So, I just finished applying for a three week study abroad summer program in Greece! It'll be awhile before I find out whether or not I get in, but I'm curious to hear from people who have been. We'd be traveling all over Greece, so feel free to share experiences from all over.

What did you like? What didn't you like? We have free time, so what would you recommend doing?

Thanks

Greek Islands!

I only spent two days in Athens, but spent 6 days cruising the islands... It was amazingly beautiful. I also swear I ate more in Greece than I did the other 5 weeks i spent in Europe... The food was simply awesome!

How much free time will you be given? When I did a 3-week study abroad tour, it was for University archaeology credit and we had a pretty set schedule as to where we went each day. Depending on your tour, you may not have a whole lot of free time to choose where you want to travel. Not like it would matter; I loved literally every minute of our trip, everywhere we went, except for the morning after I drank a 1.5 liter bottle of Nemea Valley wine all by myself the evening before. Lesson learned!

What sort of structure will your stay have? That'll help me give some suggestions based on where we went (we did Athens, the Peloponnese, and Crete).

I spent 2 weeks in Greece about four years ago (wow! Time flies!). I visited Athens, Mykonos, Santorini and two cities in Crete.

I was in Athens for 2 nights and that was enough. We spent 3 nights in Mykonos and stayed mainly on Paradise Beach. That was too long, and if I ever go back to Mykonos I would spend more time exploring the island. Next, we spent 2 nights in Santorini- one day at the black beach, and one day in Oia. We spent our evenings in Fira. After Santorini, we spent 5 nights total in Crete- 2 nights in Herkalion and 3 in Chania. I loved Chania! One of the highlights was taking a bus to Elafonisi beach, it was absolutely gorgeous. One thing I regret not doing was hiking the Samaria Gorge.

I love ancient history and mythology, so if/when I go back to Greece I would make sure to visit the National Archeological Museum in Athens (we fell asleep at our hostel before we planned to go to this and I definitely regret that!), spend more time in Santorini, more time in Chania, and visit Rhodes, Delos and Delphi.

I've been to Zakynthos. On most of the islands, you'll find that there will be nice tranquil resorts, and then there'll be resorts overrun by 18-30s on pub crawls, wearing very little and being rowdy. You might I enjoy that, I don't know! Just saying that if you expect there to be brash, "Brit Abroad" resorts, you won't be shocked. Each island has nicer areas too, and most have some relatively untouched, non-tourist areas too.

Thank you all for the quick replies! We will be pretty busy, but we have several 2-3 hour spans in the afternoon over the course of the trip, and most evenings won't be scheduled.

Here is the list of the places we're going

Haha, I chuckled at "Flee Market". Run!

We visited a many of the same sites you will, with the exceptions of Santorini (et al) and Thessaloniki. We spent our extra time in Crete. So here's my ramblings and suggestions, for you to take or leave as you will.

While you're in Athens, definitely visit the Plaka, which is north/northeast of the Acropolis. When we went in 2004, there was this awesome little stand that was very unobtrusive, but the old man running it served hands down THE BEST gyros I've ever had! The great thing about having them in Greece is that 1) well, it's actually IN Greece, 2) they're smaller than the ridiculous American portions, and 3) at the time they were only 1.5 Euros! Om nom nom. Also in Athens, find the sandal maker's shop also known as The Poet Shop. This guy has been making sandals by hand for decades, fitting even such people as the Beatles, Sophia Loren, and Jackie O. They were so nice to all of us whenever we went there, and I still wear the Sophia Loren style sandals I got there! www.melissinos-poet.com . . .

When you're in Nafplion, be sure to visit the komboloi museum, and get some GOOD komboloi there as nice souvenirs for family/friends. If you don't care as much, you can just get komboloi anywhere in the Plaka (or any other touristy area you're at in Greece) for as cheap as a euro. When we got to Nafplion, it was evening and the castle park had already closed, so our professor led us in the tried and true tradition of his tour to scale the walls of the castle from the back! Attached is a pic of us climbing; I'm at the base of the wall looking back at the camera like "I can't believe I'm about to do this." (Edit: Ok now I can't find that exact photo, but here's one of us climbing the walls from above. We felt like pirates.)

When we visited, it was in May, and all of AcroCorinth was covered in thistles and prickly/thorny plants. I second the wearing of sneakers, but you might want to also wear nice socks and/or jeans, if you're going in the spring/summer. Also when we were there, the mosque up there had plants growing on the roof, shooting roots down into the room from the ceiling. It made for some really cool photography shots, if that's still the case.

The Greek people in general really appreciated whenever we tried to do most of our shopping/eating out in Greek. They all know English pretty well, but they do like a tourist who respects their culture and tries to learn the local tongue. It made us some good friends!

DO climb Lykabetos Hill if you get the time. As the tallest point in Athens, it's got a great view of the whole city. Don't take the tram, take the ancient stairs, it's much more worth it. A bunch of us packed a picnic up there and watched the sun set from atop the hill; it was amazing.

Kerameikos Cemetery was pretty neat, and also near it (if I recall correctly) is the site of the Roman Agora (not to be confused with the Agora just north of the Acropolis). Our final was held on that site, as our professor leading the tour wrote his PhD. on his research during that dig. Maybe not as interesting to someone not affiliated with my prof, but I thought it a fascinating comparison between the two eras' marketplaces.

Our prof wouldn't let us turn on any lights when we went down the cistern at Mycenae. It was way creepier but very much more realistic (and maybe he just wanted to mess with us, ha!). Be sure to get a picture under the Lion Gate!

Epidauros. Sigh. I regret not singing at the amphitheater, my one regret of the whole trip I hold to this day. I should've sung "O Mio Babbino Caro". Do it if you can hold a tune.

Anyways, that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Be sure to bring a sweater or two, and don't overpack (i.e. don't be afraid to handwash some outfits at your hotels so you can wear them again); you will learn to LOATHE hauling your bags all around for 3 weeks. I brought 4 outfits for 3 weeks worth, and while I felt a little dingy by the end, I didn't look any worse for the wear, didn't smell, and was way happier than the chicks who brought along giant suitcases. Hope you have a blast!

I wish I could give you a million more karma! Thank you! I had never heard of Komboloi (they are cool, they'll definitely be my souvenirs for family and friends. And those sandals! Wow! I adore the cleopatras.

One last specific question, what's the weather specifically like in the summer? 70's? 80's? Hotter?

^When in the summer? July/August are the hottest months. June was tolerable. I think Athens was 30 C (86 F) and the islands were around 25 C (77 F).

I'll be there in June! If it's in the 80's, that'll feel like a cold front...we're regularly at 100+ here in June

I should've sung "O Mio Babbino Caro"

Random; that's the song the guys walked in to at my wedding over the summer. David Garrett's instrumental version. It's gorgeous!

Take this with a grain of salt because I am not at all a Greece-lover, but I was in Greece in June (towards the end of June) a couple years ago and the weather was absolutely miserable. Athens was stifling and so crowded with tourists I could barely breathe. Then I spent two nights in Thessaloniki and it was so. freaking. hot. that I couldn't stand it. I spent my time there with a girl from Florida and she was miserable too, so it wasn't just my body being more acclimated to a colder climate. It was at least 40 degrees C (no clue about Fahrenheit, sorry) every day and night. One day it got up to about 47. No relief when the sun went down either- just as hot. We each had to soak a bath towel in cold water and lay it over our bodies just so we could sleep at night.

The islands might be a bit cooler though, especially the interior of Crete. I was there in April a year or so ago and while it was hot enough in Athens to be in shorts and a tank top, in the mountains of Crete it was jeans and hoodies all the way.

My weather experience was very NOT typical. We went in May, and while we were told the weather was normally very warm and sunny most of the time, it rained/drizzled literally 2/3rd of our entire trip! I had only brought one jacket based on our professor's recommendations, and it got so damp and rank that I actually took up smoking cigars with my smoking buddies on the hotel balconies in the evening to sort of 'cure' my jacket, so that it would smell of yummy vanilla cigar smoke instead of nasty damp B.O. that I could never fully wash out. *YUCK*

We also saw a waterspout early one morning, which our professor said was very rare for the area (so we all just assumed we took the Nebraska tornado weather with us, haha).

Picture! I actually have this one! (I'm sorry it's so big; I'm just feeling lazy and don't want to go through the trouble of resizing tonight.)

Can you tell I love Greece? I miss it so much & would go back in a heartbeat!

I should add that I was there the first 2 weeks in June.

Something a lot of American college students do while in Greece is a weekend trip to the Pink Palace in Corfu. I would consider carefully whether you are the right person for this place. It's really all about partying hard and lots of drinking. It's what I would call a "hostel resort". It has it's own beach, cafeteria for lunch, dining for dinner (dinner is included), really cheap drinks, a hot tub, 3 person hostel rooms, etc. People either love it or hate it. I think I would have liked it more if I hadn't taken an overnight boat trip from Italy to get there and was exhausted by the time I got there. There were some fun activities to take part in including kayaking, which I loved. Some of my friends also went four wheeling through the island, but I wasn't so into that. There's also cliff diving (clothes optional), booze cruises, toga parties etc. As I said, some love it, some hate it, but if you do want to spend some time partying, this is probably the best deal you can find. While some parts of this trip were fun, I wish I had gone to Athens to see the Olympic stadium and stuff like that. If I did Greece again, I would def do it on a much higher budget. I would also recommend packing hand sanitzer and toilet paper because it wasn't always available. Again, could just be that I did this on an extreme budget and not with a school group, but something to keep in mind.

Well, I got into the program! I still need to meet with my advisor to make sure the credits work out, but it's looking good

sjerose and RingingPhone- since I'd be going at about the same time, what things did you pack that you found essential (cosmetics, first aid, clothes, shoes) and what do you wish you'd have brought?

Moonlite, that's definitely not my scene I'd much rather go out to a local bar/pub/restaurant than go to a party town.

Hmm, let me see what I can remember:

Cosmetics:
-I bought a travel bar of shampoo/conditioner/soap from Lush to save room in my backpack. It didn't work for me (made my hair really scummy) and I wish I had brought regular shampoo/conditioner.
-Very basic makeup- concealer, mascara, blush, lip gloss & balm, moisturizer
-I wish I brought nail hardener. I'm really bad for picking and biting at my nails unless they have hardener on them. By the end of two weeks, the hardener was gone and my nails were bitten off.

First Aid:
-Bring lots of Band Aids!! I got a blister on the top of my foot from my flip flops in the first few days. I used up the few I had bought, and had to spend quite a while trying to find a pharmacy, trying to find Band Aids while pointing at my foot since no one in the store spoke English, and finally paying a lot of $$$ for Band Aids. I would probably bring a whole box!
-Tylenol/Advil, Gravol (for the plane ride, just in case), Immodium, and Tums. I got strep throat the week before I left, so I was finishing up a course of antibiotics, and I had a cough so I brought cough drops.
-Little things like tweezers, nail clippers, etc
-Lots of sunscreen! I brought one bottle, and had to buy 2 more when I was there.
-I got a really, really bad sunburn on my first day in Mykonos. One of the girls I was traveling with had Solarcaine, which was amazing. I also ended up buying aloe vera gel while I was there.
-I only encountered one hole-in-the-wall bathroom, but I would bring a small bottle of hand sanitizer just in case.

Clothes:
-I wore roll up khaki pants/capris on the plane, with a tank top and a light weight zip up hoodie.
-Two pairs of shorts
-One pair of yoga pant capris
-Many tanks and tube tops. No tshirts.
-Three swim suits
-Two bras (one of which I was wearing on the plane). After day 1 in Athens, I felt so gross and sweaty wearing a bra that I just alternated swim suit tops every day. I should have brought cotton bras instead of satin.
-Two dresses: one was a black casual dress that I could wear to dinner or as a beach cover up, the other was a purple halter that I wore to nicer dinners. Both were easy to pack and didn't take up much room.
-Two weeks worth of underwear
-Two or three pairs of socks

Basically for clothing, I wore shorts and a tank everyday. I took my hoodie out a few evenings if we were going to be out really late.

Shoes/Accessories:
-Runners, which I only wore once when walking around Athens on the first day.
-Black flip flops (Why black? Because they go with everything, even though they got hot in the sun)
-Black leather dressy flip flops, which I wore once for dinner. I wouldn't bring these again, and would just wear regular flip flops unless you know you are going to a very fancy restaurant.
-I used a black cross body purse for daytime travel that was large enough to hold a water bottle, maps, etc. I brought a Coach wristlet for going out at night.
-My backpack had a smaller detachable backpack that I used as a carry on for the plane, and anytime I needed something large than my purse (once or twice?)
-I brought a few necklaces and bracelets thinking I would jazz up my tank top/shorts combos, but I didn't use any of it! I ended up buying a few pieces of jewelery while there anyway.

Misc:
-My friends had these microfiber towels that rolled up very small and I was always really jealous of them! My towel was big, bulky and stunk by the end of the trip since I was using it after showering AND as a beach towel.
-I left my laptop at home, which was fine as I was always able to get Internet access at hostels or Internet cafes.
-I didn't bring my iPod, thinking I was being smart by not worrying about it getting stolen, and I definitely regret it!

Heh, apparently I remembered a lot!

ETA:
-Bring laundry detergent so you can wash clothes in your room
-Make sure you bring some tops that can be worn more than once without washing. I brought a few tanks that after one wear, they were so stretched out of shape and wrinkled that I couldn't wear them again, and that was wasted space in my backpack!
-Phone your bank to find out which ATMs you can use without being charged crazy fees.

Greece is the word, is the word is the word.... oops, sorry, that was Grease!

Whoa, sorry I missed this earlier!

It's been so long ago I can hardly remember. I was not in 'girly-travel' mode though, so I didn't pack much besides the very essentials. I think the only cosmetics I brought were lip gloss and mascara. Good sneakers that you're not afraid to get a bit muddy/dirty. I bought a cute pair of Greek sandals there so whenever I wanted to be dressier at night, I just wore those. I brought a dressier shirt and just wore it with jeans when I went out at night. Try to bring clothes you're not afraid to leave behind; it'll leave more room in your suitcase for all the fun swag you'll be bringing home!

RingingPhone really has a better list. Go with hers. I couldn't remember half that stuff at this point!

Most off, don't sweat it if you forget something. You're not going into the bush or anything, so you can easily find supplies as needed (thought they'll likely cost more).