Our daughter is going to be in the middle of her semester abroad in Thessaloniki next Spring. We are going to be meeting her for a week or two at the end of April, 2009. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where we should plan to be for Easter? I heard the city has things going on, but I am really clueless, and can't find specifics online.

We spent Greek Easter a couple years ago in Elounda, and it was heavenly, but we don't want the extra expense of island hopping this time. We thought about trying to find a beach resort in Halkidiki that would have Easter festivities, but not too many places seem open. I'm afraid it will be a ghost town.

I really need to book transportation early due to the Easter holiday rush in Greece, and am not the type to "play it by ear" once we are there. Anybody have any suggestions?

In addition, our son would love to partake in some sort of archaeological dig or activity either the week before or after Easter. Anybody know of anything in northern Greece where visitors can participate?

Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

Any thoughts?

There will be Easter celebrations everywhere in Greece at Easter, which as you probably know, is more important than Christmas. I would suggest that you spend Easter itself in Thessaloniki, and then go on to Halkidiki after Easter for a few days or so. Alternatively, you could spend Easter in Thessaloniki, and then fly from there to one of the islands.
Another idea is to head west from Thessaloniki and explore that part of Greece, possibly going to Corfu for Easter where there are big celebrations.
I would certainly book transportation asap as prices go sky high during the Easter period.

Hi again,

Thanks so much, Carolina, for your input!

I think I'm getting closer...

I think we will spend Easter weekend in the city since I can't arrive until late Friday, or maybe Saturday. Then, on Easter Monday we will drive to spend 3-4 nights on the Sithonian peninsula... Maybe Porto Caras or maybe Danai, or maybe something more low-key like the Maria Elena Villas.

BUT - I just read about the dance in Ierissos the Tuesday after Easter. Can we drive that far east easily in order to experience this? Would it be "worth it?" It sounds amazing on paper.

Any additional input would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for any more info.

We stayed at the Athena Pallas resort on the Sithonion peninsula for Greek Easter 2008.

http://www.athena-pallas.gr/

It was very nice, although I don't know how expensive it was since my father treated. It's basically an all-inclusive (I think you have to do half board). It was very full of Eastern Europeans (Bulgarians, Russians, etc) with a few Brits.

We were there the last weekend in April and it was nice, but too chilly to swim unless you were a little kid. They did a very nice Greek Easter dinner on Sunday. We attended midnight services in a nearby village (I can get you the name if you're interested).

We spent some time driving down the peninsula and it is very beautiful. We had a great fish lunch in one of the villages along the coast. We also drove to the peninsula with Mt. Athos at the southern end. I'm in a hurry right now, but if you're interested I can give you some more details later.

At the end of April this year the flowers were spectacular and the countryside is so lush and green - it's very un-Greek!

Thank you, Telechick! The resort looks lovely. What kind of Easter dinner did they serve? Buffet? Sit down? Indoors or out? Greek music and dancing? I'd love any other details you remember, particularly nice little villages or unique restaurants/tavernas. Thanks!

The food was all buffet and was good and extensive, but not exceptional. For Easter dinner they roasted lamb on a spit outside and then brought big plates of it, along with kokoretsi (innards)and other things to the table. You did have to make reservations for a specific time for the dinner. Since my father is fluent in Greek and his wife is Greek, I wasn't involved in this end of things and don't know the details, I just benefited from it. All the people at the hotel speak English, so making reservations shouldn't be a problem, however.

There was a local dance troupe performing during the dinner and then there was group dancing after most people finished eating. We hung out with the cooks watching the lambs roast prior to dinner and got to sample local tsipouro (hard liquor) and hors d'oeuvres which was very nice.

My father and his family always choose an area of Greece and then find a resort that has an Easter special going on. A lot of Greeks will travel to these resorts for the holiday. I think the specials start to be advertised a couple of months before. I can ask him if you'd like for any tips.

We attended midnight mass at Nikiti which is 20 min or so back towards Thessaloniki. the church is high up in the old town (which is very pretty) away from the coast. Parking and then extricating ourselves from the parking was quite a challenge, but the service was an experience. If you go to a midnight service you will need to buy candles. There are stores that sell specially decorated Easter candles.

The fish lunch we had was in Porto Koufo. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was blue and white (there's a shocker) and it wasn't the one that all the tour bus crowds were at - always stay away from a restaurant that tour busses go to. I'll check my photos and see if I can give you some more info. We went as far south as Kalamitsi and then turned around and had lunch. The coast is full of beautiful beaches.

On another day we drove over to the Akanthos peninsula as far as Ouranopolis which is the border with Mt. Athos and all the monks. It was very interesting and a pretty drive. It's full of men making the pilgrimage to the monestaries around Mt. Athos. No women allowed! Not even any female animals.

If you have any specific questions I can try to answer them.

Just to add to my message above, when in Thessaloniki definitely have your daughter take you to the Byzantine Museum and MOST definitely eat at the restaurant. We had an amazing lunch there in April and were able to sit out in the courtyard and enjoy the sun. The regular archaeological museum is also very interesting and has great exhibits. It closes fairly early (3 pm) so plan your visit accordingly.

In Ouranopolis (where the pilgrims leave for Mt. Athos etc) definitely check out the tower - they've got a really interesting exhibit and it's worth whatever the admission charge is. http://www.ouranoupoli.com/

I just heard back from my father and he said that they start advertising specials in the Greek-language Sunday papers around February. Maybe your daughter can keep her eye out for them.

Thank you so much, Telechick. This is all great information.

Perhaps I can return the favor... Maybe I can recommend something for your father. We had the most wonderful Easter experience at the Elounda Bay Resort on Crete in 2007. We went to Good Friday in Agios Nicklaus, and then went to the chapel on the grounds of Elounda Bay for midnight mass. We did the candles and fireworks right there. The buffet the next day was outrageous. All fancy displays like a cruise, but really delicious, too. The whole experience was heavenly. We would do it again in a heartbeat but don't want the expense of five extra flights this time.

At any rate, thank you for all the details you've provided here regarding Halkidiki and Thessaloniki. It will help tremendously!

thanks for the info! I'll definitely pass it along. My father and his wife have a house in Eastern Crete and I know they've done the resort thing for Easter in Crete, but I don't know which resort. I'll mention Elounda Bay to them.
I hope you have a wonderful time. I would love to explore Thessaloniki more - we were only there for the afternoon. I also really want to go to Thrace.