Rhodes - Discover the Unknown Rhodes

C H A P T E R 5
Apolakkia and the churches nearby
The artificial lake
of Siana
Ayios Giorgios
o Vardas has some
very beautiful frescos
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On the way out of the village of Siana a dirt
track descends steeply towards the valley,
creeping through a landscape made up of low,
dark-barked bushes that stand out like black
paper silhouettes against the almost-white and
dusty soil. At the bottom of the valley a dam has
been constructed creating a muddy-shored
lake whose waters are an unnatural turquoise.
Arriving at Apolakkia, it is not easy to find the
many churches dotted among sown fields and
copses: rare road signs give vague directions,
but it is, nonetheless, worth the effort.
The church of Ayios Georgios o Vardas,
founded in the thirteenth century, is to be
found in a
woodland
clearing: the
Byzantine
frescos are
among the
oldest on the
island and,
even though some pieces are now missing,
they preserve lovely images of the saints
(among them