Life and money......

Seen from our balcony snow appearing on the Taygetos mountains can only mean one thing, its nearly Christmas.  So as another year approaches its end what has  been happening in Greece.  Truthfully down here in the Peloponnese not all that much!  The economy is still bouncing along at the bottom of the ocean (but at least the ocean is beautiful and blue)  with little growth on the business front, but perhaps the housing market is starting to move very slowly. Our accountant told us of four of her British clients that had sold properties recently and a friend of mine has just sold his property in Corfu. 

When you look around its a very mixed story, drive towards Kalamata along the old Athenon road and around one in five businesses have gone, there are many empty buildings. Yet walk along the sea front or city square and the terraces are filled with people drinking frappe etc., and no these are not just tourists but locals. Its hard to get a "handle" on just how the financial situation has really effected this part of Greece.  A builder we know said to us, you may think that old man and old lady in the village may look tired and poor, but when I do work for them they pay me from a suitcase of money! 

Thankfully though the overall cost of living has remained more or less constant this year, and hopefully next.  Oil prices are level (if not minutely lower) than the same time last year. Road taxes for car for 2014 are practically the same as in 2013 and during the year we did see the 23% tax on eating out lowered to 13%.  However reduced earnings and pensions for many people are still very much in evidence.  A school teacher earning just over 2000 euro per month in 2012 is now earning 1350 euro per month.  Imagine how you would feel, and what cut backs would you have to make if your salary dropped by 30%.

So what next?  Well currently its olive harvest and families tend to get together to gather in the crop, and that is the difference here to much of the "western" world. Families do come together to help each other, be it to gather olives or to look after "granny" in their home during the colder months. Sundays still remain special family days (despite the Troika pushing the country to introduce Sunday retail trading) when their sons and daughters bring their children back to "mum's house" for a traditional Sunday meal and play in the garden with Grand-dad. 

What does 2014 hold for the Greek people?  Well I recall a story told me by an old Greek man as  he mocked an American tourists' idea.

"There I was sitting on the harbour front having just come out of the five seater taverna I own and run about to set up my fishing rod for the second time in the day.   This American, who had been eating in my taverna came and sat by me and said :-

"Kostas, you should expand that business, you offer great food, there's plenty of opportunity out here.  In a few years you could have a whole group of taverna's bearing your name and making you lots of money". 

  

......and why do I need lots of money I said, what would I do with it?

Well he said, "you could retire, buy a small place buy the harbour and fish every day.........."

I rest my case........................................

The summer of 2013

click on photo to enlarge

This summer we travelled a fair bit around Greece, including trips to Kefalonia, Evia, Poros as well as many other places on the Peloponnese. The original plan was to take our caravan, but our experiences of a couple of years back with the weather getting so hot in June to the end of August demanded a rethink as it tends to be rather uncomfortable without air-conditioning. On top of this road tolls here in Greece tend to on average double if you are towing a caravan, as can ferry prices. Added to that the extra fuel costs of towing and after a brief search on the internet it was clear it was actually cheaper to book self catering apartments, again taking into account a nights stay at a caravan site would cost 20-25 euro.

To give you some example of what you can get if you search, a week on Kefalonia at Easter cost us just 87 euro !!!!  (see apartments below)

Of course these islands become far more popular in the main holiday season, but are far more pleasant when not busy!  The nearest airport to our home (Kalamata) according to local Greek newspapers had this year the second largest percentage increase in tourist arrivals in the country. Saying that, that only resulted in about 15 planes a week. However next year we are already hearing that more carriers are planning a longer season, good news for the tourist industry.

So are things picking up in Greece?  Despite what many will say, I do  believe they are. Yes times are still hard for locals in the village, yes unemployment is still appallingly high and there is a long way to go but locals here are no stranger to hardship and adapting, something perhaps we British find much harder to do.

To see more photographs of the places we have visited why not visit  "Rosie's Blog"  at  http://greek-dog-rosie.blogspot.gr/  she has been far more active than me at keeping the blog up to date. 

Pack "yer" bags......

Looking at the weather over the last few days, winter has finally left us, and its time to start grumbling about just how dry the ground is!  (well I'm allowed to complain about the weather no matter what it is...., I'm British).

Seriously, it does seem a bit early to have days and days without rain. Certainly the warm weather is welcome for the Easter break (its later out here than in the UK), and indeed welcome due to the fact heating oil this winter averaged 1.33 euro per litre. 

I have a strong suspicion that this year will see the turning point for Greece, indeed ahead of Spain and Portugal.  Not that the economic pain is over, far from it. There are still masses unemployed and VAT running at 23% on most goods, including eating out and 13% on all food purchased (supermarkets etc.). However the currency exchange is far more favourable now and already we are seeing more holiday  bookings for Greece.  There are lots of bargains out there!

One thing we have seen though is more and more ex-pats returning to the UK, Germany etc. for longer periods.  In the past the Greek government has been happy with ex-pats spending most of their time in Greece and only imposing on them the "virtual living cost" of taxation.  Provided you could prove an income from your homeland to Greece (by showing financial currency exchange) this could be negated. Now however the Greek government are strenuously imposing the 183 day resident rule and claiming taxes from your total worldly income. With double taxation treaties with most EU countries (plus many more), you are taxed only once, but with ex-pats understanding the taxation policies of their homelands, and virtually no one (including qualified Greek accountants) understanding the Greek taxation policies, ex-pats prefer to stay within the 183 day rule and be taxed "at home".  This actually means a net loss of revenue for Greece as ex-pats "go home" for six months a year and Greece fails to benefit from their income.

It may be that I'm only a simple grocer, but I would welcome anyone spending their income (no matter what country they earn it in and are taxed in) in my shop!