ABOUT GREECE

The most ancient primitive Greeks somewhere between 10000 and 3000 BC were known as the Pelasgians. They inhabited areas of Thrace, Argos, Crete, and Halkidiki and are known to us through the writings of Homer, Herodotus, and Thucydides.
The remnants of their civilization are found mostly in the form of scattered stones which were used as tools and the foundations of dwellings which just look like a bunch of rocks to anyone but those with a trained eye.
From the Cycladic Islands, carved scupltures are mysterious figures giving us a look at art of the Bronze age in the Aegean.
In Crete people from Anatolia came to the island sometime around 6500 BC and settled in the area around Knossos.

Just as important in the creating of a Greek identity was the emergence of the Olympic games and the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi both of which had their roots in the 8th century.

In the 4th Century King Phillip of Macedonia took advantage of the disunity of the Greek city states, defeating an Athens that was paralyzed by political infighting, in the battle of Chaeronia in 338 BC. and put an end to the Delian league. He then unified all the Greeks to the south of his kingdom in Pella.

When Phillip was assassinated in 336, the 20 year old Alexander became the new king of Macedonia. He immediately ordered the execution of all of his potential rivals and marched south with his armies in a campaign to solidify control of Greece. He continued to unite the rest of the Greeks in Asia Minor and traveled east where he conquered Greece's great enemy Persia, as well as the lands of Egypt and as far as India. By then he was known as Alexander the Great and this era became known as the Hellenistic Age, when the influence of Greece spread throughout the known world.

Byzantium is the name given to both the state and the culture of the Eastern Roman Empire in the middle ages. Both the state and the inhabitants always called themselves Roman, as did most of their neighbors. Western Europeans, who had their own Roman Empire called them Orientals or Greeks, and later following the example of the great French scholar DuCange, Byzantines after the former name of the Empire's capital city, Constantinople.

The Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX is killed, and the city falls.

From 1453 with the fall of Constantinople until the revolution in 1821 Greece is under the rule of the Ottoman Turks who control the entire middle east, and the Balkans as far as the gates of Vienna.

The Greek War of Independence 1821, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war waged by the Greeks to win independence for Greece from the Ottoman Empire.
Independence was finally granted by the Treaty of Constantinople in July 1832 when Greece (Hellas) was recognized as a free country.


ACROPOLIS - LYCABETTUS HILL

Greece, land of majestic monuments and priceless treasures. Your journey begins in Athens city ( capital of Greece, where you'll visit the Parthenon of Acropolis of Athens and wander through the Athens Acropolis Museum with its amazing collection of archaic and classical Greek sculpture.

In ancient Delphi, you'll visit the Archaeological Museum with its collection of ancient statuary, including the Charioteer, a life-sized bronze Greek statues.

In Olympia Peloponese, the most holy place in ancient Greece and the site of the first Olympic Games in Greece. Other stops on your memorable journey through time include Olympia the most holy place in ancient Greece and the site of the first Olympic Games in Greece - and Sparta, Mykenae and Corinthos.

An optional trip extension to cruise the Aegean Islands, with stops that include : kos the island of hippocrates the father of medicine , Corfu island , Myconos island , Santorini island, Crete the island of minoan civilization and knossos monuments and Rhodes the island of colossus, is offered.


Piraeus harbour is the home base of Greek shipping and shipping agents , the largest commercial fleet in the world, aspace bound to the sea like few others. The harbor of Zea and Mikrolimano as well as Faliro play host to countless yachts and sailing craft throughout the year.

Varkiza follows, a beautiful seaside suburb, and then comes Var, Saronida, Anavyssos and Legrena.At the end of the drive is impressive Cape Sounion embraced by the Greek Aegean Sea, with the temple of Posidon at its highest point.


Mention Greek island-hopping and images of the Mediterranean sun, the picturesque white-stone villages, and lively tavernas, come to mind.

Elsewhere, festivals, music, shopping and vineyard visits form part of the allure of a Grecian holiday.

To Mountain Athos that is situated in the entire third, eastern and most beautiful peninsula of Chalkidiki, called the peninsula of Athos. It is the only place in Greece that is completely dedicated to prayer and worship of God.

The long and sparkling coastlines offer many beaches, perfect for an exciting and memorable Greece sailing trip.

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 Greek islands and islets scattered in the Aegean and Ionian Sea in Greece, a truly unique phenomenon on the European continent; of these islands only 227 are inhabited.

The Greek Archipelagos takes up 7,500 km of the country’s total 16,000-km coastline, offering a highly diversified landscape: beaches stretching along many kilometers, sheltered bays and coves, golden stretches of sand with dunes, pebbly beaches, coastal caves with steep rocks and black sand typical of volcanic soil, coastal wetlands.

In the winter, one can ski in the snow-covered mountains of Arahova, just off Delphi. At the same time, one can still enjoy the beaches because the winter season here is not as cold as the weather of northern America. Winter season in Greece begins in late October and ends by March.


Greek tours during winters usually come with cheaper accommodation rates and airfare. There are also fewer tourist and crowds traveling at this time of the year.

The winter season is also the best time to go mountain climbing, biking, trekking, touring archeological sites and bird-watching, compared to the hot summer months of July and August, when crowds and the heat take over.

A special time to be in Greece would also be in Easter. Other than participating or witnessing traditional practices in commemoration of the season, the smell of roast lamb and wildflowers of spring, during this time of the year, create an enticing combination.

On 1453 the seige and fall of Constantinople is one of the major events of world history heralding the end of the Byzantine Empire and the beginning of the Ottoman empire. Mehmed the Conqueror, with an army of 150,000 Turks besieges Constantinople starting on April 5th. On Tuesday May 29th, comes the final assault.
 
Many Greek beaches have been awarded the blue flag under the programme Blue Flags of Europe . Apart from swimming, they lend themselves to scuba diving, snorkeling, water skiing, sailing and windsurfing. As they are the cradle of some of the most ancient and prosperous European civilizations (the Kycladic, Minoa civilizations, etc.), the islands boast unique archaeological sites, an outstanding architectural heritage and centuries-old, fascinating local traditions of a multifaceted cultural past.