Three Months Today!!!

Well we have hit are 3 month anniversary today and I cannot believe how fast it has gone,
We have gone through the windy and cold days and are now experiencing the warm and lively Greece we fell in love with all those years ago.
It was really not that bad but one thing I have learned is that if you insist on living on the seafront you have to expect to get the extremes of the weather, For example we would be in are apartment without being able to open the doors for strong winds yet soon as you reach the top of our street there was no wind at all just a completely calm world getting on with it's day.
And the nights! where should I start the wind and our bedroom, I cannot begin to tell you how bad the noise of clanging pipes vibrating through the walls was, Tony tried in vein to hunt down the offending pipes and put an end to it but to no avail, We think the noise is coming from ariels or something like that up on the roof which is three floors up and the door to the roof was locked,
We have since managed to get a key but the wind has gone and so has the memory of the noise.

The promenade which runs in front of our apartment and as far as the eye can see is a constant stream of people walking or jogging and chatting and families out with their children, Whole families from grannies to grandchildren just musing up and down, There is always something going on and our balcony is just great for coffee and people watching and it won't cost you 3 euro's a cup either!!!
The tavernas along the beach are busy now with people having long lazy lunches especially on the weekend you would not know there was a crisis on, although saying that I do not think it has really hit Greece yet.
Anyway it is Easter for you back in the UK and we have that to look forward to here next week, There will be big celebrations I believe as the Greek people celebrate Easter more than Christmas,They start tomorrow which is the first day of Easter week and I will be out and about with my camera so hopefully I will be able to share the atmosphere with you.

Greek Cooking

I think I have mastered the Great Greek Stew called Stifado, I have tried many variations and after mixing up a few recipes to allow for taste and avaliablity I have come up with this recipe that we both enjoy and is very near to what we have tasted in the local Tavernas.

First a tip I have learnt about peeling Shallot, Just top & tail them and put them into a bowl of boiled water leave for about 10 minutes then they just slide out of their skins.

500g lean beef stewing or braising, cubed
500g baby shallot onions - peeled.
1 large onions chopped.
1 large tomatoes - peeled & chopped.
2 tablespoons of tomato paste.
1 cinnamon stick.
4 garlic cloves - finely chopped.
1 beef stock cube.
2 sprigs Rosemary.
1 small wineglass of extra-virgin olive oil.
1 glass of red or white wine.
2 table-spoons of red wine vinegar.
Rind & juice of half a large orange.
2 teaspoons of dried oregano.
1 teaspoon of dried Thyme.
Bay leave.
Fresh coarsely ground black pepper and salt.


First I marinade the beef in half the Olive oil-Rind & juice of orange- 1 teaspoon of oregano-1/2 teaspoon Thyme and some black pepper. leave for 2-3 hours in fridge.

Heat the rest of oil in a large casserole dish over medium-high heat and brown the beef in small batches, ensuring that each side of the cubes get properly browned,
Turn the heat to low and saute the chopped onion, When onion is translucent add the garlic and oregano and cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant.

Return the beef to the dish, pour in the red wine and wine vinegar then stir furiously to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the shallots.

Bring up to the boil and put the lid on. Now, Cook the stifado in the oven at 170C (150C in a fan oven.)It will take at least three hours. Give it a stir from time to time.

Once the time is up, toss in the peeled shallots and cook for a further hour. If the sauce is too thin then leave the casserole partially uncovered for the last half an hour.
I serve this with mashed potatoes to soak up the wonderful gravy.

My first trip alone to the big city!!!

I would like to share my experience of my trip alone to the big city of Thessaloniki.
My friend Irina invited me to a day out with her in Thessaloniki where she attends university.

I jumped at the chance to have some female company, then I realized I would have to make my own way there.
I was quite nervous about going alone as i had not tried the buses on my own and they are a bit of a challenge as I speak no Greek.

Irina gave me the numbers of the buses I would have to catch and the names of the places to get off.
So off I went with butterflies in my stomach to catch my first bus the No.72 to Ikea.I had bought my bus tickets at the kiosk the day before,They are only 50 cents each and you can use them up to four times on any bus to go anywhere within 70 minutes which is great. Anyway I only had to clip my ticket in the machine on the bus instead of trying to balance and put money in another for a ticket whilst the bus bounces all over the place.
After about 15mins I arrived at Ikea then I wandered around until I found the No.2. I jumped on and clipped my ticket again so it only cost me 50 cents to get to Thessaloniki "bargain."
Irina said I would be on this bus for about 30mins then I should look out for the stop "Sintrivani" and she would meet me there.
Well I was on tender hooks the whole journey and after I had been traveling for about 20mins.
I kept my eye my on the display panel which displays each stop as it goes along waiting for the name of my stop to appear Finally I arrived at "Sintrivani" and my friend was waiting.


We hugged and I must say I was relieved to be off the bus, After my tour of Irina's university we set off into the town and looked round all the shops, I did not realize there was so much too see I even found a Marks and spencers.
The shops were great ranging from markets, Department stores to little exclusive shops.

I really learnt a lot about what is really out there for us to enjoy and explore and not too far away either, Finally we settled on the seafront for coffee and Irina pointed across the sea to where I live in Perea and I thought hey this is not so bad.


The bus ride home was a lot more relaxed and I finally arrived back in Perea about 7 oclock so I nipped into the bakery and picked up some bread and got home to I think a somewhat relieved husband.
Oh and the round trip on the bus cost just 1 euro.

Celebrating Clean Monday in Perea

Today is the day after the Carnival and it is Clean Monday which I believe means the first day of lent, and there are celebration up at the next village so we are off to see what is happening.


Well we arrived to the sound of live singing and a lot of people Greek dancing in the streets,
All the children were wandering around with kites in hand and I found out later that Flying kites was part of the day.
Unfortunately there was no wind but that did not stop them trying.
As we were mingling we realised that lots of people were arriving and leaving large pots of food on the long tables laid out in front of a Taverna and we came to realise that they were preparing to hand out free food to all the people at the event, Everyone started to form a sort of queue so we joined in and enjoyed the offerings of Vegetable soup, Olives, Peppers and some sort of traditional sweet, And not forgetting the Retsini "Greek wine of the Gods".
We took our food and sat on the beach and enjoyed it with most of the people there and sucked up the atmosphere,
I am really still getting used to such a warm welcome from the community here. Something I think has been lost in the UK.
We have made another video so you can enjoy the atmosphere as well, Let me know what you think.

Perea Carnival

Last weekend we heard it was the start of Easter Celebrations in Greece and there was a Carnival coming to Perea, Of course we did not want to miss out so on Sunday we went out to see what we could find!!!
Well we heard the music as we walked up the seafront and then we saw the balloon sellers so we knew we were heading in the right direction.
As we moved closer to the pier it was obvious today was the day!!! All the children in their fancy dress, Little princesses! Little Zorro's everywhere even some of the adults had costumes on.

Fantastic Carnival music blaring out of the loudspeakers which lined the streets.
We headed up the street following everyone dancing it was hard not to join in.
As we took our place amongst the thousands of onlookers I was amazed looking at so many people in one place full of fun and excitement after what we had left behind in England.
Finally in true Greek time the floats appeared led by a line of very energetic dancers with pom pom's!!!

As the floats passed by I was treated to a handful of sweets I was able to catch as they threw them amongst the crowd from the floats, I felt like a child again who had won something!!
After the floats passed us we followed everyone down them to the pier where they came to a halt around the pier, Then we were treated to more young people rah rah and hip hop dancing on stage.

All this had made us hungry so we walked down the seafront and saw everyone sat outside the Tavern's on the beach having lunch so we decided to join them, When we eventually found a table right in front of the sea we tucked into a fabulous lunch of Souvlaki and Greek salad and enjoyed the rest of the day in the sun watching the world go by.

What a Great day it was we have tried to capture the atmosphere for you in the video.
Let me know what you think!!!

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog

A few months ago my husband Tony and I lived and worked in the UK, Tony in a stressful job and me running an internet shop.
We simply worked so we could have our holidays in Greece each year.
We always wanted to retire to Greece but with the failing pound and house prices dropping it became clear to us that this was becoming more and more unlikely.

After a health scare for Tony we decided to ditch the stress and move to Greece.
So we put the house on the market accepting that we would have to take a drop in price and luckily it sold within 6 weeks, During this time we were researching everything we could on the internet about moving to Greece and selling up all our furniture and boxing up our precious thing to store away.

We are now living our dream in Perea which is a suburb of Thessaloniki in Greece and it really is wonderful, I am hoping with this blog to share my experiences and supply helpful information to others who are thinking of doing something similar as when i was trying to find out information on the internet it was clear to me there was a shortage of real life help out there.

I will be sharing my ups and downs of the challenge of moving to Greece and our ongoing daily life as we live the reality of our dream.