Lindos on the isle of Rhodes

Lindos, a small village on east coast of the island of Rhodes, is featured on one of the optional excursions offered by the cruise ship. The excursion takes you to both Old Town Rhodes and Lindos. In order for you to decide whether you want to spend the extra money on this excursion, it will help to know a little about what you might see. It is located about 55 km south of Rhodes town.

Lindos has been inhabited for some 5,000 years and features picturesque white houses, Crusader castle, and a dramatic acropolis overlooking the sea. As a National Historic Landmark, development is strictly controlled.

It is a tourist town and its narrow, winding cobbled streets can be crowded and quite warm in the summer. Traffic is banned so it retains much of its charm, and donkeys carry people up to the acropolis. Steep stone steps also gain access to the acropolis.

Rich sea captains built the traditional whitewashed houses between the 15th and 18th centuries which are noted for the distinctive carvings on the stonework, like ship’s cables or chains. They are built around choklakia pebble mosaic courtyards.

In the center of the village is the Byzantine church of the Panagia, complete with its graceful bell tower and pantiled domes. It was originally built in the 10th century as a basilica, but was rebuilt in 1489-90. It is noted for its beautiful 16th century frescoes.

On the road up to the acropolis is the Pantheon, a waxwork museum of characters in mythology, including gods and heroes. Also on this road are women who sell the famous Lindian lace.

The jewel of Lindos is the imposing acropolis perched on a sheer 410-foot precipice high above the village. Its highlight is the ruins of the Temple of Lindian Athena built in the 4th century BC with several columns still extant. The temple was one of the most sacred sites in the ancient world visited by Alexander the Great and supposedly by Helen of Troy and Herakles.

A relief of a trireme warship was carved into the rock at the base of the acropolis around 180 BC. In the 13th century, the Knights Hospitallers of St John fortified the city with massive battlements much higher than the original walls and built a castle during the period of the Crusades. The ruins of many structures built over the centuries top the acropolis.

It is believed that Lindos harbor was where St. Paul landed on his visit to Rhodes about 50 AD. St Paul's Bay is named after the monastery which still stands.

Some scenes from the well-known movie, The Guns of Navarone, were filmed here.