Return to Home Page Harrys Greece Guide

greece greek islands kos cos dodecaneseKos Page 2

Kos Town

Kos Town looks magical as you sail in, with its imposing Castle of the Knights, palm trees and the smell of jasmine wafting over the waters.

Kos Town is the capital and main port. You can see Turkey on the horizon. The city has a water treatment plant and the waters are clean. The streets have been made one-way to try and ease congestion. The monuments are being restored to lure more tourists, oops, I mean preserve them for future generations.

Platea Eleftheria, the main square, a block back from the harbor, has been declared a no-car zone. Within the square is the Archeology Museum, (Tues-Sun, 8:30-3, fee) housed in an Italian art-deco building modeled after a Roman house. The prize exhibit is a 4th Century BC statue of an island son, none other than Hippocrates, father of modern medicine.

greece greek islands kos cos dodecaneseThe museum also displays fine mosaics, statuettes and geometric Roman era ceramics. Also within the Square is the18th Century Defterdar Mosque, still used by the 50 Muslim families living mostly in near by Platani town. It's not open to the public.

The city's market is also located here as is the entrance to the Ancient Agora through the Porta tou Forou or "door of the taxes" covered with exquisite bougainvillea vines. The ancient Agora consists of a series of ruins, many revealed after the 1993 quake including the ancient harbor, a Temple to Aphrodite and a 5th Century Christian Basilica. On the northern end of the Agora is the huge, 53 ft in diameter Hippocrates' Plane Tree and nearby fountain.

Its estimated to be 700 years old, but obviously Hippocrates never lectured under its boughs as they would have you believe. Most Greeks believe the shade of the plane tree to be the best. So apparently did the Turks for they built the fountain just below. The fountain was made using a handy sarcophagus for a basin and is meant to water the faithful as they emerge from the Mosque of the Loggia just above.

More Kos/Cos Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9