Rhodes

On Monday, we took the first of what will be three day trips to different islands in the Aegean Sea.  Our first destination was Rhodes.  Taking ferries between the islands is very popular during the summer time and is a main method of travel between them. However, it's the off-season and the ferries are infrequent and take more time than we have to give.  Instead, we decided to stay in Athens and take day-trips with short flights back and forth.  This is working very well and we only need to take a backpack for the day and we can leave our luggage behind at the apartment.

Rhodes is both the name of the island and its main city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  From the entrance sign:

"The medieval city of Rhodes is a unique example of a particular medieval architectural style of the period of the Crusades that combines byzantine, french and spanish influences. With its frankish and ottoman buildings the medieval city of Rhodes is an important ensemble of traditional human settlement, characterized by successive and complex phenomena of acculturation. Its impact during the period of the Knights (1309-1522) affected Eastern Mediterranean basin at the end of the Middle Ages."

Wendy inside the moat

Rhodes was originally a walled-city, typical of the time period to protect against invaders.   The walls remain intact as they were originally, giving Rhodes the reputation as having the best-preserved ancient walls in the world.  The old town historic center remains within the walls as the modern city has long outgrown them.  We toured the Palace of the Grand Master, originally built in the 7th century as the citadel of the Byzantine fortress.  

At one end of Street of the Knights

There were a number of major modifications made in the 14th century.  The first floor collapsed from a nearby explosion in the 1800s and somewhat "arbitrary" reconstructions were begun in the 1930s. There were a number of mosaic tile floors still intact from the era of the original 7th century construction.

Besides visiting the old walled city, our other major activity on Rhodes was visiting the Acropolis in Lindos, about an hour southwest of the city of Rhodes.  The Lindos Acropolis dates back to 6th century BC when the first monument was erected -- the Temple of Athena.  The acropolis was used as a fortress by successive empires including the Byzantines and the Ottomans. We had to walk a steep path to access the top of the Acropolis -- the same path that has been used for centuries.   Looking down gave us sweeping views of sea.

The village of Lindos is virtually car-free, with the main central area completely pedestiran with narrow alleyways to navigate.  One of of the coolest things about Lindos were the many floors and sidewalks that were mosaics, but instead of tiles, they used sea rocks.

A great example of the sea rock mosaic

We were up at 4am and didn't get back to the apartment in Athens until 10pm.  A very long day, but also a very rewarding one.