Rhodes; Thursday, 14 October, 2021

I had an all day tour booked for today, so I had to be up relatively early, which is why I was less than impressed with the delayed bedtime the previous night. After a quick breakfast I grabbed my stuff and headed over to the bus stop opposite the hotel to wait for my tour pickup, which happened on time.

The tour was to the three biggest sights on the island outside of Rhodes Town, and first stop – after a series of hotel stops to collect other tour members, was the site of the ancient acropolis of Ialysos high above the town.

Over time the site was reused as a monastery and a chapel were built with the area becoming known as Filerimos, though with much of the original ancient Hellenic ruins covered over. When the Italians took control of the Dodecanese Islands after the fall of the Ottoman empire they started to repair the church built during the era when the Grand Knights of St John of Jerusalem rules the island, as well as the orthodox monastery, both of which are now open and can be looked around, along with what remains of the ancient acropolis.

The Italians also built a way of the cross along the top of the plateau, with the 14 stations of the cross by the side of the path leading up to the edge of the cliff where they built a gigantic cross and a lookout platform. The cross itself only lasted a few years before the Italians themselves took it down. The location overlooks both the military and civilian airports of the island and it was thought it would be a good visual aid for allied bombers. Following the war the cross was re-erected by the Greeks and today it sits on one of the best view points on the island, from where there are excellent views of a large part of the west coast.

The tour spent just over the hour at Filerimos before we headed on to our second stop of the day – the Seven Springs. As the name suggests this is a point in the hills towards the centre of the island where seven springs all come to the surface near each other. The springs join together to form a small river that then flows down the hill. The area around the springs has become a popular outdoors restaurant with tables arranged around the lush green trees.

The Italians diverted some of the water away down a different route, by building a 180m long tunnel through the hill side, creating a picturesque (and well controlled) waterfall that then feeds into a different part of the river. You can walk along inside the tunnel, where the water is cool and refreshing and never comes up much higher than calf height, though be aware the tunnel contains quite a few bit of gravel and pebbles, making it uncomfortable on bare feet, and is also pitch black, just over 6ft tall and barely any wider than an average human – so if your claustrophobic, tall or very wide it’s not going to be a pleasant experience. You can also take an above ground path over the top of the hill down to take in the waterfall. The stop here was for about 2 hours, which was enough time to take in the springs, waterfall, tunnel and – conveniently – have lunch in the restaurant, mostly surrounded by several other tour groups.

The final stop of the day was a bit back up the coast in a town called Kallithea. Here, hot thermal waters had been discovered long ago and for many centuries the area was inhabited by leapers hoping the waters would cure them.

Needless to say when the Italians arrived they decided a hot spa was just what the senior officers deserved and so set about developing the site into a luxurious spa complex. When the Italians departed after the war the locals were able to use the facilities and did so for a number of years, until an earthquake in the 1960s altered the path of the underground spring so it no longer came out under the domed roof of the spa building, but instead cascaded down the rocks and straight into the sea about a 100m away. The site fell into a bit of a decline, but has since been revived as an major wedding venue, with it hosting multiple weddings a day during the height of the season. We stopped here for about and hour before heading back to the minibus to start the drop-offs back at hotels.

I quickly freshened up in the hotel and then headed out to wander down into the city for a little explore – though I didn’t have much time before sunset. I first headed down into the harbour and wandered down to the statues of deer that stand either side of the entrance to the Mandraki harbour – the main pleasure cruise harbour. The site of the deer statues is said to be the location where the Colossus of Rhodes once stood – one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. From there I wandered round the edge of the harbour towards the windmills that line up along one of the harbour arms, before turning back inland and heading down into the Old Town moat. The former moat that surrounded the high walls of the Old Town fortifications is now a public park and you can wander along most of the length, though there is no lighting down the end I was walking along, and with the light rapidly fading I decided not to venture too far. Instead, I wandered a bit further along the seafront and had a look around the St Pauls Gate to the city before walking on down to the impressive fortress like Sea Gate.

From the Sea Gate I had a long wander through the heart of the Old Town, looking down many of the little lanes and passageways before ending up by the Palace of the Grand Knights and then onto the impressive complex of gateways made up of the St Anthony and Amboise Gates which make it very clear that if the Knights didn’t want you in their city you weren’t getting in. From the Amboise Gate I wandered back to the hotel in time to have a late dinner before turning in for the night.