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| Seed had been planted |
When we first stepped foot onto Island of Ikaria, we were told that there are two kinds of people who came to this wild Island. First type, they get off the ferry, take one look, turn around get back . Tall mountains, narrow winding roads have been a deterrent to travelers for many years.
Then there are those who never want to leave magical mysterious place.We of course, the latter. We fell in love with the Island, people, hospitality, food, wine, their turquoise waters.
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| Ferry to Ikaria |
Very first year we arrived in 2015, we started dreaming of owning/ renovating a small Stone house, but it was only a dream. We looked at many properties that were for sale, but at that time too many obstacles were in our way. But a seed had been planted.
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| Dreams do come true |
In fact there were several barriers. I only knew a few words of Greek language, even though my husband spoke it fluently, he being born raised in Greece. We rarely spoke it at home in America. On this Island very few speak English. It would be a huge issue for me.
Beauracacy is incredibly challenging here in Greece, we weren't sure we could even navigate their system.
Owning a house in United states we couldnt afford to juggle two properties.
Number #1 reason, we would be far away from family, friends, our homeland. We returned to the States, put our dream to bed.
Years went by, lots of discussions of what would be our next chapter. We decided to set our dream into motion. One of most difficult things we had to do, besides leaving family, friends. Was after eighteen wonderful years, full of amazing memories,with some reluctance, we put a For Sale sign in front of our beloved beach house.
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| Beach house for Sale |
We put beach house up for sale and waited, it didn't sell the first year. We took it off the market, waited 6 months, put it back on, it sold that week. Now for the first time since I was in my early twenties I didn't own a home, let me tell you it was a little unnerving, but it also felt very freeing.
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| SOLD |
My husband and I began to get cold feet, we started thinking, maybe we should look into buying in Florida, it had warm climate, beaches we wanted. Plus we would be closer to home, family, friends.
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| Johns Pass Florida |
We decided to rent in Florida to see how we felt there. We looked at many houses, towns, but we just couldn't pull trigger. No matter where we searched, at end of day we would look at each other say "Its not Ikaria "
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| Ikaria Calling to us |
Fast forward 2020. House is Sold, I am taking Greek lessons online. We have rented a apartment on Ikaria, while we search for properties. When we find the property of our dreams, we'll add a studio apartment for family, friends. Finally, we intend to travel home for yearly visits to alleviate home sickness. We are ready to take on Greek bureaucracy.
To start our quest,our plane reservations have been made.
Unexpectedly, Corona Virus appears on our radar, caused a tsunamis of events worldwide. Including major travel issues, our ✈ flight's were cancelled several times, after alot of phone calls, red tape, bumpy start, help from Greek consulate in Boston, we are on our way.
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| Greece here we come 💙 |
