5 Best Sights in Rhodes and the Dodecanese, Greece

The main reason to venture to the atypically green, pine-covered hills surrounding the little Gulf of Panormitis is to visit this unexpectedly huge monastery dedicated to Symi's patron saint, the protector of sailors. The site's entrance is surmounted by an elaborate bell tower, of the multilevel wedding-cake variety on display in Yialos and Chorio. A black-and-white pebble mosaic adorns the floor of the courtyard, which is surrounded by a vaulted stoa. The interior of the church, entirely frescoed in the 18th century, contains a marvelously ornate wooden iconostasis, which is flanked by a heroic-size representation of Michael, all but his face covered with silver. There are two small museums, one dedicated to folk culture and the other to religious paraphernalia. The latter has a particularly eclectic collection, including votive offerings of wooden ship models, bottles with notes containing wishes, and, most bizarrely, stuffed crocodiles.

If a day trip isn't enough for you, the monastery offers 75 rooms as accommodation (which are free for pilgrims; a strongly recommended donation otherwise), with kitchens and private baths. Though the rooms are entirely functional, the spiritual aspect makes for an enriching experience. A nursing home as well as a market, bakery, restaurant, and a few other businesses make up the rest of the settlement. The monastery is at its busiest for the week leading up to November 8, Michael's feast day, an event that draws the faithful from throughout the Dodecanese and beyond.

This church built in 1838 incorporates in its walls fragments of ancient blocks from a temple that apparently stood on this site and is surrounded by a plaza paved in an intricate mosaic, fashioned from inlaid pebbles.

A graceful building with a beautiful bell tower probably predates the Knights of St. John, though the bell tower bears the arms of Grand Master d'Aubusson with the dates 1484–90. Frescoes in the elaborate interior were painted in 1779 by Gregory of Symi, and the black-and-white hohlaki pebble floor is typical of the area.  Visitors are required to dress modestly (covered chests and legs).

The town's harborside cathedral is a 1920s Italian-built replica of the Knights' Church of St. John in the Old Town, which was destroyed in an accidental gunpowder explosion in the mid-1800s after the Ottomans began using its basement as a storage facility. The outside is drably slavish to the idea of the Gothic original, but the church interior is rather magnificent, illuminated by the Byzantine-style frescoes of the great modern Greek painter Fotis Kontoglou.

Icons and frescoes from religious buildings throughout Rhodes Town (most of them long since destroyed) are displayed within this 11th-century church. The building was transformed into a mosque under Ottoman rule, but later stripped of all remnants of this period under Italian administration as part of a wider attempt to revive the Knights Hospitaller character of the city.