Rhodes, Greece

Monday morning I checked in to see the doctor in the medical clinic on ship as I had a very bad cough and was not feeling well. Turns out it was just a cough bordering on bronchitis so they gave me an antibiotic and I did 4 breathing treatments over two days and I am now feeling much better!

Following a full day at sea on Monday, we pulled into the port at Rhodes, Greece around noon. The weather has not improved much as it is still in the mid-60's and very, very windy. The island is over 1000 sq. meters in area and has a population of 120,000 people. Rhodes is 60 miles from Turkey or a short flight from Athens and has many safe harbors and numerous beaches for a busy summer tourist season.

Bay of Lindos

We didn't visit the city of Rhodes but drove up to Lindos on the east side of the island where the Acropolis of Lindos is located. A brief review of the island's history tells that it has been occupied over its 3000 year history by the Byzantines and Knights of St. John the Baptist, the Ottomans, Italians, Germans (2 years during WWII) and now Greece.

Ship carved in rock at entrance.

White village of Lindos.

The Acropolis was built in 1100 BC as a temple to Athena. Carved into the rock is the ship of the occupiers next to the original steps up the hill. In the 14th century the Knights of St. John built 10 castles around and on the hill to protect the temple. Today we can see the remains of a castle, the stoa or the first stop to the temple where you could buy offerings for the gods. The second stop was a cleansing area to purify yourself before entering the temple and then the temple itself. Most of what we see is the reconstruction with the use of some of the original stones.

After being run out of the temple by employees who wanted to close the area 10 minutes after we arrived (we didn't run off very fast!), we explored the village of Lindos, had a coffee and walked back to the bus, happy to be out of the wind! BTW the employees were protesting that they hadn't been paid by the government.

Stoa

We learned that Colossus of Rhodes, considered one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, is basically a myth. There was a giant statue but it never spanned the harbor, it was over 100 feet tall and it was toppled by an earthquake. Records show it was built around 250 BC and Romans came in 653 AD and removed stones of the toppled statue. Now they haven't been able to locate anything but the head.