Western Turkey: Antiquity, the Byzantine Empire and the Journeys of the Apostle Paul

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Island of Rhodes: A visit to Lindos

Acropolis of Lindos

After spending a day in Rhodes City, we took a bus about 34 miles (52 km.) down the east coast of the Mediterranean to the village of Lindos.

http://www.lovegreekislands.com/rhodes-map.html

This picturesque town is nestled in a small valley around the hillside of the attractive acropolis (high part of city) between two two bays on either side - north and south.

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Here are several views north of the Pallas Bay, interesting but not especially attractive to me.

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Sailboats, a dock, beach chairs, sunbathing, rocks, warm water...

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...not exactly my idea of a fun summer holiday while visiting Greece (seriously).

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My summer vacations usually focus on historical sites and looking at or experiencing outstanding things of natural beauty.

https://ontheworldmap.com/greece/city/lindos/lindos-tourist-map.html

The bay on the south side is much more intriguing (right side of map, above) - the so-called "St. Paul's Bay." You can see it best by looking down from the acropolis.

cliff_emerson©

"What a cool place - it needs to be investigated!"

https://greekreporter.com/2019/08/03/the-ten-best-beaches-on-rhodes-the-island-of-knights/

This bay looks inviting - like a solitary lake or sinkhole... so, let's explore.

Below is a comprehensive, but short (2 minute) YouTube video about St. Paul's Bay shot from a drone.

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Here's what the World Beech Guide says about St Paul’s Bay:

>>Despite its diminutive size, Saint Paul’s Bay is one of the most popular beaches on the Greek island of Rhodes. Located on the edge of the historic village of Lindos, St Paul’s Bay is enclosed by rocks with a small outlet for boats.

This spectacular setting is further enhanced by a small Greek Orthodox chapel in the cove which harmonizes with the ruins high above of the ancient Acropolis of Lindos.

cliff_emerson©

Saint Paul’s Bay has two lovely stretches of sand. The clear blue water here gets quite warm, and the air temperature can reach 40°C (104°F) in the summer. With such secure surroundings and a narrow opening to the sea, this bay is well-suited for swimming and snorkeling; for snorkelers, there are also plenty of fish to be spotted amongst the rocks.<<

My wife and I came down to the beach behind the location of the mast of the sailboat you can see in the picture below, and swam around the rocks out to the sea. It was fun to get beat-up by the waves and explore a some shallow caves.

>>Surrounding the cove are a few tavernas where you can grab a bite to eat, and the village of Lindos is a 10 minute walk away. The chapel down in the cove St Paul’s Bay is a popular spot for weddings for locals and tourists.

Up in Lindos, the picture-postcard beautiful streets are lined with cobblestones and whitewashed houses and an occasional donkey for packing tourists.<<

https://www.worldbeachguide.com/greece/city-beach-west.htm

Here's the critical reason why this bay is so interesting from an historical perspective:

Many historians think that the Apostle Paul stopped at this bay on his Third Missionary Journey traveling back to Jerusalem.

It is documented that Paul and his companions stopped somewhere on Rhodes on that homeward stretch - while coming down from the far north of the Aegean Sea at Macedonia, passing along the western coast of (today's) Turkey, and heading east toward Antioch of Syria.

Unfortunately, the Luke narration in Acts provides no specific historical record of interactions with people on the island of Rhodes.

Here's is Luke's description in Acts:

>>When we had parted from them [the Ephesian elders at Miletus] and set sail, we ran a straight course to Cos and the next day to Rhodes and from there to Patara; and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

<< Acts 21:1-2

Paul's 3rd Missionary Journey: Starts at Antioch, and finishes at Tyre.

This passage presents an important concept of travel across the Mediterranean in those days:

>>"...and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail." << Acts 21:2

When traveling by ship in the Mediterranean, one had to make arrangements with commercial ships bound for chosen, specific ports - either days or hours in advance or immediately when arriving at the port on another ship - and finding a connecting ship.

In the above passage,

"...and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail."

it appears that Paul and his companions found a ship with just the right destination.

NOTE: There were no passenger ships (aside from troop carriers or warships) in those days, so the ship's owner or captain usually pre-determined the destination of the ships.

If you were lucky, you might be able to catch a ship in the bay that was going your direction. If not, you might have to settle for a ship going in another direction, and then try to make connections to your original destination.

As one would expect, the traveler had to pay the fare after negotiating a price. Travelers would be responsible for your own food and water and bedding. This was not an easy way to travel. (I know I'd have a hard time sleeping, not to mention being out in the sun all day without suntan lotion!)

Continuing with Professor Ferrall's travel description in his web site:

>>Our ship (Dr. Ferrall's) docked at the harbor of the city of Rhodes, capital of the island of Rhodes. Here, in ancient days, stood the colossus of Rhodes — one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The statue fell during an earthquake in 226 B.C., but its remains were seen as late as the 7th century A.D. (LINK in this blog).

Assuming that Paul’s ship docked here, he would have seen ruins of the famous monument. (That's an interesting thought.) Considering the course of travel mentioned in the text (Cos to Rhodes, and then Patara) it appears more likely they may have stopped at Rhodes City.

One tradition states that Paul’s contact with the island was at Lindos, one of the three ancient cities of the island and one with an excellent harbor. The small Greek Orthodox chapel in the village commemorates the landing and preaching of the apostle. In the book, A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey (Fant and Reddish), it is believed that “The harbor was once home to the Greek fleet of Lindos and the only natural harbor on the island of Rhodes”.<<

Let's take a walk through the village, and go to our hotel.

Trip_Advisor

cliff_emerson©

Here I am "schlepping" our suitcases down to the hotel from the bus stop. Remember, our rental car was back in the ferry parking lot at Marmaris, Turkey.

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Hotel Xenones Lindos

Time for a dinner date with my wife at the hotel.

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It looks healthy.

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Looking past the edge of the acropolis out to sea.

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Photo above: Just past sunset from the north side of Lindos village over the north bay. The large mountains are probably located back in Turkey - I don't think we passed thorough such high mountains while traveling from northern Rhodes.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ancient+Theatre+of+Lindos/@36.0906994,28.0852628,1463m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x14950e733690c711:0x49124bad9c3add47!2sPaulusbucht!3b1!8m2!3d36.0871048!4d28.088309!3m4!1s0x14950e74916bf951:0xe28ecfe3e68922bf!8m2!3d36.0897928!4d28.0871141

Lindos village: our hotel was on the western side of the old section of the village.

cliff_emerson©

A group of local people dressed in ancient Greek costume made their way up the acropolis. Perhaps they were going to perform at a classical theater.

Now it's time to start the walk up to the acropolis.

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While starting up the path from Lindos to the acropolis, we ran across a curious rock carving in a side wall.

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It was a carving of an ancient Greek warship. More specifically, it was a relief of a Rhodian trireme (warship) cut into the rock at the foot of the steps leading to the Lindos acropolis. It is the work of the sculptor Pythokritos, and the relief dates from about 180 BC.

Specific information:

"It portrays the stern of a warship (triemiolia) in relief from the early 2nd century B.C.

Part of the relief served as the base of a bronze portrait statue of Hagesandros son of Mikion, whom the Lindians honoured on the occasion of a Rhodian naval victory.

The stern of the warship (triemolia) preserves traces of red pigment and is rendered in detail, with the aphlaston DEFINITION at the right end and the richly bedecked captain's seat in the form of bird's wing.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/gs-waymarking-images/1e215700-7300-4d0a-b430-2578bf1900c6.jpg

Identifiable on the back of the base - within a small temple (naiskos) - is a standing female figure with kalathos on the head. Preserved on the rock in front of the relief is a row of holes, in which were set the iron railings that protected the monument.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lindos_Rhodian_trireme_relief.jpg

According to the inscription on the hull of the ship, the work was created by the renowned Rhodian sculptor Pythokritos son of Timocharis.

The Rhodian's preoccupation with representations of ships in art was closely linked with their maritime tradition and superiority in producing fighting ships.

"Relief stern of a warship (triemiolia), early 2nd c. B.C. -

The relief served as the base of a bronze portrait statue of Hagesandros son of Mikion, whom the Lindians honoured on the occasion of a naval victory of the Rhodians."

https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm11FV9_Relief_of_a_Rhodian_Trireme_Lindos_Greece

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While in Rhodes City earlier, we ran across this memorial.

cliff_emerson©

We found it discouraging that Jews were rounded up in this far-distant, remote part of the world. Below is an article about the deportation of Greek Jews, specifically from a site in Thessaloniki - further along the transportation route north to the concentration camps in Poland:

Greek Jews remember transport to Nazi death camps

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/national-world-headlines/2015/03/greek-jews-remember-transport-to-nazi-death-camps/

By The Associated Press

March 15, 2015

By COSTAS KANTOURIS

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Residents of Greece’s second-largest city on Sunday placed flowers on train tracks and inside old cattle wagons in solemn remembrance of nearly 50,000 local Jews who were transported to Nazi death camps during World War II.

About 2,000 people joined together at Thessaloniki’s Freedom Square for the 72nd anniversary of the roundup and deportation of the Jews. Some held banners that said: “Racism Kills, Let’s Learn from History,” and “Never Again.”

The crowd then marched to the northern city’s old railway station, where the first of 19 trains departed for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex on March 15, 1943.

A locomotive believed to have been used to transport Jews, and four carriages that normally would carry cattle and in which people spent nine days locked up on their way to the extermination camps, were at the station. The crowd laid flowers on the wagons and the tracks.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/german-railways-and-the-holocaust?parent=en%2F5041

“It was a horrible, mournful, rainy day. Even the skies were weeping,” recalled Heinz Cunho, 87, one of fewer than 100 surviving Greek Jews who made it back from the camps. “Normally, the carriages held 50 people. There were 80 of us to a wagon, and they had us locked up throughout the nine-day trip.”

Greece’s government has recently decided to make demands for German World War II reparations worth the equivalent of 50 million euros ($53 million), paid as a ransom to Nazi occupiers in 1942 to free about 10,000 Jewish men used as slave laborers in Greece. They were freed, but still sent subsequently to death camps.

Jews, mostly Sephardic refugees from Spain and the Inquisition (starting in 1492), formed the majority of Thessaloniki’s inhabitants from the 16th to the early 20th century. Their numbers dwindled in the early 20th century.

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Of the 46,091 Thessaloniki Jews sent to the camps, 1,950 survived. Others avoided the camps by either joining the partisan resistance or escaping to Turkey by boat, with the help of residents, and eventually making it to the Middle East. The original Jewish community of Thessaloniki numbered nearly 800,000, but today is fewer than 2,000.

“We are marching upon the footsteps that Greek Jews marched back then. We must remain united and opposed to Nazism, racism and anti-Semitism,” said David Saltiel, head of Thessaloniki’s Jewish community.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/german-railways-and-the-holocaust?parent=en%2F5041

Several years ago, my wife and I made a trip from Vienna, Austria to Auschwitz/Birkenau, Poland following the train route that brought Jews in the Holocaust from Greece and the Balkan countries - a moving experience. You can easily see this route on the map.

More information: LINK

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Back to Lindos: Worth mentioning: there is a small partially-destroyed ancient theater to visit below the acropolis.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ancient+Theatre+of+Lindos/@36.0897928,28.0871141,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipMsr9y1AsxEyHFhiJjrzgrnvJWnCA-NDLTaif-b!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMsr9y1AsxEyHFhiJjrzgrnvJWnCA-NDLTaif-b%3Dw203-h152-k-no!7i3648!8i2736!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x14950e733690c711:0x49124bad9c3add47!2sPaulusbucht!3b1!8m2!3d36.0871048!4d28.088309!3m4!1s0x14950e74916bf951:0xe28ecfe3e68922bf!8m2!3d36.0897928!4d28.0871141

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ancient+Theatre+of+Lindos/@36.0897928,28.0871141,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipMsr9y1AsxEyHFhiJjrzgrnvJWnCA-NDLTaif-b!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMsr9y1AsxEyHFhiJjrzgrnvJWnCA-NDLTaif-b%3Dw203-h152-k-no!7i3648!8i2736!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x14950e733690c711:0x49124bad9c3add47!2sPaulusbucht!3b1!8m2!3d36.0871048!4d28.088309!3m4!1s0x14950e74916bf951:0xe28ecfe3e68922bf!8m2!3d36.0897928!4d28.0871141

In closing, let's turn our attention to a visit at the terrific Byzantine / Greek Orthodox church - Church of our lady Panagia in Lindos.

TripAdvisor

THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY (PANAGIA), LINDOS

Just off the main square in Lindos is this cross-shaped 14th century church with an octagonal dome and whitewashed walls.

Surrounded by high walls and a small courtyard, this old church was originally built in 1300 and has since gone through numerous reconstructions. The most important renovation was ordered by the Grand Master Pierre d’Aubusson (1476 to 1503) of the Knights of Rhodes (Order of St. John in Rhodes City) and the most recent is dated in 1927, during the Italian occupation.

https://ecotourism-greece.com/attractions/the-church-of-our-lady-panagia-lindos/

The Chapel of St Paul is located a short distance from St. Paul’s Bay. It is said to be the first place Saint Paul visited during his stop-over on Rhodes. Today, it is a popular wedding venue for foreigners.

The church of Panagia (Our Lady) is full of enchanting images and is certainly an obligatory stop for all visitors at Lindos.

Its dark interior, with a black and white pebbled floor, is decorated with eighteenth-century frescoes of male saints on the right and female on the left.

In the interior the pavement is covered by a superbly executed pebble mosaic (hohlaki), popular in the Rhodian traditional architecture. In the front, there is a richly decorated and spectacularly carved wooden iconostasis and a Bishop’s throne with a large bronze layered candle chandelier hanging from above.

Visitors will be astounded by the quality of the 19th century wall frescoes, depicting biblical scenes.

cliff_emerson©

>>The barrel-vaulted roof and the dome there covered with more impressive the work of the famous Gregorios of Symi dating back in 1779, depicting icons of Mary, Jesus, and the saints.

As the viewers turn to the back of the church and walk out, over the doorway, a huge colorful fresco bursts with the story of The Last Judgment. Pale twisting bodies writhe together in the orange and red flames of hell. A strong message for those who won’t follow the ways of the church.<<

cliff_emerson©

A device of the Grand Master D’Aubusson can be seen on the western door of the church as well as an inscription bearing the dates 1489/90, dates of the additions made to the building.

Panagia: one of the Greek Orthodox names used to address the Mother of God. In Orthodox art, the term Panaghia denotes an icon depicting the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child.

Iconostasis: a wall usually made of wood or marble, full of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church.

https://discover-rhodes.com/explore/attractions/church-of-panagia-in-lindos/

cliff_emerson©

Click on the following link to access more information about Lindos:

ANCIENT LINDOS AND ACROPOLIS: LINK

The End.

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Before closing, here's an fascinating article about an entirely different Greek topic that I just ran across on-line (April, 2021): The discovery of a ancient computer-like device called the Antikythera Machine.

The Antikythera Machine:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Antikythera-mechanism

It was found in the ocean off a Greek island and is believed to have been designed over 2000 years ago by the ancient Greeks - the Antikythera Device.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpLcnAIpVRA

Click here for a separate window with additional information about the Antikythera machine.

Click here to return to the Table of Contents.

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Trip to Rhodes from Marmaris

Rhodes City: Port da la Marine Gates in Mandraki Harbor

Cliff_Emerson©

This was our destination - these handsome fortifications and other historical sights in Rhodes City on the Greek island of Rhodes, about 2 hours or 50 km. from the Turkish mainland by ferry. We decided to introduce a break into the Turkish vacation itinerary and make a quick dash by ferry across the water to Rhodes where we spent 2 nights.

Rhodes City (Greek: Ρόδος) is the principal city on the island of Rhodes in the Dodecanese islands of Greece. It has a population of approximately 50,000 inhabitants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_(city)#/media/File:Greece_location_map.svg

Red dots: I've marked the location of Marmaris, Turkey, and Rhodes City, Greece, on the island of Rhodes. Note the route the ferry took across the Aegean Sea to travel between them. (Turkey is colored grey, and Greece is yellow.)

Wikipedia

The fortress of Rhodes, built by the Hospitalliers, one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Europe, was designated in 1988 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Today, Rhodes is a popular international tourist destination.

Rhodes was also famous in antiquity as the site of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. I'll share about that later in this blog.

http://www.doncronerblog.com/2016/06/greece-island-of-rhodes-rhodes-old-town.html

Above, the city walls are impressive - indicating the important strategic military role it played in Medieval Eastern Mediterranean history. If you get a chance to travel to Rhodes, try to read about its history before you visit - you'll have a richer experience. Below is a medieval sketch to show you what the city was like before damage from bombardment and destruction from siege warfare.

https://www.dhgate.com/product/medieval-port-city-of-rhodes-greece-around/439575849.html

So much of the construction was oriented toward building defensive structures in the Middle Ages.

https://www.dhgate.com/product/medieval-port-city-of-rhodes-greece-around/439575849.html

Above, a close-up shows the harbor and gates. If you arrive at Rhodes City by ferry, this is the place you will dock.

Our ferry came into the harbor, and docked on the left side of this lithograph. Notice the windmills on the waterfront.

http://blog.tripinview.com/rhodes-the-pearl-of-med-sea/

Rhodes City square on a summer night. We enjoyed dinner at just such a location, above street-level on the first floor.

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And now let's turn our attention back to Marmaris for a few minutes, back in Turkey - our launching place - to continue the story.

Cliff_Emerson©

Here is what we saw when we drove into Marmaris on the previous day before our ferry trip... a city set in a very mountainous coastline with a nice harbor. We toured the waterfront a bit, and then drove 25 minutes through mountainous terrain to get to our overnight accommodations.

Because Marmaris had a reputation for being a "party town," I choose to spend our night in a quieter environment a few kilometers away. Such a destination looked suitable and easy to reach on a map - from a vertical perspective - but turned out it required a lot of rigorous driving over the hills, which I was not prepared for in terms of time. We drove into the sunset...

...on the way to our hotel at Hisaronu, located above the green pin on the map, below.

The road took us across the hills far above the Marmaris (located in the bay on the right) and then down into another harbor with several hotels (the large bay on the left).

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Hisaronu. Here you see our hotel's swimming pool and palm trees. Off in the distance to the south - Rhodes!

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No "party scene" or ravers detected at the remote hotel - yea!

Cliff_Emerson©

This picture shows the extremely hilly nature of the coastline of the mainland in the area surrounding Marmaris.

Early the next day, we reversed the direction - we left the hotel and drove back out across the steep hills to the city. We then located the ferry boat docks in the harbor and parked our car.

Harbor in Marmaris

We crossed the sea on the vessel in the foreground.

Cliff_Emerson©

We're off! On our ferry, heading for the island of Rhodes. Looking back, you can see the harbor of Marmaris (Turkey) and the tall surrounding hills. We obviously needed our passports for this short jaunt to go between countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_(city)

This is the scene upon arrival at the harbor gates. Wow! Pretty cool. This part of the harbor is fascinating, because the Colossal of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, probably stood right on this site.

https://classicalwisdom.com/culture/sculpture/the-colossus-of-rhodes-coming-back-to-life/

Historians believe the colossus stood astride the entrance to the island’s Mandraki Harbor for 54 years, observing those who passed into the city and serving as a symbolic reminder of Rhodes’ victory in battle over their foes from Cyprus.

Cliff_Emerson©

The best possible choice of the location of the Colossus of Rhodes is straddling the harbor gates.

A bit of history:

After Antigonus I LINK, the head of neighboring Cyprus, an island to the east, unsuccessfully attempted to lay siege to Rhodes in 305-304 BC, the people of Rhodes decided to honor their patron sun god, Helios.

In 292 B.C., Greek sculptor Chares began construction on the Colossus. For twelve years, workers forged iron and bronze from military weapons that were left behind to create the outer shell of the statue. The body was probably filled with stones.

As construction increased in height, historians believe the workers built long ramps of earth and rocks to surround the Colossus and reach the upper levels. Upon completion, the material was removed.

https://7wonders.org/europe/greece/rhodes/colossus-of-rhodes/

The 108-foot tall statue of Helios stood on a 49-foot tall white marble pedestal, putting the height of the Colossus of Rhodes at an impressive 157-feet.

In 226 B.C., after 54 years of standing, Rhodes was hit by a devastating earthquake that snapped the colossus at its knees, causing it to fall over. What a horrible disaster!

https://www.worldation.com/nature/the-colossus-of-rhodes/

[Above, an artist's modern rendition of that sad sight of a broken colossus leg and foot!]

Ruling members of the city spoke of rebuilding, but some citizens who consulted the Oracle of Delphi (located north on the mainland in Achaia, Greece) warned against it. (Learn about oracles on another blog posting LINK.)

Apparently, the people of Rhodes had clearly offended the god, Helios, and this caused the statue to fall. Rebuilding it could result in even more serious damage!

https://www.greece-is.com/the-mystery-of-the-colossus-of-rhodes/

Although it lay in pieces, the Colossus of Rhodes was still impressive. For 800 years, people traveled from far and wide to come see the pieces in the harbor. Pliny the Elder wrote that visitors were stunned at its sheer size, noting that people could barely wrap their arms around its thumb and that its fingers were taller than most statues.

In 693, the Muslim caliph Muawiyah I stormed Rhodes and captured the island. According to the Chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, pieces of the statue were melted down thereafter and sold to a Jewish merchant, who loaded them onto 900 camels and took them away. (I would have liked a piece for my souvenir collection!)

https://greekreporter.com/2017/11/06/the-colossus-of-rhodes-6-facts-about-one-of-the-wonder-of-the-ancient-world/

Here's another rendition of the story:

>>How Chares crafted the Colossus, therefore, with cast or hammered sections of bronze, remains a mystery. Iron braces were likely employed for internal reinforcement, but still the statue proved short-lived, ultimately collapsing during an earthquake in 226 BC. Noting its size, hollowness and construction, Pliny wrote: “Few men can clasp the thumb in their arms, and its fingers are larger than most statues. Where the limbs are broken asunder, vast caverns are seen yawning in the interior. Within it, too, are to be seen large masses of rock, by the weight of which the artist steadied it…”

Here's a really good YouTube:

Where the Colossus stood also remains a question. Medieval artists depict it astride the entrance to Rhodes’ port, one foot on the terminus of each breakwater. Some scientists believe that technical considerations would have made this location impossible, but a distinctive circle of stones and finely-carved marble blocks reused in the 15th c. St. Nicholas Tower at the mouth of Mandraki Harbor may indicate that the position of the base and statue had been there. Alternatively, the Rhodian acropolis has also been proposed as a possible location. (high on the other side of Rhodes City.)

http://www.rhodesguide.org/

The actual appearance of the Colossus poses further questions. A Rhodian relief, according to Andrew Stewart, suggests a figure resembling the Getty’s bronze Victorious Youth (300-100 BC). Furthermore, a special series of silver Rhodian didrachms depict the head of Helios with a rayed crown, which may have represented and paid homage to the newly erected Colossus.

Today, a debate rages in debt-torn Greece whether a new Colossus of Rhodes should be erected.<<

https://www.greece-is.com/the-mystery-of-the-colossus-of-rhodes/

In 2015, tentative plans were drawn up, and this is a possible prototype.

https://classicalwisdom.com/culture/sculpture/the-colossus-of-rhodes-coming-back-to-life/
Here is a reasonably good video about the Colossus of Rhodes, if you are still curious:

Do you need to refresh your memory about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? Here's a cool website that will help: Click on this LINK (not on the picture)

https://brewminate.com/the-seven-wonders-of-the-ancient-world-digitally-reconstructed/

Scroll down to "1. Colossus of Rhodes" and be sure to give each picture time on this outside website to generate a new image.

Here's another good YouTube about the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World

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Meanwhile, let's get back to our trip. The photos below show the views we saw coming into the harbor.

Cliff_Emerson©

http://www.rhodesguide.org/

The Templar Castle as seen from the harbor

Here's a detailed map of the old city and harbor.

http://ontheworldmap.com/greece/city/rhodes/rhodes-city-old-town-map.html

The map above shows the old section of Rhodes City. Notice the wall sections (brown) which have survived and were not torn down (as you'll find in many European cities). Our ferry docked in the upper-right part of the harbor which is labled the "touristic harbour" on the map.

http://ontheworldmap.com/greece/city/rhodes/rhodes-city-old-town-map.html

Above, a close-up view of the old city, inner harbor area. The pink rectangle is the Knights Templar Palace. LINK

http://www.lovegreekislands.com/rhodes-map.html

Rhodes city is located the northern tip of the Island of Rhodes. The next day, we took a trip down to Lindos, on the eastern side of the island. You'll learn more about this city in a subsequent posting.

Cliff_Emerson©

We had dinner at one of these rooftop balcony restaurants with an overview of the city center.

Cliff_Emerson©

cliff_emerson

Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes

The Knights of Rhodes of St. John captured Rhodes in 1309. In the Old Town, where they established their administrative center, there was already a fortified Byzantine settlement occupying 175,000 square meters built on the site of an ancient city that dated back to 408 BC.

The Knights expanded the area of the town walls and protected it with three lines of defensive fortifications. However, they handed it over to the Ottomans after a long siege in 1522.

cliff_emerson

Here's a quotation from Wikipedia dealing with the earlier Ottoman Siege of 1480:
Attack
On 23 May 1480 an Ottoman fleet of 160 ships appeared before Rhodes, at the gulf of Trianda, along with an army of 70,000 men under the command of Mesih Pasha. The Knights Hospitaller garrison was led by Grand Master Pierre d'Aubusson.

The Ottomans' first goal was to capture the Tower of St Nicholas, a strategic point for the knights' defense of the two harbors: Mandraki, and the one to the east bay of Akandia.

The Turkish artillery kept up an unbroken bombardment and, from 9 June on, the infantry made a series of attacks. Grand Master d'Aubusson himself sped to the aid of the garrison and the enemy was repelled after a fierce struggle.

A second attack on the town occurred on the eastern sector of the wall near the Jewish quarter, towards the bay of Akandia, which was the battle station of the "tongue" of Italy and was quite weak.

The Knights and townspeople dug a new moat on the inside of the wall at this point and constructed a new internal fortification, while bombardment from the Turkish artillery continued. Once again the Knights defended the town, and after a bitter battle with many casualties on both sides, the danger was once more averted.

https://www.greece-is.com/rhodes-land-castles-age-crusaders/

Siege of Rhodes by the Ottomans, 1480.

[This is a huge picture - it should scroll vertically and horizontally.]

Continuation of the quote above from Wikipedia:

At dawn on 27 July, the Turks launched a vigorous offensive and their vanguard of around 2,500 Janissaries managed to take the tower of Italy and enter the city. A frenzied struggle ensued.

The grand master, wounded in five places, directed the battle and fought with lance in hand. After three hours of fighting the enemy were decimated and the exhausted survivors began to withdraw. The Knights´ counter-attack caused the Turks to beat a disorderly retreat, dragging along with them the Vizier and commander-in-chief. The Hospitallers reached as far as his tent and took, along with other booty, the holy standard of Islam. On that day, between three and four thousand Turks were slain.

On August 17, 1480, the Ottoman fleet gave up their attempt to capture Rhodes. Sultan Mehmed II was furious and would have attacked the island again, but his death in 1481 put a stop to the attempt. In 1521-22 the Ottomans besieged Rhodes once again and this time captured the city and entire island.

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Knights Templar Palace

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Knights Templar Palace entrance

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https://www.greece-is.com/old-town-rhodes/

This is the main walking street in the Knights' Quarter.

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Authentic cannon balls collected from the battles. These were made of granite, and carved perfectly round by hand.

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I had a fascination for these hand-hewn, perfectly round stone cannon balls, but had to recognize that their use caused much death and destruction. (During that historical period, it was still too early to cast cannon balls in iron.) These same objects were part of the landscape in Istanbul after the Ottoman bombardment and capture of Constantinople in 1453. Several of them can now be seen in the 360-degree Museum at Topkapi in Istanbul (not to be mistaken with the Topkapi Palace at the Sultanachmet!). LINK