MOSCHATOS TRAVEL, RHODES - GREECE

Rhodes is the largest island of the Dodecanese group, with a surface of 1 438 sq. kilometers and a population of about 120.000 people. The island is mainly mountainous and its highest peak, Mount Ataviros, reaches
1.215 meters. Rhodes is not an ordinary holiday resort, but a cosmopolitan place of international reputation. Indeed, this relatively limited space offers innumerable natural beauties and is fairly considered as a tourist's paradise. Holidays in Rhodes are not restricted, as the sunny period lasts much longer in comparison to other European destinations. Rhodes island has the pleasure to enjoy more than 300 sunny days a year.

The periods and dates of great importance for Rhodes island are:

From the 8th Century B.C. until 515 AD: Ancient Greek and Greco-Roman period
From 515 A.D. until 1309 A.D.: Byzantine period
From 1309 A.D. until 1522 A.D.: Rhodes under the Knights of St. John
From 1522 A.D. until 1912 A.D.: Turkish occupation
From 1912 A.D. until 1945 A.D.: Italian occupation
7th of March 1947: Reunion of Rhodes and the rest of the Dodecanese Islands with Greece

Nowadays it is an amalgam of medieval and modern aspects, which impresses and fascinates visitors. Its medieval part, fortified behind an impressive wall, merges harmoniously with the refined, cosmopolitan air of a modern resort with luxurious hotels, large avenues with rows of trees and rich commercial stores. In present days, Rhodes attracts more tourists than most Greek islands and is a crossroads for people of the whole world who come to enjoy its natural beauty and the historical memories which permeate its atmosphere and seam to emanate from its soil.

Maro Vambounaki wrote: "I talk of Rhodes as if it were a living person, because it is a living person: a person you can look at, and whose gaze follows you everywhere, like one of those amazing icons. You can talk to it, and it will caress you with breezes from Monte Smith, it will tell you tales and hypnotize you with blazing sunsets and the purple, seeping reflections of distant Asia. It is an ancient person and a young person; here, at this crossroads in the Mediterranean, time becomes confused, epochs lose their way and exchange masks in a tyrannical but alluring, fancy dress ball."