Monolithos, Greece

"Monólithos" redirects here. For the poetry book of Jack Gilbert, see Monolithos.

Monolithos Μονόλιθος
Village
The castle of Monolithos The castle of Monolithos
Monolithos (yellow dot) within Attavyros (red) and the Regional Unit of Rhodes Monolithos (yellow dot) within Attavyros (red) and the Regional Unit of Rhodes
Monolithos Monolithos (yellow dot) within Attavyros (red) and the Regional Unit of Rhodes
Coordinates:
Country	Greece
Region	South Aegean
Regional unit	Rhodes
Municipality	Rhodes
Municipal unit	Attavyros
Population (2001)
• Total	334
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)

Monolithos (Greek: Μονόλιθος) is a Greek village on the island of Rhodes, South Aegean region, belonging to the municipal unit of Attavyros. It is located 10 km south-east of Apolakkia and 30 km from Prasonisi.

Overview

Outside the village is the Venetian Castle, built on top of a 100m rock. This castle was built in 1480 by the Knights of Saint John to protect the island from attacks. In fact, this castle was never conquered. The Castle of Monolithos is widely ruined today but it offers great views of the sea and the two islets opposite to it. Inside the Castle, there is a small working chapel dedicated to Agios Panteleimon (Saint Pantaleon). Access to the castle is by a staircase cut into the rock. The steps, whilst not particularly steep, are quite slippery simply due to the numbers of visitors wearing them away. On the climb up to the top, you are likely to see hundreds, if not thousands, of small piles of rocks from 3-10 in number. The significance of these little piles is not known.

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Rhodes Monolithos: Information and pictures of Monolithos Castle on Rhodes
• Rhodes Island at Greeka.com
• Images of Monolithos at Flickr