Lindos

Lindos is a medieval village on the Greek island of Rhodes. It has only seven hundred inhabitants, greatly outnumbered by tourists in the high season. Being one of the main attractions on the island it is often overcrowded in the mornings when the tourist coaches arrive. These usually depart by 12noon, whisking their patrons off for lunch and the next destination.

Understand

Lindos rising above the main beach

Lindos provides a mix of history and beaches. The village has many historic houses (known as "Captains" houses) often dating from 16th, 17th or 18th century. The village itself is situated on a network of cobbled streets - all of which are entirely pedestrianised. The only modes of transport possible are donkeys and mopeds. The houses are small, whitewashed and sit beautifully on the hillside making it one of the most beautiful places on the island. The charm of this village is maintained by a preservation order which forbids any unauthorised building work to change it.

Legend has it that the village was set up by one of the divine sons of Zeus. It was in fact established by Dorians around 1000BC.

Get in

A taxi from the airport will cost €75. If they overcharge, ask to be taken to the local police station.

Bus service from Rhodes city is 56 km (35 mi) away). A ticket costs €5.50, 1-way. Lindos can also be reached by boat from the Mandraki harbour in Rhodes. Good tour operators for Lindos include Direct Greece and Olympic Holidays and - all of which have a wide range of apartments and villas for all different family groupings. (Be warned that tour operators Kosmar & Libra have gone into liquidation.)

You can park outside the city. There are blue "non-free spaces" intermixed with free spaces beyond the large "supermarket" parking. To get to the city, once you are at the "supermarket" parking, go down and after a while you'll have to choices at the last parking plaza: enter the city through a small side street, or go down to the beach, walk to the other end and climb up to the city.

Get around

Lindos is a small town, so walking around on foot is a decent option. However, as Lindos is built on the side of a steep hill, the roads can be quite difficult, and climbing up to the acropolis is definitely an effort. There are two alternatives. A bus will bring you down from the main arrival bus stop outside the center of the city to a square closer to the sea - it's not far, but quite a change in elevation. If you wish to go on top of the acropolis, you can rent a ride on a donkey for about € 6.

See

Exploring the town

The main attraction of Lindos is the town itself, winding paths between small traditional whitewashed buildings. Be brave and leave the main streets and explore the backstreets! Free maps can be picked up from the tourist information centre. These are obviously incredibly useful, but for some reason the map is without street names, and so it's still very easy to get lost.

Dotted around Lindos you will stumble across many Captain's Houses. These date from the 1400s and are particularly attractive. Double points if you can enter them as well as find them!

Lindos Acropolis

Byzantine additions to the Acropolis

Visit the ruins of the Acropolis and the (still unfinished as of mid-2009) reconstructed temple of Lindian Athena. Entrance fee to the Acropolis itself is €6, but you do have a nice view from there. It's open till 6:40PM from March to December. There is also the remains of an Ancient Amphitheatre carved into the slope of the Acropolis. If you wish to avoid the tiring climb you can hire a donkey at the entrance of the town. Walking up the road that leads high up to the acropolis, the first ruins you will encounter are the medieval walls. In the early 14th century the Crusaders built fortifications upon the remains of earlier defenses, from both the Byzantine era and more ancient times. There are a few towers along the medieval walls which follow the natural contours of the high ground.

• Kleoboulous's tomb. A small stone structure at the tip of the bay 
• The Church of the Assumption is worth sticking your head inside. It's by far the coolest place to suit down in Lindos and is covered in traditionally ornate icons and decoration. Free entrance.

You can also see St Paul's Bay where the saint supposedly crashed on the island and brought Christianity with him.

Do

The main beach

St Paul's bay

Lindos has some of the few sandy beaches on Rhodes, but these beaches are easily crowded. Unfortunately, sometimes there is rubbish and litter such as cigarette butts to be seen. The bay has a lot of boats many of them serving the tourism industry and including a glass bottom boat.

• Main beach (Follow the path down from the Main square in Lindos). 
• St Paul's beach. Good beach near Lindos . Gets the shade from 5.30-6ish on southern side. Good swimming. Impressive location. €8 for a parasol and two sun loungers. 

Eat

Lindos has many restaurants and tavernas, but as they all cater to tourists, the food can be disappointingly similar and un-Greek. There is food from every nationality you can think of. All staff are English speaking and menus are written in English. Most bars serve breakfast up until mid-afternoon so there is plenty of variety and choice.

Supermarkets stock a reasonable range of foods and lots of imported English food. There are three supermarkets within 100m of each other on the main street in Lindos. They're all more or less the same, offering more our less the same products at more or less the sane prices. They do have a good supply of seasonal fruit and veg, and they have a disproportionately large amount of alcohol and expensive prices. But, as there's not much else what are you going to do?

There are two more supermarkets up on Kranos Square (where the buses arrive.) Floras with the bigger selection, and Acropolis with the better fruit and veg. However, because they're well located to serve those waiting for coaches, prices are cranked up accordingly and they are thus more expensive than those down in the village itself.

In terms of convenience food, dotted around there are several souvlaki joints (serving Greek kebabs) and crepe houses serving both sweet and savory crepes - made fresh before your eyes - at very reasonable prices.

For souvlaki, expect to pay around €2.50 for a pitta gyro or kalamaki (chicken on a stick in a pitta.) Particularly tasty is Obelistiris on the main street. The owner was grumpy, but the gyros was good quality and fresh. Ask for 'ap ola' and you'll get tomato, onion, lettuce, tzatziki and chips inside.

• Artemis, Pefkos, ☎ [phone]. Local cuisine prepared with the highest standards, friendly atmosphere and professional stuff. All the food on the menu is barbecued and tastes delicious, using local meat from Rhodes. 

• Maria's Taverna. 
• Med East. The food is excellent, very Mediterranean. The ambience is very laid back, and the views of the acropolis are stunning. 
• Zorba's. Top quality fresh local produce. Open air restaurant and fantastic, friendly staff. 

Drink

Lindos has a wealth of different bars catering to all tastes. Many have rooftop gardens where you can watch the sun go down (or come up!) as you drink.Lindos By Night Bar especially has several roof gardens where you can watch the night go by. All bars are welcoming to children and there are many who have restaurants also. There are two nightclubs within the village itself and an open air club which can be accessed by a short taxi ride and which stays open until the very early hours of the morning.

• Courtyard Bar. As the name suggests has a courtyard and a very smart clean interior with 2 open floors giving splendid views of the Acropolis. This is the only bar in Lindos to have live bouzouki music, this is provided on Sunday nights. 
• Yanni's. Fairly standard bar in Lindos. Coffee will set you back about €3. 
• Melia Cafe and Bakery, On St Stefanos square. Good bakery and cafe, but with a very nice roof top seating area. From here there are great views up to the Acropolis, across the Lindian rooftops, and there's a bit of a view down to St Paul's Bay. Melia's is off the well trodden tourist trail (a definite bonus) which means it's far quieter than the more central bars. Coffee costs €3.30. 

Sleep

There are a large number of studios, apartments and villas - most with spectacular views - and all very close to the centre of town. You are best to get self-catering accommodation within the village itself for the best experience of Lindos as some of the Lindos hotels are located outside of the village meaning that you will need transportation to get you to the beach, restaurants and nightlife.

• Eugenia villa and studio, Lindos, ☎ [phone]. The Eugenia Villa and Studio are next to each other, located above the Small Beach (known as the Pallas) in Lindos. 
• Lindos Blu Hotel, Lindos, ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Check-in: 24 hr. Double €200-660. 
• Lindos Mare Hotel, Lindos, ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Check-in: 24 hr. Double €220-260. 
• Lindian Myth, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Check-out: 11.30AM.. Clean studio rooms near the main road at the top of town. Kitchen facilities and good bathrooms. 15 minutes walk from Lindos town and the beach. Guests can use the swimming pool at the adjacent hotel. From €50. 
• Lindos Villa, ☎ [phone]. 
• Pefkos Beach Hotel. It is self catering but, very good, clean, and very friendly 
• Pefkos Garden Hotel, Pefki, ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 12:00. Pefkos Garden is a comfortable and quiet hotel outside Rhodes near Lindos and Lardos. 

Connect

There is an Internet cafe in Lindos called Lindianet .

Go next

Frequent buses run from Rhodes city all up and down the east coast of the island, including to and from Lindos, though they can be slow because of frequent stops. For drivers, the road between Lindos and Rhodes city is a modern highway.

• Afandou- One of the big villages on the island. The golf course of Rhodes is situated in this area along with a long beach
• Faliraki This is Rhodes' action resort. Go there to party. Nice beaches, not as windy as on the west coast and served by good public transport. Hotels near the water park are family friendly and not so popular with the 'clubbers'.
• Rhodes Town The biggest city on the island and seat of the local government, also the oldest inhabited medieval town in Europe. Well worth at least a whole days visit during your stay at Lindos - there is plenty to explore, discover and see.

Nearby are the settlements of Lardos and Pefkos.