In the wild-idea-phase (which especially Bart suffers from) there is no lack of destinations: back to Sri Lanka? New Zealand? Fiji? Els is more down-to-earth and wants to stay close enough to allow for easy contact with the children and other people back home. We agreed a few years ago that our destination must be within Europe, that’s the limit.

Because we are looking for a better climate, we have to go South, towards the Mediterranean Sea. Greece is a little less known in Belgium, except for the islands. But the Greek mainland is unique. It is very varied: most of it is mountainous, and Greece also has 13,000 km of coastline. This gives an endless variety of microclimates and landscapes. Almost 11 million people live in Greece (about the same as in Belgium) on a surface area of 130,000 km² (4.3 x Belgium). But about half of the population lives in and around Athens, and another 800,000 around Thessaloniki in the north. The rest of the country is sparsely populated. This makes for a unique country in terms of nature and landscape. Often breathtakingly beautiful, a different landscape behind every corner, some almost deserted regions. Here you can drive around for years to visit beautiful places.

There are also beautiful Greek towns, but unfortunately that is not the standard. Greece is not Italy where you can visit town after town and walk between Roman, medieval and 19th century palaces over and over again. The heritage in Greece is much less well preserved, cities are often dirty and full of uninspiring concrete buildings. You can’t have it all.

What they do have in Greece is a good feeling for beautiful locations. Ancient Greek temples but also more recent buildings are often located in places with the best views. The villages have a relaxed Mediterranean atmosphere. A taverna with a terrace by the sea, local wine, vegetables, and fresh fish or meat, where the menu does not matter but the cook comes to discuss what he has that day. Honest, fresh, tasty cuisine.

“Fresh fish from our boat”

Of course, life is much more than climate and beautiful surroundings. We are social beings and need other people. In that respect, too, we like Greece. We experience the Greeks as very friendly, helpful and hospitable. This certainly has something to do with the Greek traditional value “filoxenia”, literally translated as “friend of the stranger”. Filoxenia is translated as “hospitality”, but it is more than a custom or obligation to do things selflessly, it is a genuinely warm attitude from which helpfulness comes.

I also like the Greek philosophical reflections and discussions that are part of life, even though sometimes there are more words than deeds. For sure something is correct about the cliché of the Greek as a bon vivant. Greeks are also collectively allergic to rules. This is a country of anarchists, who, wherever possible, circumvent the rules or make their own. It causes some chaos and is the cause of many things not working, but at the same time it has its charm. We are not blind to the difficulties, and we will certainly be regularly frustrated as West-Europeans by things that do not advance well. We see the two sides of the coin, but we trust the equilibrium will be OK.