Rhodes Town, Greece Tourist Attractions

The old town of Rhodes, within which no Christian was allowed to live during the Turkish period (1523- 1912), is surrounded by a magnificent 4km/2.5mi long circuit of 15th and 16th century walls, with towers, bastions and a moat - one of the finest examples of the medieval art of fortification.

The Commercial Harbor (Emborikó Limáni), the principal harbor in Rhodes, used by the ships sailing to and from Piraeus, and the old Mandráki Harbor to the north, which has been in continuous use since 408 B.C. and is now mainly used by pleasure craft (boating marina) and excursion boats, are protected by long breakwaters. On the Mandráki breakwater are three disused windmills, and at its northern tip are the circular Fort St Nicholas (built about 1400 and strengthened in 1460) and a lighthouse. Flanking the entrance to the harbor are stone columns topped by figures of a Stag and hind, the town's heraldic animals. (Accordingly red deer are a protected species on Rhodes, and surplus animals are given away to zoos throughout the world.)On the east side of the old town is the Akándia Harbor, with a boatyard.

The Freedom Gate, at the south end of the Mandráki breakwater, leads into the busy old town of Rhodes with its maze of narrow streets and lanes, its domes and minarets set amid palms and plane trees.

Diagonally opposite the former church of the Order of St John in Rhodes town is the massive Hospital of the Knights (15th C.; restored), now occupied by the Archeological Museum. From the inner courtyard, a staircase leads up to the Infirmary on the upper floor (small chapel in a recess opposite the entrance; gravestones of knights). A passage on the right leads to the rooms displaying finds from Ialysos, Kameiros and other sites, including two Archaic kouroi (sixth century B.C.) and, in the same room, the funerary stele of Krito and Tamariste (end of fifth century B.C.). In other rooms are a life-size figure of Aphrodite, an expressive Hellenistic head of Helios, and a small crouching figure of Aphrodite known as the Venus of Rhodes (first century B.C.). Also of interest is the rich collection of vases opening off the gallery round the courtyard, which covers all periods from Mycenaean times onwards and includes some particularly fine examples of Rhodian ware.

From the north side of the Hospital of the Knights in Rhodes town, the Street of the Knights (Odós Ippotón) runs west. In this street, which still conveys an excellent impression of the 15th and 16th centuries, were most of the Inns of the various nations in the Order of St John. The finest of these is the Auberge de France (on the right), built between 1492 and 1503.

South of the Grand Master's Palace in the town of Rhodes stands the Suleiman Mosque, the largest mosque on the island, with a beautiful Renaissance doorway. Facing this, to the south, is the Turkish Library (1794), with valuable manuscripts of the Koran.

From the Suleiman Mosque Sokrates Street, flanked by bazaars and always bustling with activity, runs east through the center of the old town towards the Commercial Harbor. Southeast of the Marine Gate are the Commercial Tribunal (1507) and the Archbishop's Palace (15th century), on the north side of Archbishop's Square, in which can be seen the beautiful Seahorse Fountain.South of Sokrates Street is a picturesque maze of lanes around Fanoúrios Street, Homer Street (Odós Omírou), both spanned by flying buttresses, and Pythagoras Street, with numerous mosques, including the Ibrahim Pasha Mosque, the oldest in the town (1531), and, opposite the magnificent Suleiman Baths with their many domes (open to visitors as well as bathers), the Sultan Mustafa Mosque (1765). In Fanoúrios Street is the little Orthodox church of Áyios Fanoúrios, partly underground (founded 1335; used as a mosque during the Turkish period).

The new town of Rhodes, with government offices and many hotels and restaurants, extends to the north of the old town, reaching almost to the sandy northernmost tip of the island. At Mandráki Harbor is the massive New Market (Néa Agorá), with a large inner courtyard. From here Freedom Avenue (Eleftherías) runs north, past the Law Courts and the Post Office, to the Evangelismós church (originally Roman Catholic, now Orthodox), a reproduction (1925) of the old monastic church of St John, which originally stood beside the Grand Master's Palace and was destroyed in the 1856 explosion. Farther north are the Venetian-style Government Buildings (Nomarkhía), the Town Hall and the Theater. Beyond these is the charming Murat Reis Mosque, surrounded by the old Turkish cemetery, with the tombs of Muslim dignitaries who died in exile here.

Fifteen km/9mi south of Rhodes town (bus service) rises Mt Filérimos (267m/876ft; view), with the remains of the acropolis of Ialysos, one of the three ancient cities on the island. The hill was occupied by a series of strongholds from Mycenaean times (C. 1400 B.C.) onwards. In 1308 it was a base for the Knights of St John during their siege of Rhodes, and in 1522 it served a similar purpose for the Turks. The ancient acropolis was approached by a handsome wide stepped road. On the plateau can be seen the foundations of a temple of Athena, built in the third century B.C. on the site of an earlier temple and replaced in Early Christian times by a church (cruciform font set in the floor). There is also a small chapel with 15th century frescoes and the church and cloister (rebuilt during the Italian occupation) of the Filérimos monastery. Lower down the hill, reached by a difficult stepped path, is a Doric fountain-house of the fourth century B.C.

South of the town of Rhodes lies the beautiful Rodíni valley, with a park, a small zoo, a folk theater and a variety of attractive footpaths. 3km/2mi south of the new town, on Mt Áyios Stéfanos (Mount Smith; 111m/364ft; view), are the remains of the ancient acropolis, with fragments of temples. On the slopes of the hill are a stadion and a theater (restored).

Among the archeological displays in Rhodes are the Decorative Collections. They are located in a building off the Argyrokastrou Square.

The remains of Our Lady of the Burg, the largest Catholic church in Rhodes, can be seen on Pindarou Street.

Housed in the 1936 Hydrobiological Station of Rhodos, the center serves as a museum and Aquarium as well as a research center for the National Centre of Marine Research. The goal of the Rhodes Aquarium is to preservation and display aquatic life of the Mediterranean sea.

The Municipal Gallery of Rhodes houses an extensive collection of 20th-century Greek paintings. On display are works by works by K. Maleas, C. Parthenis, F. Kontoglou, Theophilos, N. Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, Sp. Vassiliou, J. Spyropoulos, Y. Gaitis, Fassianos, Kessanlis, Chr. Botsoglou, Moralis, Tsarouchis, and others.

There is an old stadium on Smith's Hill, unique for its square shape. Also of interest here are the ruins of two ancient temples.

The Camiros Acropolis is one of several archeological sites in Rhodes.