Rhodes Final Circuit: Symi Island Day Trip, Charaki Fishing Village, Archangelos Largest Village, Saint Fanourios Monastery, Koskinou Traditional Houses, and Rhodes Farewell
The Rhodes final day circuit covers the Symi island day excursion from Mandraki, the Charaki fishing village beneath the Feraklos castle, the Archangelos village pottery and boots tradition, the Saint Fanourios patron of lost things monastery in the Old Town, the Koskinou traditional painted houses, and the departure summary.
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Symi: The Neoclassical Island Day Trip
Symi island 45 minutes by high-speed catamaran from Mandraki Harbour, the most beautiful of the Dodecanese islands in the judgment of the majority of regular Greek island visitors, presents the neoclassical painted townhouses of Symi Town climbing the hillside above the harbour in the architecture that the wealth from the shipbuilding and the sponge diving of the 19th century created and the earthquake and the war did not destroy. The Symi day trip from Rhodes is the single most highly recommended excursion for the visitor with only one free day from the Rhodes base.
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Charaki: The Fishing Village Castle
Charaki on the east coast 30 kilometers south of Rhodes Town, the small fishing village beneath the ruins of the Feraklos castle, is the most authentically Greek of the east coast villages that the package holiday resort development has not absorbed, with the village beach, the fishing boats, the taverna tables at the water, and the castle ruin on the headland providing the complete Aegean village composition. The Charaki beach is narrow and the water deep and clear at the castle base, and the castle walk from the village takes 20 minutes on the path through the phrygana scrubland.
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Archangelos: The Pottery and Boots Village
Archangelos, the largest village in Rhodes with 5,000 inhabitants, is known for two local crafts: the ceramic pottery produced in the village workshops that line the main street, and the traditional Rhodian boots - soft leather boots with pointed toes that the island farmers wore for centuries and that the village cobblers still produce on order. The Archangelos market is the most active village commercial street in the island interior and the Sunday morning market is the largest rural market in the Dodecanese.
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Saint Fanourios: The Patron of Lost Things
The Church of Saint Fanourios in the Old Town of Rhodes, built over the ruins of a Byzantine church in the Old Town and dedicated to the 4th century saint who is the patron of lost things in the Greek Orthodox tradition, is the most visited church in the Rhodes Old Town after the cathedral and the most actively used by the local Orthodox community. The fanouropita cake, baked and offered to the church congregation when a lost item is found through the intercession of Saint Fanourios, is the most distinctive local pastry tradition in the Dodecanese.
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Koskinou: The Painted Village Houses
Koskinou village 7 kilometers south of Rhodes Town, the most traditionally decorated village in the island with the pebble mosaic floors and the painted facades of the traditional Rhodian houses that the villagers maintain in the summer whitewash tradition, is the most photogenic village near the capital for the visitor interested in the vernacular architecture of the Dodecanese. The Koskinou painted door frames and the geometric floor mosaics are the finest surviving examples of the traditional Rhodian domestic decoration.
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Rhodes Farewell: The Oldest Medieval City
Rhodes, the most completely preserved medieval city in Europe with the 4-kilometer circuit of walls still intact and the Street of the Knights the best preserved medieval street in existence, is the historical destination in the Aegean that requires more time than the average package holiday provides and rewards the return visitor more than any other island in the Dodecanese chain. The Rhodes Old Town in October when the cruise ships and the summer charter flights have departed is the quietest and most beautiful version of a city that is always beautiful but only occasionally quiet.