"Crossroads of Civilisation" a Rhodes (Island) Travel Page by M0B1US

Rhodes has been an important crossroads of civilisation since the stone age and has been colonised against a succession of civilisations and powers including the Minoans, Achaeans, Dorians, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Knights of St John, Ottomans, Italians - it sure has been busy here...

For me, Rhodes has the best of both worlds when it comes to a summer holiday on an island, and that is a great climate with plenty of fascinating things to see and do!

Most people tend to go to Rhodes for the beaches first and the other stuff when they're bored, or sunburnt!

We on the other had spent only a few hours on the beach all week - and that was only because we had to wait for someone to fix the hire car!

We just didn't have time. There was too much other stuff to do, places to explore, people to meet, delicious food and drink to sample - we certainly had our work cut out...!

Now we did get a lot crammed into a week, but I much recommend that you come here for two weeks if you can manage it.

If you're into your ancient and mediaeval history, you are going to be in heaven here as you literally can't move without tripping over an ancient ruin here or an entire intact city there...

The oldest major sites all hail from the Dorian era and these are the cities of Kamiros and Ialysos on the west and the spectacularly sited acropolis of Lindos. Another important site is the Hellenic city of Rhodes overlooking the modern day city.

The other major monuments on the island belong to the Knights of St John, of which the Old Town of Rhodes is the largest inhabited mediaeval walled town in the world - it truly takes your breath away!

Fortifications built by the knights dot the island at regular intervals and, if you can, try and get to the stunningly sited castle of Monolithos which stands eyrie-like on a 240m 'monolith' of stone.

Although people think of Rhodes as a dry island (no, not the non-alcoholic kind!), there are a number of fertile springs in the interior such as Petaloudes, the Valley of the Butterflies and Epta Piges, Seven Springs - both of these make for an idyllic excursion though Petaloudes does get rammed with tourists and is better visited either very early or very late...

If you can, try and visit another island such as Nisyros, Tilos or Symi - if you can, arrange it to stay overnight at least. Personally I wouldn't recommend doing a day trip to Turkey as it is Tackville in extremis! But it's your holiday and not mine... ;-)

Rhodes Old Town is a joy to get around by simply walking its lanes and alleyways. The same can be said of the spectacularly sited town of Lindos too.

A brilliant way to get around to the main tourist centres of Rhodes is by boat or ferry, as arriving in these places by sea is a simply magical experience!

Why not go further afield to some of the nearby Greek Islands, we were able to get to Nisyros and Tilos, but other islands like Symi and Chalki are also within easy reach.

Another popular trip is a day's shopping junket to the Turkish tourist honeypot of Marmaris...

The best way to get around the island and see everything you want to when you want to and for as long as you want to is to hire a car, which we did. This is a fantastic way to get around and see everything you want to - but beware as the Greek drivers are somewhat dangerous, apparently being the worst drivers in the EU!

I would think twice about hiring scooters because of the safety aspect, but if that is your thing then it is easy to hire them.

There is also a decent if sporadic bus service that links the major population centres.