Nikos Delloglou, Syros
In the early 1990s, having spent 15 years in Germany, Nikos Delloglou returned to Athens to work as an architect. It didn’t take long for him to realize that there was a better Greece and that it was in the provinces. «In Athens there are exhaust fumes, traffic, stress, and everyone is pushing to get by, literally and metaphorically,» he explains. «My family and I were looking for a better quality of life and decided to take the big step. I’d lived in a city center in Germany so I looked for a provincial city not too far away from Athens, which I love. We’ve always loved the Aegean, especially the Cyclades. After looking into it, we decided to settle on Syros.» Ten years have gone by since then. «I don’t regret it, although it was hard at first. At work, I had to start from scratch.» Close-knit society In a close-knit society, relationships are more human but there’s gossip. I don’t lack anything on Syros; it’s got everything. The people are very accepting; they are cosmopolitan.» Has he ever felt suffocated by life on an island? «I don’t feel as if I live on a small island. I feel as if I live in the archipelago. I don’t feel as if the sea is the limit of my living space, but simply that it connects me to the other islands. And now I enjoy Athens whenever I go there – it’s become my ‘village.’»
