Rhodes and Lindos, Greece posted 4/17/07

Rhodes, Greece - Rhodes is at the eastern end of the island on the Aegean Sea. From some of the mountain tops of Rhodes you can easily see Turkey. Rhodes is strategically located and has played an important role in history and was for many one of the most popular vacation spots in the Mediteranean. Rhodes having lived under the control of Persia, Rome, the Knights of St. John and finally the Ottoman Turks, Rhodes did not become part of Greece until 1947, when the Dodecanese Islands were formally made part of the country.











The gutters in Greece are even pretty. They are littered with flowers, not trash!

Rhodes today has basically two cities itself, the original walled city, which is incredibly beautiful and the new city outside the walls with flourishing municipal buildings and shopping malls.

We took a tour to a town called Lindos. Lindos, is cradled between two harbors and had much importance in the early years of this island.
Before the existence of Rhodes it was the island's principal maritime center. Lindos is remarkably preserved. Many of it's 15th century houses still stand and are being lived in! The main streets of Lindos are lined with all kinds of shopping. We could have stayed there for several days. Although it is a hilltop town and you are climbing all over the place, you never get to see enough. You can only go into Lindos on foot or on a donkey as the streets are WAY too narrow for cars and too dangerous for motorcycles. Our tour took us to the Acropolis of Lindos. Acropolis, means city on a hill. We had to climb steep stairs for hundreds of yards to make our way to the top. At what you hoped was the top was a 2nd century BC carving in a rock of a ship that has worn over time but you can still see the ship. From there you are faced with the steepest stairs of all to reach the top. It is hard to imagine how in the world people ever built such a place. At the top you go through stone gates into a medieval castle. It has a Byzantine Chapel of St. John. There are elaborate porticos a the top and an area you can tell where meetings of high importance must have taken place, all in the out of doors. It gave us spectacular views and wonderful memories of being lost on those tiny and wonderful street. I never saw anyone with a bottle of Windex walking around!! That was the only disappointment.
FOR SURE, Greece is a must see. I hope you enjoy our tour...













Breathtaking views, some you can see Turkey in the background. Kathleen and the view


The walled city, the wall itself is beautiful.





Kathleen, Nick and Charles at Lindos.








Donkeys for hire. We did not try this!!

Children playing in the tiny streets of Lindos in the doorway of one of their parents' shops I'm sure.

We passed a local restaurant and bar called Alabama!! Had we been in a private car we could have stopped. I'm sure we would have known those people!!












Lunch in a cute place along the hillside on one of those tiny streets. The waitress was from Britain and very helpful to us in finding our way down the hill!!



Mary Kathleen and Nicky at Lindos






This picture was actually from Alexandria and I left it out.