For years we have dreamed of having a holiday home abroad someday. A few years before reaching our retirement, we realized that if we continued dreaming, our plan would never be realized. Because we had already spent our holiday in Greece a number of times with great pleasure, we first wanted to have a look there. Especially the area around Parga was very attractive to us, so we seriously started looking for a house in that area. In the spring of 2014, putting our words to action, we entered the office of Ionion Real Estate, on the boulevard of Parga, for a first orientation. What we remembered very well from our first meeting with Dimitris Donis is that he told us with great enthusiasm about an upcoming project in the immediate vicinity of Parga and of course that he would be pleased to be of service to us. Although we were impressed by his enthusiasm, that evening we didn't get any further than exchanging some contact details. Back in Holland, we took almost a year to consider the impressions we had of the meeting with Dimitris, but above all to ask ourselves the question: "Are we really going to do this?" However, the more seriously we thought about this, the more obstacles we saw: What is it like to buy a house (or have it built) in Greece, what legal rules do you have to deal with and how do you know if you are doing business with a bona fide company? That is why we first obtained information from a specialist in Greek real estate matters in the Netherlands. By coincidence he knew Dimitris and his company, and spoke very positively about them. With all the new information we went back to Parga in the fall of 2015 for the next step. What we had already heard in the Netherlands was once again confirmed in Greece: finding an existing holiday home to our taste in the vicinity of Parga could well become a long-term affair. Our attention therefore quickly shifted to having a house built for us. Together with Dimitris we went to look at various plots of land. One of them, at the end of the road that leads from Valtos beach into the direction of Ali Pasha's castle, was immediately very popular with both of us. After a new period of reflection of several months, we put our ideas on the layout of a house on paper. The architect with whom Dimitris works a lot has translated this into a more realistic design and after 2 or 3 adjustments to our wishes it was clear to us: This is going to be our dream home. Now it got exciting, because business really needed to be done now. We travelled back to Greece at the end of September to buy the plot of land and to sign the construction agreement. We obtained legal assistance from the Netherlands in this and also in the preparatory phase. In retrospect, we may have asked for assistance on too many points, but it did give us a certain reassurance. After signing the construction agreement, a period of waiting, waiting and waiting started. Of course all authorities had to assess the license applications and in Greece they do so very, very thoroughly. After 7 months, on May 5, 2017, the green light was given and construction could start. After that, everything went very quickly. We were able to see how the outer walls were erected in May, the roof was finished in July and a few weeks later we received the message that we could sleep in our new Greek home in early November. On October 31, we arrived in Parga and were just able to see the finishing touches to the installation of the kitchen. During our signing visit we had chosen some of the tiling and the colours of the kitchen, the window frames and the doors, but because one cannot arrange everything from a distance, we had left the completion of most of the detail to Dimitris. Now we could see how he had interpreted our wishes. It probably sounds exaggerated, but everything looked beautiful, often more beautiful than we imagined. He had perfectly sensed our taste and special wishes! On our next visit in May 2018, the garden and pool were also ready. They looked perfect too. We do have the impression that it is important that Dimitris stands behind the choices made by his customers. He may build the house for you, but he also sees it as his own baby! Two years have passed since and we are still delighted with our Greek home. If we have any questions or problems, we can still contact Dimitris and his staff, especially Katerina is always there. They also regularly help us with all kinds of administrative matters and they assist us when it appears once again that the Greek language remains a major obstacle for us. It will probably never happen, but should we ever plan to build another house near Parga, we will certainly use the services of Dimitris again!