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With twelve main major islands, the Dodecanese add a number of smaller islands like Astypalea, Leros, Lipsi, Nisyros, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kastellorizo, Kos, Patmos, Rhodes, Tilos. This island are on souheastest part of the Aegean, very close from Turkey.
You will find powder sand beaches, incomparable landscapes, history, architecture, very good gastronomy, night life and other things you will discover. Sailing a south-easterly course from mainland Greece you will come upon the Dodecanese islands, like emeralds glinting in the sun, much closer to Asia Minor (Turkish coast) than to mainland Greece. History has certainly left a legacy behind here with the ruins of old civilizations, varied attractive styles in houses, with colorful local customs and very modern facilities.
Because of their strategic and vulnerable position, these islands have been subjected to an even greater catalogue of invasions and occupations than the rest of Greece - Egyptians, the Knights of St John, Turks and Italians have all done their bit as conquerors.
Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands and its town is the largest inhabited medieval settlement in Europe. The Avenue of the Knights is lined with magnificent medieval buildings, the most impressive of which is the Palace of the Grand Masters, restored, but never used, as a holiday home for Mussolini. The imposing Acropolis of Lindos shares its rocky outcrop with a Crusader castle above winding streets with whitewashed, elaborately decorated houses.
Other popular islands in the Dodecanese include Kos, Symi and Patmos. The untouristy islands of Lipsi and Tilos have fantastic beaches without large crowds, and the far-flung Agathonisi, Kastellorizo and Kassos are great places to experience traditional island life. Kassos is a rocky little place just south of Karpathos, populated only by prickly-pear trees, sparse olive and fig trees, dry-stone walls, sheep and goats.
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