April School Trip To Greece

How do you think the political situation will be? {April 2012} Please don't take this wrong, but if all the great and good (and Angela Merkel) can't tell what the Greeks will do later on today let alone tomorrow, how can we possibly predict 6 months from now? I certainly have no idea about what will happen as Italy's position is founded on the thinnest of sand, nor where the next "Spring" will come or the next riots, anywhere in the world will come... ... sorry ...

I'll make a prediction... this thing isn't ending anytime soon, at least for Greece. Judging by the way they're still waging pointless feuds with some of their neighbors (ie, "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" instead of just "Macedonia"), this situation is probably going to get uglier before it gets better. I give it a 50/50 shot that the rest of Europe gets fed up, erects a protective firewall around Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland and kicks Greece back to the drachma. Seriously, Greece exhausted any remaining sympathy last week when their PM pulled that referendum stunt. Merkel and Sarkozy could barely hold back their fury in public.

We flew back from Athens less than two weeks ago. We are experienced travelers, 12 Europe trips since 1999. We had planned two weeks on the ground in Greece before and after a cruise out of Athens, but cut it back to Athens + cruise because of the strikes. So full disclosure: I am a little mad at Greece right now, though cognizant that it's partly my fault for choosing Greece at this point in time. So we did not see the places outside of Athens that I so wanted to most of the same ones you mention. The key sights in Athens are fantastic. (I am sure the rest of your itinerary probably is too and I had hoped to see many of those places too!) Acropolis and the associated museum, plus the archeological museum (which for me was more of an art museum) all are amazing. Not so much better than Rome that you should go to the extra trouble and risk. In fact, not as good as Rome, because you could have a wonderful visit to Rome without ever setting foot on an ancient site. In Athens I will say that it was easy to avoid the civil unrest but the strikes had a profound negative effect on our stay. Museums closed, transit down (= crazy traffic jams). The people in our experience were on the grim side, and I suppose understandably so given what they are facing. Maybe somewhat better outside of Athens - though on our cruise island stops, it seemed to reinforce our perception. The strikes may or may not be as much of an issue in April 2012. I kept thinking though, the next time I have the urge to go to Greece, I am going to Italy. Rome is also a much more attractive city than Athens. A trip there will pave the way for a lifelong love of travel in your students. I am sure a lot of people will have had much better experiences in Greece, even these days so I make no claim of having the final answer here.

The trip you have planned is wonderful and amazing so don't let anyone dissuade you of the itinerary. But none of us can predict things 6 months from now. A lot will happen in the next month though, so depending on when you have to lock in your decision, keep monitoring. Your biggest concern is that a general stike will close the sites and museums. Traveling by van will isolate you from transit strikes and being outside Athens will isolate you from protests and most any unrest. Even in Athens, the protests focus in certain areas nowhere near the Acropolis. Since strikes and protests are called only days in advance, there is no good way to plan for it. But Italy has its fair share of strikes too and they may increase as economic pressures hit them hard in the coming months.

Italy has problems right now, but the overall public situation is less testy. There were some riots a few weeks ago in Rome, but overall it has been more secure than Greece. That being said, I was in Thessaloniki 3 weeks ago and absolutely loved it. But I personally would not plan a trip and count on visiting Athens (or maybe even Greece) in six months because things can change so dramatically.

Well Italy has been more stable in large part because they haven't been facing the economic crisis and austerity measures that Greece has for the past few months. If default and bailouts become a reality in Italy, they could well face similar unrest that Greece has had. Point is, none of us can predict the future in Greece or Italy 6 months from now. As I said before, the next 30 days will tell a lot as to the future stability (economically and politically) for both countries. But short of outright civil war/widespread violence, the main issues for tourists to either country are transit strikes, musuem strikes and avoiding protest hot-spots.

John, nothing is changing here. I am Australian, living here 10 year, in the centre of Athens - and we are always having nonsense. It is superficial, never more than about 500 people gather in Syntagma, they shout, occasionally tempers flare. No one every gets killed, and the longest an "episodia" has lasted was 7 hours, and that was 3 years ago. Europe isn't going to change, it's the banks who have the problems, ordinary life hasn't changed. Strikes can be a pain, but we never have more than 2 transport agencies at a time off work, and then for about 6 hours. Actually, I have seen improvements already in daily life here since the reforms started - these changes had to happen, and the angry ones are the ones whose privileges have been taken away. Don't believe more than 20% of what you read. Some Aussie-Greek friends do masses of school groups at www.athensstudios.gr, write and ask them what their prognosis is, they are used to dealing with groups here