Why Rhodes

After watching Agatha Christie's Poirot:Triangle at Rhodes our heart was tugged towards Rhodes. Last night we watched it again and paid close attention to some landmarks and decided to follow his footsteps. So off we were today to see if we could find them.

Rhodes is situated in the south-eastern corner of the Aegean Sea. It is the largest island of the Dodecanese with an area of 1400 sq. kms. In its interior, Rhodes is mountainous, but has very green, with beautiful valleys. It has a mild Mediterranean climate with warm winters and cool summers with a population of 90,000.

The Mycenaeans arrived on Rhodes around 1450 BC; the Dorians occupied it during the 8th and 7th centuries BC. When the great new power of Rome arrived on the historic stage Cassius conquered the island in 42 BC. In the 1st century AD Christianity spread as Paul went on his missionary journey's.  This peaceful period was interrupted in 1522 when the Turks began 390 years of suffering under their barbaric yoke. In spite of the Greek Revolution in 1821 Rhodes remained under the Turkish yoke until 1912 when the Italians captured the island and held power through WWII until, on March 7, 1948 the Greek flag was finally raised at the Governor's Palace.

We limited our visit to the Old City as we will be here for only one day. The massive walls build and rebuilt and expanded over time still remain. A maze of narrow, often covered streets now filled with shops, restaurants and historical sites all situated on the ancient harbor make it a city one can lose his thoughts and way.

We stayed in a quaint little (and I mean little) AirBnB apartment in the old city. As we wound our way through the allies to get to it, we wondered if we would be able to find our way out. It reminded us, once again, of Poirot's visit.

Tomorrow we head back to Athens.