Rhodes Dodecanese Guide Page 9

The East Coast of Rhodes

The holiday resort of Reni Koskinou has Blue Flag beaches (given EU approval as a clean beach with unpolluted waters).

The village of Koskinou is known for its hoklaki (pebble mosaic) courtyards and traditional architecture. There are good tavernas in this town.

On the way there you might pass through Asgourou, a Turkish village with a mosque converted from an Orthodox church. This town has become an industrial one, so you might want to push on towards the coast. Kalithea has coves popular with swimmers and snorkellers, and the old thermal spa, Thermes Kallitheas, is being restored by the EU.

The building was built during the 1920s by the Italians, in rather garish Moorish style. It sits amid pine trees 3km south of Reni Koskinou. Hippocrates praised the healing powers of the spring waters here, though sadly, they have stopped flowing (though the cause seems to be unknown). There are some bays south of here with scuba diving outfits.

Faliraki (right) is an enormous resort with a less than appealing reputation for attracting the worst of erotic sun-sand-sex types (age 18-30s) and even dangerous encounters in the same area of human activity. Shopping malls, big hotels, all sorts of fun and games and watersports are to be found here. To the south of all this is the peninsula of Cape Ladhiko with pebble beaches that get crowded quickly, and a campsite with a restaurant and bar.

To the south of the cape Afandou Bay boasts the biggest undeveloped beach on the east coast (at least it was that way till fairly recently, and may still be relatively undeveloped if you're lucky though the area is not free of tourist attractions. Afandou was once known for its carpets and its apricots, but has now gone down the money-paved tourist road, but the beach is 7km long and the sea is deep and very clear so that balances out the tourist train and Chinese takeaway.

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