Rhodes, being 18km off the Turkish coastline (but 363km from Greek mainland) , is a less than a two-hour ferry crossing from Fethiye, itself less than an hour and a half from Kalkan, so it’s an easy place for us to visit. Rhodes’ history is similar to much of the Eastern Mediteranean – Greeks, Persians, Alexander, Roman, Byzantine – however in 1306 the island was occupied by the crusaders in the guise of the Knights Hospitaliers. The knights were responsible for the fortification of Rhodes Town which are still visible today. The knights fought off several attempts to take the island until in 1522 Sulieman the Magnificent besieged Rhodes for six months. The knights were forced to surrender, but allowed depart to Sicily then settling in Malta.

The island was colonised by the Italians in 1912 and remained under their control until 1947. Following the Italian Armistice the allies sought to take control of the island but were defeated by Germany in the Dodecenese Campaign. Under German occupation approximately 2000 Rhodean Jews were sent to concentration camps with 200 being saved by the island’s Turkish Consel. At the end of the war the island was given to Greece and 6000 Italian repatriated.

Today Rhodes has a population of around 125,000. In 2022 tourist numbers reached 2.5m with over 400 cruise ships visiting. We visited in May, splitting our time between Rhodes Town and a coatal hotel and timed our visit to take advantage of a gap in the cruise ship visits. As most tourists stay on the coast, Rhodes Town has a very different atmosphere before 11am and after 5pm. Our family run hotel was inside the fortifications of the Old Town. As well as walking the ramparts, visiting the archealogican musuem and a number of historical sites, we enjoyed some delicious meals with local wine and shopping (thanks to our hosts’ recommendations, as most shops were selling tourist “tat”).