Castles, moats, knights, and gods may be the stuff of fairytales, but in Rhodes, Greece, the fantasy is alive. Inhabited since about 4,000 B.C. this island in the southeastern Aegean Sea, is at a crossroads between Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, creating a rich mosaic of different cultures and civilizations, including influence from the periods of Classical, Roman, Byzantine, medieval Knights, Ottoman, and Italian.
Among the mythical legends is the very real Colossus of Rhodes, a gigantic bronze statue built to represent the sun god Helios and was one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Completed in 282 B.C., it was believed to have once straddled the entrance to the Port of Mandraki, towering 107 feet above the city of Rhodes. An earthquake in 226 B.C. caused the huge monument to snap at the knees and crash into the harbor, with it’s final destiny still shrouded in mystery.
Just outside the city are the archaeological remains of the acropolis, the classical term for a fortified area of an ancient Greek city, the word derived from the Greek root “acro” meaning high, and “polis”, meaning city. The remains of Rhodes’ acropolis consist of the Temple of Apollo, a stadium and a small ancient theater, dating from the 5th to the 3rd century BC.
High upon Mount Filerimos, overlooking the small town of Ialyssos and the Bay of Ixia and Trianda, is the Monastery of Filerimos, an important archeological site where once stood the acropolis of ancient Ialyssos, with a temple dedicated to Athena. Still under excavation, the site is amazingly preserved so that one can almost hear the muffled footsteps of the monks crossing the cloistered archways of the courtyard, silently going to prayer.
The church there is well known for originally housing the famous icon of the Virgin of Filerimos, which now rests in the National Museum of Montenegro, with a copy here in it’s place. Walk down the long steps through the cypress-lined colonnade to the giant cross on the hill beyond, and you will be rewarded with sweeping views of the island below and the Turkish shores of Asia Minor just seven miles across the sea, known to the Greeks as Anatolia, or “place of the rising sun.”
The city of Rhodes is actually two, one ancient and one modern, living side by side. The Old City of Rhodes with a current population of 6,000 inhabitants, is surrounded by medieval walls with ramparts, towers, and seven gates. To enter any of these gates is to enter another world, past the dry medieval moats with scattered iron cannonballs, through the gateway stone arches and into a completely believable world of knights and castles. Today, the Old City is filled with tourist shops, cafes, and museums, but with just a little imagination, anyone can feel touched by the history of this place as it was centuries ago.
At the top of the Street of Knights is the Grand Master Palace, a magnificent, imposing building, located in the heart of the medieval town of Rhodes. It was first built by the Knights of St. John that ruled the island from 1309 to 1522, on the site of a 7th century Byzantine fortress. The fortress was used as the residence of the head of the order, the Grand Master. Rebuilt in the 1930s, the Palace today is a museum of large stone rooms with giant fireplaces and balconies overlooking the courtyard square, that feels romantically like a scene from a Grecian version of Juliet gazing coyly down on her Romeo.
On a deadline mission to find batteries for my camera, I headed back to reality and the new city. My fantasy ended once outside the old walls, just beyond the moat, when I felt myself thrust back to the present as if from a time machine, to the other city, a modern one of busy streets, office buildings, shopping malls, and fast food restaurants.
Farewell, my Romeo.
Beautiful write up, Kristy!!! Gorgeous pictures