his is one of the loveliest towns in the whole mediterranean, built at the northernmost point of the island. The sea surrounds it and a gleaming sun lights it for almost the entire year. It combines the cosmopolitan character of a completely modern town with the picturequeness of the old medieval town which seems untouched by the passage of time. Town Rhodes life has gone uninterrupted for 2,400 years leaving monuments from all the historical periods, the one right next to the other.

resent-day Rhodes has an impressive variety of colors and shapes: captivating beaches, modern buildings, picturesque neighborhoods, imposing medieval edifices, Byzantine churches and minarets. The greenery in the town is something unique. There is riotous vegetation around the walls of the medieval castle; all the palm trees give it a tropical flavor. There are hotels, restaurants, tavernas and the night clubs for entertainment as well as the commercial shops number in the hundreds.

From April to October the town is transformed into an international center where the foreigners outnumber the locals.

o the east of the new town is an important piece of ancient Rhodes. It is the ancient harbor, the present-day Mandraki, with the statues of the stag and the doe at its entrance. The ancient town, which was founded in 408 B.C., was located in the same position as the present one. The much-travelled Strabo wrote that 'Rhodes is so different from the rest of the place that I cannot compare it to any of them'. Of these superb works little has been left for the visitor to admire because of the terrible earthquakes, the invasions, etc.
But these few things are enough to give one a picture of picture of a magnificent civiliization and bear witness to the beauty and the grandeur that was lost.

	ou set off on your tour of the New Town from Kyprou Square, the heart of its most lavish market. There you will find some of the finest boutiques in Rhodes, jewellery stores, fabric shops and tailor shops and nearly all the banks. Nearby you can reach the large heptagonal building of the New Market and the Mandraki Harbour with its long breakwater that holds the three medieval windmills and the Fortress of Ayios Nikolaos.
Following the coastal avenue you will find some interesting buildings as the Bank of Greece, the Law Courts, the Post Office, the Church of the Evangelismos (Annunciation), the Governor's Mansion (Prefecture), the Town Hall and the National Theater. To the north, exactly opposite the entrance to the harbor, is the Naval Society. A very lovely long sandy beach starts from this point and extends to the northernmost point of the island where the Aquarium is.

he park is about 3 km from the center of the town along the road that goes to Lindos. Rhodini Park is verdant deeply-shaded ravine with running water and ponds with water-lillies. Within this ideal environment peacocks live and breed giving the place its own, exotic color. It is has been maintained that Rhodini is where the ancient School of Rhetoric was. Don't miss to see the Hellenistic tomb that is mistakenly kwown as the Tomb of the Ptolemies.

	ne can go to the Mount Smith Hill on foot (it is less than 3 km from the center of the town) or by urban bus. The hill took its name from the english admiral Sir Sydney Smith who had his observation post here in 1802 to keep an eye on the movements of Napoleon's fleet during his war with the Turks. In a natural hollow lies the Stadium (2nd century B.C.) and next to it a small Theater that has been conjectured it was used by the famed School of Rhetoric.
A bit further up, the area is commanded by the large Temple of Pythian Apollo. The three above buildings along with the fabulous Gymnasium constituted one of the man focuses of artistic life on ancient Rhodes. The upper acropolis of ancient Rhodes was on top of the hill, while the lower one was on the site where the Castello was erected.

Photos and text taken from "Rhodes - the brilliant island of the sun" (Toubis Editions)

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