Greece

It’s the country with a rich cultural heritage that has had a significant influence on the arts, literature, language, philosophy, politics, and sports of western society; it’s the nation of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; and it’s the birthplace of democracy, and the Olympics.

The land of Olympia, Athens was the venue of the first Olympic in 776 BC. Historically known as Hellas, the country is regarded as cradle of Western civilization.

Greece, officially known as Hellenic Republic, is a Southeastern European country on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula, with extensive coastlines and islands in the Aegean, Ionian, and Mediterranean Seas. The country borders Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, and Albania to the north and Turkey to the east.

Athens is the capital, and Heraklion, Patra, Thessaloniki and Volos are the major cities of Greece. Greek is official language, but English and French are also spoken in Greece. The currency of Greece is ‘euro’.

Geographically, Greece is very appealing place to visit, with a mountainous mainland and idyllic island beaches. One of the world's most popular tourist destinations, ranked in the world's top 20 countries— Greece attracts volumes of visitors from all parts of the world.

Greece is known for its beautiful beaches, sunny summer weather, nightlife, historical sites, and natural beauty. The Hellenic nature has some thing for everybody’s choice ranging from snow covered mountains and dense forest inhabited by brown bears, lynx and deer to thousands of sun drenched islands with sandy beaches. The country is also home to great number of museums and world famous archaeological sites.

The major attractions of Greece include the coast of the Aegean Sea, the Peloponnesus with antique Olympia, Athens with its Parthenon on the Acropolis, or Thessaloniki in the north. The main destinations in Greece include Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Kos, Kefalonia, Cyclades, Dodecanese, Ionian Islands, Sporades islands, the Peloponnese region, and the Halkidiki peninsula in Makedonía region.

Climate: Greece enjoys hot and dry summers with a 7-month period from April to November. The period from Mid-July to mid-August is the peak of summer; it’s the warmest time of the year.

The rest of the year is characterized by a relatively cold, rainy period that normally begins sometime in November and lasts until late March or early April. The Ionian Coast and Ionian Islands receive more annual precipitation than the rest of the country, and the islands in the southern Aegean and parts of the southeastern mainland are the driest areas of the country.

The period from April to October is the tourism season in Greece, and the peak tourism season is from July to August.

Traveling To Greece: As a member of European Union, most European and North American citizens do not require a visa for traveling to Greece.

Athens' Elefthérios Venizélos International Airport, located near the Athens suburb of Spáta, is the largest and the busiest airport of Greece. Other major international airports are at Heraklion (Nikos Kazantzákis Int'l), Thessaloniki (Makedonia Int'l), Rhodes (Diagorás), and Corfu (Ioánnes Kapodistrias).

The nation's flag carrier, Olympic Airlines offers service to Greece from several cities in Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and North America. Aegean Airlines also serves a number of international routes to Greece from various European cities.

Thessaloníki is Greece's hub for international rail service. Trains connect Thessaloníki to Sofia, Bucharest, Budapest, Istanbul, and other international cities. Greece can be entered by automobile thru any of its land neighbors. There's limited International bus service to/from neighboring Albania, Bulgaria, and Turkey.

The easiest way for Europeans to get into Greece is via ferryboat from Italy. Greece receives regular ferry services from Italy (Venice, Trieste, Ancona, Bari and Brindisi). There are also ferry services from Turkey (Marmaris, Tsesme, and Kusadasi), Alexandria, Egypt; Larnaca and Limassol, Cyprus; and Haifa, Israel.