When Greece opened up for package holidays, the first two major islands to be developed for mass tourism were Corfu and Rhodes, and having been to both (more than once) it's easy to see why.
The island of Rhodes itself is a worthwhile destination with plenty of activities and sights to see but the jewel in the crown is definitely Rhodes town in my opinion.
The medieval walled town with it's own Crusader castle is a charming maze of cobbled streets and beautiful stone built shops, restaurants and houses. You can walk down one of the busy cobbled alleyways bustling with holiday makers, with cafes and shops catering for the tourist trade, turn a corner into an alleyway of residential houses and admire the locals having a makeshift barbeque outside, men and women deep in conversation and the children playing in the traffic free street.
Going slightly out of season shows Rhodes in it's true light, a laid back pace of life and locals happy to engage with the travellers who made the choice to come.
The harbour area is as magical as the town as you try to visualise the Colossus of Rhodes (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) that once towered over the harbour entrance replaced today by statues of deer atop Greek columns, also impressive in their own way.
At the height of the season Rhodes is full of package holiday guests and cruise ship passengers but the town seems to absorb them effortlessly.
We often bemoan mass tourism for ruining beautiful places but in the case of Rhodes, they have done an incredible job to attract the volumes of people they do and retain the charming and historic centre of the old town.