Grand Master's Palace

I have now been in Podos for 5 days. So far, it has been a wonderful experience. I traveled to Old Town during my first day here, and visited the castle there. This is some research that I did on the castle:

Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes

Built near the site of the ancient acropolis of Rhodes, where a temple to the Sun God once stood. Byzantine occupants of the castle built a palace here around the 7th century but in the 14th century, the Knights Hospitaller took over the island. They built the Grandmaster’s Palace and established it as their new administrative fortress. The castle was destroyed by a gunpowder explosion but rebuilt in the 1940’s to its original design. Part of the reconstructed castle was dedicated to Benito Mussolini. The castle was built on the highest point in the city. The Knights instituted changes in the castle such as cutting a 50 foot wide ditch at the foot of the castle walls to cause would be attackers to fall into a gully. The Knights also created forward positioned towers along their walls in reaction to gunpowder weapons designed to knock down walls. The integrity of the wall would not be compromised with the fall of the tower, and neither would the tower be compromised with the fall of the wall. The Knights also built a wall surrounding the harbor and added an enormous tower in the 1400’s that fell in 1863 during an earthquake. The tower was called “The Tower of Naillac” and was noted as being an exceptionally strong fortification which was built after a flaw in walls defense was discovered during the siege of 1444.