What is the Paleopolis project all about? It began as a vague and increasingly vital desire to ground ourselves somewhere other than just Canada. With all the wonders of the planet, it wasn’t difficult to quickly decide this second home would be in Europe, as it is both familiar and exotic, comfortable and exciting, and contains and is adjacent (Africa, Asia) to enough diversity and exploration to last a lifetime. Within Europe, the Mediterranean uniquely attracts, for so many reasons from its waters, the light, the food, its history and culture. Within the Mediterranean, Greece seemed an obvious choice, as at least some of us speak the language and of course it is some of our roots, but also in the fact that it is the doorway between the east and the west. The short-listing process was not complex, but for the record, at least some of us (ok, perhaps only one of us) also rationalized it logically, to leave no doubts.
But why buy a place? Why not just visit Greece, and everywhere else one may want to visit, endlessly and with great variety? Good question, and the simple answer is to commit to the land, to the place, to the journey and to the future. You cannot say you are part of a place if you just rent a holiday rental, you have to add some sweat equity and experience a bit of pain or at least a degree of discomfort.
The next big question, where in Greece? Ask any Greek (as well as any expat who has moved there) and you will surely get a different answer, typically that their home region/village/island is the best. Or you are given the very practical advice that surely you must stay on the mainland, as it is madness to settle on a remote and often inaccessible island. Here too the decision was rather quick. What’s the point of having a house in the Mediterranean, if one cannot see, and be in, the Mediterranean? That leaves a tremendous amount of coastline, in addition to up to (apparently) 6000 islands (fact check required, can this be true?). Staying on the island comes with many practical benefits, and there are many amazing locations; Peloponnese and Pelio come first and frequently to mind. However, it somehow seemed necessary to get off the mainland, to leave the solidness of the continent and cross the sea to another place and feeling. There wasn’t a lot of debate of choosing an island, the question then turning to which one.
With (apparently) 6000 island to choose from, which means (potentially) 6000 recommendations, we had to establish some pretty quick criteria to get to a manageable short list. The first decision was to stay close as possible to Athens. First of all, we would have to travel to Greece, which means landing at Athens airport. Second, we love Athens (speaking for us all) and also know we will crave some life and energy if we are based on an island. Two good enough reasons to stay close as possible to Athens. The Saronic islands seemed almost too close; although convenient, they don’t seem to offer that feeling of being in the middle of the Mediterranean. Disclaimer – we did not actually visit any, so perhaps it was a bit presumptuous to decide on these assumptions, but so be it, not all decisions will be logical (or perhaps not many will be, in the end).
Our sights next turned to the Aegean and the Cycladic islands. We’d all visited some, so had some idea of them, disqualifying some instantly (not about to be moving to Mykonos or Santorini or Ios, etc.). That still leaves (apparently) 217 Cycladic islands! (fact check needed again). No problem, we will begin at the beginning…
