Rhodes Town

Spread across the northern tip of the big island, Rhodes Town, the capital of the Dodecanese, celebrated its 2,400th birthday in 1993. The World Heritage Old Town—the walled medieval city, built by the Knights Hospitallers of St John—is the star attraction, so remarkably preserved that it looks like a film set in places, and has served as such as in Ben Kingsley vehicle, Pascali’s Island among others. The adjacent New Town takes care of business.

Although the two combined seem large for a Greek island, astonishingly the ancient city of Rhodes in its prime counted twice as many people and covered 15 square km within its ancient walls.

Mandraki and the Walls