Refugees
 

I will be traveling to Greece and Turkey in mid-January, 2016. I am wondering about the influx of refugees and their impact on traveling, etc. We will be starting in Athens and busing up the coast to Thessaloniki, across into Turkey, down the coast to Ephesus and fly back to Istanbul. Anyone been along these routes recently?

yes

Athens-Thessaloniki trains, no problem.

I think the Thessaloniki-Sofia train is OK. The Thessaloniki-Skopje-Belgrade train is still bustituted between Thessaloniki and the Macedonian border at Gevgelija.

Sofia-Istanbul is bustituted Kapikule-Istanbul due to major line rebuilding, rather than refugees.

There are no trains beyond Dikea towards Turkey at the moment.

They have Trump's followers in MN ?

Of course, in the tourist regions there is not a hint of refugees. We were three weeks ago in Ephesus and there was nothing - besides the usual 2,500 cruise ship passengers.

When we were all over Greece in September, the only place were we saw refugees was Athens. They gathered on a few squares and in parks. But given the colder temperatures, they are probably gone by now.

After all, tourists won't be affected by refugees. Why should they?

If you were "all over Greece" in September and didn't see any refugees, methinks you were not in the areas of Greece where there are thosands of refugees, or you don't know refugees when you see them. As I recall, six thousand refugess PER DAY arrived in Greece during the warmer weather months, and the colder weather has only halved that number. Many of these refugees arrive on tourist beaches and islands. There have been pictures everywhere of tourists encountering refugees, even rescuing them from drowning. But the OP doesn't have visiting beaches and islands in the itinerary, so any refugees encountered will be likely to be people in transit.

I was in a train (ICE) with a group of refugees who disembarked in Bruxelles. I realized they were refugees when the police told them to stop at Bxl-Central to be closer to a red cross comittee.
No, refugees are not a problem and they are not 'remarkable' in the sense we don't see them.
The problem of the refugees is in the country they fled, not in ours and not with them.

>>>The problem of the refugees is in the country they fled, not in ours and not with them.<<<

Exactly.

I gather then that "thousands of refugees" don't take up any space at all anywhere, including on trains.

In the small Cotswold town where I live and work, we are expecting a group of refugees from Syria any day now.

I have been asked if I will accept volunteer refugees in my shop, to give them a chance to 'rehabilitate' and improve their language and work skills.

Of course I said 'YES'.

Why wouldn't I? And why would you be worried about encountering refugees?

The islands where refugees arrive are the ones within a few miles of the Turkish coastline, e.g. Kos, Lesvos, Chios, etc. The Greek government has leased several large ferries to transport them from the islands to Piraeus. From there most are headed to northern European countries. I doubt that many will be taking the overland route back to Turkey, which is where the OP is headed.

Nice Julia.
Real nice.
And at least a stupid egocentric thread reveals some good people.

Hat to you...

The OP said he/she was "wondering" about the refugees impact on traveling not that he/she was "worried" about the impact. Big difference.

I assume that one would want to know if the influx of so people was hampering travel in any way.

This seems to be a perfectly legitimate question for someone preparing to travel in the area.

I wondered if the OP was literally asking about roads and travel or something darker. Still don't know.
Martin Amis had a piece in the New Yorker ofthe delays and issues with train travel in Germany when refugees were arriving.

A combination of refugee hysteria and the attacks on Paris is putting the Schengen treaty at severe risk, which has the potential to affect travel through most of Western Europe. But the actual refugees in and of themselves, apart from ruining some tourists' Kodak moments and exposing the heartlessness of a lot of people who should know and do better, are not causing any disruptions. It is other people who are mismanaging the influx and exacerbating the situation.

(to the detriment of Europe, in case that isn't clear.)

I was in Athens in October and saw no refugees and I was at the big bus station. I didn't see as many homeless as I've seen in past trips and saw no one being mugged or hassled. I think most of the stories are media scare tactics. I feel very comfortable going out at night in all the tourist districts in Athens.

Friends in Greece told us.. tourists.. are unlikely to see many refuges at all.. and the islands they land on are not not heavily touristed ones.

@Man_in_seat_61, please don't call it Macedonia ever, ever, ever again. For History's sake, thank you.

You will have absolutely no problem travelling in Greece. If you exclude some parts of the eastern Aegean islands (some PARTS on these islands) you will never see a refugee.

(Even if you see what's the problem?)

There's nothing wrong with seeing refugees....
Susan Sarandon actually went all the way to Lesbos where sje spent Christmas just to emrcae them as they were arriving and offer help. A brilliant example of what many of us should do !

Refugees arrive primarily on the islands that are neighbouring Turkey, such as Lesbos, Chios and Samos, but also on much smaller Dodecanese islands. They are being transferred to Athens as their next stop, from where they expect to continue their travel to Germany and Sweden ( the final destination for most of them).

Staying in Athens you will certainly see refugess at some point, their number is quite large and they are not invisible, nor are they kept locked in some concentration camp. They are free to go wherever they like, and only return to their base to have a meal and get some sleep.

Thessaloniki has less refugees as they mainly gather in Athens and Idomeni at the border to FYROM.

As far as the Greece portion of OP's travel is concerned, it is not going to be affected in any way. On the other hand as someone in Greece who offers volunteer help, i wish more people would interact with these people, who had to escape under very difficult circumstances to save their lives.