Rhodes – The northeast of the island – Koskinou, Kalithea and Faliraki

The east coast of the island to the south of Rhodes is sheltered from the prevailing winds, punctuated by majestic headlands and has an altogether more intimate feel than the flatter shore-line of the west coast. The greatest concentration of tourist infrastructure and large hotels is to be found here. From the Hellenistic bridge (see p. 157) at the southern end of Kodringtonou Street (0km point for distances giv en), Kalitheas Avenue leads south out of the city between the main modern cemetery and the area of the ancient necropolises. There are substantial visible remains of the latter to the right of the road, with altars, sarcophagi and rock-cut burial chambers dating from the 2nd century bc through to the 2nd century ad. After 4km, Koskinou is visible on the top of the escarpment to the right. This is a largely residential area which has preserved many attractively coloured houses in both neoclassical and traditional architecture of the 19th century. At Kallithea (7km), thermal springs rise close to the shore: these were known in Antiquity and their therapeutic qualities allegedly recognised by Hippocrates. Their average temperature is only 19Β°C and the water is indicated for drinking more than for bathing. The -buildings of the thermal spa designed by Pietro Lombardi in 1927 add magic to an otherwise ordinary stretch of coast. In the way in which they sympathetically relate to the land scape and create pleasing, semi-covered spaces that are neither inside nor outside, they represent what is best and most imaginative in Italian colonial architecture in the Dodecanese. The Italian occupying forces landed here in May 1912. The decision to consecrate the spot with a grandiose spa was aimed principally at encouraging holidaymakers to the is land. Lombardi created an unusual complex of low circular buildings and radiating hemicycles which combines many references, both local and foreign; there are memories of the Gothic portals (e.g. Aghia Paraskevi) of the Knights, the open stoas of Ancient Greece, and the chochlakia, pebble pavements of the Dodecanese, mixed with orientalising, quasi-Moorish touches and embellished with palms. Once again, the key-note form is the unusually wide and low arch, springing from short quarter-columns, whose effect is great ly to accentuate breadth and lateral space. After the War, the bath complex was abandoned to an increasingly romantic state of decay. In 2003 a project for their complete restoration was begun by the Greek authorities, aimed at opening the complex commercially to the public once again: this has certainly reversed the decay of the structures, but at the same time has swept away much of their once elegiac appeal. After Kallithea the road descends into the long bay of Faliraki—the often strident tourist epicentre of the island. Below the headland at the far southern end of the bay is the church of Prophitis Amos, a 17th century single-aisle church with pebble floor and vestiges of its original paintings on the walls and on the masonry templon screen.