Peloponnese buying blow

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Peloponnese buying blow

Last activity 16 December by sandiedawn. We particularly like the Peloponnese and plan to come over in June to travel around looking at different areas. We've just spent 3 months in Portugal doing the same but decided our hearts lie in Greece! Would also love to hear from a couple who have retired there in the last year to hear how you have settled in etc. Thank you. Good question about winter and spring as it can be lonely if you have a summertime mentality. We have made lots of Greek friends which is so easy over here and so we meet up for meals and drinks on a need to basis. Anything else please message away. Just wondering how Brits will legally remain here for more than 90 days in every days allowed if they have not applied for and gained a residency permit before Brexit,thats presuming they were living here then. And how would they be entitled to Greek state health care unless they are paying into the system,retirees can have care,the very basic where its refunded by the British state I think but one wouldnt want to rely on only that. We applied for and got Residency status two years ago so we are not restricted to 90 Day rule. I assume that you have bought a place over here and so you should have a Tax Code for your annual income tax return. You need that to register for AMKA. Good luck. We haven't bought yet. We will be making a couple of trips out to look around during the coming months with a view to applying for a FIP visa and will then look to buy. How exciting. Property prices are at rock bottom so you should get a bargain. I do agree with others and advise renting in the first instance in your chosen area. Flights to Kalamata are starting again which reduces travel time. I wouldnt say prices are rock bottom,certainly not but after researching property prices in Greece I see very clearly that the Pellopenese is where one might have a chance to buy something quite nice for an acceptable cost,obviously that depends on ones budget. Koroni looked heavenly with OK prices still,dont know for how long that will remain. I would say dont wait too long to buy as they will go up like all property across this planet,crazy prices. Thank you both for your opinions. We've booked a cheap flight out in a couple of weeks time to Kalamata and will have a hire car. UK is too overpopulated where we live now, and anywhere quiet is far too cold! Just to add that even the old houses are expensive,what looks like old character houses will not be suitable in an earthquake and Greece,Pellopenese is high quake area so before one buys here forget the sunny days looking out to sea with a old period house that requires renovation because you may see your money in a pile of rubble,then you will cry,so,your house must have columns,after all these major quakes here the building laws were up-graded,more iron was added to columns,higher grade cement mixes,although I have seen some foundations on fairly new complexes that are shockingly shallow. So dont be tempted by those wonderful looking old places,and remember you may be in it when a quake strikes,never buy one with a flat concrete and iron roof that sits on a house walls that doesnt have columns,the roof twists and splits through. A big quake recently on Samos caused much destruction,an old house literally burst its flat roof out like an explosion and unfortunately landed on two teenagers walking home from school,they were sadly killed,no body knew they were under the rubble until the council came to clear the mess. So think carefully when buying property here. Know out front that this is from my colleague in Limoges, France. Know that each country has a number of different categories in residency. Understanding what Leon is dealing with will help a lot of people understand the boundaries of the process; the details will vary by residency category, citizenship request, and possibly by region within one country. Concertina, for you, you may need to be fluent in written and spoken greek. Hi,thankyou so much for your post,very helpful to us all- would-be moving- around- folks. I have actually been here for around twenty years. Even though I was European i had to show lots of paper work,like marriage certificate,I had to legalise in the UK my birth certificate and marraige,the UK is of course a dream to deal with in these matters,so easy and polite. There is a government office fairly central in athens that translates your paper work,they have a different floor for each language required,men stand outside saying NO NO. I applied for a residents permit at the said required time,mine is a ten year one as I had been living here for years,renewable on expiration,that allows me to go,live where I want in EU. My husband is Greek so that makes life easier. We have been toying with the idea of France on his retirement,property is cheaper but rapidly going up considerably. However Im very keen on very pleasant weather,I have a family history of bronchitis and suffer in damp winters and Im afraid in older age of cold damp bones. The big heat here is not for so long and one must adjust ones home so as to protect against the worst of it. But as I said before the evenings and nights of summer allow one to really enjoy ones life outside. People put fans outside in summer which helps. All I can say is Greece has got better and civil servants have been tamed down somewhat,a kind of begging is required at all times and one thousand thankyous whilst visiting the said offices. When I was at the special police office for my residents permit the young woman would keep saying Getting citizenship is quite difficult here,the tests are made purposely hard on the language side. Brexit has been a big blow for people from UK and those who had duel citizenship,one being UK and elsewhere,and its a shame that that freedom of movement has gone away. I second most of what Sandie wrote. The tax code is easy enough to get. I am with Alpha Bank and they are appalling. A Greek phone also helps. We've bough a renovation in the village of Prosilio about 4 years ago, with a view to living there half the year once we both retire. We love the area so much we are now renovating a second house ourselves. Prices in Kardamyli are not rock bottom, in fact they are very high and prices generally are going up. Buy now in a small village away from the coast where prices are cheaper and renovate one of the old houses if you can rather than add to the many characterless new builds popping up. Get a good architect - your real estate contact will help you find all the professionals you'll need and yes get yourself a tax code, greek mobile phone and then bank account as soon as possible. Yes prices are big time up,many new builds are made of stone,sometimes the outer wall is stone enclosing a normal earthquake build with columns inside,stone houses now are built with an earthquake design in mind,they normally put a traditional tiled roof. The village where I have recently bought above Loutraki lost The owners rebuilt with grants using upgraded standards using columns,one in my village is for sale,it has enough iron sticking up from the roof to hold a block of flats,they were obviously scared to death of quakes,and thats going for around 30 thousand,needs work but could be great,there are others too. Geologists come up to my village twice a year with students to look at the fault lines in the area and the mountain that moved just behind the village,Or it came up and they had to make a new road to get to a mountain taverna. Old houses can come down,yes sterile new builds can be off-putting BUT its possible for people with an artistic leaning to pretty them up and the land whilst resting assured in ones bed that one will not be entombed one day or arrive home to a pile of rubble. Concertina,thank you for that advice. The properties we've been looking at online mostly seem to be built in the 's. We will make sure we look for the columns you mention. Thanks everyone. Good to hear that people are happy with their move! One more question- mu partner suffers with rheumatoid arthritis which greatly improved this Winter as we left the UK and spent the coldest months in Portugal. I hear that the Peloponnese had lower temps this Winter, or was that just for a short time at night? This winter has been different and that would be due I guess to'climate change'bit more damp perhaps,Athens does always get very cold,every winter is of course different,today has become very warm so I guess winter is almost over. Our homes must of course be kept very warm in winter and thats a problem with the cost now,move into just two rooms in winter in ones home,insulate very well,double glazing,thats why I say buy a fairly modern house because they are built with two walls and insulation attached to the inside wall in the cavity,this way you avoid a single skin wall which will allow damp to penetrate your home and your bones. Its not just about earthquakes,new houses here have double walls. Single skin walls can have insulation attached to the outside and be plastered over,this will keep you warm,but also try to make pergolers that hang over from the roof so as to protect the house from rain,snow etc.. You must remember that climate change is here and so make plans to insulate and adapt your home to these changes,make sure rain runs away very well from your property,you must remove any earth which is banked up and touching the house,this will transfer damp to the inside especially single skin wall. I cut a trench around my cottage about 12 inches wide,quite deep and filled it with shingle,this way the rain soaks away nicely,no damp mud touching the house. Remember Greek houses have no damp course,even English ones have broken down now on old places. Silicone injection around the house works extremely well on solid bricks but greek bricks have holes in them so thats no good,perhaps it may work on porous stone. The winter is short here and it will get very hot so shade your house well. My husband told me that it was 81 that the quake brought down these villages,it came up out of the sea,a small tunami folllowed and the sea level rose making now a marshy area,great for birds. The Grocer I'm intrigued that you should say there's often a bit of trouble in Messini town. What sort of trouble do you mean? Have you guys settled yet? We are planning to retire and move there in April but we are not certain of the area. We are leaning toward Ag. Nickolous by Stoupa, but we also love the convenience and amenities of Kalamata. Yes, we moved out 6 weeks ago, and are loving our new life! We are currently renting in Stoupa, near the beach, and have made a deposit to buy a property in the hills behind. It will be a short drive to either Stoupa or Ag Nik and walkable in Winter. It depends what facilities you are looking for. There are a couple of good size supermarkets in Stoupa but for clothes, shoes etc, we go to Kalamata. It's only 50 mins so suits us to have the peace and quiet here and drive in for shopping etc. However if you're people who like a bit of 'bustle' and a big choice of restaurants etc, then Kalamata may be a better choice. Perhaps you could try to rent for a few months in each to help you decide? Good luck! Importing a car to Greece can be a complex process that requires proper documentation and adherence to Greece is a country known for its social and friendly culture, which can make meeting new people easy and Starting your own company or being self-employed in Greece is not easy for non-locals, let alone for non-EU Dreaming of getting married in Greece? Whether you're a foreigner or a Greek citizen, tying the knot in this Obtaining a residency permit is crucial if you want to remain in Greece as an expat, allowing you to access many Driving in Greece is not for the faint of heart. Apart from the logistics of converting your driving license or Greece is a very child-friendly country. At least, that's what Greeks like to think. The reality is that Greece is a popular destination for foreigners looking to work and live in the EU, but navigating the visa and Brits retired to Peloponnese? Last activity 16 December by sandiedawn Views 31 replies. Subscribe to the topic Post new topic. GuestPoster Guest 18 March GuestPoster Guest 19 March PhilIpZ Active member 21 March The Grocer Active member 18 April I have had a home not far from Kalamata for 17 years and just sold it. A few words that might help Stoupa is a nice holiday area and gets rather quiet in winter. The road to Kalamata at first will seem OK, but travel it often and it will soon become a big chore. Kalamata would be your main shopping area and of course the hospital is there. On the other side don't consider living in Messini town. Quite often a bit of trouble there If the west of the island is of interest look at Petalidi area. Alive summer and winter but not a favoured place for main tourism like Stoupa, Kardamili and Finakounda. Don't get ripped off on car hire Stravrianos in Kalamata will bring car to airport and small car Fiat Panda will be around 20 euro a day. Thank you - some great info there and food for thought. We will certainly have a look at Petalidi on our next visit. Squealer Active member 19 April Squealer Active member 02 May You wrote: 'On the other side don't consider living in Messini town. Quite often a bit of trouble there. What kind of 'trouble' do you have in mind? I think that if you are advising expats against buying a place in Messini, then in fairness to the place and to those expats, for that matter you should be more specific. PhilIpZ Hello Phillip. I am wishing to buy a property and retire to Greece…. PhilIpZ Active member 28 August Buying in Greece is a fantastic idea but it is full of complicated and often illogical legal and planning issues so you need to 1. Be very patient 2. Have very good advice from a lawyer and notary 3. Be sure you want to go through with this - I have gone through this myself and am well aware of most of the issues - too complicated to explain here but happy to have a chat or zoom call one day if you like - all the best phil. Hello to you both. I learn a lot in the course of anything that I do here, and it seems to me that this place is no more complicated than anywhere else in southern Europe, and possibly easier, as the government is keen to see more expat residents, including from Old Blighty. Plus your money goes a lot further here than in either of those other locations in terms of property. You just need to be patient and keep an eye out for value. PhilIpZ Active member 29 August In short the process is…. Have a competent lawyer and notary work together to draft the contract and put in protective clauses for you the buyer. Make sure the seller s proves they have no debts or other legal obligations towards the property unpaid taxes, unpaid loan, unpaid water bills etc as often the leave and hide debts that will become your problem later. Pay the necessary taxes and get the utilities and other things transferred over to you for which you will need a Greek tax code AFM and a Greek bank account the later of which is involved but doable. Assume most properties have poor plumbing, electrics, fittings and almost no insulation. Be ready to take on the project if the later is true and be ready to work with complicated plumbers, builders etc…. Then you will have a dream property but this is not an easy path to take for most but if you understand the potential issues and follow the above guidelines you will ease the pain and get better results! Oh, and if you haven't already, have a look at the website: 'parea sti mani'. Post new topic Subscribe. 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Peloponnese, Greece: An epic sun-baked road trip across Southern Greece

Peloponnese buying blow

All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission. I am looking for the gates to Hades, but have overshot the turn. Somewhere below is a cave from which Heracles dragged the fearsome three-headed dog Cerberus into daylight so bright its slobber formed yellow flowers of aconite. Classical and Venetian fragments, Byzantine and Turkish shapes, the genesis of European history and upsurge of revolution: the Peloponnese contains all this. Towns such as Kardamyli, so lovely that Agamemnon offered it to Achilles to lure him out of his sulky bed to fight the Trojan War. And then, down in deepest Mani — one of the remaining wild parts of Europe , a place even the Ottomans shuddered to conquer — where cliffs and gorges are made of shadows and empty stone villages rupture the sky like mausoleums. Famed for its shipbuilding and naval skills, this territory, especially the islands of Hydra and Spetses, played a seismic role in overcoming nearly years of Ottoman rule. The Revolution of remains strikingly present along this eastern rim of the Peloponnese. Everybody admires its polished curves of island pine. Pandelis, who built it, hammers away on something in his waterside shed. Andreas just laughs at the idea that a person could be anything but, and curls his arm around Daphne as the plum-blossom sun sets behind, diffusing a glow on their skin. Then the first wind in weeks pitches up, and even the cicadas seem to dig themselves out of the oleander and languid weeds. I hear billows of conversation from restaurants, some with tables set on pebbles inches from the water. Diners raise drams of Greek brandy over plates of octopus and watch visitors from Athens dragging suitcases up to rented rooms with balconies shaped like sardonic mermaids. Walking to Dapia port in town one night, I pass kids waiting for the little cinema to open and show a new animation about the mythical Icarus, whose spirit rises from the sea at night to play with the stars. Parents and children race past on electric bikes with wet towels in their rucksacks as I arrive at the family-run Poseidonion Grand Hotel, a great, solid, frosted-yellow cake of a building built in At breakfast the staff wheel out a whole oozing honeycomb that looks molten; a golden fleece. The square out front is a chaos of boat crews jostling at the regatta awards. Browsing a bookstall for John Fowles first editions, skin tanned the colour of sherry, is the Hollywood actor Peter Sarsgaard. Women step off yachts wearing backless dresses of exuberant colours, fanning themselves and conducting long, unbroken conversations in an undulating Minoan frieze. Hurrying his way back from some regatta reception, pulling a Panama hat off his tousled, fair hair, goes Pavlos, the something great-great-great-great-grandson of the spectacular Greek naval commander and Spetsian war heroine Laskarina Bouboulina. She was the first woman to obtain the rank of admiral and, in , scoured a Revolution battlefield trying to match the body of her son to his head, in a scene straight from Sophocles. The evil eye is to be taken seriously here, someone tells me. Blow on the face of a newborn child to banish ills. The one main road is banked with thistles five feet high. Everywhere are chapels built on once-pagan shrines, mule tracks and mostly abandoned village fortresses that seem more like maze structures built to fox suspicious neighbours muttering about blood vengeance. Few residents now remain, after lifetimes of stage-by-stage emigration and endless feuds. The past feels intensely close. Greener is the terrain north, where the landscape curls into vast walls of olives. Stopping at the house of Patrick Leigh Fermor — wartime soldier-traveller, cherished describer of the Mani — I find, in the sudden cool of his seaside study, two faces gazing from the wall: a sketch of his wife, Joan, looking stern, and Lord Byron on a mounted 19th-century plate. Olives are emblems of peace, goodness and triumph. At one time, 70 per cent of all Greek olives were found in the Mani. In the hills near here, Charlotte Heneage and her husband, the historian James Heneage, built a villa and a collection of little houses on an eight-acre estate above a terraced olive grove overlooking the peacock blue of the Messenian Gulf. Sitting on the terrace, I stare at it for so long that I have to physically force myself to turn away. Charlotte and James tell me about the time they bought more than mature trees to expand the existing grove of Many visits and all sorts of formal interviews were required. James says that the gardener, Costas from Albania , has tended this olive grove meticulously for years and feels such profound tenderness towards the trees that he has to be persuaded to prune. One time, I see Charlotte speaking to Costas, both of them gesturing persuasively, him with a frown, after which he carefully cuts one branch, carrying it off as if it were an injured bird. From a field somewhere comes the faint cry of new wild kittens, and water slops over the edge of the swimming pool, sending white butterflies into the air. Later, taking a walk around the kitchen garden of chef Tomas in the village of Kampos below, oranges thud from a tree as his grandfather dozes in a curtained room of their tower house, built on several large floors so livestock could fit inside during times of siege. Toddlers on the next table pour honey on bread. In the Peloponnese, the depth of time plays tricks. Past and present overlapping; a moveable frontier. The way the sky opens up towards that coast, the wide light affecting how everyone moves and breathes, is almost a relief. The clamouring flowers and ferns of the Mani hills — purple spears, white arrows, feathery javelins — slowly flatten into what feels like street level. New hotel Dexamenes , built partly inside the immense steel tanks of an abandoned s wine factory, has a line of canopied suites overlooking pale grasses and soft, amberish sand that stretches, scorching underfoot, north of Kourouta. Here, there are camper vans and tents, teenagers lying under white sheets rigged up for shade like survivors of a shipwreck, listening to music on their phones. All of them rush to the sea before sunset, when the sky turns the colour of charred watermelon. Sunset spreads so quickly on the west coast that you can count it down as it consumes the horizon, with happy bodies colliding and whooping in the waves. Three, two, one: the light is gone and the water darkens to oil. The unrhythmic rhythm of young voices in the water could be a peal of Archaic bells. The women sweeping goats out of a yard with brooms could be a masked chorus. Three winged dolphins drawn onto a lamppost in the fishing village of Ermioni look branded by Eros. Especially at Olympia, home of the first Games and the Delphic oracle. On a quiet afternoon here, I see the spiritual, sentimental pull of Greek history crystallised in one jewel of a moment: sitting near the remains of the Temple of Zeus, a group of little girls in heavy trainers and band T-shirts, faces smooth, serious and lovely as a fresco, winding fresh stems of olive into wreaths for their waist-length hair. Five Star Greece can arrange road trips and villa holidays in the Peloponnese. Readers' Choice Awards Best cities in the world Friendliest cities in the world. Most Popular. By Connor Sturges. The best luggage brands to buy in the UK. By Lauren Burvill. Places to Stay. The best Airbnbs for skiing in Europe. By Teddy Wolstenholme. The best restaurants in Glasgow. By Ben Mervis. Topics Greece Europe Road Trips.

Peloponnese buying blow