This is an excerpt from the book Travels through History : 9 Greek Islands , newly available on Amazon.
Most travellers to Rhodes, the largest of the Dodecanese Islands, visit the Old Town of Rhodes and the ancient town of Lindos with its acropolis dating from the 6th-Century BCE. It may come as a surprise to learn that Lindos is around 500 years older than Rhodes Town and that Lindos was instrumental, along with two other city states on Rhodes – Kameiros and Ialyssos, in the founding of Rhodes Town, which became the capital of the island in 408BCE.
These four city states then allied themselves with the strongest military and political powers of the times. This nimble diplomacy lead to burgeoning wealth and importance as evidenced by the building of the Colossus of Rhodes in 304BCE. One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, this massive statue stood for approximately 80 years before being toppled by an earthquake. Economic decline set in when Rhodes became involved in the break-up of the 1st Roman triumvirate when the island was sacked by Cassius Longinus in 43BCE. During the next thousand years, Rhodes was passed from the Byzantines to the Genoese, who then handed over control to the Knights of St John in 1309. The Knights used Rhodes as their main base until ousted by the Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent in a long siege between 1522 – 1523. As part of the Ottoman Empire, Rhodes fell into obscurity once again until the island was seized by the Italians in 1912.
Visiting the old town of Rhodes is a memorable experience as there are historical sights from different eras rubbing shoulders with each other at every turn. Most of the old town is medieval and was built in the 14th Century by the Knights Hospitaller. The old town became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988 and is an incredibly popular place to visit. Indeed, when a cruise ship arrives in the harbour, avoid the main arterial streets, Sokratous and Ippoton, and head south into the warren of cobbled alleys where there are fewer shops and restaurants, and discover the many interesting sights of this area, not all of which are mentioned in guidebooks.
Starting in the north-west of the Old Town, the first major sight the visitor comes across is the Palace of the Grand Masters, which was rebuilt by the Italians after an ammunition explosion destroyed the original building in 1856. The idea was that the reconstructed Palace would be an ideal place for Mussolini to spend time during the summer, but he never came near the place. The outside appearance is true to the original building, as authentic medieval plans were used in the reconstruction, but the same can’t be said for the inside, which was designed to make a Fascist dictator feel at home.
If you’d like to read more, the book Travels through History : 9 Greek Islands is newly available on Amazon.