Explore greece with us!

Greece is located in Southern Europe on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula, possessing an archipelago of about 2,000 islands, thus making hard to choose which island to go to for you next Greek adventure! Greece has land borders with Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, the Aegean Sea, the Ionia Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.

FACTS IN A NUTSHELL:

• Greece is not the name of the country, that is what foreigners call it from 'Graecia', its Latin origin. The country is formally called 'Hellàs' in Greek, or more simply, 'Hellàda'. There are various stories as to the origin of the name but a popular one is that it derives from the ancient root sel (light) and the word laas (stone),  to mean a stone reflecting light. 
• Greece is considered the birthplace of democracy, with Athens being the first known city to practice democratic governance; the word "democracy" itself comes from Greek words meaning "people power".
• Greece is the 3rd largest producer of olives in the world (behind Spain and Italy).
• Athens is the oldest inhabited city in Europe, dating back 3000 years (that's the Bronze Era!). The name Athens comes from the Greek goddess or war, Athena.
• Greeks love to dance! There are about 10,000 registered dances, with each island, city, town having its own regional dance with different steps!
• Greeks believe in the evil eye, known as “mati” (eye) in Greek, which is bad luck thought to be transmitted by a malicious glare. Since ancient times, many people wear jewelry representing the evil eye around their neck, or their wrist, in order to cast off its spell. The color blue that decorates the roofs of most Cycladic houses serves the exact purpose of warding off the evil eye and evil in general.

Greece was the epicenter of the world since the Paleolithic era (11000 - 3000 BC) when during 2000 BC, Greece gave birth to the great stone and bronze civilizations: the Minoans (3500 BC - 1100 BC), the Mycenaeans (1750 BC - 1050 BC), and the Cycladic civilization (3100 BC - 1000 BC).

The peak of the Classical period was during 5000 BC when the foundations of Western civilization were created in Athens. This city-state became the greatest naval power of Greece at that time and developed all domains of science and culture, including mathematics, physics, philosophy, architecture, music, drama, rhetoric, and even a new regime called democracy.

The Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, the two most powerful city-states at the time, led to the decline of the glorious classical era.

In 334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire and his army conquered the lands to India. From 168 BC on, the Romans conquered Greece and a new period started. At that time, the country became the field of many important battles and new cities were constructed, such as Nikopolis in western Greece. Athens and the Greek culture overall declined, but Greek became the second official language of the Roman Empire. The Romans read the classical philosophers and based their religion on the Olympian gods. 

In the 3rd century AD, the powerful Roman Empire started to decline and it was divided into two parts, the Eastern and the Western Roman Empire. While the Western Roman Empire was gradually conquered by barbaric North-European tribes, the Eastern Roman Empire with Constantinople (Byzantium) as its capital developed and was turned into the Byzantine Empire which lasted for about 1,000 years. At this point in history, Christianity became the official religion of the new empire, new territories were occupied and new state laws were formed. These laws will later constitute the first laws of the modern Greek state, as it will be formed in the 19th century.

In 1453 AD, the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople and gradually the rest of Greece, which had already partly been dominated by the Venetians and the Knights of Saint John.
The country suffered a lot under the Ottoman yoke and frequent rebellions would rise. As these revolutions were unorganized, they were all suspended by the Ottoman army, until March 1821 when the Greek War of Independence broke out. This year is a cornerstone of the history of the country. The country finally got its freedom in 1829, when the first independent Greek state was formed and Ioannis Kapodistrias, a Greek diplomat in the Russian courtyard, was set as its governor. The first Greek state included Peloponnese, Sterea, and the Cyclades islands.

After Kapodistrias was assassinated in 1831, Prince Otto from Bavaria became the first king of Greece, followed by George I from Denmark in 1863. At that time, the Ionian islands were donated to Greece by Britain as a gift to the new king, and then Thessaly was attached to the Greek state by the Turks.

In the early 20th century, Macedonia, Crete, and the Eastern Aegean islands were also attached to the Greek state after the First World War. During World War II, most of the Greek territory was conquered by the Germans and some parts by the Italians. After the war, the Dodecanese islands, which were still under Italian occupation since the early 20th century, also became part of the Greek state in 1947. Three decades of political turmoil followed, including a military junta from 1967 to 1974. Since 1975, the regime of Greece is the Unitary Parliamentary Republic.

The Mediterranean Diet is a way of eating based on the traditional foods (and drinks) of the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, NOT a reference to a diet, as in “go on a diet,” even though it is a great way to lose weight or improve your health. Rather, it is a lifestyle – including foods, activities, meals with friends and family, and wine in moderation with meals. 

Since 2010, the Mediterranean Diet has been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Greece along with Italy, Spain and Morocco, thus reinforcing it not only as a fundamental part of these countries’ history, but also as a great contribution to the world.

The diet includes fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, olive oil, fish, poultry, and some dairy. Greek food is known for its use of fresh herbs, olive oil, and feta cheese. Popular Greek dishes include moussaka, souvlaki, and spanakopita but a local favorite is french fries with tzatziki, yum!

There are a total of 6,000 islands and islets scattered in the Greek Seas, of which only 227 islands are inhabited. Well-known tourist destinations are the islands of Mykonos, Santorini, Zakynthos, Corfu and Crete but there are many more beautiful spots worth visiting, like Naxos, Ithaca, Lefkada, Anafi, Alonissos, Karpathos, Nisyros, and many more.  There are even small islands for sale, interested anyone?

A tourist favorite, the island of Santorini is actually a volcanic caldera (an active one!), with its unique landscape formed by past eruptions. It's the only inhabited caldera in the world. 

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