Looking for living experience in Greece

Hi,
I am Looking for living experience in Greece
Is there anybody who has lived in Greece and can share his/her experience
Thanks

You can try the following places (popular for)

Athens
Mykonos
Cyclades Island
DODECANESE
IONIAN ISLANDS
ARGOSARONICO GULF
MAINLAND GREECE
SPOARADES ISLANDS

Enjoy.

Thanks but I am still looking for living experience (in details)

If you could be a little more specific about what you want to know exactly,we cant write a book but perhaps we can help you on some subjects with regards to living in Greece.

Hi :D
Im Marilia and I live at a town of Greece. My town is Serres and is near to the second biggest city, Thessaloniki.
Although Greece is not good at being organized, most of the local people are friendly to tourists. There is delicious food and many sights to see.
Public transport is average, but at some parts of Greece is not so frequent . So you need to check them out.
The good thing is that if you are lost, local people can help you, but better not trust anyone.
Also, if you want to stay at a house (by buying it or renting it) check it out from close up before deciding, check if it has problems and if it has you should tell it to the owner of the house to fix them. Also try to understand if they are going to deceive you, cause you know, at every country there are bad and good people.
If you have any questions, just ask me

Hi,
Thank you for your replies.
It's difficult for a person looking in from outside to understand what living in Greece (or other places) would be or is like.
Some specific questions:
1. Is Uber available in Greece?
2. Is Greece a "loud" dirty country like, for example, Phillipines?
In other words, lots of barking dogs, roosters in yards, crazy loud music..you get the idea
3. Do many people speak any English?
The reality of living in another country is that language is a huge barrier for people not fluent in the local language.
4. How do people pay for rent of an apartment or home?
Is it cash to hand or check/bank deposit?

Thanks.

Yes Uber is everywhere,they dont really speak English,they dont like to,they say..why should we..Is it a loud dirty country?you have never seen anything like it,much worse than the Phillipines,poverty is overwhelming,filthy place,kids everywhere with no shoes,full of begging AND the Roosters,well,Cockadodalooling all day,not just at dawn,all night,cant use them as an alarm clock cause they go all night,youd be very confused.They keep them on the verandas,the gardens,balconies,just about anywhere,Ive seen them carrying them on the metro even,like a pet and they Cocadodaloo on the metro,that wakes any sleepers up,then they dont miss their stop,very useful, if you get my meaning,metro alarm.you pay extra for that service. Sometimes a rooster poops on someones shoe and the owner of the rooster makes a pathetic attempt to clean it off,making matters worse until its spread all over the laces of the designer trainer and the owner of those trainers says words not repeatable here..Not many people can pay their rent,they barter,you know ,swap fruit and veg, eggs from the chickens on the veranda,balcony etc..it all works quite well really,they all manage with the extreme poverty.Just a short over-view of Greece.

I forgot to say about the dogs..unbelievable,every balcony has one,two or three,barking all the day and night,packs of them on the streets,in the parks,so we have Roosters and dogs combined,its a huge choir.

Oh, and the music,well that depends on your taste in noise but generally its electrofied Bazooki with very passionate words like..my heart,my heart is on fire for you or head banging repetative beat stuff which people seem to like,theres the Cretan stuff which does your head in after ten minutes,its actually quite similar to Irish,that comes out of all the windows.

Wow.. :o  that sounds...absolutely horrible...I have visited Athens, Crete, San Torini - I guess maybe tourist areas are not like local residential areas.

Why do you think people on this forum are not making these points available to people asking about living conditions? (edit: you answered that question. Not specific enough questions)

Anyway thanks..I think  :(

This is sad news indeed. Greece is so beautiful a country.

Hi!!! Yes, moving to a new country is not a piece of cake.
Greece used to have rubbish on streets, but not anymore. It is not as cool as other European countries (some things need to be organized better) but no, there are not roosters at the streets or so mich dirt. There are some stray cats and dogs though
Lots of people know English, but not all of them.
Also for renting, yoi can pay with cash or card or bank account. And thete are real estate offices to help you and also houses at the internet.
Good luck!!!

Thanks Gdreamer.
What you are writing is kind of contradictory to Concertina's comments.
I'll scope out some Youtube..usually some poor sod has walked around documenting actual conditions from ground zero )

Cheers

Do not listen to any of what Concertina said. Not sure what alternative universe she is living in, but that is not Greece.

First and foremost: Uber is no longer available in Greece.

Second, unless Concertina is living in some kind of neglected, filthy village (doubtful) there are no roosters shitting on your shoes, or making noise all day long. Athens is a city and unless she lives in some ghetto that I am not aware of, she's straight up lying. Also, the villages, while they've been deserted for many decades except for holidays and during summer vacations when people return to their ancestral homes, are still very clean and welcoming. So again, I can't imagine, as I have never seen a place in Greece where any of what Concertina wrote was even close to factual.

There are, however, stray cats and dogs, but I would say those numbers have decreased in the last 10-20 or so years.

Many people speak English, especially in the cities and where there is a lot of tourism. It would be helpful to learn a bit of Greek, but you can, for the most part, get by with just English. Beware of taxi drivers though. They will likely take advantage of you. I speak Greek but with an American accent and have been taken for a ride on more than one occasion. It's quite sad that they do this as tourism is very important for Greece.

The Metro is clean and very easy to use. While a car is ideal, you can easily get to where you want to go using public transit (bus and metro).

Paying rent: cash or bank deposits.

Hope that helps!

Good evening mebelesis,how are you?Great to see your activity on the Greek Forum,super to read your input here,havnt heard of you before,no input in the past years especially as you seem to know Greece so well as you say. No replies to people seeking advice etc..Did you mean excrement on shoes by the way?I try to keep my language a little more sophisticated,refined,poop sounds a little more delicate.You know you must really speak with my husband about stray dogs,he is Greek but speaks fluent English.When he leaves the house at four thirty am to take the staff bus for the airport, on the cold dark lonely streets, packs of stray dogs shoot out from doorways like bats out of hell,snarling teeth which sometimes if he cannot run fast enough end up breaking through his trousers and into his flesh.I rest my case at this point. I thank you for your input on these subjects and of course it is hoped that you shall continue to inform us on  Greek affairs

Just to add here regards stray dogs,a British woman was killed on Crete fairly recently by what the Greek government said was a pack of wolves,now, the woman was an intellectual,a professor knowing the difference between dogs and wolves and when the pack began to attack her she phoned relatives in the UK and said..I am being attacked by DOGS..she did not say WOLVES.The Greek government would not want the planet and future possible tourists to think,know, that they do not, did not, do what they should do and have never done,which is to round up stray dogs before they breed even more and then go on to attack people and possibly kill them which is what I believe happened in this case.

@concertina:
I'm not going to get into an online battle with you. I will, however, respond directly to your point above before putting this conversation to rest.

In your original post you said roosters (not dogs) are everywhere...even pooping on your shoes on the metro. Your words exactly: "...Cocadodaloo on the metro,that wakes any sleepers up,then they dont miss their stop,very useful, if you get my meaning,metro alarm.you pay extra for that service.Sometimes a rooster poops on someones shoe and the owner of the rooster makes a pathetic attempt to clean it off..."   ...Come on, that's just silly.

Also, I never said there aren't dogs, stray or domesticated. There are lots of dogs in Greece! But again, even the dozens of strays I've encountered have been pretty docile, so it's surprising to hear you say that your husband has been attacked on multiple occasions. Maybe there is some truth here IDK; perhaps there's a uniquely aggressive pack of dogs living in your neighborhood? If that is true, I can't help but wonder why your husband hasn't thought to take a different route to avoid them...

Fact is, I haven't encountered a single thing you've described about Greece in all my years of traveling here and now, since I've made it my home.   To be honest, you come across as someone who holds a great dislike/hatred for this country (curious where that comes from...) That's fine, you are entitled to your feelings, but that's no reason to use this platform to spread false information.

That said, I wish you and your husband better days ahead in lovely Hellas.

Hello mebelesis,how you doing?I dont hate Greece,no,I much prefer to live here than the UK,less violence and great weather.My husband cannot take a different route because that is through the dark dangerous park so theres only one way you see..past the dogs..but you know I dont hate dogs,I love them,I think they are wonderful,Im going to get one soon,but not an aggressive one,I dont like aggressive dogs or people.I have a cottage near Loutraki up on a hill and a woman at the bottom feeds strays so as they will protect her home so that no thieves enter her house,well the dogs think its their area now and attack anyone who walks up that hill or down it.I am now marooned up there if I dont have a car to go up and down,relatives came one summer and refused to go down to the sea to swim because they were scared of the dogs,they never visited again,another neighbor was attacked and bitten requiring the hospital and many stitches,her leg was open.There is a lovely stray around my village,a large very hairy dog with the most wonderful kind sad eyes,never ever growls or bites,he is a wanderer and I feed him when he is outside my gate,he doesnt want to be owned,he likes his tramp life I think and I love him or her.He must boil in the summer with all the hair.I love going down to Monasteraki and watching the world go by,I write poetry and wrote one titled..a song for Greece..Kindness mebelesis is what is most important,with that we can make miracles happen x