Travel to Greece

Makedonia - Forming the heart of northern Greece, lying between the Pindus range and Mt Olympus, its shores bathed by the waters of the Thermaikos Gulf and the northern Aegean, watered by four major rivers Aliakmon, Axios, Nestus and Strymonas, Macedonia wears its beauties proudly, for all to see: its lakes (Prespes, Kastoria, Vegoritida, Langada, Kerkini, Doirani), its well-wooded river valleys (Nestos, Strymon, Aliakmon), its wetlands and forests, its caves and beaches, its monuments and its traditional villages. And yet this cruelly-tried land of the Macedonians still conceals some of its ancient mysteries. But everything that has come to light under the archaeologist's trowel, in Halkidiki, Vergina, Pella, Dion, Thasos, and everything that is displayed in its "open-air museums" of Thessalo-niki and Mt Athos, bears witness to an ancient culture which flourished uninterrupted for many centuries both before and after St Paul brought his message of Christ risen to this land. From Aghios Achilleios (Prespa) and Kastoria to the Holy Mountain of Athos, the monuments of Byzantium have preserved the Hel-lenicity of Macedonia and the Orthodox faith of its people, who have prospered and flourished in its cities and traditional villages across all the centuries and into the present day.

Thraki - Land of Orpheus, birthplace of Democritus, Thrace, Greece's most north-easterly province, lies on the crossroads between the Balkans and Turkey and is Europe's natural access to the Aegean. Its boundaries are at once national and geographical: the Rhodopi massif to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Evros River to the east. To the west, the Nestus River divides Thrace from Eastern Macedonia. The diversity of landscape (mountains, rivers and valleys, mountain and riverine forests, lagoons, sandy shores) reflects the diversity of its population, a blend of peoples who came together in this land in the wake of major historical movements. Thrace has been inhabited since the Palaeolithic age. The first Thracian tribes settled in this area in about 2,000 BC,; colonisation of the coastal areas (Maroneia, Abdera, Mesembria, Dikaia) by settlers from central and insular Greece began in the 7th century. The Hellenistic and Roman eras left their majestic traces; while as a Byzantine province, Thrace was a strategic link in the Empire's far-flung chain of settlements and fortified places. During the centuries of Turkish occupation, the Greek population grew and flourished alongside their Muslim neighbours, achieving considerable prosperity largely based on the production and sale of tobacco and silk. The three Thracian departments were incorporated into the Greek state after the end of World War I, in 1920. The province accepted and assimilated the huge influx of refugees who left Turkey during the course of the exchange of populations in 1922.

Ipiros - From the summits of the Pindus range to the shores of the Ionian Sea, from Kakavia to the Ambracian Gulf, the evidence of human habitation is omnipresent in the province of Epirus. Across its majestic and varied landscapes, where snow-capped peaks march with deep gorges and river valleys, forested mountain slopes give way to plains of vineyards and orange and olive groves, where shepherds rub shoulders with townsfolk, caves and grottos with urban areas, it is natural that myth and legend should be mixed and mingled with history, ancient and recent. The oracle of Dodoni and the necromantic oracle of Ephyra, King Pyrrhus, the Despotate of Epirus and the bridge of Arta, Ali Pasha and Mistress Frosini at Lake loannina, the people of Souli and the dance of Zalongi, the epic heroism of 1940-41. Down the river valleys (Arachthus, Louros, Kalamas or Voidomatis, Aoos), by the lakes and along the seacoast, the evidence of the civilisation that flourished in this province is everywhere abundant.

Thessalia - Sheltered by the encircling mountain massifs of Pindus, Othrys and Olympus, the fertile Thessalian plain is watered by the Pineios River, which winds its way to the sea through the picturesque Tempi Valley. The well-wooded mountain spur of Pelion, overlooking the islands of the Northern Sporades -Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonysos - protects the Pagasitic Gulf from the Aegean storms. Here in Thessaly, in the dwelling places of the gods of Olympus, the centaurs and all the heroes and deities of the ancient Greek myths, here where Jason and his Argonauts began their voyage to seek the Golden Fleece, here is a land in which you can find your own magical experiences and discover your own truths.

Ionian Islands - The natural beauty, peaceful landscapes and fertile soil of these islands, where the, hillsides so lushly carpeted with olive groves and cypresses sweep right down to the shore, the burden of history extending right back to the epics of Homer, could not fail to inspire all the greatest poets, Greek and foreign alike. For the islands of the Ionian Sea are inseparably linked to the epic journey of Ulysses: it was on Kerkyra, the Isle of the Phaeacians, that he escaped the enchantment of the sorceress Circe, and on his return to Ithaca, the isle of his birth, that he was reunited with his faithful wife, Penelope.

Sterea Ellada - In Attica, Theseus built himself a city protected by Pallas Athena; farther north, in "the centre of the world", Apollo established his oracle on the slopes of the snow-capped Mt Parnassus. The magical enchantment of Delphi, the peaceful landscapes of Attica and the islands of the Saronikos Gulf, the forested and snow-capped masses of Kithairona, Parnassus, Agrafon and Tymfristos, overlooking the picturesque towns along the Gulf of Corinth as Oete watches over the spa towns of Boeotia and Phthiotis, the lagoons and the natural and man-made lakes: all these form a complex geographical whole with many hidden and unfamiliar beauties. The exquisite statues of ancient gods and Athenian youths and maidens go hand in hand with the silent mermaids adorning the carven prows of the fishing boats of Galaxidi; the river valleys of the Acheloos, Kifissos and Sperchios have echoed to legendary exploits and the songs of gods and naiads. Central Greece has been blessed by miracle-working saints and holy men; its folk music sings the praises of the countless heroes who gave their lives for the renaissance of the nation and the liberation of their country. Many have conspired against it, but the alliance of humanism and liberty has always proved stronger.

Peloponissos - It was in the Peloponnese Penisula, which until the opening of the Corinth Canal in 1893 was united with mainland Greece, that the mythological hero Hercules performed two of his twelve labours: the capture of the wild boar of the river Erymanthus and the slaying of the monstrous man-eating birds of Lake Stymphalia. The province of Argolida, with the palaces of Mycenae, saw the flourishing of the first Hellenic civilisation. This was the scene of the tragic story of the House of Atreus; from here the Achaian armies set sail for Troy. Every four years all warfare ceased while in the valley of the Alphaeus, within the sacred and peaceful precincts of Olympia, the finest athletes contested their skills for a simple crown of laurel. Leonidas trained his young Spartans on the shores of the Evrotas, while in the Byzantine walled city of Mystras the Palaeologi fought to hold back the invading Franks. The watermills of Dimitsana produced the gunpowder which permitted the heroic revolutionaries of 1821 to throw off the Turkish yoke, while in the castles of Mani devotion to traditional structures and values was maintained proudly and defiantly. Nafplio was the first capital of the newly constituted Greek State, while Patra has been its western gateway ever since.

Aegean Islands - Divine inspiration chose the islands of the Aegean as the site for mythological intrigue and unique works. The wall paintings of Thira, the Cabeirian temples of Samothrace, the aqueduct of Eupalinus in Samos, the catacombs of Milos, the Book of the Revelation written on Patmos, the mosaics in the New Monastery of Chios, the dove-cotes of Tinos, the marvellous costumes of Karpathos, the paintings and visions of Theophilus, the poetry of Sappho and Elytis, are so many irrefutable proofs that the Aegean archipelago has been blessed with a spirit of creation, fantasy and elegance which imbues the people of every one of these islands. The Aegean boasts three major island groups: the Cyclades, the Dodecanese and the islands of the Northeast, each with its own particular physiognomy, history and architecture.

Kriti - The biggest of the Greek islands, Crete - from the beaches washed by the Libyan Sea and the Sea of Crete to its permanently snow-capped mountains (Psiloriti and the Lefka Ori - the White Mountains) bears a weighty burden of myth and history. Birthplace of Zeus and Daedalus, scene of Theseus' legendary rescue of Ariadne from the Minotaur, Crete saw the blossoming of the Minoan civilisation and the development of the first Greek script. In Crete, three Mediterranean civilisations intermarried to produce a new strain: the Cretan school of Byzantine painting and the Cretan theatre flourished during the years of the Venetian occupation (1204-1669), while Venetian and Ottoman influences on the architecture of the island are obvious. At the same time, the tradition of the eleven Byzantine princelings is still alive on the island, a history associated with the legends of the Drosoulites. Crete is the birthplace of Cornarus and Hortatzis, Damaskinos and Theotokopoulos, Venizelos and Kazantzakis. Crete's historical pathway to union with Greece was completed in 1912, after nearly two and a half centuries of Ottoman occupation (1669-1905) and a brief period of autonomy under a High Commissioner (1905-1912).

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