Summer is already here, and those of us with children want to find something fun for our kids to do before and/or after our summer vacation. With schools in Greece being closed until the beginning of September, it is imperative for children and teenagers to have something fun, creative, and adventurous to do during the warm summer months.

We've created a list with summer camps taking place in Athens this summer. If you know of a good summer camp, please send us an email with detailed information at ideas@xpatathens.com.

Are you running a summer camp and want to let everyone know about it? Create an XpatAthens Profile and upload your event today!

Pierce Summer Camp
 
The Summer Camp aims to develop the athletic and artistic skills of children 6-14 years old who want to spend their time creatively after the school year has ended. The children are divided into groups according to their age and knowledge level. The program is primarily in Greek but the English language is also used by the instructors.

When: 5 weeks (June 17 – July 19, 2019)
Time: Monday to Friday (09:00 – 17:00)
Where: The American College of Greece
Price: Prices start at € 325 per child per week
Email: camps@acg.edu

The well-established tradition of the ACS Athens Summer Youth Camp will once again give the opportunity to children (4-14 years old) to experience fun, innovative and engaging activities. These activities are designed to appeal to the participants’ interests, talents, needs, and different personalities. The range of the offered activities has now expanded and is in line with the educational and technological evolution of the new era!

Saronida Summer Camp

This camp was establshed in 1961 in Ekali as the first sports camp in Greece. Because of its long-standing tradition, the small number of children, the specialised personnel, the excellent living conditions and the organised program, the Camp guarantees a high quality level of services, giving it a family character with emphasis on care, safety and entertainment of children.

It was fortified during Byzantine times -- when the fur trade is thought to have started -- and was hotly contested by a number of invaders going back to the 11th century, including Normans and Bulgarians -- especially the latter.

Its attractions are owed equally to its location, on the lake and in the shadow of mountains Vitsi and Grammos, as well as its long history and prosperity -- the result of its tradition as the center of the fur trade in the Balkans. In fact, one explanation for the origin of the town’s name is the Greek word for beaver, “kastoras,” while another is the namesake mythical Macedonian hero, a son of Zeus.

Today Kastoria, with a population of about 20,000, boasts some 70 Byzantine and post-Byzantine churches, as well as about half a dozen splendid mansions (“archontika”) of the old fur families, from the 16th to the 19th centuries, when the trade was perhaps at its peak. Local furriers established branches in most major European cities. Some of them are still in operation, although the number of enterprises has significantly diminished in the last few decades. In more recent years, the town has not been a major trapping center, but mostly relied on fur scraps imported from Canada, Scandinavia and, more recently, Russia to make coats and other items. Even today, the visitor is struck by the ubiquitous signs in Russian -- a measure of the still strong commercial ties with Eastern Europe.

The broader district, with its cultural, archaeological, environmental and natural attractions, is a prime winter destination. A walk around the old neighborhoods is not to be missed. The aesthetically lacking building boom of the 1970s and 1980s, mostly evident along the southern part of the peninsula, fortunately left intact the old quarters of Doltso and Apozari and the old archontika in the heart of the town -- boasting two or three levels – which have been restored and reinhabited or turned into guesthouses and museums, such as the Nerantzi-Aivazi mansion, whose former occupants left in 1972 and which is now an excellent folk history musuem.

One of visitors’ and locals’ favorite activities in Kastoria is taking a stroll along the footpath that runs around the lakeshore of the peninsula -- about 8 kilometers long -- lined with plane trees and the occasional fountain. The lake, which has an area of 28 square kilometers, hosts plenty of wildlife -- including frogs, tortoises, cormorants and Dalmatian pelicans. Winter in Kastoria usually lives up to its name and there is a good chance you will catch idyllic images of frozen or snow-capped tree branches hanging over the water. The setting is, in fact, perfect for an invigorating winter walk.

By Haris Argyropoulos