1987, 1999 and 2006. (And almost on a 2007 cruise!)
2009 Wonders of the Eastern Med.

We love the Greek people and the Greek Islands and Rhodes is the best (in our opinion) that we have visited. Our three visits have been total contrasts.

1987, Faliraki - Hotel B&B. I know what you're thinking, "Faliraki, isn't that where the lager louts go?". Not in 1987, and not now if you go out of season. In 1987 it was a LOT quieter and we got the taste for Rhodes, even though we had earth tremors (as Britons, these were like earthquakes to us. Not to the Greeks). We thought we'd have a big story to tell back home with these but found that, while we'd been away, Britain had suffered the Great Storm. Our tremors were small fry! Stayed at a small Hotel on the main road (Antonios), very friendly and the one thing that has stuck in our mind ever since is that they would not give us our key unless we asked for it in Greek! Nineteen years later we still remember that 106 is "ekaton exi" (that may not be 100% right but it gets by). Visited Antonios again in 2006, it was closed (too early in the season) but we got in and met the family (Antonios still there), had a couple of beers and were treated Royally (considering we'd only stayed there for a couple of weeks 19 years ago!) Nice people and worth a visit.

1999, Lindos - Villa Koki. Lindos is a jewel. A town without cars (donkeys are the main transport, although scooters also get about). The Acropolis is a must see and to eat in any of the rooftop restaurants is magic.

2006, Afandou - Hotel self catering. Now we're talking! The Hotel (the Golden Days) we wouldn't go to when it was busy (there were 9 people resident in our first week) and had a lot of minus points (as well as plus points) but the Village! It is one of the largest villages on Rhodes and is a working as well as a Tourist village. We were there at Easter (we didn't know when we booked, Greek Easter is not the same as in Britain) and it was fabulous. ALL the village turn out (Easter is big in Greece) and we joined the procession. At midnight on Easter Saturday a Service AND fireworks in the main Square, wonderful. The shops, tavernas and bars are run by local families (not like most of the places in Lindos and Rhodes Town) and the people are SO friendly. On our walk every morning into the village we could have done with a recording saying "Kali mera" (Good day). We don't speak to that many people in England! Of course we found our favourite places, Mimis Taverna and the Acapulco Bar (both places made us feel like friends rather than customers) but we didn't restrict ourselves to these. We also met a couple (Diane and Ken) who have bought a place to live there and they're going to become natives when they sell their place in Wakefield. We'll go back.
Enough about these lovely places, what about tourism. Rhodes is (to us) Rhodes Old Town and Lindos. There are lovely places to see on the Island but these two places (and, now, Afandou!)
make it exceptional.

2007, QEII Cruise - The disappointment of our QEII cruise was summed up by the fact that, due to 25 knot winds we couldn't go ashore at Rhodes (the QEII has too deep a draft to dock)! As this was a main contributory factor to our picking this Cruise you can imagine..... Cruised around for the day. The Captain did say that he would try to get one of the lecturers to tell us a few things about what we were seeing as we cruised. He may have tried, he obviously didn't succeed!

2009, We managed to get ashore from the Saga Ruby! Had a stroll around Rhodes City before getting a taxi to Afandou. Had a drink in a bar (not the Acapulco which was closed) that we'd visited a few times in 2006 and the same lady was running it AND she recognised us! Things are not going too well with the recession, whether their business will survive is a problem for them. Had lunch in Mimis Taverna (and a drink on the house for old times sake), as good as ever - then caught the bus back to the City. Nice pleasant day.

See the photos!