Every year I ask members of my scouting team to venture a little farther. To go beyond the well-known and search out places where beauty, value, and opportunity still align.
In other words, to get ahead of the Paths of Progress.
Eoin Bassett recently returned from northern Greece—an underexplored corner of Europe that’s quietly coming into its own.
What he found along the coast from Kavala to Stavros puts me of in mind of Spain’s Costa Brava in the 1960s…or the Algarve before it was discovered by the world.
Old-world charm. A sense of authenticity. And subtle but unmistakable signs of change.
Make no mistake: this is early-stage scouting. But as you’ll see, it’s the kind of place that whispers now… and could roar later.
I’ll have more to say in due course and a full report with every detail will appear in Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) soon. For today, here’s a taste of what Eoin’s been telling me over coffee this week.
Wishing you good real estate investing,
Who Needs a Greek Island When You Have Greece?
By Eoin Bassett
If you were to fold a map of the Aegean like a linen shirt, your finger would likely land—by crease or accident—on Kavala.
A small port city on the northern coast of Greece, Kavala rises steeply from the sea in an amphitheater of sun-drenched streets and stone ramparts. The slopes around the city are threaded with pine woods, olive groves and vineyards; below, the sea glows like a coin just dropped into a fountain.
Kavala, a small port city at the heart of a secret stretch of Greek coastline.
I was there scouting for Ronan. What I found feels, in places, like a Greece that slipped between the pages of time.
Above the city, the old fortress still keeps watch. Below, the harbor bustles with life—fishing boats and the soft clink of mooring lines.
In its history, Kavala has been a Macedonian stronghold, an Ottoman administrative center, and a key Aegean port. The aqueduct that still spans the old town was built by Suleiman the Magnificent. And above it, in the Panagia district, is the famous Imaret—an exquisite 19th-century complex of domes and courtyards. It’s now a hotel, though closed when I passed through.
The red line on the map is the scouting route Eoin and Alan took exploring northern Greece.
I arrived in town as the lights came on in the tavernas and the fishing boats bobbed out for the night. There was music in the streets and the scent of grilled sardines in the air. Kavala is still lived in—not curated for tourists.
From here, a short ferry takes you to Thassos, an island of pine-covered mountains and hidden beaches. It’s a place of marble and honey, of quiet Orthodox churches, where locals speak slowly and drive even slower.
Thassos island isn’t like Mykonos with its champagne-soaked beach clubs…or Santorini with its cliffside crowds and cruise ships. This is a different Greece—verdant, low-key, and largely undiscovered by international tourists.
My colleague Alan and I drove west from Kavala, hugging the coastline to Stavros. What we found were low-key beaches tucked into small coves, quiet fishing villages, and signs of subtle transformation—new boutique hotels, foreign license plates, laidback tabernas for lazy lunches.
There are areas, too, that fill in summer—especially with Bulgarians and northern Greeks who know this coast and rent short-term. But still, this stretch—from Kavala to Stavros—remains largely absent from travel brochures and untouched by the influencer crowd.
A modern highway runs behind the hills, linking this coast to the city of Thessaloniki and the broader Balkans. Kavala’s airport connects directly to major European cities. The bones are here. And as I’ve been telling Ronan, we kept getting “Portugal vibes” as we roadtripped the coast…good roads, slow living, charming beaches, green-studded hills..
One thing is for sure, this is a place to escape the crowds. A place where the sea is still spoken of as something to fish, not just pose beside.
You’ll find very little development along the coast. Farmland and vineyards stretch back toward the slopes of Mt Pangaion, the sacred mountain of the god of wine, Pan and his nymphs.
It felt like finding a forgotten chapter in the story of the Mediterranean. You can hike stretches of the old Roman Via Egnatia without seeing another soul, wander through ancient ruins with only the sound of cicadas for company, or share a whole grilled sea bream on the beach as the sun drops behind the hills. And the wine! Wow…I’ll be back to tour the vineyards at a slower pace.
For now, it’s all still here—unspoiled, under-the-radar, and full of promise. But maybe not for long.
Ronan says: Following Eoin’s scouting trip in real time in our internal WhatsApp scouting group felt like micro dosing from the fountain of youth. Over three decades ago I made my first backpacking trip through Greek islands. Many other trips followed including a summer on Crete working in bars while in college. Those Greek islands always held a special place in my heart and memory…until I had to let go. In August of 2019 I stood in Santorini’s not-fit-for-purpose airport in sweltering heat, the shop sold out of water, the terminal lines overflowed into the car park.
The Greek islands of my youth were overrun by heaving crowds and high prices. Real estate prices too have risen to eye-watering levels.
But what I saw in Eoin’s scouting reports was that Greek idyl I fell for in the first place. Empty, pristine, hypnotic, azure…there are few stretches like this remaining in Europe. Few places where we can legitimately ask the question…is this the next Greek hotspot, or Europe’s next costa to boom? We are asking…the first step towards an answer will be in our full scouting report coming soon in RETA. You’ll need to be a member to get all the details including the real estate opportunities uncovered. Get details on RETA membership here.
