Features Of Life In Greece On The Mainland And On The Island

Anna and Ilya, the two heroes of our interview, have settled in different parts of Greece in recent years. Anna and her husband moved to the island of Kos, and Ilya and his wife have been living in Thessaloniki for about a year and a half. They will talk about the pros and cons of living in this sunny country.

The people here are open, smiling and loud.

About adaptation and peculiarities of life on the Greek island

— My name is Anna, I am 25 years old. In the fall of 2023, my husband, my cat, and I changed the situation — we moved to Greece. However, before that, for several years we lived in Georgia, so we have already had the experience of living abroad. And we are from Belarus.

I have several higher education degrees related to education and tourism, but I have been working as a photographer lately. I specialize in natural photography of portraits and love stories.

In the future, I want to cooperate with local travel agencies, hotels and restaurants, creating professional photo and video content for them. And, of course, I continue to take personal photos, including weddings and love story.

— Now we have settled on the island of Kos, in a small village near Marmaris. These are literally several houses with views of the mountains and fields, about 20 km from the nearest town. In short, silence, peace and beautiful nature.

The experience of living on the island, I think, is very different from life on the mainland. There is a bus between the cities several times a day, but it is still difficult without its own transport. There are shops and in general everything you need.

On weekends, we try to explore the island, cities, natural and historical sites. The favorite places on the island have already become Marmari beach, the village of Zia and thermal springs.

— Based on my experience, routine, cozy things at home and socialization are necessary for a more comfortable adaptation. Therefore, the first thing I do is pay attention to the organization of these aspects: I walk a lot, compare prices in stores, read about the peculiarities of the place, try to communicate with the locals. I am currently preparing documents for a residence permit.

On the island where we live, housing can be found without problems in the fall — later the supply is significantly reduced, because most homeowners begin to rent their apartments to tourists daily. In general, there are few options, but you can find them. As for the cost, in autumn I saw options worth 350 euros for a one—room apartment, in winter – 500 euros for two rooms.

In general, it is more expensive to live in Greece than in Belarus and Georgia, but cheaper than in other European countries.

— One of the advantages of living on Kos Of course, it is worth noting the beautiful sea, the abundance of sun and a very relaxed, unhurried rhythm of life. We also liked the beautiful and colorful locals. By the way, they are very open, smiling and loud here. They value and honor family traditions very much. They know how to work hard, but also do not forget to relax, have fun and eat delicious food. They travel mainly in Greece itself.

Among the disadvantages, I can note some sluggishness in solving household issues and communicating with representatives of various services.

I always have a good mood here, a desire to live and enjoy the singing of birds.

Waiting for a residence permit, the choice of housing and the cost of rent

— My name is Ilya, I am 36 years old. My wife and I live in Greece on a residence permit of a financially independent person. By this time, I had already visited about 40 countries: I lived in Crimea, lived for some time in Germany, the Baltic States, and for the last year and a half I have been a happy resident of Thessaloniki.

The process of my moving to Greece was both easy and difficult. On the one hand, there are fairly clear and understandable requirements for migrants, complete absence of corruption and any concerns when communicating with the police and migration services. But on the other hand, it is very difficult to do without professional translators, because the entire document flow is conducted exclusively in Greek. There is also a significant bureaucratic component — all issues and requests are being resolved extremely slowly.

I even tried to understand why this is happening, and found out that the reason for bureaucracy (in addition to southern sluggishness) is a banal shortage of personnel — Greece has a memorandum with the EU on the “non-expansion” of the state apparatus.

As a result, I spent about 3 months collecting a complete package of necessary documents for applying for a residence permit, and then waited for almost six months until the residence permit itself was ready. While waiting, the applicant receives a so-called VEVEOSI waiting list and can enjoy all the benefits of his residence permit, except for the possibility of visa-free travel in the Schengen area.

However, it should be noted that I opened an account in a Greek bank and received a tax number in the tax service back in 2021. Also, my relocation process was facilitated by the fact that in large cities and in tourist regions, most Greeks under 50 know English well.

— I settled in an area that is 4 kilometers from the sea and it was one of my most correct decisions. There are practically no tourists and onlookers, beggars, homeless people, pickpockets, immigrants and gypsies. There are no problems with parking, there are no traffic jams, there is practically no crime, theft and theft.

I chose the apartment I want to live in very carefully, as I was scared of large utility bills. I chose an apartment not on the ground floor (there is usually a communal parking lot below and the floors become cold), not in a corner house (wind and lack of shade in summer) — I chose a newer house and necessarily with an energy efficiency indicator of at least B+, with individual gas heating (preferably in the form of underfloor heating), with balconies NOT on the south side, and it is desirable that the balconies are opposite each other (air movement).

And as a result, I pay for water + gas + electricity no more than €75 per month (I have two bedrooms, three balconies and a powerful air conditioner). In addition, I pay for cinema (house maintenance) ~ 35 € per month and unlimited wired fiber-optic Internet (€14 for 100 megabits or €24 for 200 megabits). Usually, all utility bills +internet rarely go beyond €130 per month.

As for the cost of renting a house, it varies greatly depending on the area, the novelty of the house, the availability of repairs, energy efficiency class and, of course, the views from the windows. For example, my neighbor pays only 500 euros per month for an apartment of about 40 sq.m. But another neighbor rents a partially furnished penthouse apartment with two air conditioners, underfloor heating, private Parking and stunning panoramic views of the city and port for 850 euros per month.

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Real life, pros and cons

— I should have settled in Greece, as the reality of life here turned out to be much better than I initially thought. The Greeks are really incredibly friendly, friendly and polite people. They are completely non-aggressive and non-xenophobic towards foreigners.

During these 1.5 years, I managed to make many good Greek friends who literally showered me with care, gifts and kindness. I will describe an ordinary day: they give me a melon and 6 kuluri (a delicious traditional ring with seeds) or treat me to six cutlets and tahini (sesame paste), repeatedly ask how I am doing and how to help me. I have never met such cordiality anywhere (except in Kazakhstan as a guest, but not a resident).

— As for the climate and natural conditions, this is simply paradise! The sun is very affectionate and friendly, with a low level of UV radiation. During all this time, I never put on warm clothes, did not change the rubber for winter and was practically not ill.

We are pleased with the water, clean air and a high level of safety. The main thing is not to settle near the airport, seaport and in the center of big cities (due to traffic and traffic jams).

And, of course, the sea — there are a huge number of beaches with a blue flag: even pebbly, even sandy, even equipped with sun loungers, even wild — for every taste!

Here I always have a good mood and well-being, a desire to live and enjoy the singing of birds (here canaries live in every third house). The only month that seemed unbearable to me was August. At this time, it is extremely hot in Greece and there are a lot of tourists.

— In addition to the hot August and bureaucracy, some of the difficulties that I had to face and get used to are garbage and graffiti, difficult Greek, difficulties parking on narrow streets, at first an unusual style of local driving. For me, perhaps, these are all the disadvantages of Greece.

Someone else will call low salaries (the average salary before taxes is about €1400), but I do not consider this a minus. I’ll try to explain: Greece is going through a protracted economic crisis that has been going on for more than 15 years, but from the point of view of emigration, this is a plus:

low cost of rental housing (in comparison with the same Germany);
there are no queues for rent;
there is no complicated rental interview (Spain);
the affordable cost of buying a home (again, in comparison with other countries);
low cost of utility bills (Greece is the leader The EU on the introduction and self-sufficiency of renewable energy sources);
low cost of services (men’s haircut for €6 in a barbershop is still a reality!);
low cost of paid parking;
low taxes for those who decided to change their tax residence to Greek for the first time (tax discount for a certain number of years).

The cost of living, food and smells of Greece

— We should also mention the amazing quality of food which are produced in Greece! Local cherries, figs, kiwis, peaches, fish, seafood, famous feta, lamb, olives and olive oil are rightfully included in the world’s top lists as the best in their categories. Of the weak points in this regard, only plums, apricots, chicken, pork, sausages and semi—finished products can be noted – Greece does not specialize in these products.

I practically do not buy food in regular supermarkets. Once a month I make large purchases in THE MART hypermarkets (much cheaper than LIDL), I prefer to buy meat in specialized butcher shops (creopolio), and I take fresh farm products at traditional weekly fairs (huskies agora) or directly from local producers. Here is a small price cut for various products and food outside the home:

Olives are large — €4-6 per kilo on huskies by weight.
Feta — from €10.7 per kilogram in spec. stores.
Prosciutto — from € 13 per kilogram at THE MART.
Large imported shrimp — from €9.9 per kg on huskies.
Salmon steak — from €14 per kilogram on huskies. Local fresh sea fish — €6-10 per kg. on likes.
Zucchini — €0.5, greens — €0.5. Oranges — € 0.67, kiwi — €1.
To eat local kebabs on skewers (souvlaki Thessaloniki) “from the belly” in an ordinary cafe — € up to 20 for three with drinks.
Takeaway coffee — from €1.4 for a latte or from €1.5 for a cappuccino.

— Continuing the topic of prices, I can note that we track the cost of gasoline using the local fuelGR application and refuel at an average of €1.81-1.85 per liter. My car (specially bought for Greek parking lots) “eats” 3.8 liters. on the highway and up to 5 liters . around the city. The roads are generally good, I have never punched the suspension yet.

By the way, a subway has already been built in Thessaloniki. It is very safe, modern, beautiful and technological (there is no possibility of falling on the rails, there are no drivers, and some stations are operating museums). It will be opened on New Year’s Eve 2025.

You can buy clothes at outlets or try to get discounts. There is a good local brand — Fanky Buddha. I recently bought myself 5 nice multi-colored T-shirts for the summer for ~ 12€.

Medical care has nuances. I prefer private medicine: ~1,500€ without deductible per year per adult or ~750€ per child, and you will be satisfied with the quality of local medicine, the lack of queues and the abundance of attention.

Private English schools — from €700 per month. Private kindergarten — from €70 per month (extended group). Gym membership — from €70 per year (when visiting at lunchtime).

My friends and I recently compared the prices of living in different countries (the Netherlands, Austria and Greece), because my childhood best friend has been living in the Netherlands for a long time and has long received a local passport.

In total, we calculated that the minimum comfortable cost of living in these countries, in our opinion, looks like this (taking into account basic rent and utility bills) for two adults:

Netherlands — €4250 / month.
Austria — €3350 / month.
Greece — €2,150 / month

With a child, of course, it will be noticeably more expensive.

— I also really like the smells of Greece! Good and fragrant coffee is served everywhere here, the smell of cinnamon and pastries, flowers and perfumes is everywhere. It is not for nothing that Athens was recently named the most fragrant capital of Europe (due to the presence of a huge number of bakeries per capita).

It is also impossible not to mention the architecture. It is clear that on the islands — it is magnificent! Corfu, Mykonos, Santorini are masterpieces! But many people have questions about the architecture of modern Greek cities — the same Athens and Thessaloniki….

I have nothing to add here, except that there are more than 1000 islands and stunning mountains in Greece (especially in the north of the country and the foothills of Olympus + Meteors). So no one will be deprived of aesthetics!

In short, to say that I am happy with life in Greece is nothing to say. Although I have something to compare it with. But there are also disadvantages, of course. And where are they not?