# Greece from Canada?



## Guest (May 27, 2010)

Has anyone moved to Greece from Canada? Where would I even start? What region did you move to and why? Thanks for any help/ideas/suggestions you can give me


----------



## wka (Sep 18, 2009)

Hi, not from Canada but from your neighbors to the south. USA and Canada are treated the same way as far as immigration rules are concerned, and for me that is the biggest hurdle as well as the first thing you have to worry about. Is that one of the areas you're looking for information on? If so, I can let you know my personal experience with that. In a nutshell, though, as a Canadian citizen (unless you're also an EU citizen which would be GREAT!) you will have a hard time living in Greece legally (much less working here) unless you can meet very strict guidelines. Post back if this is a concern to you, otherwise I will assume you've already got it covered.

Regions: here it will depend on SO much that's personal but I will say that I have lived in many parts of Greece over the years (medium-sized island, tiny island, medium-sized town, Athens, etc). There are so many things to consider:

1) Will you work? If so, in what field? For many new-comers, it's easiest and simplest to stay in Athens, if working for an international company or some specific fields. On the other hand, there can be demand for specialized skill far from the center if you have skills in a growing industry.

2) Will you buy/build a house/apartment, or rent? If you want to rent, you can live just about anywhere, except for some VERY small islands where renting year-round is prohibitively expensive, but you can rent low-cost for most of the year except High Tourist Season. Pretty much everywhere else you can find reasonably priced apartments. Outside of Athens and Thessaloniki, you can usually find a liveable apartment for around €200-300/month. Inside Athens and Thessaloniki the price is often double that (especially Athens). If you want to build or buy an existing house, you will have to be much more certain of where you want to live. Personally I am a bit cautious by personality so I prefer to rent somewhere for a few years to be absolutely certain before I go ahead and buy anything, which explains partly why I've lived in so many places.

3) Access to services. It can be romantic to imagine living on a tiny farflung Aegean island, like the one where I live now, but it can be scary too: no hospital, one doctor who just finished medical school and hasn't even done his residency yet, who doesn't have any equipment, no dentist, maybe a pharmacy if you're lucky, no airport, and no reliable transportation off the island half the year when ferries get cancelled for wind - and that's just the health side of things. Then you have to content with no fire engine, no plumber or electrician, no tax office, no bank, and so on. So be VERY sure of yourself before choosing to live someplace like this. You have to be very self-sufficient, know how to fix things yourself, know how to cook from the most basic ingredients (flour, eggs, water), and be willing to put up with a lot of isolation. If you live in a small village on the mainland, SOME of these things could still potentially effect you if you don't have a car. So if things like that are important to you, you'd want to balance that against the advantages of living in a place like this (isolation, quiet, close-knit community, freedom from crime, etc).

4) Transportation. Will you have a car? A boat? A bicycle? How do you want to get around? If you want to get around my public transportation alone, Athens is probably the best place, as most other places in Greece, although public transportation exists, it doesn't run as frequently as one might like or as conveniently. Athens is a great exception, and having a car in Athens, especially inside the daktylios, is a huge pain in the a$$. Keep in mind that at least where I live, gasoline is over €1.60 per liter. It's literally gone up 60% in about a year and a half (it was around €1.00 in early '09).

5) Community. Do you care if there are other Canadians around? Or at least other native English speakers? Or at least other non-native English speakers? Or do you prefer a totally Greek environment where the only English spoken is by kids in school? If you want a rich and active English-speaking community, Athens and Thessaloniki, as well as few "outposts" in the islands, would be for you. If you want a totally Greek experience, how about an isolated village somewhere in the Peloponnese or Ipeiros? If you want to be close to North American products and such, you'll need to be in Athens most likely.

6) Weather. I wouldn't consider this a very important one personally but for some it is. If you want to avoid very cold weather, stay away from Thrace, Ipeiros, Macedonia, and the higher mountain regions in the rest of the country. But ALL of Greece, even Crete, has four seasons and there's always going to be cold weather in January and February, even if just for a few weeks. If you want to avoid really hot weather, um, Greece is probably not the best choice.

7) Schools. Do you have school-age children? If so, this will be a big one.

8) Language. Do you intend to take formal Greek classes here? If so, your best bet is Athens. There are some summer courses in some of the islands and Thessaloniki but generally speaking it's easiest to find good courses that meet regularly at many levels in Athens. If you don't intend to take classes, because you are already fluent, you can live anywhere; if you don't intend to take classes because you don't want to, you may be limited in where you can live based on your language abilities.

9) What is your favorite part of Greece? Ultimately it's a very personal decision. I definitely agree that when choosing a place to LIVE it's very different from choosing a place to visit, but in the end, you have to like it. Where in Greece did you visit that made you want to live here? Do you have family here that you want to be close to / far away from? Do you have certain sports like windsurfing or hiking that you want to be able to do easily? Do you have a particular living arrangement that you want (to live out in the country, to live in a bustling metropolis, to live near the beach)? Ultimately the best way to choose a place to live is to live where you really really want to live - but after recognizing what the pros and cons of that place are, of course!


----------



## magnolia5 (Mar 11, 2010)

*Why did you choose Cyclades as your residence?*

I presently live in Canada ...retired...and would like to rent...cheaply in Greece.
Thanks
Barbara



wka said:


> Hi, not from Canada but from your neighbors to the south. USA and Canada are treated the same way as far as immigration rules are concerned, and for me that is the biggest hurdle as well as the first thing you have to worry about. Is that one of the areas you're looking for information on? If so, I can let you know my personal experience with that. In a nutshell, though, as a Canadian citizen (unless you're also an EU citizen which would be GREAT!) you will have a hard time living in Greece legally (much less working here) unless you can meet very strict guidelines. Post back if this is a concern to you, otherwise I will assume you've already got it covered.
> 
> Regions: here it will depend on SO much that's personal but I will say that I have lived in many parts of Greece over the years (medium-sized island, tiny island, medium-sized town, Athens, etc). There are so many things to consider:
> 
> ...


----------



## wka (Sep 18, 2009)

Do you have a question?


----------



## wka (Sep 18, 2009)

As soon as I posted that, I saw your question in your post title (which I never read!). 

I wrote a REALLY LONG reply to your question which disappeared. Sigh.

I'll try to reproduce it.

In choosing the Cyclades, and one particular island, the main consideration was that my husband got a good job there. Aside from that:

1) Will you work? My husband, yes, and this was super important. I was still working in Athens and had to commute for the year, which was difficult and probably will not do again. 

2) Will you buy/build a house/apartment, or rent? We weren't sure how long we wanted to stay here, and we are definitely rent-people, because we don't know where we want to live yet. This gave us a lot of flexibility. Our beach-front apartment is €240/month excluding electricity, but we couldn't get it for July and August. That's okay because I can't be out of Athens for July and August because of work, so we're living in Athens over the summer.

3) Access to services. I'm very self-sufficient (in theory, at least) since I grew up on a farm miles and miles from the closest neighbors. I make everything (bread, pasta, etc) from scratch, which is good because groceries here are obscenely expensive. When I needed an operation, I went to Athens and spent a week in a hotel after being released from the hospital. It was very expensive. You have to plan for things like that when you live more or less off the grid.

4) Transportation. We have a great car, so no need for public transport (which doesn't exist here), but of course cost of gas is an issue. We try to limit it's use but my husband has to drive for work so we do end up spending money on gas. If the car breaks down (fingers crossed!) we'd have a hard time getting it taken care of under our warranty, since there's no Mazda rep on the island.

5) Community. There are basically no non-Greeks here (excluding July/Aug when we are not here), except me and a few other wives, but this is fine with us. We hang out with 99% Greeks, just a random foreigner here and there, and that suits us fine. I don't want or miss an English-language community.

6) Weather. Not important to me, but the weather here is decent. Perfect in September, October, November, rainy in December, humid and windy in January, February, March, perfect in April, May, June, not here so don't care in July, August.

7) Schools. We're childfree, but the public schools (which is all there is) are good here, no frontistiria on the island.

8) Language. My husband is Greek and I'm fluent in Greek (we only speak Greek at home), so we didn't need language classes/schools, good thing since there are none here.

9) What is your favorite part of Greece? Cyclades and Peloponnese have always been my favorites so I knew I wanted to stay in Southern Greece. I have also lived in Athens and in Northern Greece as well. Even if we don't come back here in September, which is possible, we will most likely still be living in the Cyclades, but we may try a different island. Still, our first choice is to come back here (depends on husband's job though).

Other considerations: the air quality here is amazing, there is ZERO crime, in the fall/winter/spring, there are ZERO tourists (being a tourist is fun, living around them is obnoxious), we have great friends here, and last but definitely NOT LEAST - we think this is the most beautiful place we've EVER been. That's really important to me (the physical beauty of a place) as it really impacts my psychological state.

I hope that helps... if you have any further questions, please ask.


----------



## magnolia5 (Mar 11, 2010)

Thanks so much for your long reply. I am retired....60 ish with no husband or dependents. I do not speak Greek. Is it possible to rent a small house and perhaps find a roommate? I will not be purchasing a home.




wka said:


> As soon as I posted that, I saw your question in your post title (which I never read!).
> 
> I wrote a REALLY LONG reply to your question which disappeared. Sigh.
> 
> ...


----------



## wka (Sep 18, 2009)

Of course it's possible to rent a house - there are plenty of houses to rent. We rent a small house. I called it an apartment up above, but it's actually a house.


----------

