Rhodes, Greece – a time to relax and soak up the sun

Oh my goodness, where has the time gone, it seems an age since I updated you on life in my corner of the world.

This is a year of big number celebrations! My 50th back in May, our 25th wedding anniversary in June and the forthcoming 10 year Ellie’s Treasures celebration in November.  What a year!

One of many streetwise cats of Rhodes, doing exactly what we planned to do, relax.

To celebrate, the Mr and I decided we really needed to get away for a “proper” holiday, one that involved boarding a plane and heading off somewhere hot for a week to unwind, so we jetted off to the Greek island of Rhodes.  It’s been an absolute age since we’ve been on an overseas holiday – put it this way, the last time this happened we used a holiday brochure and booked through a travel agent! Everything was done online this time and I think it was the most stressful part of the whole affair, but we got there in the end (and have learnt some tricks for next time).

Rhodes harbour, deserted beach, sunset over Ixia, windmills of Mandraki

We stayed at the Dionysos Hotel in Ixia, just outside Rhodes Town, and highly recommend it. Superbly run with an excellent choice of restaurants and snack bars (and an fabulous breakfast spread), wonderful pools, well stocked shop and a fridge in your room. We were lucky to be allocated a top floor room with a corner balcony giving us views over the gardens, swimming pools and the sea. 

Dionysos Hotel – main bar and reception area across the pool from one of the restaurants, our room was in the block behind, top floor, which meant amazing views.

After a couple of days we were itching to start exploring further than the pool and local beach so we hired a car for a few days to tour the island. During this time we managed to get lost in the mountains (I’m not sure how, as there’s only one main road around the island), discover a deserted beach and spend time taking in the history, culture and beautiful surroundings of various landmarks including Lindos, Rhodes Town, Prasonisis beach and butterfly valley to name a few.

Lindos – full of history with its cliff top acropolis, winding streets, fantastic shopping and restaurants and amazing beach.

Our flights were excellent and with a window seat both ways, I was able to enjoy stunning clear views going out, and twinkling night time lights on the way home.

Leaving the UK with the Essex coast and Southend Pier in the distance.

Let me know if you’ve planned an exciting trip away this year, or have just returned from one, we’re looking for suggestions for future holidays – we definitely rekindled the bug to travel.