Lindos, a white village under the temple of Athena

Lindos is about 50 km south of Rhodes Town, on the east coast. A 116 m rock rises out of the sea there, and the white houses of the village spill down its western side towards two bays. On top of the rock is the acropolis. In ancient times Lindos was the most important of the three cities of Rhodes, with Ialysos and Kamiros. Its harbours sent ships across the eastern Mediterranean long before the city of Rhodes was founded in 408 BC.

The sanctuary of Athena Lindia on the rock was famous across the Greek world. The temple you see today dates from around 300 BC, and a broad Hellenistic stairway and colonnade lead up to it. At the foot of the steps, a warship is carved into the rock face, made around 180 BC. In the Middle Ages the Knights of St John built walls around the summit, so the temple stands inside a castle.

The village below grew rich again in the 16th to 18th centuries, from sea captains and trade. Their houses still stand. They have carved stone doorways, high rooms with wooden ceilings and courtyards paved with chochlakia, mosaics of black and white sea pebbles. In the middle of the village is the Church of the Panagia, built in the 15th century, its walls covered in frescoes.

Lindos is busy by day in summer. Day-trippers walk up from the coaches and cars are not allowed in the village. Come early or stay the night and it changes. In the morning you have the acropolis almost to yourself, and in the evening the lanes go quiet and the rock glows gold above the roofs.