Rhodes Ρόδος Overview

Rhodes is easily the busiest island of the Dodecanese, jam-packed with everything from beaches to ruins to sunburned tourists. Though resort towns cluster in the north, Rhodes’s natural wonders dominate other sections of the island, with sandy beaches stretching along the east coast, jagged cliffs skirting the west, and green mountains dotted with villages filling the interior. The island is most famous for a sight that no longer exists: the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This enormous bronze statue of Helios, constructed in the 3rd century BC, once loomed over Mandraki Harbor as a testament to the island’s military power and a monument to the sun god. Sadly, sunset came quickly for the 33m tall Colossus—it stood for just over 50 years before collapsing in an earthquake. Superstitious Rhodians left the statue where it lay, and the pieces were eventually looted by Arab pirates and lost forever. Today, the Colossus exists only in the imagination, though more tangible ruins in Kamiros, Ialyssos, and Lindos reveal Rhodes’s bygone days as a Hellenic power, while the medieval fortress towns of Monolithos and Rhodes Town retain their architectural and historical majesty.