After years of saying that we must try a trip to Rhodes, we got around to going there last week. We booked the ferry with Yesil Dalyan and found that the midweek trips suited us best because we planned to spend more than a day trip, so avoiding an early morning return from Rhodes. Our trip was planned for last Monday with a 09.00 departure from Fethiye and a 16.30 return from Rhodes on Thursday.
At around 2.15 last Sunday while we were wandering around the market, my mobile rang and it was ferry company who informed me that the Monday sailing to Rhodes had been cancelled due to a technical fault, when I expressed my disbelief after booking and paying for hotels, they offered me a trip that same day as long as we were able to get down to the port by 4pm. Having not yet packed we rushed home and threw stuff into our case, unfortunately forgetting phone charger and more importantly our camera. We called the hotel from the taxi en-route to the ferry and were relieved that they could accommodate us for an extra night. Our relief however cost us a further 120 Euro.
The ferry was jam packed and the journey took about 2 hours, I couldn't understand how on a supposedly duty free journey they justify 5 Euro (13 lira ) for two 33cl tins of beer?
Arrival in Rhodes and clearing passport control was pain free and with plenty of taxis on hand we set off to our hotel, the Amphryton Boutique Hotel. The hotel is an 8 Euro journey from the port and would you believe right next door to Marks & Spencer, we were so excited to check out their food hall, unfortunately, they don't have one, they do however have really expensive clothes!
Anyway, back to the hotel, it's not really boutique but nice enough all the same, located about a 5 minute walk from the nearest gate into the old town, it's in a good position. The rooms are nice and the staff are exceptional, obviously were not experts but would recommend the hotel. The food for dinner, although buffet style is really nice and at just 10 euro PP is great value for money.
Our first day was spent exploring the old town located within the castle walls, it's a lovely labyrinth of cobbled streets, quaint houses, shops, restaurants, museums and a palace, you could certainly get lost in there. I wish they would ban scooters and motorcycles which were an ever present nuisance. It is a nice place to visit and we really enjoyed our time in there.
The next day we had booked the 'hop on / off' open top bus tour, after being on these type of tours and enjoying immensely in Rome, Barcelona, Istanbul, Dublin, Liverpool, London, Edinburgh and Salzburg we were really looking forward to the Rhodes tour, the alarm bells should have sounded when the tour advertised at 12 Euro PP was sold to us at 9 Euro PP. I'm not going to labour the fact, it was rubbish, basically outside the castle wall there is either nothing to see or hear about ( most of the commentary was Greek music) we stayed on for the 50 minute circuit and never felt the need to hop off, let alone hop back on!
We then went on the strangest looking glass bottom boat, this was really nice, a combination of a slow ride around the harbour looking at the fish and then a hair raising speedboat ride and at 10 Euro each we thought great value.
That evening we went to Meltemi, a small restaurant on the corner of Mandakri Harbour, it's nothing to look at but the food is wonderful. I have dreamed of fresh sardines and these did not disappoint ! The main for me was a marinated and grilled pork chop, absolutely delicious.
Our next trip took us off to the beautiful island of Symi, the ferry took about one hour 45 minutes, the harbour is wonderful, cliff top houses painted in pastel colours set above the clear blue sea and bright blue sky make this sleepy port seem just magical. We spent 3 hours wandering around and having lunch, it was a really nice experience.
The ferry then travelled another hour to the other side of the island to a monastery, I have to admit we didn't fancy forming a queue with the 800+ passengers and so headed off to the only cafe and had a cool drink. Don't get us wrong, we would recommend the trip to Symi 100%
Our last evening meal was spent at the a Turkish named restaurant called Taman. We arrived after just a a five minute stroll from our hotel, the place was full, the young waitress sent her father, the restaurant owner over to greet us, Andreas was his name and he assured us that a table would be ours in five minutes, sure enough it happened and we took our seats for one of the best meals we have ever tasted. Tamam is a true family affair, Dad runs front of house assisted pby his 3 daughters, all who are at school or college and they are wonderful hosts, Mum does the cooking and it's just wonderful. Don't expect to just walk in here, most nights you will have to queue, we did as did lots after us, but nobody left the queue, to be absolutely honest, I would return to Rhodes on a day return just to visit Taman.
On the day we were due to leave and with the rush to get to the ferry from Fethiye, I had forgot the phone charger and woke up on the morning of departure worrying that our return might be a problem, after emailing the ferry company we were reassured that we should check in by 4pm for a 4.30 departure. We were still there at 6pm when they started the engines !
We got back to Fethiye two hours later and despite everyone telling us that you just walk though customs, we got stopped and searched, typical we thought !
Rhodes was nice but in our opinion it cost an absolute fortune compared to Fethiye, the old town is great but you wouldn't want to spend two weeks there.
Would we go again? ......... Maybe !
