One day crash tour in Rhodes old town

Modern day traveling requires us to spend super short time in the places we visit for the weekend trips or the the stop overs. Unusual moments requires unusual measures: you need to experience the best place you can see. If you feel exactly like above in Rhodes Island, you must visit the historic town of Rhodes. 

The historic town of Rhodes is enclosed by multiple medieval fortification left by many civilizations ruled the island; Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, Genoese, Ottoman ... There are more than 10 gates to get in. Each gate takes you to another realm in the maze like street web of the ancient city. Every path from every gate is a different adventure for the wonderer of the island. I recommend you to take a different one each time and get lost!

Among all interesting locations you may visit in the Rhodes old town, I recommend you to spend some time in the Fountain Square and Socrotous Street Market. That is one of the center of attaractions in Rhodes old town. You will see it is a very popular gathering point to meet up new people and get some munchies in the low cost cafes around. It is also a central point on the East of the fortress where multiple shopping streets are opened. It is also directly connected to the Turkish quarter where you can see very well preserved mosque and the Ottoman era mansion. You can reach the square from the ruins of gothic church whose view is magnificent at the twilight. 

Another nice point of attraction of Rhodes old town is the tower. You can visit the clock tower and several attractions around it. Moreover, the quarter of the clock tower is the house of many restaurants in the Medieval citadel. Rhodes old town accommodates most of the major restaurants and bars. It basically encompasses the night life of the Rhodes city. It is very hard to recommend restaurants among all enclosed by the fortification but one must always minds not to be tricked by the banners in front of the restos.  All typical touristic scams are valid here as well. The one that I had, as an example for your, was the missing 10 EUR in the change as I guess the waiter didn't like the amount of food I consumed and set a price 10 EUR higher than the bill. Anyway, try to taste the Greek delicacies. There were few trip advisor high rank Greek restaurants around the clock tower, worth to check out!  

The souvenir shops are worth to check out! You can buy many cool stuff to remind you the nice island trip. However what I definitely recommend you not to buy is the "authentic" Greek food over there. The olives, cheese, booze etc. are extremely pricy. I believe the best is to buy them either from the supermarkets in the new town, at the duty free shop in the harbor or even better on the other side of the sea, Turkey. Basically because the price in the shops here are twice or even triple of the normal level. 

So overall Rhodes old town is a place worth to see. You can see most of the attraction with an investment of a full day and night and enjoy Mediterranean sun and sea for the rest of your holiday. ENJOY!!

Rhodes: how to get in, stay and get out

As an island in the middle of eastern Mediterranean sea, Rhodes is very well connected to the major cities of mainland Europe, Great Britain and Russia through the air. In additional to the main airliner, flagship carriers and budget airliners, there are also many seasonal charter flights in the connection list of the island. All this air traffic makes Rhodes International Airport  the fourth busiest airport in Greece.   This relatively small airport accommodates all necessary facilities. There are few cafés open 24/7 which helps you plan flight in the middle of the night. 

The airport is located on north west cost of the island, 15 km away from the main residential area, Rhodes City. This distance can be travelled by few means. Taxi is the major way of transportation between the main residential areas and the airport though it is costly. For example, goin the Rhodes City may easily cost between 40-50 EUR. Another way is to take a bus ride which takes around 30 minutes. It cost 2.20 EUR for a single ride now. The tickets may be collected from the coffee shop at the entrance of the departure building. On the way back, you can buy the tickets from the ticket booth located at the main station or from the news stands in the city. Although the schedule changes in a seasonal fashion, you can find the updated departure timetable on the website of Greek ministry of tourism. Besides them the tour operators and the hotels are also running shuttle services for their customers. However, it is the best to check back with your hotel for the price because they are mostly not included in your rate.

Another convenient way of traveling to Rhodes Island is to take the ferries from Marmaris, Turkey or one of the other islands of the Dodecanese archipelago. From Marmaris, there are a couple of ferries and express catamaran services traveling both ways everyday. Similar services are ran between other islands and Rhodos as well. Dodekanisos Seaways is the major company running this service along with few Turkish companies. The average cost of one way ride between Marmaris and Rhodes is around 20 EUR excluding 12 EUR Turkish port tax you need to pay on both ways unless you do the return journey in the same day. The ships dock to the harbor just by the Medieval town and you are ready to go. Another important tip regarding the seaway is don't forget to check out the Greek and Turkish duty free shops because the prices rock!

Once you reached to the island, you can reach your hotel easily with the well connecting bus lines. There are also taxis at your disposal. You may also rent a car or a scooter but try to stay away from the conner which is quite likely to encounter in the rental business. 

The accommodation is a bit tricky in Rhodes. The Island basically surrounded by the hotels all around. However the general problem with the hotels, especially for the hotel in Rhodes City, is lack of maintenance and the noise. If you are a city dweller like me, you may check out the places in the new town where the prices are okay in several hotels but the customer satisfaction is very low. On the other hand, there are some accommodation option in the medieval town however they are quite pricy and I don't know if you can stand with that chaotic noise, mixture of everything. Therefore, I made my choice on a place just outside of the fortification but very close to everywhere, Silvia Hotel. You can check out the extensive review in my blog too. ENJOY YOUR STAY!!!!

A secluded hideaway in Rhodes Island, Greece : Silvia Hotel

Rhode is the fourth largest of the beautiful Greek Islands. It is the capital of Dodecanese archipelago. It is very well connected to the mainland Europe through the seasonal and all-year-long flights and to the nearest land, Marmaris - Turkey, by ferries. This all makes it geographically attractive to the backpackers and adventurer travelers. The beautiful beaches and the medieval old town of the island are the major attraction for the occasional holiday lovers. These all makes the island pretty attractive and its accommodation options pricy and tricky to be selected. 

When I have had my last trip to Rhodes, the challenge of selecting a hotel in Rhodes City was bad reviews written for many hotel in the new town. They main complaint was the noise coming from the discos and lack of maintenance probably due to the high demand for the island. This might make many property owners less caring for their facilities. And when you put the price of the places on top of the reviews, it is very likely you wouldn't stay many of the hotels there. Similar complaints were also made for the locations in the historic town. All and all, I had to spend substantial amount of time to find a nice accommodation in Rhodes. But I finally did managed to find a very decent one, at lease this was my conclusion after I stayed there, Silvia Hotel.

Silvia Hotel is cosy two star hotel located just south of the old town. The walking distance to the nearest entrance of the town from the hotel is around 5 minutes. So this already makes its location very convenient. It takes more or less 20 minutes to walk from the last stop of the airport bus to the hotel if you follow the cost line. There is one thing I must point out that the location you may get out of Booking.com confirmation email might be wrong. So you'd better use the one above. The hotel situates in a residential district where there is no disco or any other noise generating establishment. So that is already a plus. Furthermore, the crew of the hotel is extremely friendly and they try to make your stay a relaxing experience. They have been very helpful to me not only on exploring the city by giving precise tips and tricks but also on taking care of the hotel formalities like check in/out. Here I should point out that they don't except the credit cards other than Visa and Mastercard. Even if you used another card like AmEx for the reservation, you need to pay with another card. There is another good thing about the payment is that they don't preauthorize your credit card if you state there will a late check in. It is very nice to see that the mutual trust still works at some places.

I stayed in a one bed accommodation which was pretty comfortable and very well furnished. They room was all new and extremely clean. All the facilities like air-conditioning and the fridge were very well working. This shows the maintenance is being properly done. The room had a flat TV and a fridge where you can put your goodies or some beverages. That is pretty handy if you want to have some drinks in the room or if you want to store freshly bought Greek cheese. The bathroom was small but very clean. The only point missing was that for such a small shower space it is wiser to put a cabin than shower curtain which unfortunately cannot stand still. The toiletries were nicely places and if you need more they are also served. There was no slippers left at my disposal. So it might be wise if you bring your own. 

Normally, the price includes the continental breakfast. I would say it is average but not bad at all. There is no bacon or scrambled egg. But other that those, there were everything you may want to have in a nice breakfast.

To wrap up, Silvia Hotel is one of the nicest places you can find in Rhodes City with its convenient location, clean rooms and last but not least the friendly crew. In terms of price/quality balance, they are certainly placed in the upper rank and Silvia Hotel definitely deserve the high grade they get from Booking.com .