Lindos love affair

Tom Houghton is besotted by Rhodes and the isle’s ‘most romantic resort’

It’s Monday morning, 8am. That familiar, haunting iphone alarm tone is ringing from the bedside table. “No… can’t be,” I mutter to myself, peering through the darkness towards the window on the left side of my bedroom.

But it’s not there.

And as I scramble to switch off the interminable ringing, I remember why.

This alarm is different. This alarm doesn’t mean guzzling cereal then battling through traffic to make it to the office for 9am.

It all comes back to me. I arrived on the Greek island of Rhodes the night before, and am staying at the luxurious Lindos Grand Resort & Spa until the end of the week.

All that’s now required is a simple manoeuvre – making the 18ft journey through the sliding doors to the sunlounger positioned by my private infinity pool.

With a panoramic view of the tranquil cove of Vlycha Bay, rocky hills rising up around it and the bright blue Aegean Sea, this must be close to the definition of a sight for sore eyes.

I now remember – this 8am alarm was a clever plan, an attempt to make the absolute most of the Greek helios as possible.

It’s already 24C and there isn’t a single cloud in the October sky. With the blissful silence only interrupted by the soft hum of the pool pump, I reach for my sunglasses and set a Spotify sunbathing playlist to go.

I drift back into my dozy state, safe in the knowledge there are a good few hours to cash in on the hotel’s generous breakfasts, before a quick dip in my pool then a full-body massage at the spa at midday.

Touting itself as the Greek island’s “most romantic cliff-top resort”, Lindos Grand, just minutes from Lindos Old Town, opened its