My Greece Travel Guide is my own little website for people to explore Greece from the comfort of their computer. Together we shall visit the many cities in Greece, get to know its attractions, learn everything about Greece, without leaving our desk!
This website is not my travelogue. I don't use it to document my travels. Rather, I want it to be a collaborative effort where anybody who wish to submit their input may do so. If you love to share your knowledge about Greece and are interested to contribute your input to this website, get the details here. Just as this is My Greece, I want everybody who help me to feel the same that they call also call it "My Greece Travel Guide".
About Greece
Greece, also written as Ελλάδα in Greek, is a country with many fantastic sights and tourist attractions. To help you make sense of all it has to offer, I will take you through the country region by region. We will visit cities, towns, villages and resorts throughout this beautiful country.
Guide to Greece Hotels
Here's a list of hotels in Greece that you can book online, listed by city, with full description, star rating, address, location map, evaluation, and prices as offered by different booking sites. This helps you to make your room booking with the site that offers the best price.
More on Greece
To prepare you for a visit to Greece, My Greece Travel Guide also provides you with useful information regarding the country. Among the practical information you can find on my website includes details on where to stay, where to eat, what to buy, and so on. Along the way, I will also tell you a bit about Greece, its geography, history, customs, and so on.
Windmill in the Cyclades Islands of Greece
Author: Wolfgang Staudt (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)
As I write My Greece, I hope that it will become one of the most complete online websites on Greece, a site that will benefit all tourists and travelers planning their vacation there. Whether you are visiting Greece for just a few days or a few weeks, you find that information in My Greece Travel Guide is will be useful and relevant to your needs, whichever part of Greece you are visiting.
Introducing Greece
Greece, which is officially known as the Hellenic Republic, is a Mediterranean country in southeastern Europe. It has a total land area of 131,990 sq km (50,944 sq mi). The country is located on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula, with a large part of it comprising groups of islands and islets. The Aegean Sea is to the east of Greece while the Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea are to the west and south respectively. Greece shares land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey.
The population of Greece presently stands at around 11.3 million people (2010 estimate). The capital is Athens, which is the biggest city in the country with a metropolitan population of 4 million people. It is the economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural center for Greece. With a history that can be traced back for 3,400 years, it is also one of the world's oldest.
Greece is a member of the European Union since 1981, and adopted the Euro as its currency in 2001. It is also a member of NATO since 1952, and is one of the founding members of the United Nations and the OECD. The country is often regarded as the cradle of Western civilization, a birthplace of the concepts of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature and mathematical principals. The modern Greek state dates to 1830, when it achieved independence from the Ottomans following a victorious uprising.
Rousano Monastery in Meteora
Author: Dido3 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Greece is composed of thirteen regions, called peripheries, while Mount Athos, a holy mountain in Greece, is regarded as an autonomous area. The peripheries are subdivided into prefectures, and the prefectures further subdivided into municipalities. The existing division, however, will undergo an overhaul on 1 January, 2011, when the peripheries will be grouped by decentralized administrations. Mount Athos is exempted from the upcoming reforms.
Greece consists of the jagged, mountainous peninsula which juts out into the Aegean Sea at the end of the Balkans. The Isthmus of Corinth connects the Peloponnesus Peninsula with Greece mainland until 1880, when the Corinth Canal was dug, effectively turning Peloponnese into an island.
Surrounding the Greek mainland are numerous islands scattered on the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea and Mediterranean Sea. Of these, the largest is Crete.
Greece is one of the most mountainous country in Europe. The tallest mountain is Mount Olympus, standing at a height of 2,917 m (9,570 ft). Once regarded as the abode of Greek gods, Mount OIympus is today a popular attraction among hikers and climbers.
The seas around Greece are famous for its deep azure blue. Their crystal-clear waters wash up on to beaches of brilliant white sand, making Greece one of the top beach destinations in Europe.
Depending on location, the climate of Greece can be defined as Mediterranean, Alpine or Temperate. The Pindus mountain range bears a strong influence on the climate, with the western side of the range being wetter than the east. The Mediterranean climate affects the island groups such as the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, as well as the island of Crete and eastern Peloponnese. The mountainous areas in northwestern Greece experiences Alpine climate while Central Macedonia, East Macedonia and Thrace experience Temperate climate.
Santorini
Author: Oxane (public domain)
Preparing Money for Greece
The currency used in Greece is the Euro (EUR). The following are the latest rates for Euro in the last 24-hours.
Planning your visit to Greece
Despite being a relatively small country, Greece is one of the world's top twenty tourist destinations, receiving some 16.5 million visitors in 2008. Tourism contributes 15% to the country's Gross Domestic Product.
There is certainly much to see and do in Greece. The country offers picturesque landscape, exciting nightlife, invigorating beach recreation and historical sites. Most of the tourists to Greece - over 90% - come from Europe. The main tourism season is from April through October, with the peak period from July through August.
First-time visitors often have a mental image of Greece, and is surprised to find such diversity in terms of landscape and architecture. The iconic whitewashes hill-slope houses and blue-domed churches are characteristic of just one specific part of Greece - the Cyclades Islands, while other parts of Greece offers its own charm and architectural styles.
The Acropolis at dusk
Author: Aaron Logan (Creative Commons Attribution 1.0)
The Athens International Airport (ATH), also called the Elefthérios Venizélos Airport, is the biggest airport in Greece. Located in the suburb of Spáta, it is also Greece's most prestigious infrastructure project of the new millennium. It opened in 2001, in time for the Olympic Games. The airport is home to Olympic Air, the national flag carrier. Aegean Airlines is another major airlines operating in Greece. Together they provide domestic connections to all the major cities and islands of the country.
You may also travel to Greece by train, in which case your destination will be Thessaloniki, Greece's second biggest city and its international rail hub. Regular train services connects Thessaloniki with Sofia, Bucharest, Istanbul, Belgrade and other cities in Europe. Many Europeans prefer to drive to Greece. The car ferries from Italy is today the most popular way to arrive by car.
Alley on the island of Skopelos
Author: Jon Corelis (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Recommended Travel Guidebook
My favorite travel guidebook for further reading in preparation of your trip is the Greece Eyewitness Guide, because it follows a format that I find useful to users, not to mention I have also contributed to some of the titles in the Eyewitness series of guidebooks.
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