About Greece

Greece is a country that has much to offer to the visitors: paradisiacal landscapes, hundreds of charming islands, amazing sandy beaches in crystal waters, a passionate history…









The Greek coast has a total length of approximately 16,000 km. Half this length is found around the thousands of Greek islands.While the rest extends along the mainland.










In 2006, 404 beaches and 5 marinas in Greece were awarded the “Blue Flag” (See below), a figure that places the country in a top-ranking position among other European countries.









The majority of the thousands of Greek coasts are freely accessible and you have the opportunity to discover and enjoy them without the presence of a large number of swimmers. There are also many organised beaches in the country.





The criteria for the award of the “Blue Flag” are the following:






1. Cleanness of the sea and the coast

2. Organisation of the coast and safety of the visitors

3. Protection of nature and environmental education

The islands are Greece’s chief morphological trait and an integral part of the country’s civilisation and tradition. The Greek territory comprises 6,000 islands and islets scattered in the Aegean and Ionian Sea, a truly unique phenomenon on the European continent; of these islands only 227 are inhabited.




Most islands lie in the Aegean Sea and are divided in seven groups (from north to south):








The Northeastern Aegean Islands: Agios Efstratios, Thasos, Ikaria, Lesvos, Limnos, Inousses, Samos, Samothrace, Chios, Psara.

The Sporades: Alonissos, Skiathos, Skopelos, Skyros
Evia

The Argo-Saronic Islands: Angistri, Aegina, Poros, Salamina, Spetses, Hydra and the coastal area of Methana.

The Cyclades: A group of 56 islands, its most important ones being Amorgos, Anafi, Andros, Antiparos, Delos, Ios, Kea, Kimolos, Kythnos, Milos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Santorini, Serifos, Sikinos, Sifnos, Syros, Tinos, Folegandros, as well as the “Minor Cyclades” comprising Donousa, Irakleia, Koufonisia and Schinoussia.


The Dodecanese: Astypalaia, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos, Kastelorizo, Kos, Lipsi, Leros, Nisyros, Patmos, Rhodes, Symi, Tilos, Halki.
Crete

The Ionian Sea is home to one sole island group:

The Ionian Islands: Zakynthos, Ithaca, Corfu, Cephallonia, Lefkada, Paxi, Antipaxi, Ereikoussa, Mathraki, Meganissi, Othoni, Strofades.These islands, together with Kythira.


The wealth and diversity of the Greek seas, the endless kilometres of the Greek coast and the thousands of Greek islands, the protected sea areas covering thousands of square kilometres, the mild climate, the high percentage of sunshine and its interesting and varying landscape make Greece the ideal destination for the development of sea tourism activities. This advantage is strengthened both by thousands of years of marine tradition and by conditions favourable for sea travelling: the Greek seas are considered safe, distances between coasts are small, while conditions related to wind strength, ambient and sea temperatures are equally favourable.

Greece is above all a mountainous country, as it is occupied by more than 300 rocky masses varying in elevation.






Mt Olympus (Macedonia), known from Greek mythology as the abode of the gods, is the highest mountain in the country, rising at 2,917 m (Μytikas peak). About forty 40 mountain complexes throughout the country reach elevations over 2,000 m.

The Greek mountains are reknowned for their diversity, landscapes of singular beauty and unique forests, many of which rank among the oldest natural wooded lands in Europe.


In Greece you must visit archaeological sites, museums and monuments all over the country offers a vivid picture of the civilisations in Greece, their achievements in arts and technology from the pre-historic era to modern times.


The unique tastes of Greece guarantee that you are in for many culinary surprises during your stay in the country. Contrary to common belief, you will discover that Greek cuisine is not only moussaka, souvlaki and choriatiki salata, but has a wide variety of dishes that can meet the culinary demands of both meat-eaters and vegetarians in an extremely satisfying way. Things could not be different, anyway, in the country that gave birth to symposiums and the Epicurean philosophers. It was, in fact, Archestratos who, in 330 B.C., wrote the first cookbook in History, and reminded us that cuisine is a sign of civilisation.Greece has a culinary tradition of approximately 4,000 years. Nevertheless, like most national cuisines, Greek cuisine has both influenced others and embraced ideas from its eastern and western neighbours.