5 Reasons Why We Chose Greece to Start Our Family
When we settled on Greece as our new home, we were fed up with dirty, noisy and—worst of all—unfriendly Tbilisi. Despite not really being beach people, all my pregnant brain could think about was escaping to a Greek island somewhere. Still, just to make sure it was the right choice, we made a wishlist for our future home.
Here is the actual list:
Greece was already on our radar. After getting unceremoniously thrown out of Turkey, we ended up spending a peaceful week in Maronia and then a whole month in Kotroni, buried in the Pindus mountains. There we fell in love with Greece: the people, the nature, the cuisine, the abundance of historical sites.
So, here are the five main reasons we chose Greece – above anywhere else – to start our family:
1. Child-Friendliness
One of the main things that put me off having children in the UK is that… people just don’t seem to like them. Kids are seen as an inconvenience in public. If your baby dares to cry in a restaurant, people will be looking at you like you shouldn’t be there (if not worse). In Greece, they just laugh and say “he must be tired!” or try to distract them. We’ve even had restaurant staff or shop owners take care of the baby for 10 minutes – no mean feat with our heavy child!
I’ve heard British mums say they feel invisible when they’re out with a child. In Greece, you’re the exact opposite. You’re the centre of attention. Even little boys will come over and coo at your baby!
People are overwhelmingly considerate if you’re carrying a baby—at least in the villages (Athens might be another story…). You’ll often be waved to the front of queues or offered help carrying things. It can make a huge difference to your day when you are feeling worn out and weary.
And of course, we now have a whole host of Greek yiayias, aunties and volunteer babysitters!
2. People
Greeks are famously hospitable, and our experience has absolutely confirmed that. After almost a year living here, we’ve felt truly welcomed. When people in Amarynthos ask how long we’re staying and we say, “We live here now,” they sound genuinely excited and happy to hear it.
Greeks are gregarious and love a good conversation. A taxi driver told us that people will wait in a queue at the manned toll booths, even if the automatic one is free, just so they can have a chat. In day-to-day life, this translates as planning extra time for a simple trip to the shops. It’s never just a quick stop.
We have since learned that Greeks may not always be so friendly with each other (Greek drama is real)… but as foreigners, we’ve had 99% positive experiences—especially here in Evia.
3. Weather
I’m from the northeast of England—one of the least sunny places on Earth—so sunshine and warm climate was important. I just feel so much better in the sun. However we also didn’t want to move too far away from our families either.. so Greece seemed like a perfect option!
I was slightly sad to discover that winter is still quite cold… but we still had days where it was t-shirt weather in December, so I really can’t complain! Yes, summer is blisteringly hot—but luckily, we can travel in July and August to dodge the 40°C heatwaves.
4. History and Nature
It’s not news to anyone that Greece is a fantastic place for history lovers. Wandering through ancient ruins and imagining the lives of those who walked there before us is one of our favourite hobbies.
Greece’s wild places were also a huge draw. There’s so much unspoilt nature hidden in the Greek hills. Hiking here can be a challenge: signage is limited, trails have a tendency to vanish, and GPS is more of a suggestion than a solution.But that’s fine for us, I like to explore the less well-charted areas and it gives me something to share 🙂.
Even better, hikes like Filla to Castle Likarios allow us to combine the best of both worlds: beautiful views and ancient history!
Undiscovered Evia
A continuous blog series exploring activities and cultural aspects of Evia – the best hiking routes, authentic cuisine, most beautiful beaches, traditional villages, local artisans and products. Experience from myself as a foreigner living on the island of Evia, for visitors to Greece.
5. Lifestyle
We chose to live in a Greek village because it’s bloody peaceful. Between October and May, there are no tourists. Life just goes a little slower here, which is exactly what we were looking for.
The food has always been a big part of why we love the Balkans, and Greece never disappoints. The weekly markets are full of super-fresh, locally grown, often organic produce. Whilst they have less variety than a supermarket would, the quality from local markets is far better… and I love that the selection changes with the seasons, as it should.
Our weekends are wholesome, consisting of long lunches or coffee catch-ups with friends, shopping at the farmer’s market, or heading off to discover a new beach or hiking trail. I’ve even started picking up some new skills, like foraging for wild edible plants—carob, wild asparagus, and whatever else the hills decide to offer.
After nearly a year, I’m pretty certain we made the right decision moving to Greece—for now! We both already have a bad case of itchy feet and keep dreaming up future plans, but I’m more than happy to stay put for another year or two. Naturally, not everything is sunshine and olives – it turns out living somewhere comes with it’s own challenges. I’ll share more on those soon…
AI Disclaimer
AI was used during the writing process for this post.
What is AI?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not ‘intelligent’. It doesn’t think or understand—it’s trained to predict and complete text based on patterns it has seen before. It works by breaking your input into chunks called tokens (which can be whole words, parts of words, or even punctuation) and then predicts the most statistically likely next token, one after the other, to generate a response.
The better your prompt, the better the response generated.
