Earlier this month, I went on a trip to Rhodes with a friend of mine, my second trip to Greece. (My first one was to Crete 7 years ago.) It was a very frugal trip; we didn’t spend any money on attractions at all, but we still had a really nice time. Here’s what we did, starting with day one.
Our flight there was uneventful, fortunately, as was going through security and border control. The airport was very small and we found out there that most of the tap water in Rhodes isn’t drinkable, and you need to buy bottled water.
I looked into buying a SIM card at the airport but they wanted to sell me a package for 25 Euros, for a month and far too many GB than I needed, so I said I’d look into seeing what I could get away from the airport. My friend had an esim, which I couldn’t get because my phone doesn’t support esims, so I wouldn’t be going entirely without internet since my friend was able to use their phone for directions and to give me a hot spot as needed.
Motorentrodos, the company that we rented an ATV from for the duration of our trip picked us up from the airport, and drove us to their office in Ialyssos, about ten minutes away. The ATV rental charged 50 Euros a day for a 520 cc engine ATV which was a pretty phenomenal price, especially since we were using an ATV as both our method of transportation and our main activity for the trip, and it cost roughly the price of a rental car.
I’d never been on an ATV before but my friend had lots of experience with ATVs and said that the ATV they said was 520 cc seemed quite small for a 520 one, they were used to something much bigger, but they insisted that it was 520 cc.
We loaded our luggage into the luggage compartment in the back of the ATV and onto the front of the ATV using ratchets the ATV company provided for us as well as cheap ones we brought from home, since we didn’t know they’d have any. Theirs were much better. We were told we didn’t need to worry about our stuff getting stolen, that Rhodes is a very safe place with little crime, with a big culture of leaving things out and them staying safe. (We saw this later on, with people leaving their helmets just hanging from their motorcycles.) We didn’t know what to think, but hoped for the best.
We drove off from Ialyssos in the direction of Rhodes Town, our first stop in our adventure and where we would be spending the night, having a great time going down the coastal road, seeing the beautiful blue sea. My friend kept on telling me that they didn’t think it was a 520 cc engine, and it was a tight fit for the two of us on the seat, and maybe we should go back and upgrade.
After nearly getting to Rhodes Town and seeing what my friend meant- it was fine when you were driving but as the passenger you really were squooshed, we decided to turn around and upgrade for a 700 cc engine.
The 700 cc engine cost 10 more Euro a day, so we added 40 Euros, and they siphoned the gasoline from the smaller ATV to the larger one, and we were off to Rhodes and to our accommodations.
Along the way we tried to find places to buy a SIM card, but were directed to cell phone stores which wanted 20 Euros for a monthly sim, which we passed on. I was used to buying 5-10 Euro sim cards at convenience stores on all my other European trips so was looking for one of them.
We were originally going to see the Rhodes Old Town during daylight hours but after the delay with switching our ATV it was late by the time we got there, and we’d missed our first stop on our itinerary, which was an overlook above the city of Rhodes Town, but we said we’d try to get to it later in our trip.
After dropping off our luggage, we went to the old city of Rhodes, parking outside since cars and ATVs weren’t allowed inside. We then walked towards the old town, first stopping near the port, where many cruise ships were docked.
Rhodes Old Town, when we entered it, was a tourist trap. Lots of restaurants inviting you in. Since it was during the Soccer World Cup, these restaurants all had the game playing on a huge screen with cheers and boos permeating the atmosphere.
In addition to the expected souvenir shops, selling all sorts of Greek and Rhodes souvenirs (t shirts, mugs, magnets, books, bags, paintings, you name it), there were also many shops selling soccer items like jerseys and soccer balls in honor of the world cup.
Everywhere was covered in bright colorful lights and there were flowers everywhere. It was beautiful. If I had to describe Rhodes Old Town in 3 words it would be flowers lights and souvenirs.
Of course there were also the antiquities but I felt we had to look through all the touristy areas to find them.
This is the ruins of the 14th century Church of the Virgin of the Burgh where we met up with friends of ours who were in Rhodes as well.
Though it was night and it was too late to see most things we’d wanted to see in the Old Town, I didn’t want to miss out on seeing the Palace of the Grandmaster of the Knights of Rhodes (from the outside), so we decided to walk there. We walked down the Street of the Knights, one of the best-preserved medieval streets in Europe… It was a little intimidating walking down it at night since there were almost no lights anywhere so it just felt like walking down a scary back street.
And then we got to the palace. It definitely looks like a fairy tale palace; I wish I could have seen it during the day.
After that, wandered around the back streets of the old town, going where tourists generally don’t go, just seeing where people lived, and we randomly saw these Roman ruins of their old Agora, their central market place.
After a long day, it was time to call it quits and we headed back to our hotel.
I’d love to come back to Rhodes Old Town one day to explore it some more and see all the sights I missed.
Have you been to Rhodes before? Have you been to the Old Town? What was your impression of it? What was your favorite thing to see there?
