Turkiye and Greece - April 2026

April 26, 2026

Today we find ourselves in Rhodes, which was founded in 408 B.C.  Much of the city, along with the castle, called the “Palace of the Grand Master”, which was built in the 1300’s.  We were disappointed that the ‘Colossus of Rhodes’ was no longer standing.  It apparently disappeared several centuries ago in a major storm.  It supposedly broke into pieces and a number of those pieces landed in the harbor while the remaining pieces were scattered about on shore.  Since it was made of bronze some of the enterprising people scooped up the pieces, melted it down, and used it for other things.  So no more colossus.  It might have looked like this next image, except much larger.

Our first excursion took us to the Lindo Acropolis.  An acropolis is simply the tallest place in the city.  And at the time a temple to honor some god was built.

On the way to the top of the acropolis we climbed some six million steps, or at least it seemed that way.  There were actually about three hundred uneven stone steps.  Of course then there were about three hundred uneven stone steps to get back down to the village.  Once at the bottom we took a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ended up lost in the village of Lindo.  After quite a few wrong turns we found our way back to the entrance and hiked back UP the hill to the bus that would take us back to Rhodes.

On the way to the top we found a carving of a ship.  Apparently this was a gift from an admiral to the city.

Then it was three hundred steps up to get to the top.  In addition to the ruins of the temple we found the view to be amazing.  We also saw the “Bay of Saint Paul”, a heart shaped lagoon where the Apostle Paul was supposed to have landed to escape a storm.

The temple ruins were still impressive even though they were lying in kind of a disarray.

We did find an interesting pathway.  It is apparently made out of small river stones.  First the black stones were laid in a chosen pattern.  Then the remaining brownish stones were used to fill in the remainder of the path.  We saw these all over the city of Lindo and again upon our return to Rhodes.

On our return to Rhodes we visited the castle.  In the mid-1860’s an unfortunate accident involving a LOT of gunpowder and lightning destroyed the castle.  The castle was then rebuilt in the 1930’s only to be given as a gift from the then King of Italy to Benito Mussolini.  Much of the town was destroyed by bombing in World War II, but the castle remained.

Flat Lizzy again joined us on our excursions today.  She hid in my backpack so I ended up carrying her all the way up to the top of the acropolis as well as throughout the city.

Flat Lizzy after being discovered as a stowaway

Flat Lizzy resting at the acropolis

Flat Lizzy at the temple

It was a full and somewhat tiring day.  We were glad to get back for dinner and some well deserved rest.  Tomorrow we head to Crete.

Tomorrow will be another adventure.

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