🇬🇷 Retiring to Greece (or Anywhere)? My 7 Lessons

3 Years ago my Greek wife and I retired to Greece. This is what I have learnt, 7 realisations that I wish I had considered more carefully when we were making our decisions.

#retirementplanning #retirementpreparation #retireearly #greece #peloponnese #athens

These may appear obvious? but when we were making our decisions it was all about Property and location and money. To an extent these lessons play into those things, but they are more subtle in their effects and become far more important as time passes.

I hope this is useful to anyone thinking of moving or retiring anywhere overseas, as I think these lessons are relevant almost anywhere in the world!

00:00 Introduction.
00:39 Accessibility
02:31 Healthcare
05:26 Facilities
07:41 Lifestyle and Community
09:00 Language
10:10 Bureaucracy
11:17 Go with the Flow
12:36 Let me know Please!

[mieke]

Good information, I agree with everything you said. Our family owns a holiday home near Kalamata for more than 20 years. I absolutely love to stay there, I love the people, the culture and the beautifull surroundings. Next year I will be retired and then I will spend 6 months a year in Greece. My Greek is still not good enough yet but I find the Greek people very friendly and easy to get in touch with. It's a small village and I make sure to buy some groceries in the few local shops and eat at the local taverna. So the locals can learn who you are and they try to communicate. We go to the Panigiri and because the village is very small we also go to funerals, to pay our respect to the family. This is very much appreciated. The biggest difference to my opion is that the pace of life is much slower than we are used to. When I am there, stress does not exist. If you have an appointment with the plumber to fix your sink don't expect that he arrives in time. It can be later or even a day later. I don't worry about that when I am in Greece. The words avrio and sigá sigá are often used. Go with the flow, adapt to the culture and don't call them in the afternoon during their siesta 🙂 And because I don't want to spend all my time at the beach after my retirement, I want to work as a volunteer in the dog shelter in a nearby town next year. Make a difference for these animals and have the opportunity to meet new people 🙂

[skatapc]

Είσαι ένας υπέροχος άνθρωπος, σε ευχαριστούμε!

[tyxeri]

As a foreign retiree in Greece, I generally agree with what you said. Concerning accessibility, though, I'd say that larger islands like Corfu, Chios, Lesvos, and Rodos meet all of these needs. Also, they are pretty alive and well in winter. Concerning the language I'm afraid I have to disagree. Learning the language is important if you want to make real friends and have true relationships. The Greek language actually is not that hard, there is a rationale in it, and once you understand the mechanism, it's a piece of cake. I am fluent in Greek and I am delighted to have conversations about all kinds of things with my Greek friends.

[helgaioannidis]

I live on the island of Rhodes and accessibility isn't an issue here. The airport stays open all year round and there's flights to Athens and Thessaloniki on a daily basis and regular ferries to Athens.
The island also has a 60.000 inhabitants town with a university and all sorts of shops (for the Brits, there's even Mark's and Spencers) and two hospitals, one public and one private.
Rhodes also has a large international community with an association called SPOR that organises lessons for bilingual children in their mother tongue for several languages like English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Finnish. There's a catholic parish and the Germans have an ecumenic church there as well.
While it's true that outside the tourist season (November to March) the island goes far more quiet, the island doesn't completely shut down, just the tourist stuff. Ikea, Lidl, Zara, H&M, McDonald's, stay open and operate normally as do most businesses in Rhodes town.
Nevertheless I would recommend to people that want to move to Greece to visit a few times in different times of the year to get a realistic feeling for the place in general.
And I fully agree that we're guests and have no right to demand that the Greeks change things for us. It's us who have to adapt, not them.

[gdshiplashing]

My wife and I love your videos. We will be very interested in your experience of buying property and visa information. This fall we will be making our first visit to Greece and bringing my 81 year old father, which is his first visit to Greece as well. My Great Grand parents were born in Greece. Keep up the great job on your videos.

[hidingbehind]

as a Greek who now lives in Australia, I absolutely love your videos! I cant wait to move back there in the future. I am visiting again in 2025 with my family and I hope that we visit the Peloponnese cause I have never been there and it is a very fascinating place to me. Thanks for letting me explore my country through your channel!

[stevegavrilos]

Excellent information well presented in an easy to understand and humble manner. Thank you for your helpful service.

[graciousgreek]

Kalamata is great all year round. Even living in one of the nearby villages, the area really has it all. I had to deal with the KEP. I had no issues at all, in and out (to get a document stamped).

[marywiseman]

I love Greece I love the fact that the shops close on Sundays holidays the middle of day to rest. The language isn’t hard to lean with the right teacher and cultural understanding. They have more freedoms as well as care for others like no other country ❤

[zedsian]

Being a local at Kalamata it is quite rare that i feel the need to travel to Athens for something that is missing from here. And even if i have to travel there, nowadays it only takes 2 - 2, 5 hours.

[terencerodbard]

I lived for 9 years before the pandemic in the Peloponnese and agree with all your points. The last is to my mind, as good as the first!🕺

[christs]

Good points. Accessibility issue is the main purpose that half the population of Greece is based in Athens! You said that yourself!

[JimmyTheGreek]

You just mentioned the main reasons not to relocate to the small islands !
The is why the Peloponnese or Crete are good options.
The Peloponnese, Poros Islaalnd and Lefkada island and Evia Island are connected to the mainland by bridges and causeways !

[anilakazimi]

I completely agree with what you described in this video

[nyjelj]

Great video. Very informative and you cover a lot of ground in just a short time. I'm a naturalized Brit in the US, contemplating retiring to the Peloponnese in the next year or so, after a short visit when we drove around to scout. I would really appreciate a video on buying real estate, and/or visa application, as I've been researching both. Thanks.

[athanasiospapailiou]

Great video! My life is split between London and Paralio Astros.
Let's grab a coffee next time we're in the same place. ☕

[jupite]

Excellently said if you go with the flow its heaps easier, when l first went to Greece the afternoon siesta's were getting on my nerves with shops closing etc for afternoon but like you said you once accept it and its easier

[bartvankampen]

Your information is to the point and valuable to me, thank you so much! I'd love to see more videos from you.

[taybak]

I do enjoy your videos even if I don't really plan on moving to Greece. You've got a pleasant way about you which is appreciated. It'd be nice if you did videos with a slightly personal side added. Getting to know more about you and your lifestyle in Greece for instance. Anyway, I find Lyme Regis quite nice, so it's kind of ironic you left a beautiful place to go live in an equally beautiful place.

[jone]

Your videos are very informative and enjoyable. Thank you.
Yes. A video about visas and property purchasing would be great.