Rhodes

Rhodes is really two islands in one: a medieval walled city in the north that the Knights of St John raised as a crusader stronghold, and a long sun-baked coastline of beaches, ancient acropoleis and white-cubed villages running south. Start in the Old Town, the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe, where the cobbled Street of the Knights and the Palace of the Grand Master conjure the 14th century, then step out to Mandraki Harbour, where the Colossus once stood and bronze deer now guard the entrance. The trick is to time the Old Town for early morning or evening, because cruise ships disgorge crowds into its lanes from mid-morning. Hire a car for the south, where Lindos and its clifftop Acropolis of Athena Lindia sit about 47km away, and the west coast hides Ancient Kamiros and the Valley of the Butterflies. Eat pitaroudia chickpea fritters, grilled fresh fish, melekouni sesame-honey bars and a shot of local souma spirit. Rhodes rewards those who slow down: rise with the light, retreat from the midday heat, and let the long Aegean evenings do the rest.