A little more than 8,000 French people live in Greece today year-round. In Paros, in the Cyclades, they left Paris, Nantes or Brittany to work differently, raise their children by the sea and find time again.
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On the port of Naoussa (Greece), Axel Brizard, the chef of the “Mediterraneo Paros” restaurant, is right at home. “In the morning, around 9 a.m., 9:30 a.m., there are fishermen returning. The very popular fish of the Cyclades is red mullet. When they are big, we can grill them. That’s fresh from a few hours ago, there. Sometimes, they are still alive”he shows. The original Breton chef settled in Paros more than seven years ago. “I was in Paris, I was trying to work with producers with the fewest intermediaries to have fresher fish, but it’s true that it’s complicated, and that has a price too. Here, it’s more accessible, and that makes sense. We’re here, by the sea, there are fishermen, we take what’s on hand. place”, he says.
Today, at 34, he owns his restaurant on the port. A dream inaccessible in Paris, too expensive. Here he invested with his Greek wife. Their meeting was like a trigger to change their lives. “I wanted to take a break from Paris for a bit and in the end, the break extended for a few years. We have a living environment that is quite exceptional“, he rejoices.
But France is never very far away, with often French-speaking clients. “It’s very pleasant to be served in a restaurant in French”confides a customer. And new friends, also coming straight from France like Nicolas Bourget, who started viticulture in Paros. And between them, solidarity is in full swing. “I remember that you had started the season and that the wine was not yet labeled. And so, I too, you were our first customer”, reminds him of Nicolas Bourget, winemaker at Domaine Myrsini. “Between French people, it’s a little local support“, slips Axel Brizard.
He also started from scratch. His challenge: to build a vineyard on the island alongside his wife, Marie. In the middle of Covid, they bought land where there was nothing. “It was a field with a lot of stones. We planted as a family during the winter of 2021. We are very happy to have the vine like this, which also symbolizes a little bit our roots here“, remembers Nicolas.
One hectare of vines, where they cultivate several grape varieties which they introduce to passing tourists. “This wine dates from 2024, all the grapes were harvested right in front of you. It’s called Amos, it means sand because it comes from sandy soil”, says Marie. However, nothing predestined them to become winegrowers on the island. She was a teacher, he owned a restaurant in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique). “We told ourselves that we would have a vacation home here one day, but ultimately, why wait? In June, we sold the restaurant, in July, the house and in August, the car.” she confides to visitors.
“It’s courageous. You have to have the guts to do it.”comments one of them. “The living environment is still great. With the view, the life, things like that, it makes you want”, admits another. Now well integrated, the family does not see itself returning to France at all. “We no longer have time to live a bit like everyone else, finally. So I admit, I wouldn’t see myself having a cutting rhythm like we had in France”admits Nicolas. Even if they are not angry with their original homeland, it is in Paros that these French people found their balance.
