The Gulet Boat Adventures And More: Part Six

I got up early the next morning to take some shots before we headed off to Lindos, some third miles down the coast where lies the famous St. Paul’s bay, and a very impressive acropolis worth a visit. Acts 21.1 says Paul came somewhere at Rhodes, and it may have been this small ancient harbor. We do not know. In any case the chapel at the harbor commemorates his presence, and the setting is so beautiful that Yuliya declared she was going to get married at this spot. Fine by me! Now we just need to find a beau sharp enough to keep up with soon to be Dr. Yuliya.

Here’s a good shot of our boat which would wait for us in the Rhodes harbor. We would travel by bus to Lindos, and have a local Greek guide named Maria.

So here is the beautiful St. Paul’s bay, a relief in some ways after passing all these commercial beaches and water parks, and little tacky shops on the way to this part of Lindos. Rhodes is a huge tourist island, but much of Lindos just closes up in the winter, as do the beaches.

And here’s the chapel…

And here I am with the girl who says she wants to be married here!

And here’s an obvious Christmas picture…

And one last shot whilst hanging over the acropolis wall back down to St. Paul’s bay…

But how does one get up to that acropolis? Well you could go by donkey…some people do.

Most people however walk up the many and precipitous steps to get to the top. You first pass through a little village with an Orthodox Church with an impressive bell tower, shown here from above.

Here’s a close up of the bell tower…

And the cross on the wall outside the chapel,

You pass the parish building a little further up the stairs, which has this interesting door handle,

Here’s the staircase you go up to the acropolis, and here’s two familiar ladies on that staircase…

From the overlook at the top of the first major level of climbing you can see the other bay, on the other side of the acropolis, very well.

Even further up, you reach the bedrock of the acropolis, into which is carved an image of an ancient trireme, because of course this was a major double seaport on the Aegean, and many sailors sailed to and from here, and many prayers were said on their behalf at the temple of Athena Lindia above on the acropolis.

There are 72 steps up to the castle level, but even then you still have two more sets of stairs to get to the acropolis level!
Here’s those 72 stairs… and a plant clinging for life to the side wall half way up.

Here’s what we would have seen had we climbed up the acropolis in antiquity.

As you can see from the picture there was much more than the temple up top, there was a whole stoa, a market complex as well. All of this dates back at least to the Hellenistic period. This island was part of Alexander’s empire, and then his successors as well. There was building in that era.

When we got to the top, guess who got there before us, sitting under his olive tree? It’s that man again, our friend Levent.

Here’s what’s left of the stoa… and a description.

As for the temple, there is renovation, and restoration, and then there is a total rebuild, and it is the latter that is going on in this case. This is not preservation of an ancient monument, this is ‘let’s build a replica’. I have mixed feelings about this. And if you look carefully of course you can tell it is all new.