‘What you see on social media doesn’t reflect what’s happening here in Rhodes’
I’m on holiday in Rhodes with my husband, two teenage boys and another family from Sussex. We arrived last Friday, and are leaving this Friday, staying in a beachside hotel, north of Faliraki on the north-eastern coast, south of Rhodes town. You wouldn’t really know what is going on the other part of the island – our holiday has been completely unaffected and everything here is just normal. We were even playing cricket on the beach last night with a group of Germans, trying to teach them the rules!
It is very hot. Yesterday it was 41C, but we’re on the beach, there is a strong breeze and because of that, and the fact it’s not humid heat, it’s bearable. There have been a few power surges, but for no more than 30 seconds to a minute and not disruptive in any shape or form. I’ve heard sirens on a couple of days, and every now and then, further south, you can see smoke clouds – but it is miles away and if you weren’t looking and didn’t know it was smoke, you wouldn’t think much of it.
I’ve read the reports on social media, people calling for the UK Foreign Office to advise against all but essential travel here to Rhodes, but – as Michael Gove has also stated – I think that’s unnecessary. Rhodes is nearly 80km long – the fires are around 20 miles away I think, without looking on a map, and everything is completely normal here.
There’s a big mix of nationalities here, not all Brits, and I’ve not heard it being mentioned at all. The only reason we were discussing the wildfires is that I have some friends who were caught up in it and I’ve seen the BBC and Sky alerts – it is nuts to know we are here when other parts of the island are being ravaged by fire.
Some other friends of ours were staying further south, and were evacuated to a hotel a mile up the road. I went to see them and our two holidays couldn’t be more different the headlines don’t reflect what’s happening here on the north-east coast. It’s a massive island and you’ve got to do your research and geography – if I was coming out, I’d be worried. The local Rhodes Facebook page is really good, they’ve been brilliant with direct information and help.
My friends were here with Tui, and they suffered with lack of communication from the tour operators and had to spend a night in a gym, but she said the people of Rhodes were so hospitable, organised and looking after everyone. Someone even offered their house for them to stay in.
It does feel weird that our holidays are so contrasting, but there’s also a media frenzy going on. This island relies on tourism and they’re still in recovery from Covid, so while it’s of course entirely down to your individual decision and circumstances, this is a big island.
We didn’t book through a tour operator, we booked flights with easyJet and the hotel with Booking.com. All we’ve had is some notifications from easyJet saying we could amend our flights if we wanted to, but we have no need to at this point. I’ve got no concerns about getting home – the airport is on the north west and they’re still operating normally.
I’d say to people who are in the UK, to check with their hotel and operator to fully understand the location of where they are going to. I’d be whipped into a frenzy if I was due to fly out here next week, worried about the risk, but having been here on the ground, knowing what I know, I would still come.
Of course it feels strange to be swimming and snorkelling when other people’s holidays have been affected, but I particularly feel for the local people – this island relies on tourism.
We haven’t noticed it getting particularly busier here because of the evacuations, either. We are already travelling on one of the busiest weeks of the year, the first week of the school holidays, but it’s certainly not wall-to-wall people everywhere – there are still empty sun loungers on the beach.
We’ve had a wonderful holiday and I would happily get on a plane here again tomorrow knowing all the facts – you work hard for your holidays and deserve to enjoy them.
As told to Abigail Butcher
