Rhodes (Greece)

Warm climate, warm welcome, beautiful scenery and INCREDIBLY good value – you can’t ask much more from a summer holiday, which probably explains why we have recently returned from our 3rd visit to Rhodes.

The first time my husband and I went to Rhodes was in 1997 as a result of a late getaway deal, we had a couple of the larger Greek Islands under our belt but not much knowledge of the Eastern Med – we just wanted a cheap, sunny holiday. We got a two-centre deal, presumably left over from two package trips, that suited us down to the ground.

Our first week in Rhodes was spent in Lindos, the perfect chilled out holiday town. I remember the coach winding down the approach road, to the sprawl of sugar-cube houses clinging to the hillside under the imposing ancient acropolis. We just dumped our stuff in our apartment and wandered down to the main ‘street’ (all of Lindos is pedestrianised, tiny pathways amongst some truly ancient buildings) where we enjoyed our first Rhodian cocktail.

I cannot describe the atmosphere adequately, we drifted happily from bar to rooftop taverna, enjoying the endless friendly welcome in an international –yet somehow village-like environment. The mixture of incredibly historical buildings (one of our favourite bars was in a 16th Century ‘Captains House’,) with the usual tourist tat was strangely appealing whilst unreal, and the evening passed in a daze of generous measures and welcomes.

Finding our apartment in the Lindos maze was a challenge, but we managed it eventually and over the next week also enjoyed all the town had to offer by day. Two wonderful sandy beaches – the main one, with all the facilities, and tiny St Paul’s bay with it’s little white church and excellent snorkelling opportunities. The Acropolis, with the Knight’s stronghold and a Byzantine chapel constructed on the ruins of the 4th Century Temple of Athena – choose a cooler day if you have one, it is over 300 steps and a steep climb, or you can take a ride on a poor donkey ‘taxi’ (they always seemed to be bearing portly camera-laden tourists twice their body weight rather than kids, but seemed on the whole well cared for). You can also stroll up the hill the other way to use the pools at the hotels on the outskirts of town, or the clubs - which are largely out of the town centre – if you want to dance till dawn.

Accommodation in Lindos is *basic*. You can expect a room containing two single beds, often jammed together, a tiny wardrobe, and self-catering facilities consisting of 2 electric hotplates, a kitchen sink and a fridge. The bathroom will contain a loo, a little bin for loo paper or anything else (Greek plumbing has declined since the ancients quit), and a hose attached to the wall (known as a shower). There may be some sort of tray to stand in, but you will always find a drain in the floor too, it is basically intended as a wet room. Remember to remove your clothes, towel and loo roll!

Buildings are tightly packed in the old village, and accommodation reflects this too. Expect to be able to clean your teeth, make an endlessly slow cup of coffee and open the front door without rising from your little camp bed. You may also have a ‘Lindian’ pebble mosaic floor, which look fantastic but are unforgiving on bare feet. A lot of people complain about the standard of accommodation in apartments on the island, but you don’t go to Lindos to sit in your room, and you get what you pay for – there are hotels if you want more. Most rooms aren’t air conditioned, but some have wonderful huge ceiling fans which inhibit the insects as well as cooling the air, and fans can be hired quite cheaply around the town. Every room we have stayed in in Rhodes has been kept spotlessly clean for us.

We spent our second week in Rhodes a few km north of Lindos in the quieter resort of Haraki. This used to be a fishing village, and is now the site of a clean, quiet pebble beach, some friendly bars and a couple of excellent tavernas.
The accommodation had a similar level of specification but a lot more elbow room, including a veranda with table and chairs. We had a lovely, lower – key week, and hired a moped to explore more of the island. (Definitely not recommended and I wouldn’t do it now, car hire is excellent value and much, much safer).

Some of the places you have to see – most accessible by excursion if you don’t want to travel independently:

Rhodes Town:
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You have to see this place. The modern Island capital, centred on Mandraki harbour (want a ferry to Athens? Cairo? Marmaris?) , offering every mod-con in it’s cosmopolitan tree-lined boulevards. Some mad driving/road layouts though! And the incredible Old Town, preserved as a UNESCO world heritage site and influenced by the ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Crusading Knights, Turks and Italians who have all had a piece of the island over the centuries. An incredible mixture of medieval cobbled streets, churches mosques and fortifications. Shops selling every ‘designer’ label (check spelling carefully if you don’t want to look really stupid), bars and tavernas, you name it you will find it in Rhodes town.

Beaches/resorts:
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Check out:

Faliraki – party town, endless bars and clubs, the real dawn till dusk resort (and a lovely sandy beach with everything from pedaloes to bungee jumping)

Afandou – 7km blue-flag beach, mainly pebbly but clean and quiet, a little train links to the town a few km in land.

Gennadi – more sweeping pebbles in the south of the island, still possible to sunbathe, or whatever, in complete privacy

Glystra – just south of Pefkos, a quite, sandy cove.

Kalithea – ruins of an old spa from the days of the Italian occupation, this is still a very Italian resort. They run the one-day dive school here, and bathing/snorkelling is excellent.

Tsambika – one of the largest sandy beaches and popular with local people, the beach is overlooked by the Tsambika monastery perched on the top of a steep hill. Approach on your hand and knees to combat fertility problems, apparently!

Prassonissi – often a separate Island at the far south of Rhodes, connected by a golden sand-spit, or when rough cut off completely. This is an amazing beach where you can stand with one foot in the rough Aegean and the other in the warm, calm Mediterranean.

There are many more beaches on the Aegean side, often popular with surfers for the higher seas, but we know them less well.

The interior of the Island also boasts some gems –

The Valley of the Butterflies at Petaloudes (known by Lonely Planet as the Valley of the tour Buses). We have never seen it teeming with kalimorfa butterflies as we tend to go off-season – it’s quite warm enough by early June. However it is still a beautiful shady walk in it’s own right, and makes a change from the beach.

Similarly Seven Springs (Epta Epiges), where Italian engineers built a reservoir in the 30s diverting the flow of the natural springs through a spooky dark tunnel into a cool, beautiful (if man-made) lake.

Empona – close to Mount Ativiros, Rhodes’ highest peak, and home of the Island’s wine making. If cheap retsina is giving you heartburn try their Emery for a subtle and refreshing change (tasting is welcomed and encouraged).

Ilysassos – In the north near the airport, climb up the huge concrete cross monument for some stunning views of the Island and it’s neighbours, try to defy your instincts and walk down the arms of the cross without your legs turning to jelly!

Kameiros – explore the ruins of the ancient city, now preserved and with restoration work in progress, close your eyes and imagine the ancients standing in the same spot as you philosophising or drinking wine or whatever…

Anyway these are some of the places you should start with, but you’ll find your own as well. We returned to Rhodes the following year and spent two glorious weeks in Lindos. We treated ourselves to a (completely knackered) Jeep for the duration and explored the whole Island, discovering new beaches and villages, whilst relaxing in our favourite bars by night. Two friends also got married that year, which can be arranged in the tiny chapel on St Paul’s Bay.

And this year we finally returned, taking our new 17-month-old daughter. I was a bit concerned about the accommodation with a toddler but you adjust your expectations accordingly and it was fine. We hired a travel cot from the tour agent, and a baby seat for the car, and that was all the baby kit we had for the week! (Makes you wonder why you pack the kitchen sink to go to your mothers for the weekend…) We did meet one couple with a 9-month-old, who had to cope with sterilising on the hotplates, but they were doing fine and enjoying their holiday.

Obviously we had a different sort of holiday, but she loved swimming so that was fine (see my earlier op on our comprehensive sun protection measures). In the evening she was made warmly welcome at local tavernas, always happy to do a small omelette or pasta dish for her – none of the UK insistence on ‘children’s meals’ having to be poor quality rubbish like chicken nuggets. If she got bored and ran around they were laid back and friendly, she would disappear into the back of the restaurant and come out eating a biscuit or something, having charmed the old lady at the stove, everywhere we went we felt welcome and at home.

Rhodes had changed a lot in 3-4 years: development inevitably continues apace, although restrictions still apply on the height of new buildings around Lindos and the south (no Benidorm towers here). The roads have improved, including meting of the track down to Prassonissi, and there are a few small ‘supermarkets’ on the Island now, catering to tourists and locals. We were delighted to find our favourite bars thriving, and to be welcomed back as though we’d just popped down to the beach for an afternoon. It really felt to us like we had never been away, and I can’t wait until we go back.

Top Tips for holidaying in Rhodes:

 Get the brochures so you have pictures to hand, then check the teletext for bucket shop numbers. We booked through Travel Bargains (agents for Golden Sun) this year, and the whole trip (for us all) cost less than £400 with insurance

 Sort your car hire out in the UK, for savings of around 50%

 Travel as light as you can, you won’t need a lot

 Travel with an open mind – you won’t find the level of accommodation of the Costas, but you’re not paying for it.

Just relax and enjoy your holiday on beautiful Rhodes!

© Cazz ;-)