- Destinations
- Greece
Greece
Greece attracts visitors by the thousands by offering simple pleasures: delicious food and wine, beautiful beaches and sunshine, quaint villages, a seemingly endless lacework of coastline, and little islands full of scenic surprises.
The country exudes traditional charm, particularly on its ever-popular islands, which cling to their traditional architecture and way of life despite being often over-run with tourists. Black-clad women still deliver vegetables to island tavernas on panniered donkeys, while bronzed, weatherbeaten fishermen sit in the sun, drink thick coffee, and play dominoes or backgammon. The tourist infrastructure has intruded in many respects, but the timeless aspect of whitewashed buildings clustered on hillsides around narrow pebbled alleys has been retained.
On the mainland, the city of Athens in the south is sprawling, overcrowded and polluted but nevertheless enthrals visitors, while Thessaloniki in the north is vibrant and modern with a Byzantine flavour. Athens is dominated by its major landmark, the Parthenon; the remains of other wonders of the ancient Greek classical world are to be found mainly on the Peloponnese Peninsula, south of Corinth, the gateway to a veritable treasure trove of history.
Greece and Greeks welcome with open arms the thousands of visitors that flock to admire their national assets every year - no one leaves without having been warmed, both by the sun and the hospitality.