Tourist information -
Kos
Kos is the second largest and most popular island
in the Dodecanese. Here the harbour is guarded by an imposing castle
of the Knights of St John; the streets are lined with grandiose
Italian public buildings; and minarets and palm trees punctuate
extensive Hellenistic and Roman remains. Although its hinterland
for the most part lacks the wild beauty of Rhodes', the larger Dodecanese
Island, acre for acre Kos is the more fertile of the two, blessed
with rich soil and abundant ground water.
Mass tourism has largely displaced the old agricultural economy
amongst the population - virtually the entire coast is fringed by
beaches of various sizes, colours and consistencies.
The capital of Kos is Kos Town. The town of Kos is home to over
half of the island's population, spreads in all directions from
the harbour, with most of its charm residing in scattered ancient
and medieval antiquities. Apart from the Knights' castle, the first
thing you see on arrival, there's a wealth of Hellenistic and Roman
remains, many of which were only revealed by an earthquake in 1933,
and excavated subsequently by the Italians, who also planned and
laid out the "garden suburb" extending east of the central
grid. Elsewhere, vast areas of open space alternate with a hotchpotch
of Ottoman monuments and later mock-medieval or Art Deco buildings.
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