Sights in Rhodes
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A
Rhodes Town Beach
The town beach begins north of Mandraki and continues around the island's northernmost point and down the west side of the New Town. The best spots will depend on the prevailing winds but tend to be on the east side.
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Avenue of the Knights
An appropriate place to begin an exploration of the Old Town is the imposing cobblestone Avenue of the Knights where the knights lived. The knights were divided into seven 'tongues' or languages, according to their place of origin - England, France, Germany, Italy, Aragon, Auvergne and Provence - and each were responsible for protecting a section of the bastion. The Grand Master, who was in charge, lived in the palace, and each tongue was under the auspices of a bailiff.
To this day the street exudes a noble and forbidding aura, despite modern offices now occupying most of the inns. Its lofty buildings stretch in a 600m-long unbroken wall of honey-coloured stone blocks,…
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Acropolis of Rhodes
The Acropolis of Rhodes was the site of the ancient Hellenistic city of Rhodes. The hill is named after the English admiral Sir Sydney Smith, who watched for Napoleon's fleet from here in 1802. It has superb views.
The restored 2nd-century-AD stadium once staged competitions in preparation for the Olympic Games. The adjacent theatre is a reconstruction of one used for lectures by the Rhodes School of Rhetoric. Steps above here lead to the Temple of Pythian Apollo, with four re-erected columns. This unenclosed site can be reached on city bus 5.
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Palace of the Grand Masters
A truly magnificent 14th-century palace, it was destroyed in the gunpowder explosion of 1856 and the Italians rebuilt it in a grandiose manner, with a lavish interior, intending it as a holiday home for Mussolini and King Emmanuel III. It is now a museum, containing sculpture, mosaics taken from Kos by the Italians and antique furniture.
An around €10 inclusive ticket covers the Palace of the Grand Masters, the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of the Decorative Arts.
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Archaeological Museum
Housed in the old 15th-century knights' hospital is the Archaeological Museum. Its most famous exhibit is the exquisite Parian marble statuette, the Aphrodite of Rhodes, a 1st-century-BC adaptation of a Hellenistic statue. Less impressive to most is the 4th-century-BC Afroditi Thalassia in the next room.
A around €10 inclusive ticket covers the Palace of the Grand Masters, the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of the Decorative Arts.
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Mosque of Süleyman
Bearing many legacies of its Ottoman past is the Hora (M0144). During Turkish times churches were converted to mosques, and many more Muslim houses of worship were built from scratch, although most are now dilapidated. The most important is the pink-domed Mosque of Süleyman (M0145) Built in 1522 to commemorate the Ottoman victory against the knights, it was renovated in 1808.
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Jewish Quarter
The Jewish Quarter is an almost forgotten sector of Rhodes Old Town, where life continues at an unhurried pace and local residents live seemingly oblivious to the hubbub of the Hora, no more than a few blocks away. This area of quiet streets and sometimes dilapidated houses was once home to a thriving Jewish community.
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Aquarium
If you fancy a fishy experience, the Aquarium is worth a look. The Art Deco building was built during the 1930s by the Italians as a biological research station. Visitors can view anthozoa, molluscs, crabs, echinoderms, sea turtles and specimens from up to 12 types of fish families.
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Museum of the Decorative Arts
The Museum of the Decorative Arts houses a collection of artefacts from around the Dodecanese. An around €10 inclusive ticket covers the Palace of the Grand Masters, the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of the Decorative Arts.
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Kahal Shalom synagogue
Kahal Shalom synagogue, built in 1577, has a commemorative plaque to the many members of Hora's Jewish population who were sent to Auschwitz during the Nazi occupation. Jews still worship here and it is usually open in the morning.
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Muslim Library
The 18th-century Muslim Library was founded in 1794 by Turkish Rhodian Ahmed Hasuf. It houses a small number of Persian and Arabic manuscripts and a collection of Korans handwritten on parchment.
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Mosque of Murad Reis
In the grounds of this graceful mosque are a Turkish cemetery and the Villa Cleobolus, where Lawrence Durrell lived in the 1940s, writing Reflections on a Marine Venus.
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Inn of France
The Inn of France is the most ornate and distinctive of all the inns. On the opposite side of the street is a wrought-iron gate in front of a Turkish garden.
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Palace of Villiers de l'sle Adam
After Sultan Süleyman had taken the city, it was Villiers de l'sle who had the humiliating task of arranging the knights' departure from the island.
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Temple of Aphrodite
On Plateia Symis, there are the remains of a 3rd-century-BC Temple of Aphrodite, one of the few ancient ruins in the Old Town.
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Chapelle Française
The Chapelle Française is embellished with a statue of the Virgin and Child.
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Inn of Provence
The Inn of Provence has four coats of arms forming the shape of a cross.
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Plateia Evreon Martyron
Plateia Evreon Martyron
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Inn of the Order of the Tongue of Italy
Built in 1519.
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Inn of Spain
Inn of Spain
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Acropolis of Lindos
It's about a 10-minute climb to the entrance gate of the Acropolis, spectacularly perched atop a 116m (380ft) rock. Once inside, sights include a warship hewn out of the rock by the sculptor Pythokritos, the remains of a 20-columned Hellenistic stoa, a Byzantine church, a 5th-century BC propylaeum (temple porch) and a 4th-century Temple to Athena.
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