ΜΑΣ... ΘΑΒΕΙ ΚΑΝΟΝΙΚΑ

Τα δημοσιεύματα στον αγγλικό τύπο για το Φαληράκι συνεχίζονται. Ο IAN MAYHEW έγγραψε πριν τρεις ημέρες στην εφημερίδα Mirror για την φυσική ομορφιά της Ρόδου καο άφησε πολλές ειρωνίες για τους ντόπιους κατοίκους και επιχειρηματίες του Φαληρακίου. Ασχολούνται λέει με τις νέες Μερσεντές και σχεδιάζουν την επόμενη κρουαζιέρα τους στον κόσμο. Αν αυτό δεν είναι παραποίηση της πραγματικότητας τι είναι;

Visiting Rhodes,

IAIN MAYHEW finds the natural beauty that boozy party-lovers miss out on

It's 11am and I am driving down the main street of Faliraki, the 18-30s holiday Mecca of fish-bowl cocktails, foam parties and furtive fumblings on the Greek island of Rhodes.

I had planned to stop and chat to some likely lads and ladettes but there is no one about.

Everyone is still curled up, presumably in their own beds, sleeping off last night's intake of Greek Nipple (Southern Comfort and Malibu) and Foreplay (tequila, curacao and triple sec) at the Liquid Club or Tokyo Joe's.

Nothing much will stir here for another hour at least and, even then, it will take a full English breakfast and several cans of Red Bull to get tongues on nodding terms with brains, so I decide to leave them to their slumbers.

After all, there is a lot more to see on Rhodes than the underside of a taverna table.

Perhaps this is being a little unfair. The local tourist board is understandably a tad nervous about the goings-on in Faliraki - there have been one or two nasty "incidents" over the years which haven't helped to enhance the island's reputation.

But the owners of bars, cafes and apartments in this seaside village are thumbing through Mercedes brochures and planning their next round-the-world cruise while the young punters themselves are generally having one long, lazy, boozy beach party, even if they can't remember much about it by the time they arrive back at Luton or Dusseldorf.

Faliraki is not for families or boring old duffers like me. But the rest of Rhodes certainly is...