Mandraki Harbour

The old Mandráki Harbour, dating from the city’s founding in 408 BC, is protected by a long breakwater, lined by three disused windmills, with the 15th-century Fort St. Nicholas on its northern tip. Flanking the entrance to the harbor are two stone columns topped by bronze figures of a stag and a hind. Deer are the heraldic symbol of Rhodes and are still depicted on local ceramics such as plates, ashtrays, and tiles sold as souvenirs. In times gone by, the mythical Colossus of Rhodes (a giant third-century-BC statue of Helios, a handsome Greek god, and personification of the sun) is said to have straddled the entrance to the harbor where the deer now stand. Today, the Mandráki is used by yachts and excursion boats offering day trips to the nearby islands of Symi and Halki and to Marmaris on the Turkish coast.