Laerma Village, Rhodes

Surrounded by conifer forest, rural Laerma is a quiet, whitewashed village, known for a few open-air tavernas serving fish and souvlaki. The Orthodox Church of St. George has paintings of St. George slaying the dragon on its exterior walls, and an elaborate, gilded interior. The stone-built Moni Thari Monastery, with 9th-century origins and medieval frescoes covering the apse, is in the nearby hamlet of Thari.