How safe is Greece as a country, and Athens as a city, as places to live, study, and travel?
In general, both Greece and Athens are among the safest places to visit anywhere in the world. Athens, particularly, is very safe for a large city–much safer than any American city of comparable size (the population of Athens is approaching 4 million). Murders, muggings, and assaults (including sexual assaults) are almost unheard of, and the most common crimes involve theft, purse-snatching, and the like, and even these are rare. At night, most areas of central Athens are safe to walk in (in groups–as in any American town or city, one wouldn’t want to walk alone late at night except along major streets). Because we maintain a low profile during our semester (that is, we are not conspicuous about being from the U. S.), living in a normal neighborhood, holding classes in a Greek educational institution, and travelling by private, Greek-owned motorcoach, we don’t typically encounter problems.
