What's it like to grow up and live in a holiday paradise surrounded by tourists? Anna Delamani, 18, tells DW all about her home island of Santorini in Greece.
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00:00Santorini is one of Greece's most famous islands,
00:05its blue-domed churches popping up all over Instagram.
00:09A dream destination.
00:11Every year, the volcanic island attracts around 3 million visitors,
00:14yet only around 20,000 people live here.
00:18One of them is Anna Delamani.
00:20She's 18, finished school in the summer of 2024,
00:23and wants to become a nurse.
00:25But what's it like to grow up surrounded by tourists?
00:31Good morning and welcome to Santorini, my island.
00:40The house is old, it belonged to my grandparents,
00:44but it's been renovated and now we live here.
00:47This is my room and my cat.
00:50In Greece, it's common to adopt street cats.
00:54I fell in love with him and brought him home.
00:58Anna has an older brother who studies in Athens.
01:02She also has to leave the island to continue her education.
01:10I'm moving to Athens soon, where I'm going to study.
01:14In Santorini, we don't have the infrastructure,
01:17there aren't any universities here,
01:19so I'll have to adapt to another lifestyle,
01:22which is very different to here on Santorini.
01:25We're a very small island, so we all know each other.
01:31She meets with her friends here as often as possible.
01:37It's clear on every street corner
01:39that life on her home island is geared towards tourists.
01:45This used to be a shopping mall, but now it's going to be a hotel.
01:49The same has happened to many other buildings.
01:52In general, not a lot of concern
01:54is given to the Santorini locals in these cases,
01:57and that's a real shame.
02:00In winter, the busy island is almost empty.
02:03For young people who live here,
02:05it means a lot of shops are closed and there's not much to do.
02:09Instead, they look forward to the beginning of the tourist season.
02:15This is the caldera.
02:17It's a top tourist destination
02:19because of the view.
02:21There's the volcano,
02:23and you can see almost the entire island from this point.
02:27We locals don't go to the cafes here
02:30because the prices are really high.
02:36We go downhill to the more normal cafes,
02:39or we sit here on the benches and drink something from a kiosk.
02:44Anna often discusses equality with her friends,
02:47In the EU, Greece ranks 24th out of 27 on the Gender Equality Index.
02:52It is a measure of equality across key aspects of life,
02:56such as work, money and education.
02:58Since 2020, Greece has seen some of the greatest improvement
03:02among the member states,
03:04but there's still some challenges.
03:08The patriarchy...
03:10Mostly the older people believe very much in the patriarchy,
03:14so it's hard to get them to change their minds now.
03:17I think in a few years, when that generation will pass,
03:21it'll be easier then for women to move ahead in society.
03:28The youth unemployment rate in Greece currently stands at 22.5%,
03:33affecting women the hardest.
03:35But Anna isn't worried.
03:37In Santorini, generally because we had a lot of tourism,
03:41crises never had a big impact.
03:43When there were hard times in Athens and in other places,
03:46we never really felt it here.
03:48A few times a week, Anna goes to train at the basketball court.
03:52It's a 20-minute drive from her home.
03:55For the youth of Santorini,
03:57the main means of transport is usually the buses.
04:00It's too dangerous to use a scooter or a bike,
04:03so I'll take the bus and see you at the basketball court.
04:08We usually come to play basketball later in the evening
04:11when it's not so hot.
04:13Then we can play without overheating.
04:23After training, Anna and her friends go to the nearby beach to relax.
04:27Like Anna, the beach is a great place to relax.
04:31It's a great place to relax,
04:33Anna and her friends go to the nearby beach to relax.
04:36Like Anna, most of her friends have to leave the island
04:39to learn a profession, which does make her sad.
04:45We love our island very much.
04:47It's our home and will continue to be so.
04:50We've grown up here and it'll never stop being our island.
04:54No matter how the prices change or how many buildings are built,
04:58we have our memories and they'll always be with us.