This will be my first trip to Greece and I have heard/read about kidnapper targeting Americans. Has anyone been to Athens lately and was there a concern for safety?

From what I hear you will be lucky to escape with your life! Those ruthless, savage people are targeting all people not of Greek decent, especially women and children. If I were you I would remain in my protective bubble, not ever to venture out.

Anti-American sentiment is running quite high now just about everywhere you go. Although kidnappings are very rare, olive tossing at Americans walking on the street is very common. And the oil stains your clothes something terrible!

For me, the last word on travel safety is the US gov't recommendations, which you can find at:<BR><BR>http://travel.state.gov/<BR><BR>(note that there is no www)<BR><BR>Always check the list of current warnings first - this will show which areas the US govt. is most concerned about. If your country doesn't appear on this list, that's a good sign already.<BR><BR>http://travel.state.gov/warnings_list.html<BR><BR>Then go to "Travel Warnings & Consular Information Sheets". The link for Greece is here:<BR><BR>http://travel.state.gov/greece.html<BR><BR>Basically, it says that the threat exists, but that there are no specific known threats, and that travelers should just follow normal safety precautions.<BR><BR>The consular info sheets & travel warnings are generally the most conservative word you'll find on safety for Americans abroad. That is, they will mention any possible threat so that people are well aware of them. They tend to paint a more bleak picture than my experiences have been, and I don't let my mom read the ones on China (where I live). <BR><BR>But basically, they say you should be OK. If they thought there was a risk, they would recommend against travel there.

Clarification: By "if your country doesn't appear on this list", I meant "your country" as in "the country you're investigating".

Oh great. My country is not listed in the "Current Public Announcements" of US gov't. <BR>I feel much safer now. Thank you