Day 13 - Rhodes

Rhodes, home of the sun god, Helius, is another beautiful Greek island, part of the Dodecanese group of islands.  It is the 4^th largest of the 12 islands in the group with a very colorful history. The island boasts an average of 300 days of sunshine per year, and today was the clearest day we have seen, with bright blue cloudless skies.
The city of Rhodes (same name as the island) is another walled medieval city and much more beautiful than we had expected. The city is know for the Colossus of Rhodes, a huge bronze statue erected in honor of their sun god which stood 100 feet tall. (Its size was comparable to the Stature of Liberty.) Built in the 3rd century, it stood at the entrance of the harbor, and was one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.  Taking 12 years to build, it only stood for 56 years, being destroyed by an earthquake. Named for its huge size it is no longer in existence, and there is even uncertainty concerning its exact original location.

Jeff had arranged a walking tour of the Old Town plus the Acropolis outside of town..  This time we had 3 other couples that joined us: Charlie and Sue from Maryland, Andy and Kathy from the UK and Sarah and her brother from Canada. Our tour lasted 3 ½ hours and covered quite a bit of ground. Our guide was Athena, who has lived on Rhodes her entire life from Rhodes.  She was  a very knowledgeable, sweet mother of two who spoke perfect English.

There are two parts of the city – Old Town and New Town. We entered the Old Town via St. Panagias’ Gate.

The medieval wall is 3 1/2 miles long and 40 feet thick.

The Old Town is surrounded with 3 large, deep moats and 2 impressive walls. The walled city was built by the Knights of St. John, who made the city their headquarters and owned and governed the entire island from 1200 – 1400 AD. The city is beautiful with its polished pebbled paved streets, high stone walls, and fortresses. We began our tour at the remains of the Cathedral of St. John, the Knight’s main church, and proceeded from there to walk through Old Town. The Knights, Catholic priests, were responsible for building this beautiful city. The knights came from of 7 separate origins and each defended a different part of the city. After leaving this city, they went to the island of Malta were they remained for 400 more years.

Knights of St. John Cathedral

Other side of cathedral.  We do not know this man.

Avenue of the Knights - Ippoton - which leads downhill from the palace.

Palace of the Grand Masters -   a Byzantine fortress that contains 300 rooms with a moat, drawbridges, and watchtowers. Just like the movies! It is located at the highest point in town.

Wall and Coat of arms for the Knight on the Ag Athanesios

Gate of the City named Amboise Gate

Once we left the city we walked uphill through the New Town to the acropolis. We did not realize that almost every Greek city had an acropolis, or “high place”.  They usually were places of worship, but also were places of safety where people would go if the town was being attacked.  This one lived up to its name – it was a very high place, so it was a very hot and long walk.  Along the way, we stopped and viewed where ruins had been found when someone was constructing their house and had to build on stilts in order to preserve the ruins – a beautiful mosaic was on the ground beneath the house. When this happens, nothing else can be built there unless it is built on stilts to preserve the artifacts.  Not a great thing for resale value!

Once at the acropolis, we could look down onto the town and see the port and the ship – a wonderful view. Located on the acropolis were the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, a stadeon, and oedon. The stadeon looked just like our stadium, with a straight back and forth track rather than a circular track, and had a judge’s stand in the center. The track measured approximately 100 meters, but was not an exact measurement. In those days they measured the length of the track by paces, so distances would vary from stadium to stadium based on who was doing the measurement. They used the length of a stadeon as a unit of measurement when referring to distances between cities. For example, they might say “the distance from Rhodes to Lindos was 300 stadeos”. The odoen was a small amphitoreum used for oratory, drama, and musical performances.  It still has great acoustics that we tried out (no, we did not sing).  And marble seating in the hot sun with no shade for the spectators, who I guess were used to the heat and did not mind. Since there was no power, all of the performances would have been during the daytime.

From the acropolis we walked a very short distance to the other side of the island and had a fantastic view of the west coast. It was very windy, but had a beautiful view of the Aegean Sea and Turkey.

Temple of Apollo

Then we got to walk downhill back to the city and again entered through the gated walls over the moat system. We returned to the ship for lunch and then went back into town to shop and find an Internet cafe.  The shopping area known as Sokratous was similar to a Turkish bazaar was very nice. Along the way we found a doughnut shop in a home and enjoyed a delicious one fresh out of the pot!

Greek Doughnuts

Paul visited the island of Rhodes on his travels. We do not know anything about his stay; Luke only mentions that he came there. (Acts 21:1) Tradition conjectures that he landed on the island near the city of Lindos, located 37 miles north of the town of Rhodes. A bay that can be viewed from the acropolis of Lindos has been named St. Paul’s Bay and it is believed that Paul landed there.

We were exhausted – this walking is taking a toll – and retired early this evening. Love and miss you all.

Kali Nichta