I travelled to Rhodes recently for a very enjoyable short break recently. With the ghastly British weather this winter continuing and having what seems to be an on-going winter bug, I was hoping that some warmer weather might make life easier and it certainly was a vast improvement on Rhodes.
I had to stay overnight at Gatwick Airport and did manage to find some comparatively reasonably priced accommodation. Nothing strikes me as inexpensive these days at Gatwick but the Gatwick Inn Hotel's prices were as good as they come and it was convenient for the airport. I had a vast room which was comfortable.
I had prebooked an aisle seat for the four-hour journey to Rhodes as my 6'5 frame would not cope with a window or middle seat and, to be fair for a non-exit seat, I could just about fit into it but sitting side-saddle was the easier option. The easyJet flight left on time and arrived early which was a bonus. It was very windy as we neared Rhodes and the descent was a bit unnerving but the pilot did well as most of us seemed pleased to make terra firma after the previous few minutes.

Inconveniently, the first airport bus did not arrive so it meant a further hour's wait before going to Rhodes Old Town. I stayed in the Old Town, around ten minutes on foot from the bus station, at a place called the Knights of the Old Town. It was an excellent choice: it was possible to book a particular room - more an apartment - and mine was actually downstairs and not really close to others. It had a double bed, sitting area, bathroom and cooking facilities and was a good size. It was very close to one of the Old Town squares and fairly quiet so it was an excellent choice and all for just over £25 a night.
Restaurants and souvenir shops are plentiful but I did rather feel for the people trying to bring custom into the myriad of restaurants. It's not a job which I would welcome and, by the same token, I didn't much care for not being able to read the menu without being encouraged in. I settled for the Restaurant Eros where I could look at the menu with less attention. The local dish I had, pork gyros, was very pleasant. Rhodes struck me as being good value to eat.
My first full day was spent in Lindos, around one-and-a-half hours by bus from Rhodes. Single journeys only cost 5.5 euros and the scenery was delightful. It was still pretty breezy. Not only is Lindos a lovely town full of nooks and crannies and beautifully whitewashed buildings but it is well known for its Acropolis standing high above the town. The dark blue of the sea make it quite the picture-postcard place to visit. It also featured prominently in The Guns of Navarone (as did various places in Rhodes). An added bonus was that entrance was free that day, a good saving on the normal 12 euro fee.
Oh dear, I have never overcome my enjoyment of souvenir shops, of which there many on the island. As I mentioned earlier, restaurants and souvenir shops abound and so something other than window shopping for once was another agreeable pastime. They were good value too which made this rare shopping experience even more pleasurable... Mind you, that said, I did have to tell my mother that a pack of cards I was proposing to buy for her when she meets friends at a Monday afternoon get-together over a cup of tea and cake might have to be vetted as she might not wish to dish out cards of the Greek equivalent of the Kama Sutra. Having picked a less saucy pack, she still said that they still wouldn't pass muster... Hey ho, the olive oil soaps (in the sanctuary of our bathroom) did.

I did very much enjoy the Rhodian windmills and Mandraki Port with the Agios Nikolaos Lighthouse and walked up there many times during the day and night. I believe that the Colossus of Rhodes, long gone, might have been situated there at the entrance to this port. Two deer now guard it. The breezy weather continued and waves quite often made an impressive crash against the rocks. Lit up in the later evening, it made for a beautiful setting.
There are many stray cats on Rhodes and a shelter at Mandraki Port was set up for some of them with a donations box. Four or five cats slept contentedly and munched away there. I had stumbled upon a Nimmos Restaurant (which I had seen mentioned on the Internet) and where I ate for the last two nights. The place was wonderfully friendly, the food was excellent and there was no pressure applied when viewing the menu. My second night's dish, Kleftiko, a lamb casserole, was quite delicious and huge - just as well as I had one especially stubborn cat which refused to be moved on despite the best efforts of the staff but which I was happy to feed.
My mother was a Classics teacher and wanted to see photos of the Amphitheatre of Rhodes. The maze of alleyways in the Old Town was always likely to stump me in my quest to find the Amphitheatre but, after seeing the odd place twice and eventually asking for directions, I did find it. It is a large area with a stadium and is nicely kept. Part of the remaining temple is under scaffold but, from the top, the views looking out towards the sea are very pleasant.
I was pleased not to have to rush the following morning but, with plenty to do in the evening when I reached home, I was rather hoping that everything would go smoothly. The incoming aircraft arrived very early but, sadly, we had to sit on the tarmac for quite a while and so were late in leaving. For whatever reason, I had just been able to fit into seat 15C - a standard aisle seat - on the outbound flight but seat 14C - another standard aisle - on the return was a different proposition so my legs had to stay in the aisle for the four-hour journey. We did arrive on time and I did, by the skin of my teeth, make all the connections so all worked out well.