ruthct21

We came away from our first viewing of the house we are hoping to buy thinking that it was lovely. Having talked about it for about 3 days, we decided to organise another viewing and to make a list of all the questions, mainly practical, that we wanted to ask. Mick has posted a good description of the house and garden and the opportunities we can see there. There are steps, but nothing like as many as at Owlers, and delivery of almost everything can be done on the level. Given the size of the house and grounds, there should be no problem in constructing a lift if that should be necessary in the future: we can also see the possibility of a ground source heat pump, more solar panels and, to complete the Owlers experience, a sauna!
The estate agent and Janet and Terry who own the house indulged us with a long tour of the house and garden and answered all our questions. The agents will also help us with the legal and practical steps we now need to take, including recommendations of local professionals who have a track record of dealing with house purchases and immigration law, including how to get the magic "golden visa".
It is all beginning to feel possible, which is really good!
For friends and relatives who are thinking about visiting in the future, the restaurants, beach and sea are great. There are lots of places to rent rooms, apartments or entire houses. Prices here are reasonable. We will need to create our own local map of Stoupa as we become familiar with the paths and cut-throughs: it isn't a big place! As for getting here from the UK or elsewhere in Europe, Greece is accessible by road, air, rail or rail + sea. There are long distance cross-country buses as well as some local services. On the whole, in our experience, people are helpful.