Beautiful Rhodes Old Town, Lindos Greece and the Lindos Acropolis on Rhodes Island Greece

Me at the Acropolis of Lindos.

We had a 1-hour drive ahead of us to drive to Lindos and parking was €7.  We had to walk up this curvy cobble stoned road with a steep gradient.  Lindos town had a very charming atmosphere with narrow little streets that cars cannot drive on just motorcycles or mopeds.  There were stores and restaurants all along the way and quite a few picture moments.   There was one store that was almost completely all turquoise clothing, that was my kind of store. I decided these were my people, turquoise is my favorite color. 

This is proof that Goats will eat anything.  Olive eating Greek Goat.  Farmers have to build fences
around their Olive Groves to protect their trees.  FYI, Olives without being pickled taste horrendous!

Greek Goats have the creepiest horns.

Map of Lindos with the Fortress at the
top and the white-washed town below it.

The Castle at the top of the rock.

Prettiest buildings.

Lisa at the top of the white-washed stairs.

The Church.

We finally reached the base of the Castle and we realized that it was a 20 Euro charge which we thought was a bit steep, but it turned out to be actually appropriate considering how much time we spent exploring around the Castle and Temple grounds. There is one set of stairs that were quite steep and long to the entrance of the castle and we made our way in and there were lots of picture moments. 

Steep stairs up to the Castle.

The doorway into the Castle.

Spectacular views of the Sea.

A poster of what the temples and 
Acropolis would have looked like.

Main staircase up to the Temples.

The sun was high and perfect for taking pictures of Athena's Temple. There have been several earthquakes on Rhodes, with lots of destruction to the temples and some of them have been partially rebuilt. It was very interesting and lots to see.

There were beautiful views of the Aegean Sea and panoramic views of the white stone buildings of Lindos

The Castle of Lindos was built in the early 1300's by the Knights of St. John and it was built around all of these Temples that were built centuries before.  There had been fortifications on this site as early as 11th Century BCE

Pillars of Athena's Temple.

Lisa in the ruins.

Temple pillars.

What is left of the Temple is very beautiful.

It was a great day for photos.

White washed town of Lindos

A beach in the distance which we could see from the Castle Walls.

Castle Walls.

A coordinated shot of Castle Walls and
Athena's Temple

Lindos Beach.

Lindos

We made our way down the hill and found a nice roof terrace restaurant to have lunch at.  It also afforded great views of the Castle Walls.

The entry way and stairs into the restaurant that we ate at was so quaint.

View of the Castle from the Restaurant.

The Castle in the background.

Pretty Lindos town at the base of the Castle.

Inside the restaurant.

The next day we made our way to the Rhodes Acropolis and Google and Lisa led me down a goat path. Literally it was a rocky little path that perhaps someone had walked on a hundred years previously and suddenly a man came towards us with a stick in his hand. This did not instill the feeling of safety. It turned out he was a bit simple  but harmless and a sheep herder. We did see one sheep and that sheep was scared of him so we hastened our walk up as a motorcycle drove towards us with a little wizened old man and he said with a thick accent, "Acropolis that way". We kept walking and ran into a bunch of goats and continued to walk as the path widened and became a wee bit less scary.  

The goat path on the way to the Rhodes Acropolis.

On the path.

Goats on the path.

We came upon the Acropolis through the back way. The Acropolis unfortunately was covered completely in scaffolding and we made our way around the site to the ancient Olympic stadium which used to hold 28 to 38,000 people. 

Acropolis of Rhodes

Theater

Pretty marble slab discarded in the field.

The Ancient Stadium in Rhodes.  These front row seats would have been for VIP.

The Stadium that is only half excavated.

A full shot of the Stadium.

There used to be an ancient gymnasium and it was very interesting because where the gymnasium used to stand, there's just marble rubble now and there were numerous elementary school age students playing.  The Greek idea of exercise building character, still lives on today. 

There are many cats on this site just like there's many cats on every site in Greece, but we made our way towards the exit and noticed that there was a systematic look to a field of rocks. We walked over and it was where all beautiful marble rubble stones went to die.  It looked like a graveyard of rubble, but it was a cataloging system out in the open. There may be an intention to put more of the Acropolis, Theater, Gymnasium or Library back together. 

Cataloged marble pieces in the field behind a fence.  Many cats made their homes under the wood pallets.

A mock-up of the theater, stadium and temple.

We were almost into Old Town Rhodes and there was an old building that I spotted. I wanted to know what it was and the plaque on the front actually made us both gasp. All of the Jews in 1944 were rounded up and imprisoned in this building and given to the Nazis and every one of them were exterminated at Auschwitz. There is now a Jewish Museum in Rhodes that we later wanted to go and see. 

This was the sign that we read and we were shocked.

We walked right past a 'Eurorama' Store or a $1 Euro store and thought we would go in.  We both ended up buying a little Euro change purse because when the Euros mix with the credit cards it starts to wear down the cards. 

We kept walking towards the Sea front of Old Town Rhodes and made our way to the Statues of Stags that are both on the opposite side of the entrance into the Old Town Harbor.  St. Nicholas Fortress is on the opposite or outer strip of land in the harbor. 

Cute little Greek car.

Fountain and Church on the Seafront.

Lisa by the Stag Statue and the other Statue in the background.

Mosque near the Sea.

Front of the Mosque.

Decorative Mosque arch with the St. Nicolas Fortress

 at the mouth of the Old harbor.

Another Mosque under the arch of the larger Mosque.

Windmills used for grinding grain.

Old Walls of Rhodes.

Pretty Rhodes harbor.

Beautiful walls.

Outdoor restaurant culture is strong in Greece.

Pretty restaurant.

The ruins of St Mary's Cathedral in Rhodes.

Another gorgeous gate into the Old Town of Rhodes.

There is some serious eye candy in this Old Town.

Stunning photo in Old Town Rhodes with the
red Mashrabiya on the second floor indicating that this was the Muslim Quarter of the Old Town.  The Mashrabiya is typically an Arab influence in architecture.

A bronze Colossus Man used to stand with his feet apart on each side straddling the entrance to the harbor. He stood 33 m high but he no longer exists.  There were several earthquakes on the island of Rhodes and one of the earthquakes toppled him and his head fell off. He was later sold for scrap metal.  He is one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World - The Colossus of Rhodes.  He is very popular in Rhodes and is on many T-Shirts and other Touristy tidbits.

We found the wooden boardwalk on the seafront and walked on that for a bit. It is 1 km long but I had to use the washroom. There were some public toilets for .50 Euro which is cheap in Europe. 

We went through the gates and tried to walk down different streets that we had not seen before and came across the ruins of St. Mary's Cathedral which were stunning and we saw the  Gate of the Virgin Mary as well. There are numerous gates into the Old Town.  We walked around and shopped and went into stores and many of the little stores are the original buildings that are very cavernous with barrel vaulted ceilings and it's even nice just to go in the store and see the architecture.  We found the Jewish Museum and were disappointed when we read the sign that it was closed for the winter.

We made our way home and drowned our sorrows in a couple glasses of wine on our balcony. We were exhausted. We had almost a 17,000 step day because we decided to walk down the street and buy some Gyros Pork and Chicken Pita for ourselves.

The next day we drove to Tsambika Beach.  November is considered winter in Rhodes and many restaurants and stores close for the season. The beach was lovely and quiet and long. We swam for a half hour in the shallow warm waters of the Aegean Sea.

Tsambika Beach.  The water was very warm.

A sure-footed Goat on the way down to the beach.

When we got home we were having a glass of wine and spotted this Cat on the roof next door.