We are Linda van den Ham and Vanessa Viva Koomen. We fell in love with each other in 2007 and fell in love with the green Greek island of Samos in 2019. We have visited various Greek islands, but after getting to know Samos, we knew straight away: as soon as we could, we wanted a little house here. We started saving, researching, shared our wish with the locals, and metaphorically planted seeds for our dream: a beautiful villa on Samos. And, importantly, we also let go and accepted when ‘doors closed’, intuitively approached the right people, and followed our hearts for the important decisions.
Step 1 This was the search for the place, the plot of land. That was also a beautiful process; we were shown various pieces of wasteland or half-finished houses. Nothing made our hearts beat faster, so we had patience and waited (essential in these kinds of processes too). Ultimately, after a great deal of patience, we found this place. We got goosebumps here... this was the place!
Step 2 was the search for the right architect and builder. We found them! The talented and passionate builder Manolis Kyriazis built our villa “For the Girls.” He builds with authentic materials and uses old vases and ceramics, which he incorporates into the walls (see the exterior of Vila Liva). Furthermore, this builder constructs in an earthquake-proof manner in accordance with current building regulations in Greece.
It's particularly worth mentioning that after we started our house, interest from people who also had this dream increased, and soon a second house, and later a third and a fourth house, were added. This way, we can make big decisions together, such as realising a paved road etc. That's nice!
And now our dream has become a reality, and besides being incredibly proud and grateful, we are also ready to share this with others. We do this in our Vila Liva way via this website and not through commercial organisations or other types of websites.
It's important to us to be able to let others share in this special island and our beautiful place.
Greek Greeting,
LiNo GoNessa - LiVa
The points below are of great importance to us:
...out of love for the island of Samos, its local people and its overwhelmingly beautiful nature, we show respect 🏡.
...to help preserve the authentic beauty of Samos. We have deliberately chosen a small swimming pool and we are economical with water. We use as few plastic bags as possible, opting for our own reusable shopping bags. If you see litter in nature, please pick it up 😇.
Vila Liva is available from August 2026