Greece: Useful
information about country.
fiogf49gjkf0d With well over a hundred inhabited islands and a territory that stretches from the south Aegean to the Balkan countries, Greece offers enough to fill months of travel. The historic sites span four millennia, encompassing both the legendary and the obscure, where a visit can still seem like a personal discovery. Beaches are parcelled out along a convoluted coastline equal to France's in length, and islands range from backwaters where the boat calls twice a week to resorts as cosmopolitan as any in the Mediterranean.
Modern Greece is the result of extraordinarily diverse
influences
. Romans, Arabs, Latin Crusaders, Venetians, Slavs, Albanians, Turks, Italians, not to mention the Byzantine Empire, have been and gone since the time of Alexander the Great. All have left their mark: the Byzantines in countless churches and monasteries; the Venetians in impregnable fortifications in the Peloponnese; and other Latin powers, such as the Knights of Saint John and the Genoese, in imposing castles across the northeastern Aegean. Most obvious is the heritage of four centuries of Ottoman Turkish rule which, while universally derided, contributed substantially to Greek music, cuisine, language and way of life. Significant, and still-existing, minorities - Vlachs, Muslims, Catholics, Jews, Gypsies - have also helped to forge the hard-to-define but resilient
Hellenic identity
, which has kept alive the people's sense of themselves throughout their turbulent history. With no local ruling class or formal Renaissance period to impose superior models of taste or patronize the arts, medieval Greek peasants, fishermen and shepherds created a vigorous and truly popular culture, which found expression in the songs and dances, costumes, embroidery, carved furniture and the white Cubist houses of popular imagination. During the last few decades much of this has disappeared under the impact of Western consumer values, relegated to museums at best, but recently the country's architectural and musical heritage in particular have undergone a renaissance, with buildings rescued from dereliction and performers reviving, to varying degrees, half-forgotten musical traditions.
Of course there are formal cultural activities as well:
museums
that shouldn't be missed, magnificent medieval mansions and
castles
, as well as the great
ancient sites
dating from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Minoan, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras. Greece hosts some excellent summer
festivals
too, bringing international theatre, dance and musical groups to perform in ancient theatres, as well as castle courtyards and more contemporary venues in coastal and island resorts.
But the call to cultural duty will never be too overwhelming on a Greek holiday. The
hedonistic pleasures
of languor and warmth - going lightly dressed, swimming in balmy seas at dusk, talking and drinking under the stars - are just as appealing. And despite recent improvements to the tourism "product", Greece is still essentially a land for adaptable sybarites, not for those who crave orthopedic mattresses, faultless plumbing, Cordon-Bleu cuisine and attentive service. Except at the growing number of luxury facilities in new or restored buildings, hotel and pension rooms can be box-like, campsites offer the minimum of facilities, and the food at its best is fresh and uncomplicated.
More travel guides:
fiogf49gjkf0d Greece
fiogf49gjkf0d When to go
fiogf49gjkf0d Getting around
fiogf49gjkf0d The Greek people
fiogf49gjkf0d Where to go
fiogf49gjkf0d Festivals and cultural events
fiogf49gjkf0d Books
fiogf49gjkf0d Visas and red tape
fiogf49gjkf0d Health matters
fiogf49gjkf0d Costs, money and banks
fiogf49gjkf0d Communications: post, phones and internet
fiogf49gjkf0d Gay travellers
fiogf49gjkf0d Eating and drinking
fiogf49gjkf0d Best Of
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Greece TOP CITIES :
Athens
Santorini
Rhodes
Heraklion
Corfu
Mykonos
Thessaloniki
Mykonos Island
Chania
Rethymnon
Iraklion
Kos
Paros
Halkidiki
Elounda
Chalkidiki
Samos
Vouliagmeni
Crete
Eretria
Glyfada
Gouves
Oia
Olympia
Afandou
Aghios Nikolaos
Agios Nikolaos
Faliraki/rhodes
Heraclion Crete
Kallithea Kassandra
Kefalonia
Mykonos Town
Patmos
Porto Heli
Rethymno
Rhodes Island
Santorini Island
Spetses
Zakynthos
Aegina Island
Agia Galini
Agia Marina
Amorgos
Analipsi
Anavyssos Beach
Anavyssos Attica
Andros
Archangelos
Argolida
Argolida, Pelponnese
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