Γεία σας! (That means "hello you all" in modern Greek!)
So I've been traveling tons here while in Greece and finally I have time to tell you all about my weekend trip to Rhodes, one of the largest islands belonging to Greece. It's, like, the best Greek island ever! It was so amazing. The weather was great, the food was wonderful, and the people were nice. (It was lots of fun surprising the owners of shops and restaurants with my Greek, ha ha!)
This is the Medieval castle in the middle of Old Town inside Rhodes Town. (There's also New Town Rhodes, which is the modern town around it.) Rhodes was used as the final pit-stop before the Holy Land during the Crusades. Knights lived in the fortress and the town. The castle on the left is called the Palace of the Grand Masters. I just like the name. Below is the room that was used for the hospital inside the fortress where the knights lived. Isn't just huge!?
Of course, there were people on Rhodes before the knights. These are ruins from the Temple of Pythian Apollo are on the left side of the picture while the remains of the Temple of Artemis are on the right. I had a blast climbing through the remains of the Artemis temple. There weren't any ropes to keep me out so I went explore. It was loads of fun (of course Erika wasn't around with her camera to take any photos of me; she was off enjoying the view, which was amazing too). That's the view. You can see the sea.
I also went to Lindos, where there was a sanctuary to Athena. There are still parts of the temple left with sections of the original stoa standing. This is the sanctuary-turned-castle at the acropolis of Lindos, which is nearly two hours south of Rhodes Town (the capital of Rhodes island). Also you can see the white buildings below the acropolis. This is stereotypical of Greek islands. Here you can see the pretty water, too. It was so awesome but too cold to go in, at least for me.
I know this picture is a little hard to see but I didn't get to see this famous landmark until right before I fly back to Athens. This is one of the famous deer columns at the entrance to Mandraki Harbor, the main harbor of ancient Rhodes. As you know, the famous Colossus statue was in Rhodes. The two deer columns mark were this huge statue might have stood. This column has a stag on top; the other one has a doe at the top.
Even with all those knights around, I still managed to find some new friends on Rhodes. On the left is Rhodes and on the right is Helios. They agreed to come home with me to the States too.
Isn't that super awesome!?I'll leave you with one more parting photo. Enjoy! I'll be back soon!
