Rhodes, 2021 - Reflections on a Marine Paradise (Part 2)

 Before I crack on with the travelogue I thought I'd show you my holiday buys. There's a couple of traditional, hand-embroidered Greek folklore blouses (bought from the same tiny hole-in-the-wall village shop where I'd spotted them on my last visit to Rhodes over 20 years ago!) and a bespoke turquoise beaded necklace, artisan-made for me in a dream of a gem shop we stumbled across down a cobbled alleyway in the Knight's Quarter within the Old Town.

I wore the black blouse & beads on Saturday when we dropped our day 2 PCR (Covid) tests back to the lab (mandatory when you arrive back in England after travelling abroad) and the white one the following day when we celebrated our negative test results by visiting the clearance charity shop.

My turquoise necklace, being made to order

Anyway, let's get back to Greece, shall we? Our third day in Rhodes Town started with a Sunday morning walk to the Acropolis, a 3km climb up the slopes of Monte Smith, named after the British Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith, who used the hill as a vantage point to keep an eye on the Napoleonic fleet during the Turkish Wars of 1802.

Despite a fairly late night, we were determined to get there before the hoards of coach trippers arrived, setting off just after 8am.

We were keen to visit the Temple of Apollo Pythios, which dates from the 5th century BC. (The Pythia was the high priestess in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, who also served as its oracle.)

.....but when we got there, we discovered it covered in scaffolding undergoing essential repairs! Ah well, it's the perfect excuse to go back!

We had more luck with the adjacent theatre, the Odeon, once used by the Rhodes School of Rhetoric and served as a finishing school for the Roman Empire's elite. It was founded by the great Greek orator,  Apollonius Molon (also known as Molo of Rhodes), who taught Julius Caesar here in 75BC as well as Roman hero Torquatus and philosopher and statesman, Cicero.

It's ridiculously thrilling to think I could be sitting in the same spot as Julius Caesar!

We were pleased to see that that tree-lined 2nd century BC stadium was still being used by modern-day Greek athletes.

 

On the way down we stopped at the Jewish Synagogue Museum and paid our respects to the 1673 Rhodian Jews who perished during WW2.

Back in Rhodes Old Town we stopped for a frappe and chatted to a few more cats. 

Suitably refreshed and back to the exploring! Close to the Eleftheria Gate lie the remains of the Temple of Aphrodite, dating from the 3rd century BC and believed to be where the famed Marine Venus, discovered under the water by fisherman over a century ago, once stood.

Through the gate, we continued to Mandraki Harbour and walked past the famous Medieval windmills. Built in the time of the Knights of St John, they were used to grind the grains unloaded from merchant ships arriving at the harbour.

One of the old harbourside warehouses was home to a cat sanctuary and the residents seemed very content with their comfy beds, rugs, toys and plenty of food. There were collection tins and - needless to say - we donated a few euros.

 

The bronze deer mark the spot where one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Colossus of Rhodes (the 108 feet high statue of Helios, the sun god) once straddled the harbour. Erected by Chares of Lindos in 280BC, the Colossus was constructed to commemorate the successful defence of Rhodes against Demetrius I of Macedonia. It collapsed after an earthquake in 226BC. The ruins remained until the Arab invasion in 653AD when the Colossus was completely destroyed and the remains sold.

After Greek salads and beer in a beachfront taverna, we passed the iconic diving tower, built during the Italian occupation in 1930.

 We were surprised at the amount of perfectly preserved, Fascist-era Art Deco architecture along the seafront, neither of us had any idea there was quite so much of it.

The Rhodes Aquarium is another example. We couldn't resist visiting and loved the imaginative way that the exterior had been kitted out like underwater caves.

Back at the apartment, we calculated that we'd walked over 10 miles, no wonder we were glowing! We washed our clothes while we showered, hung them outside in the sunshine and, after a siesta, they were dry and ready to pack away. Our first trip to Rhodes Town had come to an end.

We had a delicious dinner at the Island of Lipsos, a second-generation family restaurant, which opened in 1970 and is managed by the lovely Nikki, the original owner's daughter (the blonde lady behind Jon). We ate in the cobbled street outside but loved the stylish interior, a mini version of the Grand Master's Palace. 

It was a final rum in the garden and an early-ish night, we had a bus to catch in the morning.

Stay tuned for part three of our adventures.