Rhodes Myth and Wellness: The Colossus History, Kallithea Therme Art Deco Spa, Turkish Bath in the Old Town, Museum of Modern Greek Art, and the Rhodes Water Park Family Day
The Rhodes myth and wellness circuit covers the Colossus of Rhodes ancient wonder history at Mandraki Harbour, the restored Italian Art Deco Kallithea thermal spa, the 500-year-old Turkish bath functioning in the Old Town, the Museum of Modern Greek Art collection, and the family water park on the west coast.
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The Colossus of Rhodes: The Ancient Wonder
The Colossus of Rhodes, the 33-meter bronze statue of Helios the sun god erected at the entrance of Mandraki Harbour between 292 and 280 BC by the sculptor Chares of Lindos and destroyed by the earthquake of 226 BC after standing for only 56 years, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the tallest statue in the ancient world. The medieval engraving showing the Colossus straddling the harbour entrance with ships passing beneath its legs is a Renaissance invention; the actual position of the statue remains unknown, but the harbour entrance is the traditional site and the two bronze deer statues that now mark the harbour mouth are the symbolic successors.
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Kallithea Therme: The Italian Art Deco Spa
Kallithea Therme 9 kilometers south of Rhodes Town, the Art Deco thermal spa complex built by the Italian colonial administration in 1929 and restored in 2007, is the most architecturally distinctive single building in the Dodecanese, with the rotunda, the colonnaded terraces, the mosaic floors, and the beach cinema that the restoration created. The Kallithea spring water, used by Hippocrates for therapeutic purposes in antiquity, no longer flows for bathing but the complex serves as a film set, a cultural venue, and the most photogenic beach visit in the Rhodes circuit.
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Turkish Bath: Five Centuries of the Hamam
The Turkish Bath of Rhodes in the Old Town, built in the Ottoman period in the 16th century and operating continuously to the present day as one of the last functioning hamams in Greece, provides the authentic hammam experience of the steam room, the marble slab massage, and the cold plunge that the Ottomans introduced to the Dodecanese during the 213 years of Ottoman rule from 1522 to 1912. The Turkish Bath is the most intimate historical experience in the Old Town, accessed by the local population and the curious visitor alike.
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Museum of Modern Greek Art: The Rhodes Collection
The Museum of Modern Greek Art in the New Town, the finest collection of 20th century Greek painting and sculpture outside Athens, is the most overlooked cultural institution in Rhodes, with the works of Ghika, Tsarouchis, Moralis, and Fassianos representing the major currents in modern Greek art that the tourist focused on the medieval heritage consistently misses. The museum occupies the neoclassical building of the former town hall and provides the cultural counterpoint to the archaeological heritage that dominates the Rhodes visitor circuit.
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Rhodes Water Park: The Family Day
The Rhodes Water Park near Faliraki on the east coast, the largest water park in Europe at its opening in 2000 and still among the most comprehensive in the Mediterranean, provides the family-oriented alternative to the beach and the archaeological site with the slides, the wave pool, and the children's area that makes the hottest summer midday tolerable for the youngest visitors. The water park is accessible from Rhodes Town by the east coast bus service and is included in the package holiday programs of most major tour operators serving the island.
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Rhodes Practical: Booking and Getting There
The Rhodes Diagoras International Airport receives direct flights from major European cities throughout the summer season, with the UK, Germany, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands providing the highest passenger volumes. The Rhodes car ferry connections from Piraeus in 12 to 18 hours serve the visitor combining Rhodes with mainland Greece, and the catamaran connections to Kos, Symi, and the eastern Dodecanese provide the island hopping extension. The Old Town hotels within the medieval walls provide the most atmospheric accommodation and should be booked 6 to 9 months in advance for the peak July-August period.