munichmom

We're going with our kids to Greece during our Easter vacation, which falls a week before the Greek Orthodox Easter. We will spend the first weekend near Athens (our Easter, Greek Orthodox Palm Sunday), and then go to Santorini. I did hope to be on Santorini for the Easter celebrations, but the best we could possibly hope for would be to leave on Easter Saturday (April 26) or by feat of luck and planning, fly to Athens on Sun am, and fly home the same day. Sooooo, can anyone give me insight as to the Easter customs we will or will not see? Thanks! (This is my first EVER posted question, and I have enjoyed reading the Greek forum)!

themis

hi there, leaving early on Sunday is probably the worst thing you can do. Sunday is the day of celebrations and depending on where you are there are all shorts of different customs. Basically, in every house (more or less) there is an on-going gathering for the whole day, roasting a lamp and having ppl coming and going, it is really the most traditional celebration that exists in Greece (in my opinion at least).<BR>Of course Good Friday is also interesting, you should try to attend the evening church service, it is really interesting although you wont be able to understand much, you can follow the walk around the church, when everyone is holding candles, i guess in Santorini this must be spectacular. On Saturday the thing to look out is around midnight when all the fireworks etc. go off to mark the beginning of Easter Sunday and all the bells ring happily, again very tradiitonal customs.<BR>I havent been to Santorini on Easter period but i heard it is marvellous, so i am sure you will enjoy.

munichmom

Thanks for the reply, Themis! Although we would love to stay for the entire Eater weekend, it looks like we'll have to leave on Holy Saturday. At least we can be in Santorini for Good Fri, (I hope) and fly back to Athens, then home from there on Sat. Does this sound reasonable to you?

df

Last year I spent the Easter weekend on Santorini with two kids. It was unforgetable. The fireworks @ 11 pm Sat night scared my daughter badly, while my son was amused by the cherry bombs that the shopkeepers were throwing around. The meal @ midnight was fantastic. Sunday was a different story. We decided to take the bus to Oia, only to find out that it was the only one, leaving us stranded. The food was great, with everyone roasting sheep and goats on the spit in their yard. Eventually, I managed to convince a taxi to call four extra cabs to come get all of the stranded tourists. It was the highlight of our 17 day trip, but I would not risk trying to make any important connections on Easter Sunday. Even the ferries do not run on this day.<BR><BR>

Wendy

I was just reading this yesterday:<BR><BR>http://www.greecetravel.com/easter/<BR><BR>Part of all things about Greece from matt at http://www.greecetravel.com/<BR><BR>Wendy