Rhodes: Medieval City, Palace of the Grand Master & Lindos Acropolis

Enter through the Gate of St Paul into the UNESCO World Heritage walled city — one of the best-preserved medieval urban complexes in the world. The guide covers the extraordinary story of the Knights Hospitaller, a crusading military order that turned Rhodes into the most fortified city in the Mediterranean after they acquired it in 1309. Walk the Street of the Knights (Ippoton), where each 'tongue' (national group) of the Order built its own inn, creating the most intact medieval street in Europe. The inns of France, Italy, Aragon, England and Provence still line the cobblestones exactly as they appeared in 1480.

The Palace of the Grand Master was the headquarters and residence of the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller — the most powerful military official in the eastern Mediterranean. Originally built in the 14th century, it was almost entirely destroyed by an accidental explosion in 1856, then rebuilt by the Italian occupiers between 1936 and 1940. The rebuilding used hundreds of extraordinary floor mosaics transferred from the island of Kos, dating from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, creating one of the finest mosaic collections in Greece. The views from the battlements over the medieval city and the Turkish Süleymaniye Mosque are exceptional.

Drive south along the Rhodian coast to Lindos, where the acropolis rises 116 metres above a double natural harbour on a sheer cliff. The site has been continuously occupied since the Bronze Age: the Doric Sanctuary of Athena Lindia (c. 300 BC) still dominates the summit, its four surviving columns visible from 20 miles at sea. The Knights of St John built their castle around the ancient temenos in the 14th century, incorporating the classical propylaea into their defensive wall. The guide explains the stratification of cultures — Doric, Hellenistic, Byzantine, Crusader, Ottoman — all visible simultaneously from a single viewpoint. Descend through the whitewashed village and see the distinctive Rhodian pebble mosaics (hoklakia) that decorate every courtyard and doorway.