A world apart from the beer-swilling cafe crowds of Rhodes New Town (Neohori) and the ranks of sun worshippers on the famed northern beaches is another Rhodes. This other Rhodes is an island of deserted beaches and clear waters, ancient ruins and mountain villages, waterfalls and butterflies, citrus groves and palms - an island “more beautiful than the sun”.
Once the most important trading port in the Mediterranean and the gateway to three continents, the island has played a major cultural and political role from antiquity to modern times. The lovely ruins of the ancient city of Kamiros on the west of the island have been called the Pompeii of Greece, while Rhodes Town has a history stretching back over 2,400 years - Minoans, Dorians, Byzantine, Turks, Italians have all left their mark. Lovely Lindos, a hippy-artist colony in the sixties, now buzzes with sunseekers in summer, attracted by its beauty, its (clean) beaches and its bars.
Rhodes' origins can be traced back to a divine myth featuring Zeus and Helios (the sun god), so it's rather fitting that it soaks up more sunshine - over 300 days a year - than any other Greek island.