Starting over in Athens at 62, Kati Gyselinck arrived at the Greek capital’s airport in October 2023 carrying little more than a suitcase. Now 65, she runs a life coaching business for women over 55 and has settled into a coastal apartment on the Athens Riviera, roughly 25 miles south of the city centre.
The journey there was far from straightforward.
Her first Airbnb felt dark and claustrophobic. A few nights in, she woke to use the bathroom, caught her toe on the bed frame, and lost the nail. Alone in a foreign city, in pain, she cried for hours. ‘Did I make a mistake?’ she thought.
Her departure from Israel had coincided with a divorce, and had not been meticulously planned. She had spent 27 years as a homemaker after leaving her career as a mortgage consultant when her eldest child was born. By the time she turned 62, her three adult children were leading their own lives. ‘Hi Mom, Bye Mom,’ she recalled, as they rushed in and out of the house. Her husband was a successful businessman and their finances were secure. Even so, she found it hard to have no independent income and felt she had not gotten much to show for herself.
Rather than wait until her youngest reached her mid-20s (by which point she would have been 67 or 68) she opted for a fresh start almost on the spur of the moment. Greece had charmed her since a cruise off its coast. The people were friendly, the flight from Tel Aviv manageable, and her children could visit within a day.
Finding Footing Starting Over in Athens
It took nearly a year to find her feet. She walked five or six miles a day on her Apple Watch, exploring the city’s neighbourhoods rather than sitting in apartments furnished with other people’s belongings. She had chosen Athens deliberately: as a single woman, a large city seemed more likely to offer social opportunity. Slowly, she found people she wanted to spend time with, including a couple she met in a café.
One of them lived on the Athens Riviera and suggested she look at properties near the coast. In December 2024, she rented a 1,300 square foot, three-bedroom apartment a few minutes’ walk from the shore, unfurnished, and arranged it entirely to her own taste. She bought a compact Fiat 500. Each morning she swam in the sea, then sat on a balcony surrounded by lemon trees. At the farmers’ market around the corner, a little over two pounds of tomatoes cost less than $2.
For Gyselinck, starting over in Athens also meant relocating into one of Greece’s fastest-moving property markets. According to Grekodom, resale prices on the Athens Riviera averaged €3,067 per square metre in early 2025, up 10.9% year-on-year, while new developments averaged €4,332 per square metre, up 11% year-on-year. In Vouliagmeni, one of the most sought-after coastal pockets, prices can exceed €10,000 per square metre. Rental demand is equally strong: Noupou.gr reported average rental prices across Athens’ southern suburbs at €12.50 per square metre in Q2 2024, up 10.6% from €11.30 per square metre in Q2 2023, with average selling prices reaching €3,750 per square metre over the same period, a 6.8% rise year-on-year. Gyselinck rented rather than bought, keeping her outgoings flexible.
The broader pull of Greece is visible in the traffic data. Athens International Airport handled a record 31.85 million passengers in 2024, a 13.1% increase on the previous year, according to the airport’s 2024 annual passenger traffic report. Not all of those arrivals were holidaymakers. For anyone considering a longer stay, the U.S. Embassy in Greece notes that American citizens wishing to remain beyond 90 days within any 180-day period must apply for a long-stay visa before travelling and then obtain a residence permit from the relevant Decentralised Administration Office on arrival. Gyselinck moved from Israel, so different requirements applied to her, but the administrative steps are ones any prospective relocator needs to plan for well in advance.
From Coaching Herself to Coaching Others
She hired a Greek language tutor, started writing about her experience on Instagram, and eventually launched a life coaching business for women over 55. Her clients include divorcees, widows, and long-term homemakers who crave personal space but feel afraid to travel alone or even to eat dinner by themselves in a restaurant.
She encourages incremental steps. A solo weekend away, she tells them, can be enough to test the idea. Starting over in Athens was her way; it does not have to be anyone else’s.
‘You don’t have to make a big change,’ she says. ‘Older women can cultivate and cherish themselves in whatever way they choose.’
For those who do follow her southward along the Athenian coast, the property market will not hold still while they decide.