A walk up Socrates street in the Old Town is something every visitor will do. But we suggest you look beyond the tourist shops and trappings, and look at the buildings themselves. There is a great deal of Turkish influence in many of the buildings, an unused mosque half way up is very pretty with a marble fountain next to it set on the wall. The Turkish coffee shop is still as wonderful as ever with its old door and windows. As you look towards the top of the street you see Suleyman Mosque aka the Red Mosque-for obvious reasons!

Rhodes has several castles around the island, but non that compare to the Palace of the Grand Master within Rhodes old town walls.

On the north-western side of Rhodes lies the ancient Dorian city of Kamiros. Along with Iaylssos, and Lindos these three rich cities formed the city state of Rhodes. The city was destroyed by earthquakes in 226BC and by a second one in 142BC.
The site is extremely large, set into the hillside with sweeping views over the sea. Today it is more or less foundations that remain but it is an attractive site to visit.

One thing the ancient Greeks knew how to do, was pick the best sites for their temples, and the Acropolis at Lindos is no exception!
On the pinnacle of the hill sits the partly restored Temple of Athena Lindia from around 300BC.
This position overlooking the beautiful bay of Lindos was a natural choice for a castle, and the fortified walls have been used successively over the years by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Crusader Knights and finally the Ottomans. The walls are still very impressive, although out of several towers only one remains.

Up above the town on Monte Smith is the Acropolis and Stadium. This is also the disputed site for the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient world. There is no concrete evidence of where the Colossus actually stood but romantically it is featured in drawings straddling the entrance to Mandraki harbour, and believe it or not, much to their disappointment, tourists still make the pilgrimage to see it!

The Old Town of Rhodes still holds a great deal of charm, and was rightfully selected as a World Heritage site. Within the walls there are numerous streets and squares to explore and discover ancient ruins, churches, mosques, to view a way of life and maybe get a glimpse into garden courtyards.

Behind the harbour on the top road are the whitewashed stone steps that lead all the way up the mountain.
This is a wonderful walk with views over the harbour, surrounding islands and Turkey. At the top of the mountain is the large church of St George of the Mountain, and if you scout around the flat rocks in this area you will come across the ancient 'patitiria' circles carved into the rock for crushing olives and grapes.

This impressive looking church in the square at the top of the hill was never finished, the coloumns inside the church are reputedly from the ancient ruins of Patara in Turkey. By the side of the church near to the Mediterraneo Taverna is the Ossuary or Honeftiro in Greek, it has a small plaque with a skull and cross bones above the door.
As well as the school in the square there are the churches of Agios Spiridion and Agios Panagyria {the Virgin Mary}.

Just beneath the Castle on the path around the cliff side is a lonely little Lycian Tomb from the 4thC BC.
The Turkish Lycian coastline has an abundance of these tombs carved into the rock and with such close proximity to this area, it is inevitable that there would be similarities in the archaeology.

The Blue Grotto {Parasta} which is found just after Navlakas Bay is well worth a visit. The early morning light shines into the cave turning the water into a shocking blue and lighting up the stalactites. The cave is quite large at 75 meters long, 40 wide and 35 high, making it a rival to the famous Blue Grotto in Capri.
Several taxi boats make the trip throughout the day, depending on the weather. Sometimes the sea can be too high or too rough to enter safely, so the alternative is to swim in-but beware it gets very cold!