Rhodes is the largest and most populous island of the Dodecanese, a few miles off the Turkish coast. In myth it is named after the nymph Rhodos, bride of Helios the Sun god: the island is indeed among the sunniest in the Mediterranean. History has left layers from every age, from classical Greece to the Knights, the Ottomans and the Italians.
History in brief
- 408 BCThe three cities of Ialysos, Kamiros and Lindos jointly found the new city of Rhodes
- c. 280 BCThe Colossus of Helios, one of the Seven Wonders, is erected
- 226 BCAn earthquake topples the Colossus
- 1309The Knights of St John take the island
- 1522After a six-month siege Suleiman the Magnificent captures Rhodes
- 1912Italy occupies the Dodecanese during the Italo-Turkish War
- 1947The Dodecanese passes to Greece (formal union in 1948)
The Colossus, a bronze statue of Helios over 30 metres tall, stood for barely half a century; it did not straddle the harbour as the popular image has it, and its exact site is unknown. The Knights of St John, an order born in Jerusalem around a hospital, ruled the island for over two centuries and fortified it; after the Ottoman conquest of 1522 they moved to Malta. Almost four centuries of Ottoman rule followed.
Rhodes town
The medieval city, a UNESCO site since 1988, is enclosed by some 4 km of walls. Don't miss:
| Place | Why |
|---|---|
| Street of the Knights | Medieval street lined with the "inns" of the Order's different tongues |
| Palace of the Grand Master | Destroyed by an explosion in 1856 and rebuilt by the Italians in the 1930s, with mosaics brought from Kos |
| Knights' Hospital | Now the Archaeological Museum, with the Aphrodite of Rhodes |
| Suleiman Mosque and Turkish baths | Traces of the Ottoman period |
| Mandraki | The harbour with the stag and doe columns and the windmills |
| New town | Buildings of the Italian period: the Governor's Palace, the New Market, the theatre |
The island
Lindos, on the east coast, is a village of white houses below an acropolis with the temple of Athena Lindia and the Knights' walls; visit early in the morning. On the west coast lie the ruins of Kamiros, an ancient city whose layout survives almost intact, and the hill of Filerimos above Ialysos. In summer the Valley of the Butterflies (Petaloudes) hosts thousands of tiger moths drawn by the resin of the sweetgum trees. The Kallithea springs, built by the Italians in 1929, have been restored. At the southern tip Prasonisi is a strip of sand between two seas, one calm and one windswept, a kitesurfing paradise.
Beaches
The east coast is more sheltered and has the best beaches: Faliraki, Anthony Quinn, Tsambika, Agathi, Lindos and St Paul's Bay. The windy west coast suits windsurfing (Ixia, Ialysos).
Getting there
Diagoras airport has direct summer flights from many European cities and year-round flights from Athens. Ferries link Rhodes with Piraeus (about 13-17 hours) and the other Dodecanese islands, and fast boats run to Symi, Kos and Turkey.
See also Symi, Italians in Greece and Ottoman Greece.