Rhodos and Tilos

7 February 2024 – Tilos, Greece

We eventually managed to drag ourselves out of Panormitis and set sail for Rhodos. The main city of the island has two harbours, one next to the old walled town where the Colossus of Rhodos once stood and one more expensive and a half an hour walk away. Unfortunately the latter was the only one we could get a spot in so we stayed there for three nights and did some sightseeing on the island.

The old town of Rhodes is really cool; it felt a bit like set of a medieval village, maybe due to the fact that nearly everything inside was shut down for the off season. Used as the headquarters of the Knights of St. John from 1309-1523, the old town is surrounded by two massive stone walls with a moat in between them which is now a park and a pleasant walk. The streets inside are winding and cobblestoned and easy to get lost in, which luckily we did not do. It is also next to the main harbour of Rhodos where, as mentioned, the Colossus of Rhodos once stood. It was a one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, a giant statue of the sun god Helios that stood either over the harbour. It is debated whether the statue stood with one foot on each side of the entrance or merely stood beside it. Today, two deer statues on pedestals are standing on either side of the harbour, the original Colossus being destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BCE.

Deer statue marking where the Colossus of Rhodos once stood – Rhodos, Greece

The following day, we rented a car and drove around the northern end of the island to three the ancient sites: Kameiros, the Lindos Acropolis, and the Rhodos Acropolis. At Kameiros are the remains of a Doric city, inhabited since prehistory before eventually being abandoned after an earthquake in 142 BCE. I was expecting a few rock walls poking out of the grass but was pleasantly surprised to see the remains of a full city grid still visible, one of the best preserved examples of Greek urban planning. The remains of the ancient city are arranged on a hill overlooking the water, with a beautiful view of the mountains and the sea all around it. We visited on a beautiful sunny day, which just made the scenery all the better.

Overlooking ancient city of Kameiros – Kameiros, Rhodos, Greece

Next, we drove across the island to the Acropolis of Lindos, which has taken Messene’s place as my new favourite ancient site. The remains of the temple of Athena Lindia stand at the edge of a cliff 116 metres above sea level with a beautiful view of the ocean, but they are also surrounded by the walls of a later fortress built by the Knights of St. John. This basically created an Ancient Greek temple inside of a Medieval castle. To enter the site, we first had to climb a dramatic Medieval staircase leading up to a the grand entryway into the castle walls. Once through the walls, we were at the edge of a cliff and could see the temple overlooking the Aegean, as well as a Medieval church.

Ancient relief of a trireme carved into the rock at the bottom of the staircase – Acropolis of Lindos, Rhodos, Greece

The last destination of the day was the Acropolis of Rhodos, which overlooks Rhodos city. Unlike Lindos Acropolis, it isn’t completely excavated yet so all that is really visible are the four massive columns belonging to the temple of Athena Polias and Zeus Polieus. There were a lot of other remains as well but it wasn’t clear what they were, aside from a small ampitheatre (specifically an Odeon probably used for musical performances) that had been recreated and the track of the stadium that now opens onto a park.

Odeon – Acropolis of Rhodos, Rhodos, Greece

We then made a pit-stop at a gyros place and picked up dinner before driving home.

After Rhodos, we went back to (you guessed it) Panormitis to wait for more favourable weather.

My mom had her birthday there so I baked a cake (black forest except we couldn’t get cherries so I had to use blackberries) and we went on a nice walk through the woods. In the evening, we had a pizza making party and played pictionary.

My mom’s birthday cake – Panormitis, Simi, Greece

Rhodos marks the easternmost point of our travels this year and the farthest east I’ve ever been; from here we will be travelling vaguely westwards. The following day, we had a beautiful sail to the island of Tilos, where all the houses in the village are painted white with blue trim. Tilos is the world’s first zero-waste island as they get all their energy from renewable resources such as solar and wind power. We docked along the town quay in a small harbour surrounded by mountains. The next day, we went on a hike through the mountains on a rocky trail bordering the ocean. The scenery was amazing, with jagged cliffs, red soil, scraggly bushes, and lots of goats. I felt a little like I was in Lord of the Rings.

Heading North Through the Dodecanese

Relaxing on Simi

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