Knights Of The Old Town — Hotel in Municipality of Rhodes

24-28/9 & 6-8/10/21||We three middle aged British guys were starting our fortnight in Rhodes, staying here after booking from London beforehand. The size of the room was tempting, as well as the proximity of the old town. ||Access - from bus station by foot, get used to scale of map and alleyways to find hotel, up stairs to empty reception so phone Stamos to meet (he is in charge of numerous rendezvouses). He was very friendly and accommodating guy who recommended Laganis and Nimmos locals' restaurant.||Room 7 (sleeps four maximum), is on first floor by reception (up steep steps from road) and was very clean, fresh with grey tiled floors and distressed pink or white walls.||The balcony was cosy with nice two chairs and a table overlooking road junction, sunny in afternoon but windy. Two people comfortably but three having breakfast is difficult as big plates, no room for anything else. Third person sits on coffee table dragged up to doorway. See later for alternative.|Door windows tend to rattle so put pegs in to jam (we take pegs to hang clothes too).||Four big shuttered and glazed windows overlooking generally quiet streets. Three openable windows in total and balcony door windows open. It can get quite blustery although I'm not sure where the draught 'goes' and the windows that cannot be secured with hooks clatter and open and close noisily. Luckily I bring bungies as a solution!||Electrics corner (a bit dark, needs another light, I bring my own switchable plug in bulb holder and lamp). I rearranged the busy corner to improve cabling, cleaning, H&S and ergonomics.||AC unit with remote, unused as not necessary so not tested.||TV 28inch lcd, two remotes so confusing. Managed to select TV input and watch traditional music troupe with Greek dancers with a hanky.|Cordless kettle tray unit with trays for tea bags.|Quiet fridge with ice box but no tray and three half litre bottles of still water, nice welcome touch. The power sockets and lights turn off whilst the key fob is taken out of room, except for the electric corner so no defrosting or warming up of frozen or chilled goods! |Cupboard with preparation surface. Basic cutlery and crockery and glassware for three. Extra glasses and knives were supplied quickly by texting Stamos.|Corkscrew/bottle opener.|Toasted sandwich maker which was used for two mornings but was difficult to clean with the facilities, I bring a nylon/sponge spondex for such tasks.|Bin but no separate recycling. On wandering around there is no recycling infrastructure in old town but beyond walls in the suburbs are big blue Palladian eurobins for dry recyclables (which I took our recycles to). Glass recycling pods are on the harbour front.||Central lantern lamp switchable from door and double bed.|Long mirror and face mirror, better they were swapped round as full length needs to be beside the wardrobe for a better full length view.||Luggage bench|Coffee table which was used on the balcony along with another simple folding chair borrowed from reception. |Wardrobe with rack of eight coat hangers, two shelves, iron and small ironing board. Lots of fresh towels.|Wall safe with key by corridor.|Big windowsills in sun but unusable as window opens and things placed there get too hot in direct sun. Need extra tables or shelves. ||Comfortable firm double bed, single sofa bed and pull out single bed underneath (so four max in room). Each bed space with single electric socket and ledges for nick-nacks (one bedside lamp). I bring my own three-way adapters so can charge devices overnight near bed. Single bed is under two unopenable windows so windowsills can be used for storage.||Corridor with central light, towel rack, hair drier. But no shelves or hooks for three peoples' toiletries and clothes.||Wet room |Shower on flexible hose, only surface to put things is on top of cistern. Put flannels on floor above step to prevent water flooding.|Lighting for shaving - good light above big mirror but small sink.|Pressure for jetting razors - good|Extractor fan does not appear to work with either of the light switches.|Difficult to wash big plates in small sink and nowhere to place them. Dry everything in the windy and sunny balcony. There was a small lined bin for toilet paper.||Overnight Friday - wore ear plugs just in case but distant rhythmic beat of Friday night nightclub at 05:30, the odd barking dog. Earplugs worked most nights so not disturbed. My friends did not think it was particularly noisy.||Overnight Saturday - I forgot to wear earplugs so heard the new arrivals/departures talking loudly in the reception area at whatever time. People going up and down the stairs and walking in the room above were clear but this is a historic house and not solid concrete! A couple of whiffs of foul water wafted into the room too, so best keep the wet room door closed.||The mornings can be busy with locals chatting and sellers plying their goods as they do here, part of the charm and a long way from the multimillion pound yachts in the marina. Our last morning was a big breakfast before heading out to Faliraki so the coffee table on the balcony was essential, although trying to wash up and dry everything including the sandwich toaster in a small sink 15m away from a surface was quite stressful to beat checking out time of noon. This room is great for two people who want space, eat out a lot and like a simple breakfast the odd glass of wine or beer on the balcony. Anything more is a bit of a palaver but its nice to have the facilities.||Overall we had a lovely time here and (after some confusion via B.c and Stamos we booked a fourth night without having to move which was great, even with the niggling small problems!||On our return to Rhodes Town we decided to take a different room in this hotel. We booked ahead, on b dot c, from Archangelos and after an afternoon coach ride, slow cheap big beer at Ta Mezklikios we made our way over and arrived at about 15:15 having texted Stamos who said Michaelis was in charge that day and had left the key in the door.||Up the stairs we trudged with our bags, into the reception and room 6 beside the desk. Inside we found the kitchenette with a small table, two chairs and a standard uplighting lamp. The main room beyond, separated by big doors had a high ceiling like no 8, double bed and single bed all made up. An ensuite shower wet room again like no 8.||In detail:||Kitchenette - now that we had spent over a week travelling around the north east coastline we knew how things worked.|The sink thankfully had a draining section, a hob with oven next to it and a fridge under the worktop. The fridge was quite old, the freezer compartment door had fallen off ages before so the space was almost solid ice, just enough room for a 500ml can of ice. The heat pumping out of the side was intense so the fridge was running very inefficiently and wasting money. I set myself to defrost it overnight, towels at the ready, and cool down some white wine in the process in the (cracked) vegetable tray collecting the meltwater! It all worked out in the end. I stuffed lightweight plastic around the top and edges to stop air exchange. ||A kettle, toasted sandwich maker were also provided as well as a tray and lemon squeezer. |Only two of each of cutlery, crockery, mugs and glassware was provided, a big saucepan, a greek coffee making mini saucepan, and a chopping board. This was definitely designed for two (as like room 8) so I grabbed a lobby chair for the table (no balcony this time). I texted Stamos to ask for more and he delivered them whilst seeing a new couple of guests in (who had been here repeatedly over the years as love it). There was no bottle or can opener, luckily we had bought our own from Spannos supermarket out of town the first day and will leave it in the kitchen for the next occupants.||Cooking a breakfast was a tight squeeze of juggling surfaces and I decided to eat in the lobby terrace on the small table and ours together using our chair and two chairs there. Michaelis popped by to help a couple depart and said it was fine! It was still a squeeze for three so two additional chairs had to be recruited to put things on. Washing up afterwards needed a plug, which I travel with a set anyway. A tea towel was supplied.||Bedroom||Two big windows with shutters and curtains overlooking the backs of buildings, park and alleyway below so a quieter night was had. The wind was not evident at all as it was on the sheltered side.||The matching metal frame beds were comfortable, extra blankets in the large wardrobe if necessary, all very clean. Ledges and electric sockets either side of the double bed were useful and convenient for devices, accessible by the single bed too (I bring a three way adapter).||A 28 inch LED TV with one remote actually worked as simpler although no English channels unfortunately.||A luggage table was the only other furniture, still not enough for two let alone three people so my things went on the clean floor instead. A shelf under the TV (above the table) would help. No window ledges this time. The wardrobe had eleven coat hangers, an iron and ironing board but no safe this time||The A/C unit was above the TV and worked quietly and efficiently. ||Wet room was bigger than 8 but again had the shower in the corner. There was a bin for toilet paper (with label), sink with a large mirror over it with a big light over it was good for shaving, as was the water pressure for jetting the razor out. The extractor fan worked but still no ledges or surfaces for two let alone three peoples’ toiletries. Plenty of towels and a floor towel. Each time the toilet was flushed there was a knocking sound of an airlock somewhere in the local system. The sliding door needed to be gently pushed open and closed to prevent loud clattering. Again the ancient plumbing occasionally burps so a damp floor towel over the drain helped.||The e-mail was slow again, despite the router being outside our room 6. It could cope with basics including filling in the overcomplicated, longwinded, stressful, confusing, irritating, illogical and unintuitive Passenger Location Form for our return! I am waiting till I return home to my 385down, 46up Virgin wifi speeds to upload my TA reviews...||I met an Australian couple living in London who had been regularly to this hotel for seven years as a stopover for Symi. They had the room above reception lobby with a big balcony and a view. I also met an Iranian couple who had not read up about the shower arrangements and were confused. They were not too impressed and had a few issues but they probably got a good deal compared to other places in the old town, as we did!||Overall this hotel is an excellent affordable place with character in a non touristy area and is popular. It is not a modern hotel block with all the bells and whistles. It is clean and has its quirks but the friendly managers are very willing to help out, just text them. They work long days, as do the friendly cleaners. Covid must have hit them hard as it would be their own sole business. A few things are needed for improvement which do not cost a lot, some things need more revenue to pay for them. I think that the 'post covid' tourist season may extend into November (still warm!) so the staff and locals will have to cope and make hay while the sun shines (as it invariably does in Rhodes!). I wish them luck in these...

IN A NUTSHELL:|Very clean, very reasonable. |Daily housekeeping. |Friendly staff willing to accommodate needs. |Wifi is fantastically good. |Easy retrieval of stored luggage. |Excellent air conditioning. |Much information provided ie: places to eat.||ARRIVAL & CHECKING OUT:|As soon as we had climbed the stairs, a cheery hello welcomed us. On retrieving our information, we were shown to our room. When leaving, our luggage was stored in a locked room. ||THE HOTEL & ROOM PARTICULARS.|Steep stairs, not unusual in the tight spaces of the old town, lead to an immaculately clean room with double bed, plenty of linens, a small fridge, wardrobe, several places to plug in chargers (only while you are in the room). The bathroom has a window overlooking a medieval street wide enough for one car. Its shower is a handheld unit with a floor drain. Refreshing to rinse off the grime of travel. Outside our door are a couple of benches overlooking the neighbourhood. ||MISCELLANEUS: THE OLD TOWN|Taxis are not permitted on the narrow streets of this medieval town contained inside a fortress. Our driver brought us to within no more than 200m of the hotel and gave us clear instructions for the rest of the way. We were left to bring our own luggage along cobbled streets. Easy with only carry on luggage. We have chosen to travel light, and this three week long trip is no exception. With a large suitcase, you would be more challenged.||Definitely not “wheel-chair...

Arrived early and hosts let us to drop our bags off until we were able to book in at 2pm. 5 of us arrived and were shown our rooms which looked nothing like the site’s photographs. The beds were hard and rooms not particularly clean. The bathroom/ wetroom was so small you couldn’t swing a cat in it, the window was broken and the shutter tied closed with stretched rope. The shower was hand held with no where to hang it, soap was a dispenser so very difficult to soap oneself and shower at the same time. The water sprayed over everything inc toilet and floor was dangerous to walk on. The door from bathroom had not been cleaned from previous guest and was spotted with water splashes and soap stains. The toilet bin was not emptied the 3 days we stayed which we thought was disgusting. Main room ….the curtains were tied back with cord with frayed ends. No lampshades over bedside lights, bed rattled and squeaked when turning over, basic kitchen with broken floor tiles. The cost for 3 Days two nights was 99 euro. No stars were available for this hotel, we now know why, this hotel is more like a hostel and not worth the price. I highly recommend go elsewhere and enjoy your vacation and not have it spoilt by...