Rhodes

Legend has it that Apollo blessed this isle with sunshine and beauty. True to the myths, the "Island of Roses" is rich in magnificent scenery. The ancient city, built amphitheatrically before the port of the modern city, was built in 408 BC by Ippodamus. The roads were decorated with statues, the most beautiful being the statue of Ploutos. In the city stood magnificent temples, the most prominent being the temples of Helios and Isis. The magnificent church of the Annunciation stands next to the prefecture's premises at the center of Rhodes town. It was built in 1925 in three-aisled gothic basilica style and has unique frescoes by Fotis Kontoglou. It is a copy of the old church of the Knights of St John, which was destroyed in 1856. Today it is the town's cathedral.

In Lindos, high on a hill rises an ancient acropolis dedicated to the goddess Athena. It is situated at the island’s most northerly point and ringed by sea on the east and west. Rhodes (Rodos in Greek) gives the impression of having been untouched by the passage of time. Look down on the small harbor called St. Paul’s Harbor and the city where Rhodians maintain that St. Paul, the apostle preached, bringing many people into the new faith. You will also want to see the medieval Old Town, once home to the Crusading Knights of St. John.

The old town is a fairy-tale place surrounded by medieval walls and traversed by the Street of the Knights of St. John. White and black swans swim in the ponds, and thousands of birds sing. Millions of rare butterflies, which came from Himalayas, form clouds as they move over the Valley of the Butterflies.

The Knights organized a powerful commercial and military fleet. They built the Medieval City and fortified it with invincible walls. The Knights remained on the island for 213 years, until 1522, when the last Great Magistrate was forced to submit Rhodes to the Ottoman Sultan, Souleiman the Grand, after a strong resistance from the Knights and the locals, which lasted six months.

The mediaeval city is still surrounded by the high walls erected by the Knights. It is divided by an inner wall into two unequal parts, the smaller Collachio and the larger Burgo or Hora. Collachio is further split by the Street of the Knights, both of whose sides are lined with the somber stone facades of the Inns of the Tongues or nationalities that belonged to the order of the Knights Hospitalers of St John. At the end of the street stands the palace of the Grand Masters, which today houses a collection of 16th and 17th century furniture and Roman mosaic floors from Kos. The Hospital of the Knights, another of the town's most magnificent buildings, has been converted to the Archaeological Museum. Burgo/Hora lies to the south of Collachio: its walls once enclosed the humbler residences, the marketplace, the Synagogue and Jewish quarter Orthodox and Catholic churches, public buildings and army barracks.

During summer, there are cultural events of interest, while from April-October in the Palace of the Grand Magistrates and the Municipal Garden, one can attend a show of "Sound and Light" explaining the Ottoman Occupation of Rhodes in Greek, English, French, German and Swedish. At the theatre of Rhodes, there are daily performances by Greek Dance Groups, concerts of classical music and concerts of contemporary Greek composers, while at the Ancient Stadium; one can see performances of ancient drama. September is the time for the feast with the Dodecanesia dances, organized in open space, in the old city.