Rhodes Character and Practical: Mandraki Deer Harbour, Prasonisi Kitesurfing Cape, Rhodian CAIR Wine, Kameiros Ancient Third City, October Off-Season, and the Diagoras Airport Transport
The Rhodes practical and character guide covers the Mandraki harbour deer columns and fascist cathedral, the Prasonisi sandbar kitesurfing camp, the CAIR cooperative and Emery Winery Athiri wine, the unrestored Kameiros ancient city plan, the October optimal off-season, and the Diagoras Airport European charter flight network.
- 1
Rhodes Town Modern Quarter: The Mandraki and the Deer
The Mandraki harbour of Rhodes Town, the modern ferry port with the pair of bronze deer on the harbour entrance columns that traditionally mark where the Colossus stood (though this is disputed), the three restored medieval windmills, the Evangelismos Cathedral in the Italian fascist neo-Byzantine style built during the Mussolini occupation of 1912-1943, and the Municipal Theatre, creates the most architecturally hybrid harbour front in the Aegean for the combination of medieval, Italian fascist, and Byzantine styles.
- 2
Prasonisi: The Kite Surfing Cape
Prasonisi at the southern tip of Rhodes, where the Aegean and the Mediterranean meet at a sandbar connecting the mainland to the small island of Prasonisi, is the premier kitesurfing and windsurfing destination of the Dodecanese for the consistent strong winds that blow from both seas across the sandbar. The Prasonisi camp of kitesurfing schools and the simple beachside accommodation creates the most active and least resort-oriented beach community in Rhodes.
- 3
Rhodes Wine: The CAIR Cooperative
The CAIR wine cooperative of Rhodes, the largest wine producer in Greece by volume, produces the Chevalier de Rhodes and the Moulin de Rhodes table wines from the indigenous Athiri white grape and the Mandilari red grape in the most productive wine region of the Dodecanese. The Emery Winery at Embonas village on the Mount Attavyros slopes produces the finest quality Rhodian wine with the Villaré and the Cava Emery labels that have established the Dodecanese wine identity in the Greek export market.
- 4
Kameiros and Ialyssos: The Ancient Three Cities
Ancient Kameiros on the west coast and Ialyssos on the northern plateau, with Lindos on the east coast, constituted the three ancient city-states that unified to found the city of Rhodes in 408 BC in the most deliberate act of ancient city planning in the Aegean. The Kameiros ruins on the hillside overlooking the Aegean, with the complete Hellenistic residential grid plan, the stoa, and the cistern, are the most authentically excavated ancient site in Rhodes without the Lindos tourist infrastructure.
- 5
Rhodes in October: The Off-Season Discovery
Rhodes in October, after the summer tourist peak, returns to the pace of the Dodecanese island where the restaurants serve the local Rhodian cuisine rather than the tourist menu, the beaches are uncrowded in the warm October sea, and the light of the Aegean autumn falls on the medieval stone of the Old Town in the long afternoons without the midday summer intensity. October is consistently recommended by the Rhodian population as the finest month for the visitor who wants the full Rhodian experience.
- 6
Practical Rhodes: The Diagoras Airport and Island Transport
The Diagoras International Airport 14 kilometers southwest of Rhodes Town receives direct charter and scheduled flights from all major European cities throughout the summer season, making Rhodes the most air-connected Greek island after Corfu. The island bus network (KTEL) connects Rhodes Town to Lindos in 90 minutes, Faliraki in 20 minutes, and Prasonisi in 2 hours, with the taxi and rental car providing the flexibility for the independent visitor to cover the 200-kilometer island circuit.