2 Best Sights in Rhodes and the Dodecanese, Greece

A deeply shaded glen watered by seven mountain springs (epta piges in Greek) is made all the more photogenic thanks to the imported peacocks that flaunt their plumage in the woods around the pools. The waters are channeled through a 164-yard-long tunnel, which you can walk through, emerging at the edge of a cascading dam and a small man-made lake where you can swim. Here an enterprising local shepherd began serving simple fare in 1945 and his sideline turned into the busy waterside taverna and tourist site of today. Despite its many visitors, the beauty of the springs remains unspoiled.

What was once the main harbor, in use since the 5th century BC, adjoins the commercial harbor on the east side of Old Town and is home to the city's municipal buildings and an open-air bazaar. Inter-island catamarans sail from here now, but it was once said to be the site of one of the greatest acheivements of antiquity. Today, two bronze deer statues mark the spot where legend says the city's famous Colossus, a huge bronze statue of the sun god, Helios, once straddled the Mandraki Harbor entrance. Completed by the sculptor Chares of Lindos in the late 3rd century BC, the 110-foot-high figure only stood for around 50 years. In 227 BC, an earthquake razed the city and toppled the Colossus. After the calamity, the Delphic oracle advised the Rhodians to let the great Colossus remain where it had fallen. So there it lay for some eight centuries, until AD 654 when it was sold as scrap metal and carted off to Syria, allegedly by a caravan of 900 camels.