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Dion, Pella, Vergina, Thessaloniki, Amphipolis - names that date since Alexander the Great's era, even further back ... Names that have remained unaltered for thousands of years, that have been passed on from generation to generation, while this land saw one invasion follow another. Romans, Saracenes, Normands, Turks ... Yet in spite of so many conquests everything remained, as before, Greek. For what a Macedonian treasures most is his Greek memory: Language and civilization of millennia.
Macedonia pertains to the Greek history and culture for 4000 years. Around the middle of the 4th century B.C. Macedonia became the leading power of the Greek World thanks to King Philip II, who declared himself the Leader of a Greek Confederacy. His dream of a panhellenic expedition against the Persians was destined to come true by his son, Alexander the Great, who took his army to the banks of Indos river. Greek art is thus expanded to the depths of East and is assimilated by local populations along with the memory of Alexander. The Great King shall survive through legends until the Middle Ages and the European Renaissance.
Leukos Pyrgos. A characteristic sign for Thessaloniki, the largest city in Macedonia.
Mounts Pindus, Olympus, Pelion, Othrys, Ossa and Agrapha surround the fertile plain of Thessaly in central Greece. The River Pinios, coming down from the western slopes of Pindus, cuts Thessaly in two, passes through the valley of Tempi and meets the sea. Thessaly has close links with the mythical past of Greece. Olympus, home of the immortal gods and land of the Centaurs is only one of the many areas, which evidence the continuity of history from Palaeolithic times to the present day. The people of Thessaly took part in the Trojan war, with many ships and the hero Achilles as their leader. On the western edge of the plain of Thessaly, just as the Pindus range begins to form, one comes upon a unique phenomenon of nature-24 perpendicular rocks on which about 600 years ago Byzantine monks chose to worship God and built Meteora, their monastic community. How the monasteries were built on the top of these virtually inaccessible rocks is a subject of fascination for pilgrims and visitors alike.
One of many Monasteries of Meteora
Ipiros occupies the N.W. corner of the Greek peninsula, to the South of Albania and is the most mountainous region in Greece. The skyline of the Pindus range forms the natural eastern boundary of the area, separating it from but also linking it with other sections of the country. Beyond the Pindus range lie scores of other large and small mountains, scattered all over the district and leaving only very few plains. To the West stretches the vast expanse of the lonian Sea with its attractive beaches, lagoons, and river estuaries where thousands of waterfowl thrive.
A photo from the lake of Ioannina, the largest City in Ipiros.
The island is the second largest in Greece, after Crete. Long and narrow, it stretches over the Aegean Sea very close alongside the shores of Mainland Greece, separated from it by the Gulf of Euboea and the famous Evripos Straits.
A main highway and ferry-boats from several terminals form the links with this island space which is a centre of attraction for those seeking natural beauty and scenic variety. There is something of interest to be seen at every turn in Euboea. Towns brisk with tourist traffic or peaceful villages, apparently forgotten by time. There are large fertile valleys and wooded mountainsides where mountain climbers can enjoy themselves as much as those opting, instead, for the attractions of the seashores with their excellent sandy beaches, organized bathing facilities and charming secluded coves. Modern life thrives alongside splendidly preserved tradition. There are picturesque country fairs where genuine local customs survive. Euboea can promise and indeed offer its guests all this.
One of the most mountainous districts of the country, Central Greece lies in the heart of the mainland.
It acquired its name - Sterea Ellada - (firm) after 1821 since it constituted the only clearly continental portion of the newly liberated Greek state.
Its geographical position accounts for the great variety in the region’s climate, which is dry and mountainous inland and mild on the coast. The contours of its landscape, too, are very diverse: thickly wooded green slopes, hills with pines, oaks, poplars and fast-moving streams separated by flat lands, plateaus and lakes, alternating harmoniously with the countless bays, intricate network of coves - some peaceful, some sheer and rugged - and picturesque islands that decorate the south-west coast.
Inhabited since the distant past, Central Greece is a place with a rich and distinctive history.
Here one has the legendary city of Thebes, where the agony of its heroes still lives on thanks to the works of Greece’s great tragic poets, Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides, among the finest playwrights ever known; Mt. Elikonas, home of the Muses; as well as Delphi, antiquity’s most important centre of worship and a pole of attraction for thousands of tourists.
The region is also famous for the great battles fought here, some of which affected the course of history (Plataiai, Chaironia), some of unsurpassed symbolic significance (Thermopylae) as well as for such personalities as Hesiodos, Pindar, Epaminondas, Pelopidas and Plutarch, all sons of this Land.
Visitors today, whose main aim is a pilgrimage to Delphi, should nonetheless not restrict themselves to the inexhaustible historical reference points. Contemporary Central Greece also has much to offer: abundant natural beauty, magnificently varied scenery, as well as highly evolved tourist facilities, all of which provide in- finite opportunities for a most pleasant stay both winter and summer.
The Cyclades are a group of islands of varying sizes scattered over the deep blue waters of the Aegean.
Some of them are well-known both to the public at large and the international 'jet-set', while others remain little known and scarcely figure on the tourist scene. Taken as a whole, they make an ideal holiday destination for the visitors of the most varied tastes.
A fusion of stone, sunlight and sparkling sea, the Cyclades lie to the east of the Peloponnese and south-east of the coast of Attica; they stretch as far as Samos and Ikaria to the east, and are bounded to the south by the Cretan Sea.
According to the most likely tradition, they owe they name to the notional circle which they appear to form around the sacred isle of Delos.
The Cyclades have exercised a powerful charm since ancient times, even though access to them then was not particularly easy. This was the birthplace of one of the Mediterranean 's most important civilizations, one which took its name from the islands: the Cycladic civilization (3000-1000 BC).
A view of Santorini's Volcano
In the emerald vastness of the southeastern Aegean Sea, between Crete and Asia Minor, lie the Dodecanese (=twelve) islands.
Rhodes : sky-high walls with loopholes,
Byzantine churches, narrow lanes and pebbled pavements, vaulted houses, sunless
rooms.
Kalymnos, the
sponge-fishers' island. Tile roofs, deep-colored doors and windows.
Kos, island of Hippocrates. Whitewashed houses, roads full with hibiscus
flowers.
Astypalea.
Island of the Fish. Terraces covered with flowers.
Patmos, Jerusalem of
the Aegean. Nowhere an empty landscape. At a glance, we see the shape of one
island - then another, and another. Priceless chain of Greek memory!
Karpathos, Symi, Agathonisi, Leros, Lipsi, Tilos, Nisyros, Chalki, Castellorizo,
Kassos
- and thousands of smaller islands, pearly, sunburn and virginal.
Among them the soul of Greece, tender and hospitable. Here, there, everywhere. The soul that gave birth to light and to the Greek language. The stuff Greeks are made of.
Rhodes. The Castle
This island - the largest in Greece - separates the Aegean from the Libyan Sea, marks the boundary between Europe and Africa. Majestic mountains rise in its center - the White Mountains, Psiloritis, Dikti. Its plateaus are split by deep gorges and end up in fertile valleys.The scenery is constantly changing. In one place harsh and barren, in another wooded and gentle. Its villages smothered in greenery.
Olive trees, orange groves, vineyards, early vegetable market gardens. Old stone farmhouses, monasteries and villages perched on mountain ridges, castles and chapels forgotten on steep slopes. Shores lined with forbidding rocks, often inaccessible, but also lots of endless sandy or pebbly beaches. Crete is renowned for the variety of its vegetation and the wildlife in its chestnut, oak and cypress forests. Not to mention its palm forests (at Vai and Preveli) and its cedar forests (at Gavdos and Hrissi).
Medicinal herbs and fragrant shrubs - laudanum, dittany, marjoram and thyme - grow in rocky areas and the mountain tops are home to the "kri-kri" or Cretan goat.
The main cities-ports on Crete - Hania, Rethimno, Iraklio, Agios Nikolaos, Sitia - all grew up on the north side, which is more benign topographically. Ierapetra is the only port on the south coast, on the shores of the Libyan Sea, facing Africa.
This island's fertile soil and towering peaks witnessed the development of one of the most important civilizations on Earth, the Minoan (2800 - 1150 B.C.). In successive phase, the Minoans built palace-states - the famous palatial centers of Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Zakros (1700 - 1450 B.C.). Their painters and ceramists show us the limits the refinement of art can reach.Their frescoes bring us close to the soul of that world, peace-loving, light-hearted, but also powerful. They bring us close to the sea and its wealth. A geological catastrophe - the eruption of the volcano of Santorini in 1450 B.C. - halted the Minoan civilization at its height. But life did not cease. Through shipping, commerce and trade with other peoples - the Phoenicians, Syrians, Egyptians - opened up new horizons. With the invasion of the Achaians and the Dorians on the island the new cities of Lato and Aptera were founded. Lato became the most important city on Crete (7th century B.C.). Until the Roman occupation (69 - 330 A.D.). The most distinguished center in those days was Gortyn. But Christianity came to the island early. During the Byzantine era the wealth of Crete was shown off in the mosaic floors of its basilicas and in half the churches of Greece. But many others had their eye on these riches. First Crete fell into the hands of the Arabs (824) for one and a half centuries (961). Handak, present-day Iraklio was founded. Then in 1204, the island passed to the Venetians. They fortified the old castles at Handak and built new ones at Gramvoussa, Spinalonga, Frangokastello, Ierapetra, Paleohora. They broke the ground for new cities (Hania and Rethimno) and built the fortifications essential to their defense. Inside the walls the cities developed with narrow, convoluted alleyways and small residential blocks, interspersed with decorative piazzas, fountains, churches and palaces, remains of which can still be seen today. Although the island was shaken from time to time by the rebellious populace, it continued to develop both economically and culturally. Painting and literature flourished. Domenicos Theotocopoulos (El Greco), Damaskinos and other iconographers painted exquisite portraits of the Virgin and Christ. Under the vaulted gates and arched windows troubadours passed singing ballads by Hortantzis about the suffering of Erotokritos and Erophili. In 1645 the Muslim conquerors set foot on the island for the first time. In 1669 the whole of Crete fell to the Turks. Not until 1913 was the island united with the rest of Greece.
Chania. The old port
