The Dodecanese

While growing up, Rhodes was the centre of my Greek universe and all I needed to know. My island and my special home. But year after year, I slowly became acquainted with its sister islands and began to feel my home expanding in all directions.

I can still remember visiting the mysterious island of Patmos, the place where John the Evangelist wrote the Book of Revelation. In 1981, Greece declared Patmos a “Sacred Island”, and in 1999 UNESCO included The Historic Centre (Chora) with the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian and the Cave of the Apocalypse on its World Heritage Site list. Its sacred energy had always seemed obvious to me.

I read as a kid about Karpathos, the island of the previous generation and family of gods, whom the Olympians had to overthrow and banish from the upper world. In my eyes it is the most wildly beautiful of these islands. High mountains, fragrant pine groves, traditional villages, turquoise waters. Stepping ashore, I could almost sense the Titans having immense fun here.

But the greatest love of my life remains Rhodes, bridging east and west. The largest of the island group and a medieval treasure, beautifully preserved throughout the centuries. The Colossus may no longer welcome me at port each time I visit, but it is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. An epic statue sculpted in honour of the god Helios (sun) that could not have a more suitable location. I can never get enough of strolling around the magnificent Old City and Street of the Knights, or admiring the Palace of the Grand Master, probably the most awe-inspiring building in the Aegean. And as if all that my Island of knights has to offer wasn’t romantic and unique enough, there is the Valley of the Butterflies, a quiet forest inhabited by thousands of Panaxia Quadripunctaria butterflies. I remember resting there as a kid, surrounded by them, as if in a dream.

For those of you planning a visit, don’t miss out on “Antony Quinn Bay” for fresh coffee, and the “Marco Polo Mansion” right in the heart of the Old Town. It’s a must!