Native son Hippocrates is justly celebrated on Kós; not only does he have a tree, a street, a park, a statue and an international medical institute named after him, but the Asklepion (summer Tues-Sun 8am-7pm, earlier closure winter; 2.35) 4km south of town, one of just three in Greece, is a major tourist attraction. DEAS buses run to the site via Platáni 8am-6pm and to Platáni only 7-11.45pm; otherwise it's a 45-minute walk. There is a small snack bar at the Asklepion, or pause for lunch in Platáni en route.

 

The Asklepion was actually founded just after the death of Hippocrates, but it's safe to assume that the methods used and taught here were his. Both a temple to Asklepios (god of medicine, son of Apollo) and a renowned curative centre, its magnificent setting on three artificial hillside terraces overlooking Anatolia reflects early recognition of the importance of the therapeutic environment. Until recently, two fountains provided the site with a constant supply of clean, fresh water, and extensive stretches of clay piping are still visible, embedded in the ground.

Today very little remains standing above ground, owing to the chronic earthquakes and the Knights' use of the site as a quarry. The lower terrace in fact never had many structures, being instead the venue for the observance of the Asklepieia - quadrennial celebrations and athletic/musical competitions in honour of the healing god. Sacrifices to Asklepios were conducted at an altar , the oldest structure on the site, whose foundations can still be seen near the middle of the second terrace. Just to its east, the Corinthian columns of a second-century AD Roman temple were partially re-erected by nationalistically minded Italians. A monumental staircase leads from the altar to the second-century BC Doric temple of Asklepios on the topmost terrace, the last and grandest of a succession of the deity's shrines at this site.

About halfway to the Asklepion, the village of PLATÁNI (also Kermetés, from the Turkish name Germe ) is, along with Kós Town, the remaining place of residence for the island's dwindling community of ethnic Turks. Until 1964 there were nearly three thousand of them, but successive Cyprus crises and the worsening of relations between Greece and Turkey prompted mass emigration to Anatolia, and a drop in the Muslim population to currently under a thousand. Several excellent, Turkish-run tavernas are to be found at and around the main crossroads junction, with a working Ottoman fountain: Arap (summer only), the slightly less touristy Asklipios and Sherif across the way (summer only) and Gin's Palace (all year), each offering Anatolian-style mezédhes (fried vegetables with yogurt, bourekákia , and so on) and kebabs better than most in Kós Town.

Just outside Platáni on the road back to the port, the island's neglected Jewish cemetery lies in a dark conifer grove, 300m beyond the well-kept Muslim graveyard. Dates on the Hebrew-Italian-script headstones stop after 1940, after which none of the local Jews were allowed the luxury of a natural death prior to their deportation in summer 1944. Their former synagogue, a wonderfully orientalized Art Deco specimen at Alexándhrou Dhiákou 4, was refurbished in 1991 as a municipal events hall.