyrs was named to honor the large Jewish community of Rhodes almost completely wiped out by the Nazis during the summer of 1944. The one remaining synagogue of the four in Rhodes is to the south on Odos Simiou, and is called Kal Kadosh Shalom (open daily 10am-5pm;donation). This synagogue is maintained basically as a memorial to the 1800 Jews from Rhodes and Kos deported to the concentration camps from here, with plaques in French (the language of educated Ottoman period Jews in the Aegean). There's a museum in the back with photos of the Jewish community and its life on Rhodes and also in its widespread diaspora in both the United States and in Africa. The museum was set up by a Los Angeles attorney of Jewish Rhodian descent.

Our Lady of the Bourg was once the largest Catholic church on Rhodes, built by the Knights to commemorate their defeat of the Turks in 1480. It was hit by a British bomb during the war. Only ruins of this church remain.

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