Anyone married to a Greek and living in Greece?

[housinghelp101]

An old programme that was aired on channel 4 in the 90's popped up on my youtube and I remember watching it when I was young. It was called Island of Dreams and featured English women who had had holiday romances in Zakynthos and got married and lived there.

To get to the point, they all had pretty unhappy lives due to extended family interference but what really struck me was the very archaic social rules concerning women that they reported. Women should be seen and not heard, should not approach people in a bar (they had to wait for others to approach them) and going out chaperoned. It made me wonder if life on the Greek islands is still 'behind' in terms of modernity and attitudes? I've watched the programme several times now and it looks so beautiful and I'm intrigued as to what has become of the women now.

I live in Greece. I am British married to a Greek, and I have lived here for twenty years.

I live on the mainland. I've never experienced anything like what you say, and I am very happy with my life.

I know that some of the islands are stuck in the Dark Ages, but accounts from people I know there suggest that such attitudes are becoming a thing of the past.

Glad to hear that @Etrusca. Can I ask how your IL's accepted you? Was it a problem?

No more than it might have been with British inlaws. We have had our differences over the years, but nothing terrible.

I get on all right with them generally. My sister-in-law is more likely to pour me a glass of wine and settle in for a natter than anything else.

MIL has her ups and downs. But we are not enemies. She doesn't speak English and doesn't always understand the way I do things, but she leaves me to get on with it, by and large. She has made comments in the past about my taste in furnishings or her expectations, and it took me a long time to realise that this was not criticism as such, more a cultural difference. Greeks tend to be direct.

She has never tried to interfere in how I bring up my children, or anything like that.

This is part 1 of the documentary if you've nothing else to do.

I just watched some of that. It is not like that where I live. Even the baptism scene! The MIL does not always hold the baby. This is a completely different world.

I have a very different experience of Greek women. But there were parts that made me laugh, and parts that were quintessentially Greek. I might look for part 2 tomorrow.