Welcome to LivingInRhodes.com
Welcome to LivingInRhodes.com, a website for the English-speaking community of Rhodes, by the English-speaking community of Rhodes!
The idea behind LivingInRhodes is not an original one. If you talk to any English speaking, non-Rhodian person living here for any amount of time they will tell you that they have thought of producing a website or wanted someone else to provide one. Although there is a wealth of information about Rhodes on the internet, the sites that are in English tend to be aimed at tourists, whereas those aimed at residents are in Greek and therefore incomprehensible to those of us who have not yet mastered the intricacies of the Greek language. What we hope to create here (with your help!) is a site which can publicize news and events of interest to the English-speaking community, and provide useful advice about living on this beautiful island.
Practical advice
Many people who have come to live here have chosen blue skies (or a Greek boyfriend!) and a seemingly simple lifestyle only to realise that this is something you only really enjoy on holiday. Although the blue skies may endure, the actual reality of grappling with Greek bureaucracy and officialdom is slightly less than idyllic and rarely straightforward. We hope to be able to unravel some of that annoying red tape for you, or at least point you in the direction of someone who can! We don’t claim to be an authority on every aspect of Greek law, taxes or lifestyle, but from our (and hopefully your) experiences and from official sources such as local government offices and consulates we hope to provide useful and informative advice.
News and Events
Another major aim of the site is to inform people about local news, events, activities and groups that may be of interest to the English-speaking community (or indeed anyone here, regardless of nationality). For example, if there is a change in residency law, or a new group started for mothers with young children, we hope to be able to publicize it here. Similarly, many events are organised which do not get sufficiently advertised to their target audiences (in the past, organisers have relied on word-of-mouth and notices pinned to boards). There is also something of a North/South divide – people in Rhodes town rarely know what’s going on in Lindos and vice versa (there seems to be a thirty-kilometre Bermuda Triangle of local event information between Faliraki and Lindos!). So LivingInRhodes will step into the fray and everyone should be able to see what’s happening, regardless of where you live.
Newsletter
You can sign up free of charge to receive our monthly newsletter, detailing events for the forthcoming month and any news stories of interest. Your information will not be passed on to any third parties and will give us an idea of how many people are living here and where you are! We are aware that not everyone lives by the internet and for those that don’t have internet access (or who don’t want it) we will be providing a printable version of the newsletter – here we will be relying on the neighbourly amongst you to run this page of and give it to someone not on-line.
Who is this site for?
The site is for anyone who already lives here or is planning to relocate in the future. We call it English speaking because it will be written in English. It will undoubtedly have a British slant due to the fact that the site is produced by three British people. However we welcome all input and hopefully it will provide a useful resource to all English-speakers, whatever their nationality and mother tongue (and as we know those from non-English speaking countries are often better at learning our language than we are ourselves). And in the future, who knows where the site will go – perhaps we can offer pages in other languages too.
So this is a site for you, whether you are looking for something to do at the weekend or for advice as to how to tackle the tax office. We hope the site will be fun and informative and we welcome your feedback as well as your experiences of Greek life in Rhodes. It is not a site intended to create a ‘Little Britain’, but to help you integrate yourselves into Greek life, the lifestyle that probably brought you here in the first place!