Essentials to live in Greece

A sense of humour!! It's a fabulous, beautiful and fascinating country! Come and enjoy all its ups and downs!

No need to bring anything apart from a sense of humour as recommended by the previous poster.  Everything for a healthy lifestyle is here.

However it is good to have the spirit of discovery and adventure, curiosity and desire to experience a refreshingly different culture.  New?  No, not really.  Here in Greece we can re-discover the values that have been lost in so many ways in other countries that have lost and are losing their identity by all the one-size-fits-all, mindless restrictions and change imposed. 

Unfortunately, due to heartless policies, as in other places, so many of the wonderful smaller shops and businesses that made a country unique and kept families in employment, have closed down. in favour of large international enterprises.  Instead what have we got?  Starbucks, Lidel and Marks and Spencers! Disappointing when you have come all the way to Greece for a real Greek experience. Nothing is wrong with them, but we came to Greece for Greek, didn't we?

However, we can avoid the international shops, hotels, restaurants, car-hire and outlets and support the wonderful truly magnificent Greek restaurants, markets and local stores and enterprises that still exist (and keep them flourishing!)

If what you want is home products the best place to get them is, of course, at home.

With zest for life and love of people anyone will be happy here. Nowhere will we find more hospitality and helpfulness than in this amazingly beautiful country. 

Come and embrace it fully!

Department store make up (Lancôme Estée Lauder nars Mac Chanel etc). is crazy expensive in Greece as well as department store skin care products and salon hair products
Also perfumes are crazy expensive in Greece


Buy your bras in USA

Bring coconut oil as it is still not widely used in Greece it is hard to find

Clothes shoes I shop on my in USA (San Francisco where I am from)

I bought coconut oil in a local pharmacy and it is also available in Marks and Spencers food store.

Hello Concertina I have tried to send a private message.  Thanks and my mobile number is xxx. I would very much like to meet.
Doreen

Greece is a country where one can find easily whatever one wants. As it is a museum of nationalities, it is a demonstration of each tradition and an open-market of the world's product. Living in Greece is like being in the center of the world; one can find imported products coming out of the entire world, USA, Russia, Asian countries, African countries and so on. The prices depend on the items and their origin of invention.
If one looks for best price, one can easily find imported goods.
If one prefers best quality, it is advisable to look for made in Greece products. (especially foodstuffs).
What is less common to find in Greece?
It is too difficult to find books in one's first language; it is advisable to bring lots of books. (to the addicted readers)
What is quite expensive?
The best quality electronics in general cost pricey.
It is advisable to pack your laptop, mobile, camera, and all the related accessories.

I apologise.

in Athens maybe...
In Thessaloniki much more difficult 2 find smth special. Shops take 4 sale things which 4 sure they will sell (food, textile and so on).
The same with services and stupid small women things like beauty centers (20-30 y.o. technologies) - i was ready 2 make pictures there)).
And main thing! Here no opera theater! I mean real opera, not the building, where u can watch opera.... on monitor. )))
>>>>>>If 2 tell the truth twice per year i run back home 2 enjoy civilisation, maybe more clever simply 2 go to Athens! )))

Ok....truth be known, I do miss my Australian made buckwheat pillows, Aussie lambswool quilt, a good selection of instant coffee like Maccona (don't crusify me over instant) and Vegemite....But I found Crocs!!

I have tossed around the possibility of living in Greece for quite some time now.  I am tesl/tefl certified and I can live there legally, I have all necessary docs.  I grew up in Chicago, and have lived in San Diego for 30 years.    My mother lives 1.5 hrs from kalamata.  She hates it there.  Has lived there since 1990. She has an expat neighbor from Germany who lives next door Summer's only. My mother complains about how the Greeks are lazy. That the country is going bankrupt. I think it's a place to chill. Literally.  In winter no one wants to heat their homes. LOL.  The local natives I know are lovely people.  Sweet hearts.  I'm a naive American though. I think everyone is good.  Labels are chic there. A friend who lives in Athens asked me to buy him jeans. So funny the things we take for granted.  I went to TJMAXX and bought name brand jeans for $10 on clearance.  He said they would have cost $200 there. A few years back I wanted to color my hair. Box color is expensive. Maybe 2.5 times more. Cosmetics too. If there is a product you can't live without bring a few with you if possible. When In Athens I shop at a local grocer for dinners. No one much eats breakfast.  When at my mothers she buys local and then goes to LIDEL. I think that's the name. Their produce is from other countries. Not sure about the meat. I think you ought to eat locally produced products. Weird to me to buy potatoes at Lidel brought to Greece from Poland when my mothers neighbor is a potato farmer. 😕  Her reply is Lidel prices are lower. Oh well.  Greece is breathtakingly beautiful. If you don't have to have much contact with trades people, or government officials, and have enough money I think it's paradise.

Hello Glika,why does your mother hate living where she is?I think the that part of Greece is wonderful,very green,rural,beautiful food,small farms locally,the beaches down near Kalamata are said to be exquisite.I do believe that Greece is a good place to live even with all the on-going problems,as long as one is financially secure because jobs really are not available.A small-holding selling your own produce is a good idea.In Ancient Corinth I buy from a family who sell their own home grown food from outside their house,eggs,fruit,veg,they have a black grape with the most unusual taste,gorgeous and the eggs are something else,so there are many possibilities here.Every country has its good and bad points,nowhere is Utopia,it just depends if the good out-weigh the bad and what we can tolerate,but an adjustment period must be expected which will sometimes take time,wherever we move to there will always be a tendency to keep running back home for a visit until we come to realise that this is home now.I remember in England that when I would move to another town fairly nearby I would take the bus back every weekend to where I lived and wander about,sounds a bit sad but I gradually stopped it and started to enjoy my new area and home,so changing countries can be challenging but accepting that those feelings will probably happen is necessary.

Good day Concertina.  The long and short of it is that she's frustrated with Greece overall. As a PROPERTY OWNER in Greece she has had to deal with government officials and tradespeople. The systems in place, or lack there of ( until a few years ago Greece did not assess property tax) are incomplete. There was nothing in place locally, regionally, or nationally that definitively marked property boundaries.  Extremely limiting, confusing and costly if you want to sell. Another example...Greece holds elections constantly.  There are 7 parties represented in governmental parliament. If they don't like someone, another person requests a reelection.  Horrific internal instability, so, basically, like I mentioned in my first email, Greece is great for vacation, short visits, or if you don't have to be the one to deal with the governmental instability. Pensioners have had their monthly checks cut by 25%.  These are retired officials who are too old to return to work. Young people are unemployed. Unemployment rate at 26%.  Can you imagine what it might feel like to be a young person who has just completed your training and there is no employment. This is the new Greece.

One more thought Concertina.  You're absolutely right about taking good with bad. No place is perfect. However, overall, Greece is very unstable internally right now and that causes fear. Fear amongst citizens does not help morale.  It's depressing. Sure, you can pretend all is beautiful and enjoy nature, etc, but she lives there, owns property, and her friends are local folks who are concerned about keeping a roof over their heads.  When you turn on tv and most shows are debates about the problems with the EU and pension cuts, it effects you directly. She just wants out.

She is selling her beautiful piece of paradise which extends to her own private beach with a house in the southern Peloponnesus on the Ionian Sea about 10 miles from Pylos. At night we can see the lights of Pylos from our veranda.

I totally agree with you Glika,but its a shame to sell her beautiful home.I must tell you if you were to live in the UK you would hold your head and cry,the violence is overwhelming,the poverty,the homelessness,the hunger,the unpaid bank loans,people being ripped off paying to live on the Thames on a house boat in a wet so called room with a bucket for a toilet.In England you pay council tax every month on your property.I built a house here as a cottage,we went to the hell but its gone now all the stress,I do want to sell it but there is now no property market here which is upsetting,however I dont have a TV to drive myself mad and I go to my house and make the garden,put lots of plants in ,the birds all come and to my tiny garden in Athens the Blackbirds sing,everywhere now on the planet is difficult so I thank God for small mercies,I only flick through politics and all the crazy stuff because I dont believe I will have many many years left so my time is very precious, every moment is gold to me,we must live every day as if it is our last and then we dont get bogged down with all the negative stuff. I wouldnt sell that bit of paradise,I have always escaped with books and I play instruments.The planet has always been a place full of mad people,I just watched a film with Robert Duval-Stalin..completely mad,insane,poverty,no jobs,its everywhere and will only get worse,believe me there are worse places to be than down there with your bit of paradise but what ever you and your mother do I hope you will be happy and lastly to say..tell me a country thats not unstable internally,stability comes and goes,we must do our best within it.