After a ridiculously short flight of fifty minutes, I’m now on the island of Rhodes. This particular group of islands right off the coast of Turkey is known as the Dodecanese islands. Flying was a much better option than an eleven hour ferry. Rhodes is best known for its almost completely intact medieval old town. Most of what you see in Rhodes today was built by the Knights Hospitaller in the 14th century. It was a very important base of operations during the crusades.

The fortification walls, towers, and gates of the old town are spread over a surprisingly big area. The first landmark I saw was the St Paul’s Gate and I knew I was going to like this place. Out in the harbor is a fortification labeled as the Colossus of Rhodes. It was a giant statue of the sun god, Helios, and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The statue was probably located a bit inland, though, in a temple. Rhodes is also known as the Island of the Sun, even though I barely ever saw the sun during my time here.

The harbor area is kind of a middle ground between the old town and the downtown where all the hotels and restaurants are. There are a lot of these cool mosaics outside important buildings and some are just randomly on the sidewalk.

Below is the entrance to the harbor. The Colossus is in the background, and statues of deer mark either side. Rhodes apparently has its own breed of deer. Some say they were brought here by the crusaders and some say they’ve been here since ancient times, but either way, they’re status here is iconic. The harbor statues are one example, but their likeness is everywhere, including on signs and even the manhole covers in the street.

The medieval ruins aren’t limited to the walls. Walking through the old town is a bit of a time warp. Many of the old buildings are still standing. I also found the ancient ruins of a Temple of Aphrodite amongst them.

On the first day I was actually on my way to the Archeology Museum which happens to be right next to the Street of the Knights. This is where all the Knights Hospitaller lived during their crusades. They had to build this huge fortress, not only to protect themselves from the Ottomans who were just a few miles across the water, but also from the locals who didn’t really want them here. I’m glad I get to see this place in the winter with no people around. A few locals have told me that in the summer there are so many people you can barely walk.

At the end of the Street of the Knights is the big Knights Hospital, built in the 15th century and now home to Rhodes Archeology Museum. Those piles of canon balls are courtesy of the Ottomans. They’re all over the city. They mark the edges of walking paths, they’re incorporated into some of the building construction, and there are small piles of them… EVERYWHERE!

There was a small collection of mosaics that had been found in various places in the city, seen above. They all got moved here for safe keeping. And even though Rhodes is extremely heavy on medieval artifacts, there’s a fair amount of ancient Greek stuff as well. The Aphrodite statue below was found at the bottom of the sea off shore. It’s believed to be the main statue from the Temple of Aphrodite just down the street.

The pride of the museum is this other smaller statue of Aphrodite bathing, also found at the bottom of the sea, though it’s in much better condition than the other one.

At the other end of the Street of the Knights is the awesome Palace of the Grand Master. It was originally built in the 14th century on top of the ruins of the Temple of Helios. I read that this is where the Colossus statue was probably located (the temple, not the castle). Most of this was reconstructed in the 1940’s by Italians.

Walking around inside the rebuilt palace was really cool, but the best part for me was all of the mosaic floors imported from various sites in the Dodecanese Islands.

This mosaic below is thought to be a depiction of the competition between Athena and Poseidon for the patronage of Athens. Poseidon and Triton are on the left, a winged Nike in the middle, Athena on the right, and the woman reclining is a personification of Earth.

There are so many incredible gates and passageways into the old city. I walked through each one both ways. This place is really incredible!

In addition to walking around the town, there’s also a really great walking path along the mote. I saw a couple of people walking dogs here, but mostly I had the whole old town to myself. Now that it’s the off season, all the shops inside the walls are closed. I intended to just walk a short section of the mote because the rain was coming, but once I got down there I just couldn’t stop.

I walked the whole western half of the mote and then had to make my way back in the rain, but it was totally worth it. I went all the way to Spain’s Tower, in through the St Athanasios Gate, and then back through the middle of the town. Time for some food and to get dry.

At the northern and eastern end of the town I passed through the imposing Sea Gate for some more exploring. Eventually I found the eastern section of the mote and went for another stroll.

I ended this part of the walk at the famous St John’s Gate. It was just as impressive as the rest, but I have no idea why this is the famous one.

Inside the town I found another Rhodes landmark, the ruins of the Church of the Virgin Mary of the Burgh. It was also built by the Knights Hospitaller in the 14th century, but was abandoned and left to wither when the Ottomans arrived. It’s now pedestrianized, but for most of the 20th century there was a road right through the middle of it.

Hippocrates Square is usually the hub of activity in the old town, but in the middle of winter, it’s a ghost town. All the activity this time of year is centered around the cats hiding around the square hunting birds.

There are about a million little local car rental places in Rhodes. I had to call and wake them up first, but I did get a car for a couple of days to explore the rest of the island. There are a few archeological sites on Rhodes to explore. My first stop was the Acropolis of Lindos.

At the entrance was this carving of a ships prow, a monument to a local boy after a big naval victory. It’s apparently common, but I’ve never seen anything like this before.

Lindos was in it’s prime in the 8th century BC but had declined by the end of the 5th century BC. The story doesn’t end there though. They built a Temple of Athena in the 3rd century BC along with an impressive propylaia. Most of it is obviously been heavily restored, but it’s still a fun site to visit.

The fortifications of Lindos that you see in some of the pics were built much later in the 14th century by the Knights of St John to defend against the Ottoman invasions.

The little village of Lindos at the bottom of the hill was a pleasant place to wander around too. Every place has its own really ornate door and many have mosaic entryways. Here’s just a couple of them.

Finally, and also at the bottom of the hill I found the small 4th century BC Theatre of Lindos. It could hold around 2000 spectators. That’s the Acropolis up above it.

One of my random GPS scrolling finds was Asklipeiou Castle. I was making my way through the interior of the island anyway, so I figured why not. It was small, but impressive, and the views of the countryside were worth it.

After Asklipeiou while driving I spotted some deer. It was herd of about fifteen or so. This was before I learned about their importance to Rhodes, so I was extremely shocked to see deer on one of these islands. They were very shy and ran off almost as soon as I stopped, but I managed a few shots. In retrospect, I was probably very lucky to have seen them at all. Awesome!

The next official site I was after was Monolithos Castle. That’s it below on the left. It was built in the 15th century to provide clear views of the Mediterranean Sea and protect the island.

Historically, this is probably the most important castle in the island. Today, it’s not that impressive, but the views of the sea definitely still are. Beyond the peninsula, way off in the distance to the right is Chalki Island.

There were several great viewpoints along the coast. From this one I could see Chalki, Alimia, and Makri (closest to the shore) Islands. And let’s not forget that beautiful sunset.

The famous Temple of Athena at Ialysos has been overshadowed a bit by the Filerimos Monastery and about a million peacocks, but it was still a worthwhile stop.

From the viewpoint, that’s modern Ialysos directly below. Rhodes Town is way out at the tip of the island to the right.

The biggest archeological site on Rhodes is the ancient city of Kamiros. Kamiros, Ialysos, and Lindos were all in their prime from the early 7th century BC to the late 5th century BC. In 411BC, they banded together to form the state of Rhodes and made their capital the city of Rhodes, where it is today.

Most of ancient Kamiros is residential houses. But the best part was the giant cistern and the fountain area at the front. Basically, it was the town square.

A bit more impressive castle to visit was Kritinia Castle. Kritinia means “new Crete”. It was founded by people escaping the Ottoman rule on Crete in the 15th century. The castle was built in 1472 by the Venetians.

Once again, the views steal the show. That little island to the left is Tragousa. Makri, Alimia, and Chalki are all clumped together in the middle. And on the right you can just baaarely make out Tilos in the distance.

My last day in Rhodes I took a walk up to the ancient Rhodes Acropolis. This was all built after the three cities banded together in the late 5th century BC. The Odeon looks like it’s been restored quite a bit.

They also had their own Haleion Games every four years, honoring the sun god, Helios. The impressive stadium is right next to the Odeon.

The highlight was the remains of the Temple of Apollo. It would have been awesome to see it without all of that scaffolding, but it looked like it would definitely fall over without it. That big stone lower right is the base of a statue. You can tell because there are footprints in it. It’s one of the lesser known but very interesting things you see at some of these ancient sites.

Well, my planned final stop in Greece was to take a ferry to the Island of Kos. The wind and the rain really ramped up on my final day in Rhodes however. My ferry got canceled due to the weather, so I scrambled to book a morning flight instead with a quick connection in Athens. That flight to Athens got delayed for about twelve hours though, also due to the weather. So, I ended up spending an entire day watching Netflix in the Rhodes airport while the wind and rain raged outside. Good times! The airline offered to fly me to Kos the following day, but by then I wouldn’t have had any time to explore and the weather wasn’t expected to get any better anyway. I was worried I would get to Kos and not be able to leave and then miss my flight back home. So, I’m spending my last couple of nights decompressing in Athens instead. My otherwise phenomenal Greek adventure is now ending with a bit of a whimper. I’ll be back in a few months, until then, esca- later!