Lindos Village

Climbing in tiers up the slope beneath its acropolis, Lindos Village is a village of whitewashed cubic houses and narrow lanes that is among the most photographed settlements in the Dodecanese, facing the Aegean Sea. The place has been inhabited since antiquity, and its architecture shows layers of Dorian, Hellenistic, Byzantine and medieval life; Rhodes was ruled by the Knights of Saint John from 1309 to 1522, and their fortified walls still crown the hill above.

Walking the lanes is the main activity. Many are paved in black and white pebble mosaic, with patterned courtyards, and they twist between high walls and doorways that open to small gardens. The village prospered in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a base for sea trade, and sea captains built large mansions with carved stone doorways and decorative ceilings, some of which are now guesthouses or open to the public. The main church of the Panagia, with its tall bell tower and richly painted interior, is a highlight, and its eighteenth-century frescoes cover almost every surface.

Visitors usually stroll up from the central square through lanes of shops, tavernas and craft stalls toward the Lindos Acropolis, whose Temple of Athena Lindia looms above the village, one of Greece’s great hilltop sanctuaries. On the way, you pass an ancient theatre cut into the hillside, a Hellenistic monument with rows of seats that look out to the sea. Below, Lindos Beach and the sheltered cove known as Saint Paul's Bay, where legend says the apostle landed, are within reach on foot.

Both the heat and the pale stone can be punishing in summer, and cobbles polished by foot traffic are slippery, so wear grippy shoes and carry water. Mornings and evenings are the best times for the lanes, which fill with day-trippers by midday. At night the village is much quieter and the floodlit acropolis glows above it.

The village is closed to most traffic, with parking at the edge, and donkeys are used to carry people and goods up the steepest stretches. Lindos suits those who enjoy wandering without a fixed plan, and who want to combine a morning at the ruins with an afternoon on the beach below.