GREECE TOP 10 ATTRACTIONS

Top Attraction 1

The Parthenon, Athens. Despite lingering scaffolding on adjacent monuments, this treasure of the Classical city never fails to impress. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 2

Metéora, Thessaly. Half-a-dozen-plus frescoed monasteries and convents perch bizarrely on sheer rock pinnacles in the Píndos foothills. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 3

Kérkyra Old Town, Corfu. Venetian flair, domesticity and town planning at the far end of the Adriatic, bracketed by two imposing castles with eye-popping views. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 4

Haniá Venetian quarter. Touristy and plenty of touts, yet exquisite and unbeatable for strolling, popping into small museums in old buildings or just having a drink. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 5

Zagorohória. Two score or so of handsome, stone-built villages in the shadow of lofty Mount Gamíla, with top-notch lodging and all adventure sports to hand in the canyons nearby. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 6

Mt Pílio (Pelion). The surprise of mainland Greece, with dense forests, cobbled hiking paths, tottering old villages and Caribbean-quality beaches all in one package. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 7

Delphi Sanctuary. With its striking setting at the base of Mount Parnassós, the ancients reckoned this oracle the centre of the world. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 8

Ýdra port town. No cars, meticulously preserved architecture, cool marble flagstones under foot and compulsive people-watching make this a winner. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 9

Mystrás. At the base of Mount Taýgettos, the capital of the Morea Despotate – with palaces and frescoed monasteries – saw out the Byzantine twilight until 1460. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 10

Santoríni caldera view. Commercialised to within an inch of its life but still a must-see, especially at sunset or sunrise from a bar terrace in Firostefáni, Firá or Ía. For more information, click here.

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EDITOR’S CHOICE

Byzantine mosaic inside Ósios Loukás monastery, Híos.

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The improbably perched Hozoviótissa monastery, Amorgós.

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BEST MONASTERIES

Ósios Loukás monastery. Some of the best 11th-century mosaics on view in Greece. For more information, click here.

Néa Moní monastery. And the rest of the best 11th-century mosaics are here, on the distant island of Híos. For more information, click here.

Hozoviótissa monastery. The setting on Amorgós intrigued Le Corbusier on his 1911 visit. For more information, click here.

Loúsios Gorge monasteries. Several cliffside eyries with gorgeous medieval frescoes. For more information, click here.

Panagía Parigorítissa, Árta. Fine dome mosaic and Renaissance-influenced architecture. For more information, click here.

Hóra and Monastery of St John, Pátmos. When the cruise-ship groups have left, enjoy this stunningly atmospheric hilltop village set around a labyrinthine monastery. For more information, click here.

The Boúrtzi Tower at Methóni castle, surrounded by the sea.

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BEST CASTLES

Acrocorinth, Peloponnese. A soaring rock with an ancient acropolis stippled with Ottoman monuments, wrapped in Byzantine, Frankish and Venetian walls. For more information, click here.

Methóni, Peloponnese. Venetian stronghold and way-station for pilgrims, with a moat, gates, and a causeway to the remote Boúrtzi Tower. For more information, click here.

Palamídi, Návplio. Venetian citadel critical in the War of Independence and reached via a purported 999 steps. For more information, click here.

Knights of St John Castle, Kós Town. Well preserved, easy to visit example of the crusading order’s Dodecanese strongholds. For more information, click here.

Mólyvos, Lesvos. Medieval castle with great views over town and to Turkey. For more information, click here.

Monemvasiá, Peloponnese. First a Byzantine, later a Venetian, stronghold washed by the sea on three sides, and its lower town still inhabited. For more information, click here.

Hiking through the pristine Víkos Gorge, Zagória.

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BEST HIKES

Northern Kárpathos. A maintained network of trails links local settlements to occupy keen hikers for a week – the route from Trístomo to Diafáni is the most spectacular. For more information, click here.

Ascent of Mt Ólympos, Macedonia. Challenging climb of Greece’s highest point, and home of the ancient gods. For more information, click here.

Hiking in the Píndos, Epirus. From day walks to five-day hiking loops, the North Píndos offers fabulous scenery for the adventurous. For more information, click here.

Víkos Gorge, Zagóri. Beats Crete’s Samarian Gorge for its unspoilt, riverine environment and the height of its cliffs. For more information, click here.

Dimosári Gorge, southern Évvia. Another canyon walk, mostly along an old and shady cobbled trail, emerging at a beach hamlet where pickup transport should be arranged. For more information, click here.

Mount Áthos, southern tip. The route through the “hermit’s desert”, between Megístis Lávras and Osíou Grigoríou monasteries on the Holy Mountain, will hopefully survive the bulldozers. For more information, click here.

Mount Pílio trails. Partly cobbled paths, from Xouríhti to Kalá Nerá via Miliés, descend from forested glades to seaside olive groves. For more information, click here.

Egiáli to Hóra, Amorgós. Trekkers come to this island specially for this spectacular five-hour traverse with the sea on both sides. For more information, click here.

Stunning Pórto Katsíki beach, Levkáda.

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BEST BEACHES

Karavostási. The best on the Epirot coast, with views to Corfu and thick fluffy sand. For more information, click here.

Símos, Elafonísi. Really broad sands at the easternmost tip of the Peloponnese. For more information, click here.

Hrysí (Gaïdouronísi) islet. Enact Crusoe fantasies on this day-trip islet reached from Ierápetra. For more information, click here.

Seïtáni beaches. Small pebble cove and a huge sandy bay are monk-seal refuges on Sámos. For more information, click here.

Levkáda, southwest coast Pórto Katsíki, Egremní and Gialós. Fabulous beaches all in a row. For more information, click here.

Velanió. Cleanest, longest, nudist beach on Skópelos. For more information, click here.

The medieval Street of the Knights, Rhodes Old Town.

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BEST OLD TOWNS AND VILLAGES

Mastic villages, Híos. Fortified settlements with gates, arcaded passageways, keep-towers and sombre-hued houses. For more information, click here.

Rhodes Old Town. Among the best preserved medieval townscapes in the Mediterranean, a legacy of the crusading Knights of St John and the Ottomans. For more information, click here.

Tower-house villages, the Máni. Stone-built mini-fortresses pierce the sky in the Peloponnese’s extreme, wild south cape. For more information, click here.

Réthymno Old Town. A delightful confection of Venetian and Ottoman architecture, overawed by a huge fortress. For more information, click here.

Thessaloníki upper town. Surrounded by massive walls and crammed full of old houses and places to eat. For more information, click here.

Grapes for quality red wines.

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BEST WINES

Límnos, Ároma Ínou Drýinos. Oak-aged, smoky-dry white.

Sámos, Samos Nectar or Anthemis. Best in a series of fortified, muscat-based dessert wines.

Thessaly/Macedonia border, Tsantali Rapsáni. Easy-drinking red from foothills of Mt Ólympos.

Lésvos, Methymneos red. Velvety red born of a volcanic terrain.

Epirus, Zítsa Cooperative white wines. Reliably light, dry, semi-sparkling.

Dráma region, Château Lazaridi. Red or white high-quality blends.

Neméa, Ktima Papaïoannou. Rich dark red, a medium-priced taverna staple.

Fascinating finds at the Acropolis Museum.

Acropolis Museum/Nikos Daniilidis

BEST MUSEUMS

Acropolis Museum, Athens. Though functionally designed, it does justice to its extraordinary exhibits. For more information, click here.

Sámos Archaeological Museum, Vathý. One of the country’s best collections of the Archaic era, with exquisite small objects from the Hera sanctuary, culminating in an enormous kouros (statue of an idealised youth). For more information, click here.

Theophilos and Theriade Museums, Variá, Lésvos. Two galleries adjacent in an olive grove: the first with over 50 works by naïve local artist Theophilos (1873–1934); the second, a fine modern art collection amassed by Theriade, Theophilos’ patron. For more information, click here.

Museum of Asian Art, Corfu. Highly eclectic but never less than top-drawer collection assembled by two keen Greek diplomats – everything from Gandhara reliefs to Chinese vases. For more information, click here.

Benáki Museum, Athens. Arguably Athens’ best museum, spanning the whole of Greek history, with several annexes. For more information, click here.

Delphi Museum. The best of everything supplicants brought to the oracle can be found here. For more information, click here.

Olympia Museum. Superb statuary and a fine collection of Archaic bronzes make this a must. For more information, click here.

Patras Carnival.

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BEST FESTIVALS

Athens Festival. Going for well over half a century now, with big-name international artists from June to August. Most performances at Herodeio and Epidauros theatres.

Pátra Carnival. The liveliest and most organised of Greece’s pre-Lenten events: floats, outrageous costumes and parades.

Easter on Ýdra or Corfu. Fishermen at Ýdra carry the Epitáfios (Good Friday bier) into the water to bless the boats and ensure calm seas; on Corfu, brass bands leave not a dry eye with their funeral hymns, and showers of special pottery (bótides) thrown from balconies bring luck.

Thessaloníki International Film Festival. This star-studded November event, premiering both Greek and foreign works, is one of the most prestigious in Europe.

Beyond Borders International Documentary Festival. Taking place annually since 2016 on remote Kastellórizo island, this week-long late August event showcases up to 30 films, along with concerts and exhibits.

Levkáda International Folklore Festival. The largest folk-dance festival in Greece, with troupes from all over the world. Last full week of August.

Sani Festival. The best provincial mainland festival, July–August, with jazz, classical, Greek and world acts.

BEST LOCAL SPECIALITIES

Pickled caper greens, Nísyros, Léros, Angístri. The “national shrub” of these islands gets the vinegar treatment, thorns and all.

Soumáda, Levkáda. A white syrup from bitter almonds, drunk diluted with cold water – this island’s is the best.

Lakérda, Aegean-wide. Bonito fillet slices soaked, pressed, then cured in salt – the finest oúzo partner.

Tsípouro, Thessaly or Sporades. If you find oúzo too cloying, try this clean grape-mash spirit, without anise flavouring.

Kalatháki féta, Límnos. Small drum-shaped sheep-milk cheese.

Genuine thyme honey. Bare islands like Kálymnos or Foúrni make the purest thyme honey – dark and strongly aromatic.

Tsitsíravla, Pílio or Sporades. Pickled wild pistachio shoots, gathered in spring, are good on their own or as a salad topping.

The protected Gomáti dunes, Límnos.

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OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

Préspa Lakes, west Macedonia. Eerily scenic upland basin on the borders with Macedonia and Albania, featuring sleepy villages and good birdwatching. For more information, click here.

Mathráki. Most vegetated but depopulated of the isolated Diapóndia islets northwest of Corfu, with a fine, long beach and basic facilities. For more information, click here.

Mt Smólikas. Greece’s second highest mountain range, separating Epirus and Macedonia, with two small lakes and excellent hiking. For more information, click here.

Néda Gorge, Peloponnese. From the modern village of Figalía, below the temple of Vassae, a track and then a path threads through ancient Phigaleia to the River Néda where it thunders underground. For more information, click here.

Gomáti dunes, Límnos. Protected environment in the far north of the island with shallow waters, September sea lilies and an innovative taverna. For more information, click here.

The Meteora monasteries.

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Fun in the water, Kerkyra Town.

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Balos Beach, Crete.

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AN ANCIENT STORY

A heady mix of sun, sea and ancient sites bathed in brilliant Aegean light, Greece has enchanted travellers for centuries.

Modern Greece, which emerged during the 19th century from nearly 400 years of Ottoman rule, occupies a rocky pile of peninsulas and islands at the bottom of the Balkans in the eastern Mediterranean, with a language and landscape redolent of its pre-eminent place in the development of the western world. History, drama, politics and philosophy: the words as well as the concepts have their roots here. Around its rugged terrain are the names of the city-states which vied for supremacy in this region over 2,000 years ago: Corinth, Sparta, Mycenae, Rhodes, Athens. And here too are Delphi, the Parthenon and Mount Ólympos, forever associated with the ancient gods.

Saint Spiridon, Elafonisos.

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It is easy to fall in love with this radiant country, not least because so many of its just under 10 million people are emotionally open, unafraid of shedding a tear, either in sorrow or in joy. Many travellers first experience this passion in the warmth of the welcome they receive, and tend to return time after time – for the mirror-smooth Aegean Sea shimmering in the still of the morning, for the kafenía with their plaited-seat chairs and rickety tables offering shade from the blistering afternoon heat, and for the silvery green olive groves where the cicadas chirp all afternoon.

The country’s membership in the European Union and its capital’s hosting of the 2004 Olympic Games have done much to accelerate modernisation; still, a sense of history and a respect for tradition remain powerful, and most Greeks are proud to share their culture with visitors. The Greek word xénos means not only “stranger” or “foreigner” but also “guest”, and a fortunate xénos will be invited into a Greek family’s house to be lavishly supplied with food and drink and questioned with genuine curiosity. The aim of this book is both to guide visitors around Greece and its islands and to preview what is likely to be an entirely captivating experience.

A DIVERSE LAND

Mountains and caves, salt marshes and cloud-forest, blazing summers and snow in winter – few countries have such a varied landscape and climate.

People perceive Greece as a land where people eat oranges and the sun shines all the time, but it is equally accurate (if not more so) to describe it as a place where it rains torrentially (‘raining chair legs’ in the Greek idiom) and apples figure largely in the diet. Greece is actually the most varied country in the Mediterranean, with habitats ranging from near-deserts to temperate cloud-forests, from salt marshes to alpine peaks.

Hydra’s scenic coast.

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The splintered outline of the southeastern Balkan peninsula is the result of the flooding of the Mediterranean basin, which occurred when a debris dam at the future Strait of Gibraltar gave way. Waters from the Atlantic surged in and gradually submerged the mountain ranges which segmented the deep, hot depression – a process completed only after the last Ice Age, and probably the basis of the Biblical flood account. Isolated, exposed summits became the Greek islands, Crete being the highest and largest. If the Mediterranean could be re-drained, the coastal ranges of former Yugoslavia, the Albano-Greek Píndos, the Peloponnesian mountains, Crete and the Turkish Toros would form one unbroken system. This mountainous arc has a core of karstic limestone, sensitive to erosion by rain and thus peppered with caves, sinkholes and subterranean rivers. Glaciers of the last Ice Age also had a role in shaping the mountains as far south as the present-day Gulf of Corinth.

Earthquake zone

Greece remains an active subduction zone, where the African tectonic plate burrows under the European plate. This means numerous faults, frequent – often destructive – earthquakes and a significant level of geothermal activity. Subsequently, over 100 thermal spas are scattered across both the mainland and the islands. This geothermalism is predictably accompanied by vulcanism: you can trace the boundary of the plate collision zone by “joining up” the extinct or dormant volcanic islands of Méthana (now a peninsula), Póros, the submerged calderas of Mílos and Santoríni, and Nísyros, which has erupted within historical memory. In the northeast Aegean, Lésvos, Límnos and Aï Strátis islands are also of volcanic origin.

The sprawling olive groves of Lésvos.

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Only about one quarter of Greece’s surface area is cultivable, principally in Thessaly and Macedonia. Much of the farmland occupies low-lying plains or upland plateaux, often the beds of former lakes drained to reclaim the land for agriculture or eliminate malarial mosquitoes. Only a few perennial freshwater lakes survive on the mainland north of the Gulf of Corinth: they tend to be shallow and murky, more suited to irrigation, fishing and wildlife conservation than recreation. The largest and most scenic is Lake Trihonída in Étolo-Akarnanía; runners-up include Vegorítida, Mikrí Préspa and Kastoriá in western Macedonia, plus Pamvótida in Epirus. The Epirote Píndos Mountains have a few glacial tarns, but lakes are almost entirely absent from the large islands owing to overly porous rock strata; Koúrna, near Haniá on Crete, is the largest.

High altitude villages in central Greece endure harsh winters.

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Stony or partly forested mountains make up three-quarters of the country – and as Henry Miller put it, nowhere has God been so lavish with rocks as in Greece. In contrast with the mountains, however, the hills are often bonily naked; the country’s forests have been under steady attack since ancient times, and the rate of deforestation has accelerated alarmingly since World War II. Fires, usually deliberately started, are the main cause: under current climatic conditions, it takes a Greek pine wood more than 50 years to recover completely from a blaze.

Hot summers, cold winters

Greece’s stereotypical “Mediterranean” climate and vegetation is in fact limited to the coastal areas; “modified continental” is a more accurate tag for the weather elsewhere, with hot, muggy summers and cold winters. Although there are numerous microclimates – such as the northeast coast of the Pílio peninsula with its lush “jungle” – in general precipitation is highest in the Ionian Islands (particularly Corfu and Zákynthos) and the western mainland, where the Píndos mountain range forces moisture-laden air from the Ionian Sea to disgorge its load as rain or snow.

Greece has long made a modest profit from its minerals – bauxite, nickel and chromite on the central mainland, assorted volcanic substances on Mílos and Nísyros – and is set to become Europe’s largest gold producer when new mines in the Halkidikí region are completed.

The rest of the country lies effectively in a “rain shadow”, although the directional pattern is reversed at Mt Ólympos near Thessaloníki, rising 2,917 metres (9,568ft) in the space of a few kilometres inland from the moist Thermaic Gulf, which sends wet air masses west to be trapped on the summit of the ancient gods. Ólympos is the highest of a score of peaks over 2,300 metres (7,550ft), home to about a dozen ski resorts. While not many tourists are likely to fly in from northern Europe especially to ski – snowfall patterns are too unreliable – the resorts have long been popular with the Greeks themselves.

Greece’s fabled, convoluted coast is claimed to cover a distance equal to that of France, a country four times larger. But, despite figuring prominently on tourist posters, beaches are the exception rather than the rule. Much of the shoreline is inhospitable cliff, providing neither satisfaction for sand-seekers, nor anchorage for mariners. In fact, the most likely visitors are birds, as Greece lies under major migratory paths linking north-central Europe and Africa. When it is not cliff or beach, the Greek littoral is peppered with lagoons, estuaries and salt marshes that serve as important wildlife refuges. Some of the most important of these are at Kalógria near Pátra, Kalloní on Lésvos, Mykáli on Sámos, the delta of the Évros river in Thrace, the Korissíon lagoon on Corfu, the Alykí marsh on Kós and the vast lagoon complex at Mesolóngi.

Aoös Valley.

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Controversial dams

No point in Greece is more than 100km (62 miles) from the sea, so the country’s numerous rivers are not only short, but swift, as they lose altitude quickly – much to the delight of local kayakers and rafters. The only major rivers to flow lazily along as they tend to in northern Europe, in their lower reaches anyway, are the Aliákmonas, the Piniós, the Ahelóös and the Árakhthos; the Áxios and Strymónas and Évros in Macedonia and Thrace also conform to people’s idea of a continental river, but have their sources in other Balkan states. Since World War II, most rivers north of the Gulf of Corinth have been dammed, usually for irrigation and flood control rather than for hydroelectric power. Such projects, evidence of a non-accountable, central-planning mentality which has waned almost everywhere else in Europe, remain highly controversial – none more so than the Mesohóra dam on the Ahelóös, which has been declared illegal by the Greek Council of State, and had its funding revoked by the European Union. If ever filled, this massive reservoir – intended to irrigate the Thessalian plain and generate power – would doom already threatened fisheries and wetlands at the Ahelóös delta. A more positive outcome of damming is the artificially enhanced wetland at Kerkíni on the Strymónas, a mecca for birds.

Greece’s romantically rugged terrain, and its high proportion of territory as islands, have since the time of the ancient city-states encouraged separate regional development. For such a small country, there are numerous dialects, in stark contrast to, say, far vaster Russia, which has little variation in its speech. Land communications were late in arriving to Greece; well into the 20th century, it was easier to sail from Athens to the eastern Peloponnesian coast, or from Haniá to Crete’s southern shore, than to go overland. Geographical determinism is an easy trap to fall into, but the mutual isolation of the provinces has undoubtedly been a dominant factor in shaping Greek identity, for better or worse.

A 17th-century map of Greece.

Princetown University Library

DECISIVE DATES

Cycladic and Early Bronze Ages:
c.3000–1450 BC

3000–2100 BC

Cyclades settled from Asia Minor; colonists introduce metal-working to these islands and to the mainland.

2100–1500 BC

Minoan culture, noted for its great cities and palaces, and sophisticated art, reaches its zenith on Crete.

c.1640–1620 BC

The settlement at Akrotiri on Thera (Santoríni) is annihilated by a volcanic eruption.

c.1450 BC

Most Minoan centres on Crete are devastated by fire, possibly during a revolt caused by social and environmental instability following the Thera cataclysm.

Mycenaean and Dorian Period:
1400–750 BC

1400 BC

A Peloponnesian tribe, the Myceneans, rise to prominence, building grand citadels at Mycenae and Tiryns.

c.1150 BC

“Sea Peoples” from the Eurasian steppes, later dubbed the Dorians, invade large areas of Greece.

776 BC

The Dorians hold the first Olympic Games, in honour of Zeus and Hera.

Archaic Period: 750–500 BC

750 BC onwards

City-states, including Athens, Sparta, Thebes and Corinth, emerge and compete for supremacy.

550 BC

Sparta forms Peloponnesian League with neighbouring states. Rivalry with Athens increases.

500 BC

The Greek city-states control large parts of the Mediterranean and Black Sea coast.

Classical Period: 500–338 BC

490 BC

The Persian king, Darius I, attempts to conquer Greece but is convincingly defeated by the Athenian army at Marathon.

481–479 BC

Xerxes, Darius’s son, invades. Athens is captured, but then in a surprise attack, Greek boats sink the Persian fleet off Salamis.

431–404 BC

The Peloponnesian Wars, with Sparta and Athens the main protagonists. Athens capitulates; Sparta takes control of much of Greece.

338 BC

Philip II of Macedonia defeats Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea and unites all Greek cities except Sparta.

Hellenistic and Roman Period: 338 BC–AD 395

336 BC

Philip II of Macedonia assassinated. His son, Alexander the Great, develops Greece (or rather, Macedonia) into an imperial power.

323 BC

Alexander’s huge empire is divided on his death amongst his successors, the Diádokhi; centres of political power subsequently shift from Greece to the Middle East and Egypt.

320–275 BC

The Diádokhi war among themselves; Rome emerges as a major power.

146 BC

Rome completes annexation of Greece as a province of the Roman republic, and subsequently empire.

Byzantine Period:
AD 395–1453

395

The Roman Empire is divided into East and West, with Greek-speakers dominant in the East.

1204

The Fourth Crusade, directed by the Venetians, attacks, plunders and briefly occupies Constantinople. Frankish Crusaders, Genoese and Venetians divide Greek territory among themselves. Fortified harbours and land fortresses are built across the mainland, especially on the Peloponnese, and on many islands, particularly the Cyclades, the east Aegean ones and Crete.

1453

Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmet II capture Constantinople; final eclipse of Byzantine Empire.

Ottoman Period: 1453–1827

1453

Communal administration of the Greek Orthodox population left to its own clergy, upon payment of taxes.

1500–1600s

Life in rural Greek territories characterised by arbitrary taxation and venal governors.

Late 1700s

Living conditions improve across the Ottoman Empire; a wealthy, often educated Greek Orthodox gentry emerges in Mount Pílio, Zagóri, Lésvos, Híos and Pátmos.

1821

The Greek War of Independence breaks out almost simultaneously on the islands and the Peloponnese, where Archbishop Germanos blesses the revolutionary standard at Agía Lávra monastery.

The Emerging State: 1827–1922

1827–31

Three major European powers intervene in the Greek War of Independence. Their military and diplomatic pressure ensure the emergence of an autonomous Greek state.

1832–33

Russia, France and Britain stipulate “final” borders of Greece and install Prince Otto of Bavaria as first king of Greece.

1863–64

Danish prince King George I succeeds the ousted Otto. Ionian Islands ceded to Greece.

1910

The Liberal Party under Eleftherios Venizelos comes to power and governs until 1920.

1912–13

The Balkan Wars erupt. Greece wrests southern Macedonia, Epirus, Crete and the east Aegean Islands from the Ottomans.

1916–17

Greece enters World War I on the Allied side.

1919–22

Encouraged by the Allies, Greek troops land at Smyrna, attempt to occupy much of Anatolia, but are defeated by Atatürk’s Turkey. King Constantine I goes into exile; a republic is established.

Refugees, Occupation, Civil War: 1923–49

1923

The borders between Greece and Turkey are settled and in a traumatic population exchange, 1.2 million Orthodox Greeks quit Asia Minor and 390,000 Muslims leave Greece for Turkey.

1928–33

Venizelos returns to office after alternating parliamentary and military rule.

1935

The monarchy is restored after an unsuccessful republican coup.

1936–41

Quasi-fascist dictatorship under General Ioannis Metaxas. When World War II begins, Greece is initially neutral.

1940

Mussolini’s invasion repulsed.

1941–44

Joint German, Bulgarian and Italian occupation of Greece. Resistance groups base themselves in the mountains.

1944–49

Germans and Bulgarians retreat; Allies attempt to re-impose royalist regime, prompting a three-year civil war between conservative forces and Communist rebels.

Postwar Politics: 1950–Present

1950s

Conservative parties rule, mostly under Constantine Karamanlis; Communist Party is outlawed, though is present in parliament through a front party, the United Democratic Left (EDA).

1963–64

First free post-war elections return centrist governments under Georgios Papandreou.

1967

A junta of army officers under Georgios Papadopoulos seize control of the country.

1974

The junta attempts to take over Cyprus, fails and collapses. A referendum abolishes the monarchy; Greece is once again a republic.

1981–89

The Greek Socialist Party, PASOK, governs with Andreas Papandreou as prime minister until brought down by scandals.

1989–1993

Néa Dimokratía (Conservative) party regime until PASOK regains power.

1996–2004

Kostas Simitis succeeds Andreas Papandreou as PASOK prime minister.

2002

Greece adopts the euro as its currency.

2004

Néa Dimokratía wins elections under Kostas Karamanlis, nephew of Constantine. Athens hosts the Olympic Games.

2009

George Papandreou, son of Andreas, leads PASOK to electoral victory.

2010–11

Greece’s finances revealed as insolvent. Papandreou resigns. Two bailout packages are offered by a troïka of European lenders.

2014

Greece records the first economic growth since 2008.

2015

SYRIZA wins parliamentary elections and Alexis Tsipras becomes prime minister. Greeks vote no to more austerity measures in a July referendum, but the result is ignored.

2015–16

The number of refugees entering Greece rapidly increases as a consequence of the Syrian Civil War. Greece negotiates further bailout deals with its lenders, including a debt relief package.

2018

Record tourist numbers; Greece leaves creditor supervision. Devastating July fires in Attica kill 94.

2019

Néa Dimokratía decisively wins parliamentary elections and commences governing without a coalition partner.

2020

The Covid-19 pandemic causes the cancellation of festivals, school closures and a national lockdown.

2021

A record heatwave aggravates forest fires, particularly in northern Évvia, Attikí and Messinía where over a quarter-million acres burn.

2023

In June Kyriakos Mitsotakis wins another majority government for Néa Dimokratía at the second attempt in run-off elections.

2024

The country experiences extreme heat, peaking in July, while forest fires reach into the Athens suburbs in August.

ANCIENT GREECE

The rich civilisations that rose and fell around the Aegean have left a precious inheritance that is still relevant today.

The basis for the modern way of life in Greece was laid around 5500 BC, when settlers moved down from the north to the plains of Thessaly, then on to rockier land in the Peloponnese (Pelopónnisos), and began to cultivate olives and vines, as well as the cereals they had originally grown. Seaborne trade with the islands – particularly for obsidian from ancient Melos, vital for weaponry – also commenced. Some three millennia later, a prosperous Bronze Age civilisation arose on Crete (Kríti), and influenced the entire Aegean.

The famous Phaistos Disc, a highlight of Iráklio’s Archaeological Museum.

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Minoan and Mycenaean cultures

The Minoans, whose rituals have filtered down to us through the legend of Theseus and his labyrinthine struggle with the Minotaur, left proof of their architectural genius in the ruined palaces of Knossos and Phaistos (modern Festós). Adventurous sailors, they prioritised commerce over agriculture. The 5th-century BC historian Thucydides reports that King Minos of Crete established his sons as governors in the Cyclades and cleared the Aegean of pirates. The Minoans also established a number of outposts in the southern Peloponnese and made contact with the Egyptians.

By 1550 BC, their civilisation had reached its zenith. Yet barely a century later, for reasons that remain unexplained, most Minoan settlements were destroyed by fire and abandoned. Akrotíri, on Thera (Santoríni), had been annihilated by a volcanic eruption in about 1625 BC, which also damaged Crete. But the causes of the wider disintegration of Minoan control remain a mystery. Only Knossos continued to be inhabited as Cretan dominance in the Aegean ended.

An ancient inscription, Líndos, Rhodes.

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The Minoans’ place was taken by Mycenaeans, inhabitants of Mycenae (now Mykínes), a bleak citadel in the Peloponnese. We do not know whether the rulers of Mycenae exerted direct power over the remainder of the mainland. But in the Iliad, Homer portrays their king, Agamemnon, as the most powerful figure in the Greek forces, which suggests that Mycenae had achieved some sort of overall authority.

In its heyday, the Mycenaean world contained men rich enough to commission massive stone tombs and delicate gold work. Rulers were served by a complex array of palace scribes and administrators who controlled the economic life of the state, exacting tribute, collecting taxes and allocating rations of scarce metals.

Invasion of the Sea Peoples

Starting in the 12th century BC, this society, like the Cretan one before it, began to wither away. Classical myth connects the end of the Mycenaean age with the arrival of Dorian tribes, more properly known as the “Sea Peoples”. In fact, there was no clear connection between the two events. Mycenaean power had declined irreversibly by the time the Sea Peoples entered Greece. These invaders, like later ones, entered Greece from the north and northeast. They were probably nomads from beyond the Black Sea, which would explain their inclination to travel and account for their lower level of culture.

Painted Minoan ceramic pot.

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They also brought their own form of the Greek language. In areas where they settled densely, we find West Greek dialects, while Attica, the Aegean Islands and the Ionian colonies of Asia Minor continued to use East Greek forms. The hostility, at a later date, between Athens and Sparta (Spárti) was based in part on this division between Ionian and Dorian peoples.

The Dorian migration, from about 1120 BC onwards, shortly preceded the onset of the Iron Age, and that of the Geometric period (named after its pottery decoration). Historical evidence for the period between the 11th and 9th centuries BC is patchy, but evidently civilised life suffered. Trade dwindled and communities became isolated from one another. Building in stone seems to have been too great an effort for the small pastoral settlements that had replaced the Mycenaean centres. Homer’s Odyssey is set in a simple society where even the rulers busy themselves with menial tasks, and where wealth is measured in flocks and herds.

The Geometric Period

During the 8th century BC, there were signs of revival as trade expanded. There were contacts with civilised peoples such as the Etruscans in the west, and the Phoenicians and Egyptians in the east. Artistic influence from the east was increasingly evident in metalwork and pottery. With the adoption of a modified Phoenician alphabet, writing revived among a much larger circle than before.

Another, equally important Greek concept was borrowed from the Phoenicians; the notion of the polis (city-state). In the Geometric era, small, isolated settlements were loosely grouped into large kingdoms. This system survived in both western and northern Greece into Classical times when Thucydides described how “the Aetolian nation, although numerous and warlike, yet dwell in un-walled villages scattered far apart”.

By the 13th century BC, the Mycenaeans had adapted the Minoan Linear B script into the first written Greek. However, a proper alphabet only emerged with the modification of the Phoenician script during the 8th and 9th centuries BC.

Elsewhere, however, a network of small independent states grew up. At first, these were based around clusters of villages rather than one large urban centre. But with a population explosion in the mid-8th century, large conurbations evolved and expanded as surplus population moved from the country to the town. Land became more intensively cultivated and highly priced. In the early Geometric era, the slump in population had caused arable land to fall into disuse. Farmers turned from sowing cereals to stock-breeding; now this process was reversed. Available land could not support such a rapidly growing population. (There is a clear parallel with the Peloponnese during the 19th century, and in both cases the outcome was the same: emigration on a massive scale.)

The theatre at Epidauros.

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Together with the division between the new polis and the older ethnos (kingdom), there was now a further distinction. Some states, mostly in the Dorian parts of the country, were reliant on a population of slaves who were excluded from power, such as Sparta, a major polis, and Thessaly, an ethnos. Other states, such as Athens, although not unfamiliar with slavery, had a more broadly based citizen body that included Greeks from outside the city.

Kings, aristocrats and tyrants

In general, Homer’s kings must have surrendered power towards the end of the Geometric period and beginning of the Archaic era, giving way to an aristocratic form of rule. But this too became entrenched in power and increasingly resistant to change. As commoners settled on land and amassed wealth, pressure grew for constitutional reform. Aristotle correctly identified the connection between the demand for reform and changes in military technique, saying “when states began to increase in size, and infantry forces acquired a greater degree of strength, more persons were admitted to the enjoyment of political rights”. Just as the shift from monarchy to aristocracy had been reflected in the move from chariots to horseback fighting, the emphasis now switched from cavalry to infantry; aristocracy lost ground to democratic pressure. Men would only fight in the new larger armies if the aristocrats granted them political rights.

Military power swung away from the traditional horse-breeding aristocracies of Khalkis, Eretria and Thessaly to new powers: Corinth, Argos and, above all, Sparta, where the state was protected by an army of heavily armed foot-soldiers known as hoplites, whose core was a body of citizens trained as infantrymen from birth.

Often the demand for radical reform met with resistance from the upper classes, but some individuals, more far-sighted, recognised the need for change. One such was Solon, nicknamed “the Law-Giver”, who was elected in early 6th-century Athens to introduce sweeping constitutional changes. Realising that the city’s strength would depend upon the organisation of the citizen body, he opened up the Assembly to the poorest citizens and in other ways loosened the grip of the aristocracy.

A fresco at the south entrance of the Palace of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.

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Inevitably, these changes were attacked from both sides, as Solon himself complains in a number of his poems. But they did lay the foundations for the tremendous expansion of Athenian power throughout the next century.

Another result of these political tensions was tyranny. For the ancient Greeks, “tyrant” was not a pejorative; it simply meant a ruler who had usurped power instead of inheriting it. In the 6th century, tyrants seized power in a number of states. Usually they were dissident aristocrats, who gained the support of the lower classes with promises of radical change – promises which were often kept, as it was in the new ruler’s interest to weaken the power of his peers. In the mid-7th century, for example, Kypselos of Corinth was supposed to have redistributed land belonging to his fellow aristocrats.

But it would be wrong to regard the tyrants as great innovators. They were symptoms of social change rather than causes of it. Conscious of their own vulnerability, they resorted to various propaganda expedients to stay in power. The most potent of these was the religious cult, and it is from the time of the tyrants that religion came directly to serve state purposes.

Religion was not only important to the state as propaganda; it was also a major economic factor. While the popular religious festivals and games earned revenues – enormous in some cases – for the city that staged them, temples, sacrifices and other rituals were very costly. Apart from waging wars, temple-building was probably the greatest drain on a city-state’s resources. Thus, the scale of its religious activities provided some measure of the wealth of a community.

Greeks versus the Persian Empire

Alongside the rise of an artistic culture shared across state boundaries, a process of political unification began. People in different cities started to become aware of a common Hellenic culture. The historian Herodotos was a keen promoter of the idea of one Greece, and asserted that the Greeks were “a single race because of common blood, common customs, common language and common religion”. This shared cultural identity was reinforced by increasing numbers of religious festivals and athletic competitions that attracted participants from numerous Greek states.

The Siphnian frieze inside the Delphi Museum depicts scenes from the Trojan War.

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But the sharpest spur to unity was an outside threat: the rise of the Persian Empire. Midway through the 6th century, King Cyrus II “the Great” had conquered the Ionian Greek cities on the Asia Minor coast, and Persian aspirations were further encouraged by his son Darius I (521–486 BC) who conquered Thrace, subdued Macedonia and, after quashing an Ionian revolt in Asia Minor, sent a massive expeditionary force westwards into Greece. Athens appealed for help from Sparta, militarily the strongest Greek city, but succeeded in defeating the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC with only a small force of Plataeans as allies.

This victory did more than save Attica; it also confirmed Athens as the standard-bearer for the Greek military effort against the Persians. This explains why a frieze displaying the warriors killed at Marathon (situated just over 23km/15 miles from Athens) was placed in a prominent and highly unusual position around the Parthenon in the 440s BC. Only then was Athens becoming a power to be reckoned with. The slave-worked silver mines at Laurion (modern Lávrion) in Attica began producing enough wealth to finance a major shipbuilding programme beginning early in the 5th century. Even so, for two generations after that, Aegina (Égina) remained superior to Athens as a Saronic Gulf trading force.

Athens and Sparta

A decade after the battle of Marathon, when Darius’s son Xerxes organised a second attack on Greece, the city-states rallied around Sparta. Spartan king Leonidas and his Three Hundred (actually 2,300, including Thespians, Thebans and Spartan helots) valiantly sacrificed themselves trying to halt the Persian advance at Thermopylae. While Athens had the largest navy, the Spartans controlled the Peloponnesian League, with its considerable combined land forces. Both the crucial naval victory at Salamis in 480 BC and the land victory at Plataea the following year were won under Spartan leadership.

But no sooner had the Persian menace been banished than the Greek alliance broke up. There was intense suspicion among the rival city-states, especially between Sparta and Athens. Thucydides described how, as soon as the Persians withdrew, the Athenians rebuilt their city walls for fear that the Spartans would try to stop them.

The development of a Classical “cold war” became obvious as Athens extended its control over the Aegean with the help of the Delian League. Significantly, the Persian threat had receded long before peace was officially declared in 449 BC. Moreover, between 460 and 446 BC, Athens warred with its neighbours in an effort to assert its supremacy. Naval rivals such as Aegina were singled out for attack. There was even small-scale fighting between Athens and Sparta (the First Peloponnesian War), until the so-called “Thirty Years’ Treaty” brought an uneasy truce in 445 BC.

The Caryatids of the Erechtheion, built on the Acropolis at the peak of Athens’ glory.

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The Rise of Athens

The Athenian Empire owed much to the Delian League, a naval alliance formed in 478 BC to liberate the Asia Minor Greeks and continue the struggle against the Persians. It was also underpinned by much anti-Spartan sentiment. Sparta’s own version of the alliance, the Peloponnesian League, consisted of land forces, requiring minimum financing. But the creation of a navy called for long-term planning and central coordination – a crucial difference. Athens’ smaller allies found it increasingly difficult to equip their own ships, and instead sent money to the Athenians. Thus Athens grew in strength as its allies became impoverished.

In 433 BC, Athens allied itself with Corcyra, a strategically important colony of Corinth. Fighting ensued, and the Athenians took steps that explicitly violated the Thirty Years’ Treaty. Sparta and its allies accused Athens of aggression and threatened war. On the advice of Perikles, its most influential leader, Athens refused to back down. Diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute failed. Finally, in the spring of 431 BC, a Spartan ally, Thebes, attacked an Athenian ally, Plataea, and open war broke out between the two superpowers.

The Second Peloponnesian War dragged on for years since neither side was able to deal a deathblow to the other. The Peace of Nikias in 421 BC gave both sides breathing space, but lasted just six years.

The uncertain peace was finally shattered when the Athenians launched a massive assault against Syracuse in Sicily. Aided by a force of Spartans, Syracuse was able to break an Athenian siege. Even after obtaining reinforcements in 413 BC, the Athenian army was defeated again. Soon afterward, the navy was also beaten, and the Athenians were utterly destroyed as they tried to retreat.

But even the Sicilian disaster did not end hostilities – although it had a huge impact on Athenian domestic politics. By 411 BC Athens was in political turmoil: democracy was overthrown by an oligarchical party, which was in turn replaced by the more moderate regime of the Five Thousand. At the end of 411 BC the rebuilt Athenian navy, fresh from several victories, acted to restore democratic rule. But the democratic leaders refused Spartan peace offerings, and the war continued at sea, with the Spartan and Athenian fleets exchanging costly victories. The end came in 405 BC when the Athenian navy was destroyed at Aegospotami by the Spartan fleet under Lysander, who had received much aid from the Persians. The next year, starved by an impenetrable blockade, Athens capitulated. Athens’ defeat was perhaps the worst casualty in a war that crippled Greek military strength. The most culturally advanced Greek state had been sent into final eclipse.

Civic breakdown

Literature and art both flourished even during these incessant periods of fighting, but economic activity did not. A world where each tiny polis was determined to safeguard its independence at any cost carried within it the seeds of its own destruction.

The paradox was that city-states with imperial pretensions chose not to take the steps that might have brought success. Unlike Rome, Greek city-states did not extend citizenship to their subject territories. Nor could the military strength of Athens keep pace with its imperial commitments, which explains the permanent cycle of conquest and revolt. The Spartans had the additional headache of a large slave population, the helots, often prone to revolt in their home province.

The first half of the 4th century continued this pattern. On the one hand, there were long wars between cities; on the other, evidence of prolonged economic difficulties as Corinth fell into irreversible decline, and Athens struggled in vain to recapture its previous prominence. Spartan power remained supreme until 371 BC when Thebes defeated the Spartan army at Leuktra.

The city-state system was gradually starting to fall apart. The old model of a citizen army was superseded by a more professional force, relying upon trained mercenaries. Aristotle noted that “when the Spartans were alone in their strenuous military discipline they were superior to everybody, but now they are beaten by everybody; the reason is that in former times they trained and others did not”.

Alexander the Great’s campaigns dramatically extended the boundaries of the Greek cultural world.

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The spread of mercenaries, in fact, reflects the economic problems of the 4th century. Mercenary service, like emigration or piracy, was a demographic safety valve, and whereas in Archaic Greece of the 8th to the 6th centuries mercenaries had come from just a few backward areas, during the 4th century they were increasingly recruited from major cities as well, which points to economic difficulties over an increasingly wide area.

As in earlier times, military changes were connected with political ones. The decline of the citizen armies coincided with a trend away from democracy in favour of more autocratic government. Power shifted from the city-states towards Thessaly, an ethnos regime, and later still, towards Macedonia, which had been another old-fashioned kingdom.

Both regions had the advantage over Attica in that they were fertile and not short of land. More rural than the city-states to their south, they managed to avoid the domestic political turmoil that periodically erupted in the latter. The military successes of the Thessalian tyrant, Jason of Pherae, in the early 4th century, indicated the confidence of these newcomers.

A little later, King Philip II of Macedonia moved southwards, secured the vital Thermopylae (modern Thermopýles) Pass and, after gaining control of Thessaly, defeated an alliance of Thebes and Athens at Chaeronea in 338 BC. Banded together in the League of Corinth, the Greek city-states were compelled to recognise a new centre of power, Macedonia.

The temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens was completed by the Roman emperor Hadrian.

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Alexander’s Empire

In the Republic, Plato writes: “We shall speak of war when Greeks fight with barbarians, whom we may call their natural enemies. But Greeks are by nature friends of Greeks, and when they fight, it means that Hellas is afflicted by dissension which ought to be called civil strife”.

This passage reflects three sentiments that were becoming widespread in the 4th century: first, that the Greeks were all of one race; second, warfare between city-states was undesirable; third, that it was natural for the Greeks to fight their enemies in the east. It is ironic in this regard that a successful concerted effort against the Persians was made only under the leadership of Macedonia, traditionally a marginal power in the Greek world.

Philip’s son Alexander mopped up any remaining resistance in Greece, then led a Greek-Macedonian army on a brilliant rampaging campaign to the east and south. In just over 10 years, he systematically swallowed up the ancient Persian Empire, reaching as far as the Indus Valley (in modern Pakistan). He even found time to conquer Egypt, where he founded Alexandria.

Alexander the Great’s overseas empire drastically altered the boundaries of the Greek world. The city-states of mainland Greece no longer occupied centre stage. The mainland was drained of manpower as soldiers, settlers and administrators moved eastwards to consolidate Greek rule. At the same time, the intellectual and religious world of the Greeks opened up to new influences.

But there were limits to this process, for although the city-states gave up their political freedom, they clung to self-determination in other spheres such as local taxation and customs duties. Likewise, the calendar: in Athens, the year began in July, in Sparta in October, on the island of Delos, January.

Philosophers were debating ideas of communal loyalties that transcended the old civic boundaries. Perhaps this reflected the way in which these were being absorbed within larger units, such as the Hellenistic kingdoms, the Greek federal leagues and, eventually, the Roman Empire. Whatever the cause, the most influential philosophical school, Stoicism, emphasised the concept of universal brotherhood and talked of a world state ruled by one supreme power.

Alexander’s Rule

The Greek-speaking world not only expanded, it was also coming together: under the rule of Alexander the Great, inhabitants began to speak the same language, as koine or “common” Greek replaced local dialects in most areas. In 4th-century Macedonia, for example, local culture was “Hellenised”, and the native gods were replaced by Olympian deities. For the first time, coinage became widely used in trade – something which had been impossible so long as each city had its own currency. Now the Attic drachma became acceptable in an area ranging from Athens to the Black Sea, from Cappadocia to Italy.

One reason the Greek city-states failed as imperial powers, the Roman Emperor Claudius observed, was because they “treated their subjects as foreigners”.

Roman expansion

Gradually but inexorably, Macedonian expansion curtailed the political autonomy of the city-states. During the 3rd century, they formed federations, and tried to exploit disputes between the Diadokhi, or successor-generals, who had inherited Alexander’s empire. This policy had only limited success, mainly because of the paltry military resources available to the Greek leagues.

Early in the 2nd century, disputes among the city-states brought about Roman intervention for the first time in Greek history. Within 20 years, Rome had defeated first Macedonia, and then the Achaean League, which had organised a desperate Greek resistance to Roman rule. The Roman consul Lucius Mummius marked his victory over the League by razing Corinth in 146 BC, killing the entire male population, and selling its women and children into slavery. As a deterrent to further resistance, this was brutal but effective. Conservative urban factions were confirmed in power and Greece became a Roman protectorate. In 27 BC, when the Roman Empire was proclaimed, the protectorate became the imperial province of Achaea.

Greece – a Roman backwater?

By the 1st century AD, Greece was no longer the centre of the civilised world. Athens and Corinth could not rival Alexandria or Antioch, let alone Rome. The main routes to the east went overland through Macedonia; to the south, by sea to Egypt. But while Greece was certainly a commercial backwater, its decline was only relative: along the coast, cities flourished. The polis remained much as it had been in Hellenistic times, and the Roman authorities permitted a degree of political self-rule. Philhellenic emperors such as Hadrian even encouraged groups of cities to federate in an effort to encourage a pan-Hellenic spirit.

But the polis was no longer a political force. Hellenistic rulers had feared the Greek cities’ power; the Roman and later the Byzantine emperors feared their weakness and did what they could to keep them alive. They were vital administrative cogs in the imperial machine; if they failed, the machine would not function.

The Arch of Galerius, Thessaloníki, completed in AD 303.

Fotolia

Two centuries of relative tranquillity were shattered by the invasions of the Goths in AD 255–270. They were successfully repelled, but the shock led to a loss of confidence and economic deterioration. Civic building programmes continued on a much reduced scale. The wealthy classes became increasingly reluctant benefactors, and two centuries passed before imperial authorities and the church revived the demand for architectural skills. In AD 330, Emperor Constantine had designated Constantinople an imperial co-capital on a par with Rome. By the late 4th century, Christianity had been made the official religion of the empire. The transition from Rome to Byzantium had begun.

BYZANTINE GREECE

The legendary wealth of the eastern Roman empire attracted many potential invaders, from Frankish Crusaders and Venetians to the Ottomans.

The Byzantine Empire was established with the foundation of Constantinople, but the final separation of the eastern and western empires was not complete until the late 5th century, when Rome was taken by the Ostrogoths. With its political structure anchored in Roman tradition and a new religion triumphant over paganism, the Byzantine Empire survived a millennium of triumphs and declines until Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Icon of Saint George, Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens.

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A revealing incident occurred in the capital Constantinople in AD 968. Legates from the western Roman Empire brought a letter for Nikephoros II Phokas, the Byzantine Emperor, in which he was simply addressed as “Emperor of the Greeks” while the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, was termed “august Emperor of the Romans”. The Byzantine courtiers were scandalised. The audacity of it – to call the universal emperor of the Romans, the one and only Nikephoros Phokas, the great, the august, “Emperor of the Greeks” and to style a poor barbaric creature “Emperor of the Romans!”

Greek and Byzantine identity

Behind this reaction lies the curious cultural fusion which made up Byzantine identity. From the Hellenistic era came the belief in the superiority of the Greek world, and the summary dismissal of outsiders as barbarians. From Rome came a strong sense of loyalty to empire and emperor. And in the fervour that marked their belief in the moral superiority of their empire – which they regarded not as the “Eastern Roman Empire” but as the only true empire – is the stamp of evangelical Christianity.

The inhabitants of this empire did not call themselves Greeks or Byzantines: they were Romans, “Roméï”. But the mark of a Roméos was that he spoke Greek and followed the rite of the Orthodox Church. Thus three elements of identity – Greek culture and language, Roman laws and regulations, and Christian morality – became intermingled.

The well-restored medieval monastery of Filérimos, Rhodes.

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Invasions by barbarian Huns, Visigoths and Ostrogoths during the 5th century helped shape the Greek part of the empire. Constantinople avoided the fate of Rome, which fell to similar onslaughts, by a combination of skilful bribery and a strong army. Thus, as the West was carved into minor kingdoms, the East remained largely intact, and the balance of power in the former Roman Empire moved conclusively to the East.

The Emperor Justinian (ruled AD 527–65) laid the foundations on which the Byzantine Empire would rest for nearly a century. An ambitious and dynamic leader, he greatly expanded the empire’s territory by conquering the southern Levant, northern Africa and Italy, in an effort to re-create the old Roman Empire. Justinian’s administrative reforms created a centralised bureaucracy, a new fiscal system, and a provincial administration. The codes of Roman law were revised and unified in the Corpus Iuris Civilis, which remains to this day a cornerstone of European jurisprudence. These reforms greatly advanced the unification of the diverse peoples of the empire in a Hellenic context. In the end, Justinian’s institutional reforms proved far more lasting than his military conquests.

Medieval bridge on the road to Maráthi’s ancient quarries, Páros.

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The end of antiquity

Justinian’s wars brought the empire to the verge of bankruptcy and left it militarily vulnerable. Threats from both East and West plunged the empire into a spiral of decline that lasted for nearly 300 years. The first menace to the Empire from the East came from the Persian Sassanid Empire. Zoroastrian Sassanid forces took control of Palestine, Syria and Egypt, and even threatened the capital, Constantinople, at one point. A more serious threat soon developed with the advent of Islamic expansionism. Erupting out of the Arabian Peninsula, Muslim forces swept northward, eastward and westward, taking Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Portions of Asia Minor were wrested from the Byzantine Empire, and twice between AD 668 and 725, Constantinople was nearly overrun by Muslim forces.

In AD 841, Greece’s most famous ancient temple, the Parthenon, became the Orthodox cathedral church of the Panagía of Athens.

The real break with Greek antiquity came late in the 6th century when Greece was first attacked and then settled by Slavic-speaking tribes from the north. At th time, major cities such as Athens, Thebes and Thessaloníki were safe behind defensible walls; still, much of the indigenous population of the Balkans, Greeks included, fled, especially to Calabria on the southern tip of Italy, or else relocated their settlements to higher, more secure regions of the Balkans. The invasions marked the end of the Classical tradition in Greece, destroying the urban civilisation of the polis, and with it pre-Christian Roman and Greek culture.

However, the Slavic arrivals failed to preserve their own distinct cultural identities, and quickly became Hellenised. Greek remained the mother tongue of the region, and Christianity remained the dominant faith. Although the Slavic invasions and Islamic conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries reduced the extent of the Byzantine state, it survived as a recognisable entity that was now grounded more firmly than ever in the Balkans and Asia Minor.

The Greek language may have survived, but the old urban culture did not. The disappearance of the city-states is shown by the way in which the word pólis came to refer exclusively to Constantinople as though there were no other cities in existence. A small urban elite studied and wrote in koine Greek, but this had very little impact on the vast majority of the population; their books were probably read by less than 300 people at any one time. Ancient monuments were avoided because the lower classes thought that they were inhabited by demons and were afraid to go near.

Byzantine revival

When a new dynasty, which came to be called Macedonian, took the throne of the Byzantine Empire in 867 in the person of Basil I, its forces began to roll back the tide of Islamic expansion. Antioch, Syria, Georgia and Armenia were reconquered. The Byzantine fleet regained Crete in 961 and drove Muslim pirates from the Aegean Sea, reopening it to commercial traffic. Consolidation of the Balkans was completed with the defeat of the First Bulgarian Empire by Basil II in 1018.

Mosaic of Byzantine Emperor Justinian.

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The military gains of the Macedonian dynasty initiated a period of economic growth and prosperity and a cultural renaissance. Agriculture flourished as conditions stabilised and, as emperors increasingly used land grants to reward military service, the area under cultivation expanded. The prosperity of improved agricultural conditions and the export of woven silk and other craft articles allowed the population to grow. Expanding commercial opportunities increased the influence of the nearby Italian maritime republics of Venice, Genoa and Amalfi, which eventually gained control of the Mediterranean trade routes into Greece.

But Byzantium’s period of renewed glory was short-lived, lasting from the mid-9th to mid-11th centuries. The empire lacked the resources to maintain tight control over its territories. It was beset on all sides – by the Italian city-states to the west, the Slav kingdoms to the north, the Persians and Arabs in the east. The Greek peninsular and island provinces, being less vital than Anatolia, which supplied Constantinople with corn, were ceded more readily to other powers.

In 1071, a new enemy, the Seljuk Turks from central Asia, crushed a Byzantine army at Manzikert in Anatolia, capturing the emperor. In the late 11th century, a Norman army, allied with the Pope and commanded by Robert Guiscard, arrived from the west and set about ravaging parts of Greece, including Thebes and Corinth. Civil war among rival military factions impaired the empire’s ability to respond to such incursions, so Byzantium gave Venice trading rights in Greece in return for protection against the Normans. But before long, the Byzantines needed to counter Venetian power by encouraging the Genoese.

Crusaders and Venetians

When the Muslims seized Jerusalem, some European kings, claiming Christian ideology as their motive, but in fact seeing political and commercial advantages too, sailed east to recover the Christian holy places from Muslim control. In the process, they gained footholds in territories that had been part of the Byzantine Empire – Cyprus, for example, taken by Richard I of England during the Third Crusade.

This was only a foretaste of still worse misfortune. In 1204, Constantinople itself was sacked by the Crusader forces en route to the Holy Land for the Fourth Crusade – diverted there by the Venetians under Doge Enrico Dandolo. The empire was fragmented. Successor states arose in Epirus, Nicaea and Trebizond. Greece itself was divided into small kingdoms ruled by Western princes – the Duchy of Athens under the Burgundian Othon de la Roche, the west coast and various islands by Italians – particularly the Venetians.

Réthymno Old Town.

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Venice was a powerful naval power, with boundless ambition for trade and territory. As a pay-off for the assistance given to the Crusaders, after the sack of Constantinople Venetians were allowed to take control of many of the Greek islands that had been part of the Byzantine Empire. The Ionian Islands were divided into fiefdoms among noble Venetian families (and remained under Venetian control until 1797); other Venetian aristocrats helped themselves to islands in the Aegean – notably Marco Sanudo, a nephew of the Doge, who claimed Náxos, founded a duchy and effectively ruled the whole of the Cyclades from there. Even Crete, “the Great Island”, became a Venetian territory, sold to Venice for a nominal sum by Prince Boniface of Montferrat, the titular leader of the Fourth Crusade, in return for its assistance in the conquest of Constantinople. Thus by the mid-13th century, Venice had control of the shipping routes to the Black Sea and Asian Minor, Egypt and North Africa.

Byzantium fights back

Only the resolute resistance of the Palaeologos Dynasty (1261–1453) prevented the Byzantine Empire from collapsing completely. The Palaeologi fought back into mainland Greece, recaptured Constantinople and most of the southern Balkans. But there was considerable confusion in western Greece, which briefly came under Serbian control.

Southern Greece and the islands remained under the control of the Venetians, the Genoese, various other Italian adventurers and, in the case of Rhodes and most of its surrounding islands, the Knights Hospitaller of St John, a military order which had arisen during the Crusades – although in the 14th century the Palaeologi re-established a Byzantine presence at Mystrás. One of the results of this political confusion was ethnically and religiously mixed populations.

The Venetian-, Genoese- or Crusader-held Aegean islands resisted longest against the Ottomans. Tínos only surrendered in 1715 – over 250 years after the Greek mainland.

Mystrás in the Peloponnese.

Fotolia

A threat from the east

According to semi-legendary accounts, Ertuğrul, khan of the Kayı tribe of the Öğüz Turks, fled from Persia in the mid-13th century to escape Genghis Khan’s Mongol hordes. He was granted territory – if he could seize and hold it – in Bithynia, facing the Byzantine strongholds at Bursa, Nicomedia (Izmit) and Nicea. Leadership subsequently passed to his son, Osman I, the eponymous founder of a dynasty – the Osmanlı, better known in the West as the Ottomans – that was to endure for almost 700 years.

Towards the end of the 14th century, Asia Minor and the Balkans had fallen to the Ottoman Turks, and by 1400 the Byzantine Empire had shrunk to just Constantinople, eastern Thrace, Thessaloníki, Trebizond and part of the Peloponnese. In April 1453, Mehmet II (“the Conqueror”) besieged Constantinople and took it within two months.By 1461, both Trebizond and Mystrás had surrendered, too.

The fall of “The City” reverberated throughout Europe: with it had fallen the last descendants of the Roman Empire itself. Before long, Constantinople would again be the capital of a Mediterranean empire that would stretch all the way from Budapest to the Caspian Sea and from the Persian Gulf to Algeria – but now it would be a Muslim city in the Ottoman Empire. The great Greek Byzantine Empire had come to an end. Although in the West this seemed to be the somewhat inevitable result of Byzantine decline, to the Greeks it was one of the more traumatic moments in their history. They had passed under the rule of a completely alien creed, though it should be noted that this was preferable for many to domination by Catholic powers.

OTTOMAN GREECE

Greek nationalism grew slowly as the Ottoman Empire declined – until in the 19th century a bloody struggle for independence was launched.

The Ottoman Turks who now controlled the Balkans were the latest in a series of nomadic tribes who had moved westwards from Central Asia. They were highly mobile, and their devotion to conquest made up for their initially scant numbers.

Ali Pasha, tyrant of Ioánnina.

Public domain

News of the fall of Constantinople was received with horror in Europe, but as an isolated military action it did not critically affect European security. To the Ottoman Empire, however, the capture of the imperial capital was of supreme symbolic importance. Sultan Mehmet II, a man of culture and learning as well as a superb warrior, regarded himself as the direct successor of the Byzantine emperors. He made Constantinople the capital of the Empire as it had been of the Byzantine Empire and he set about rebuilding and repopulating the city. The cathedral of Agia Sofia was converted to a mosque, and Constantinople – which the Turks called İstanbul (from the Greek phrase eis tin pólin, “at/in the city”) – replaced Baghdad as the centre of Sunni Islam.

But Constantinople also remained the ecclesiastical centre of the Greek church. Ottoman religious tolerance was reflected in the imperial government system. The sultan recognised minority religions, and permitted each millet, or religious community, a measure of self-government. Thus Mehmet II proclaimed himself the protector of the Greek Orthodox Church, and appointed a new patriarch after the custom of the Byzantine emperors. Patriarch Gennadios II Skholarios guaranteed loyalty and taxes to the Turks, in return for a degree of self-government for the Greeks. The church came to exert both religious and civil powers over Ottoman Greeks.

Under their new masters, the Greeks lived much as they had done earlier. Their houses, like those of the Muslims, tended to be miniature fortresses, built on two or three floors around a central courtyard. The restored merchant’s mansions in Kastoriá and Siátista give a good idea of the paradigm. However, under Ottoman influence, Greek cuisine changed for the better – garum (fermented fish sauce) on everything was out, while moussakás, elaborate pastries and thick “oriental” coffee – which Ali Pasha, the “Lion of Ioánnina”, found helpful in poisoning his rival, the Pasha of Vallona – were in.

Ottoman inscription on a Muslim tomb in Ioánnina.

Phil Wood/Apa Publications

Restricted rights

Although the Orthodox Greeks were allowed to conduct their religious affairs without too much interference from the Ottoman hierarchy (though repairing churches or erecting belfries was often forbidden), they nevertheless suffered several disabilities that did not apply to Muslims. Christians were not allowed to bear arms and were thus exempt from military service. But they had to pay a special head tax, the haraç.

In a court of law, a Muslim’s word was always taken over that of a Christian, although disputes between Greeks were usually settled in Greek religious courts. A Christian man could not marry a Muslim woman without converting, though the opposite configuration was common, with the wife keeping her religion. Christians who adopted Islam but then reverted to Christianity were invariably punished for such apostasy by death. These “neomartyrs”, however, helped to sustain the faith of the Orthodox populations under the Ottoman rule.

A water colour of Thessaloníki by the great traveller and artist Edward Lear, clearly showing the city’s minarets.

Public domain

The most feared imposition on (mostly Slavic) Orthodox Christians was the janissary levy or devșirme: Christian villages were required, at irregular intervals, to surrender a quota of their fittest, most intelligent male children to the Ottomans. These conscripts were forcibly converted to Islam and trained to serve as praetorian guards (janissaries) or civil servants. Some janissaries rose to high office and were sometimes able to help their relatives or home villages, but the levy was still resented. It was formally abandoned by the late 17th century – largely because of rampant success by Muslims in enrolling their own children as janissaries.

A long-drawn-out conquest

Although the Turks had firm control of Constantinople/Istanbul after 1453, it took more than two centuries for them to establish control over Albania, and all of Balkan Greece and its islands (indeed, except for Levkáda, the Ionian Islands, with the Venetians well entrenched, never succumbed to the Ottomans). Albania, resisting under Skanderbeg (Gjergji Kastrioti), was only pacified late in the 15th century.

Lésvos, for example, fell to the Turks in 1462, but it was not until the conquest of Genoese Híos in 1566 that all the islands of the northeast Aegean were under Ottoman control. Similarly, the Dodecanese, with its motley population of Greeks, Jews, pirates and Latin adventurers, resisted until late 1522, when the Knights Hospitaller of St John on Rhodes finally yielded to an imperial force numbering 100,000 after a six-month siege. With the fall of Rhodes, the position of neighbouring islands became untenable, and within five years they had all surrendered as well.

Crete took even longer to subdue. Since the early 13th century, the “Great Island” had been Venice’s stronghold in the eastern Mediterranean, and its strategic value encouraged the Venetians to reinforce the major cities – Iráklio, Haniá and Réthymno – with solid fortresses that can still be seen today. An attack on an Ottoman convoy in 1645 provided the excuse for an assault on Crete. The Turks took Haniá after a bloody battle, then Réthymno, and soon had control over the whole island except the capital, Iráklio. It was not until 1669, after a gruelling 22-year siege, that the Ottomans took the city and finally ruled all of Crete (except for three Venetian-fortified offshore islets: Spinalónga, Soúda and Gramvoúsa, (which surrendered only in 1715).

Athens, controlled by Crusaders and their descendants since 1204, had declined to a minor provincial town when the Ottomans arrived in 1456, and remained so until the 1830s.

Attempts at revolt

Powerful enemies continually threatened the sultans’ grip on Greece. The Venetians (and later the Russians) were thorns in the Ottoman flesh. The resulting conflicts left Greece much weaker. In 1537, for instance, an Ottoman fleet carried off half the population of Corfu after an attack on the Venetian garrison there, leaving the island with barely one-sixth of the numbers it had had in antiquity.

The expansionist ambitions of the Ottomans brought them into conflict with other European powers – which provided opportunities for Greeks to stage optimistic but futile uprisings against the empire. In the aftermath of the defeat inflicted on the Ottoman navy at Lepanto by the Catholic Holy League in 1571, revolts broke out on the Greek mainland and the Aegean Islands, but were promptly crushed by the Ottomans. A similar fate befell the short-lived revolt launched by renegade bishop Dionysios Skylosophos in Epirus in 1611.

The Peloponnese was also caught in a bloody tug-of-war between Ottomans and their enemies. During the Russo-Turkish war of 1768–74, Greeks in the Máni region attempted to revolt, with devastating results. Their uprising was initially supported by Alexei and Fyodor Grigoryevich Orlov, members of an aristocratic Russian family, who brought their fleet to Greece in 1770 and raided the Peloponnese with little permanent outcome other than exposing the Greeks to Ottoman reprisals. They were more successful in the Aegean, destroying the Turkish fleet at Çeşme and occupying many islands until 1774.

Resistance to the Ottomans

In truth, the Ottomans never established total control over the Greek mainland; in the mountains, groups of brigands known as kléftes (klephts) had formed. They were essentially bandits, equally likely to plunder a Greek village as a Muslim estate but, thanks to their attacks on Ottoman officials such as tax collectors, in folklore they came to symbolise the spirit of Greek resistance to the Ottoman authorities. They are certainly viewed in this light in the klephtic ballads that emerged, extolling the bravery and military prowess of the kléftes and their heroic resistance to the Turkish oppressors.

Ermoúpoli on Sýros.

Public domain

In an effort to counter klephtic depredations and to control the mountain passes, the Ottomans established a militia of armatolí. Like the kléftes, these were Christians – and the distinction between kléftes and armatolí was highly fluid, with roles easily exchanged. However, the existence of these armed bands meant that, when the struggle for Greek independence broke out in the early 19th century, there was a record of military experience.

More important for the development of Greek nationalism was the growth of a Greek merchant community. Commercial links with Europe introduced wealthy Greeks to European lifestyles, and also to European cultural and political ideas. This mercantile middle class funded the intellectual revival which characterised the late 18th century in Greece, endowing schools and libraries, and sponsoring higher education.

Greek Scholars

Economic success in 18th-century Greece was a significant factor in the development of the country’s culture and identity. Large numbers of school teachers, with the financial backing of rich merchant benefactors, studied in renowned universities around Europe, notably in Italy, Austria and Germany. There they encountered the heady nationalist doctrines inspired by the French Revolution – and also discovered the reverence in which the language and culture of Ancient Greece were held throughout Europe. By the end of the 18th century, nationalism had found fertile ground among young educated Greeks.

The struggle for independence

In 1814, three Greek merchants in Odessa formed a secret organisation called “The Friendly Society” (Filikí Etería) devoted to “the betterment of the nation”, which rapidly acquired a network of sympathisers throughout the Ottoman lands. A number of vain attempts to secure themselves powerful backing were finally rewarded when their members organised an uprising against Ottoman rule in 1821.

Scattered violent incidents merged into a major revolt in the Peloponnese. The Ottomans found themselves initially outnumbered and were forced to retreat to their coastal fortresses, while atrocities were committed by both sides. Greeks slaughtered Turkish and Jewish civilians in Trípoli; Turks slaughtered the Greek inhabitants of Híos. Later, Egyptian troops, under Ibrahim Ali, laid waste most of the Peloponnese (1824–28).

The struggle for Greek independence, which lasted from 1821 to 1832, was not a straightforward affair. Opposing the Ottomans was an ill-assorted band of kléftes, armatolí, merchants, landowners, intellectual theorists and aristocratic families known as Phanariots – all as keen to further their own interests as to advance the cause of Greek nationalism. When they were not fighting their Muslim opponents – mostly Egyptian or Albanian troops rather than “Turks” – they turned on each other.

Soon after the 1821 uprising, no fewer than three provisional Greek governments proclaimed themselves, each poised to take control of the liberated territories. A democratic constitution was drawn up in 1822, then revised in 1823, by which time the three factions were unified in a central authority. But the following year, feuding between rival groups culminated in outright civil war (prompting one chieftain, Makrygiannis, to protest that he had not taken up arms against the Turks to end up fighting Greeks).

Foreign support

Ironically, the belief that this was a national struggle was held with greatest conviction by the foreign philhellenes – Lord Byron among them – who came to help the Greeks. These men were influential in getting Western public opinion behind Greece. Thus Britain, France and Russia, all initially unsympathetic to the Hellenic dream, eventually put military and diplomatic pressure on the Ottomans to acknowledge Greek independence – a policy of “peaceful interference”, as the British Prime Minister Stratford Canning described it. The turning point came with the almost accidental destruction of the Ottoman fleet by an allied armada at Navarino in 1827. This intervention by the three Great Powers ensured that some form of independent Greece came into being, although its precise borders took several years to negotiate.

Count Ioannis Kapodistrias, a Corfiot-Greek diplomat formerly in the service of the Russian tsar, was elected the first president of independent Greece by a National Assembly in 1827. He encouraged Greek forces to push north into the central mainland, and his efforts were rewarded when the 1830 Protocol of London fixed the new state’s northern boundary to run roughly from Árta to Vólos, including the Sporades.

Ioannis Kapodistrias, who some feared was aiming for dictatorship, was assassinated.

Public domain

Although well-liked by the peasantry, the more traditional Greek elites were alarmed by his high-handed administrative style, suspecting him of aiming at one-man rule. On 9 October 1831, he was shot by two chieftains of the Máni as he entered a church at Návplio. With the threat of anarchy and renewed civil war looming, Britain, France and Russia set about finding another suitable candidate to lead the new country.

INDEPENDENT GREECE

Independence did not guarantee peace and stability: enemy occupation, civil war and a military junta have all marked the path to today’s democracy.

The new state was desperately poor, overrun by armed brigands and beset by political factionalism. In 1834, Maniot rebels defeated government troops and sent them home stripped of their equipment and uniforms. There were few good harbours or roads; Athens remained a poor, dusty, provincial town. Internally, conditions were worse than they had been under Ottoman rule.

Bavarian absolutism was partly to blame. Some months after Kapodistrias’s death, Greece was declared a kingdom and the crown given to Otto, son of Ludwig I of Bavaria, who arrived at Návplio in 1833 on a British man-of-war.

Widespread calls for a constitution were ignored until, in 1843, a bloodless coup in Athens forced Otto to accept constitutional rule and parliamentary government for Greece. Subsequent 1844 and 1864 constitutions endowed the country with democratic trappings, especially after Otto was deposed by a more forceful coup in 1862.

The “Great Idea”

The new kingdom was home to less than one-third of the Greeks around the Aegean. The prospect of “liberating” those Greeks still under Ottoman rule, of creating a new Byzantium by recapturing Constantinople and avenging the humiliation of 1453, was known as the “Great Idea” (Megáli Idéa in Greek) and aroused enormous enthusiasm. When King George I succeeded King Otto in 1863, he tellingly assumed the title of “King of the Hellenes” rather than simply “King of Greece”. But irredentism (the annexation of a neighbouring state on the grounds of ethnicity or prior historical possession) was never a realistic policy since, without allies, the Greek army was no match for the Ottomans; yet the Megáli Idéa survived repeated setbacks. Only after the catastrophic 1922 defeat at the hands of the Turkish nationalists did this irredentist vision finally collapse.

The Corinth Canal, com-pleted in 1893, separates the Peloponnesian penin-sula from the Greek main-land.

Topfoto

The prominent late-19th century populist Theodoros Deligiannis encouraged foolhardy irredentist expeditions to Thessaly and Crete. His more far-sighted rival, Harilaos Trikoupis, realised that such adventures were unwise so long as Greece was dependent on foreign loans, which gave its creditors veto power over foreign policy initiatives. Trikoupis set out to reduce this dependency by development. Roads were improved, railways constructed, Piraeus became Greece’s busiest port, and the Corinth Canal was dug.

But despite the appearance of a few textile and food-processing factories, industry remained rudimentary; Greece was a rural nation of peasant smallholders. The lack of large estates (except in Thessaly) minimised social inequalities but it also meant that most farmers remained too miserably poor to adopt modern farming methods. The export of currants brought brief prosperity, but the global 1893 depression hit the entire economy. Greece went bankrupt, and hunger drove many peasants to emigrate to the Americas.

A naïve depiction of Eleftherios Venizelos.

Benaki Museum, Photographic Archive

A new government

Domestic problems only increased enthusiasm for the Great Idea. Thessaly and southeastern Epirus had been acquired in 1881, without any fighting, through the Congress of Berlin. When troubles on Ottoman Crete in 1897 provoked a wave of sympathy on the mainland, Greek naval forces were sent to the island while the army marched northwards – only to be humiliatingly defeated by Ottoman forces.

On Crete and in Macedonia, Ottoman rule was steadily crumbling. But the emergence of the new Balkan nations Bulgaria and Serbia complicated Greek foreign policy, for both countries shared Greece’s aspiration for territory in Macedonia.

A precedent for military intervention in politics had been set with the coups of 1843 and 1862. In 1909, junior army officers revolted and invited a radical new politician, Eleftherios Venizelos, to come over from Crete and form a government in 1910. A consummate tactician, Venizelos channelled the energies of the Greek middle class into his own Liberal Party, a dominant force in politics for the next 25 years.

The notorious Dilessi gang terrorised central Greece until 1870.

Benaki Museum, Photographic Archive

A decade of wars

When the Balkan Wars erupted in 1912–13, Greece was strong enough to first wrest Epirus and southern Macedonia from the Ottoman forces and then to defend its gains, in alliance with Serbia and Romania, from a hostile Bulgaria. The full gains from the fighting included – in addition to Macedonia – Epirus, Crete and the east Aegean Islands. Greece’s area and population were nearly doubled at a stroke.

There was barely time to assimilate these new territories before the country became embroiled in World War I. Venizelos and the new king, Constantine I, quarrelled over whether to bring Greece into the conflict. The prime minister wanted Greece to give the Entente active support, while Constantine, brother-in-law of Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, insisted on keeping the country neutral. Who would have the final say over foreign policy – the king or parliament? The dispute attained the pitch of civil war by 1916, when Venizelist Corfu violated neutrality by hosting the Serbian army and government in exile, and Thessaloníki served as the “rebel” capital. In June 1917, Constantine was forced to leave the country and Greece entered the war on the side of the Entente, helping precipitate the final Central collapse in autumn 1918 with attacks across the Macedonian front.

Victorious troops returning from Bulgaria during World War I.

Corbis

Venizelos hoped that the Entente powers would reward Greece for its support with new territories. The annexation by Greece of Smyrna (Izmir), with its rich hinterland and large ethnic Greek population, had long been a basic tenet of the Great Idea. When, in May 1919, the British, French and Americans approved the landing of Greek troops in Smyrna, it began to look as though the dream might at last be realised.

The Asia Minor Disaster

In late 1920, the pendulum of Greek political sentiment swung back, removing Venizelos from office and returning King Constantine I from exile. Army morale was damaged by politically motivated changes in command, but the revival of Turkish national fervour sparked by the Greek advance and galvanised by the emerging Turkish leader, Mustafa Kemal (subsequently Atatürk), was far more dangerous. Greek forces advanced to within 80km (50 miles) of Ankara in August 1921, but were hampered by their former European allies changing to a “neutralist” position and refusing to sell them arms – and even selling some to the Turks. Kemal gradually forced the Greek army back behind long defensive lines ever closer to the coast. After a year-long stalemate, Kemal overran the Greek positions in late August 1922; the Greek army abandoned Smyrna a few days later. The Turkish army entered the city on 9 September, burning both the Armenian and Greek quarters and killing an estimated 30,000 of the Christian inhabitants in the process.

The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which definitively ended the Greco-Turkish war, fixed the two countries’ boundaries which hold today (with the exception of the Dodecanese islands, occupied by the Italians until after World War II). In addition, a massive population transfer, based on religion rather than language, was stipulated: 390,000 Muslim inhabitants of Greece moved to Turkey in exchange for 1.4 million Orthodox Christians (in fact almost 1 million of these had already left Anatolia since 1914). Except for a dwindling population in Istanbul and on the islands of Imvros and Tenedos, this ended a 2,500-year Hellenic presence in Asia Minor. The Greeks refer to these events as “the Asia Minor Disaster”, and they remain a defining factor in the Greek perception of both themselves and of the Turks.

Republican interlude

Exhausted by 10 years of war, the Greek state now faced the huge problem of absorbing indigent newcomers into a country that had difficulty in sustaining its existing population. The economy benefited from the cheap labour, and Greece finally began to industrialise. But the refugees also increased social tensions. Almost a million of them settled in squalid shanty towns outside central Athens, Thessaloníki and Iráklio.

Colonialism in Action

Italy occupied Rhodes and the Dodecanese from 1912 to 1943. During the years of Mussolini’s rule, the islanders lived under the strictures of a totalitarian regime intent on “Italianising” the islands. A secret police network guarded against nationalist activity; the supremacy of Roman Catholicism was mandated; the blue and white colours of the Greek flag were prohibited in public; all shop signs had to be in Italian, with slogans such as “Viva il Duce, viva la nuova Italia imperiale!” daubed on the walls of recalcitrant shopkeepers. During the late 1930s, under the harsh governorship of ardent Fascist Cesare Maria de Vecchi, many islanders emigrated.

For much of the 20th century, many Greek villages depended heavily on money sent home by young men, who had emigrated, particularly to the United States and Australia.

After the disaster, King Constantine was forced to abdicate for good after a military coup, six high-ranking officers and royalist ministers were court-martialled and executed, and a parliamentary republic was established. It lasted only 13 years and was characterised by political intrigues and a brief military dictatorship under Theodoros Pangalos. The only period of stability – Venizelos’s return to power from 1928 to 1932 – was terminated by the shock of international economic depression. In 1933, the Liberals were succeeded by the royalist People’s Party, whose leaders only half-heartedly supported the republic. An abortive Venizelist coup in 1935 resulted in Venizelos himself going into exile in Paris.

Return of the monarchy

The politicians’ feuding rendered parliamentary government vulnerable to military pressure. The failed 1935 coup quickly resulted in a renewed mandate for the People’s Party, and shortly after, the army backed restoration of the king, Constantine’s son George II. In 1936, he offered the premiership to an extreme right-wing politician, Ioannis Metaxas, a former senior army officer and fervent royalist – despite his party having few parliamentary seats – to avoid more numerous Communist MPs exercising the balance of power. Soon afterwards, Metaxas responded to a wave of Communist-inspired strikes by declaring martial law and abolishing parliament. But self-styled “First Peasant” Metaxas never managed to firmly implement his so-called “Third Hellenic Civilisation”. Despite imitating some of the characteristics of Fascist regimes, he regarded Britain as Greece’s traditional patron in foreign affairs. But Germany’s increasing dominance in the Balkans, as against Britain’s naval strength in the Mediterranean, dictated a stance of neutrality.

But Germany was not the only power with designs on the Balkans. In April 1939, Mussolini invaded Albania and in October 1940 he prepared to cross the Albanian border into Greece. Metaxas could no longer hope to keep Greece neutral. Receiving the Italian ambassador in his dressing gown early on 28 October, he listened to a recital of trumped-up charges and responded to the ultimatum for free passage of Italian troops into Greece with a curt “Alors, c’est la guerre”. Óhi or “No” Day is now a national holiday.

German officers on top of the Acropolis, Athens, May 1941.

Public domain

World War II and the Occupation

Fighting alone in the mountains of Epirus, the Greek forces surprised onlookers by pushing the Makaronádes (“Spaghetti Eaters”, as the Italians were quickly dubbed) deep back into Albania. But in the spring of 1941, Hitler sent German troops south to pacify the Balkans in preparation for his attack on the Soviet Union. Victory was swift: the Nazi invasion of Greece began on 6 April, and by the end of the month they had appointed General Georgios Tsolakoglou as their first quisling prime minister.

Greece was occupied by German, Italian and Bulgarian forces, each with their designated zones. While their hold over the countryside was often tenuous, it was firm in the towns, which suffered most from food shortages, notably in the terrible famine of winter 1941–42 when over 100,000 civilians perished. From the towns also the Germans deported and exterminated Greece’s long-established Jewish communities during 1943–44. King George and the legal government had left the country in late April 1941 and passed the war in British Egypt.

Yet in the mountains, organised resistance emerged, drawing on the klephtic tradition and making forays down into the plains. Much the largest of these groups was the Greek Popular Liberation Army (the Greek initials being ELAS), organised by the Communist-dominated National Liberation Front (Greek acronym EAM), but commanding broad support. Clashes between the three main rival resistance groups – there were also royalist EDES and centrist-Venizelist EKKA – were common, while the Germans and their new stooge, Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Rallis, established the collaborationist Security Battalions.

The dominance of EAM meant that when the British first contacted resistance groups in 1942, they found that military considerations collided with political ones. ELAS, with perhaps 60,000 fighters, was well placed to pin down German troops. But the British, suspecting that EAM intended to set up a Communist state in Greece after the war, also armed the other groups as a counterweight. EAM/ELAS, for its part, resented Churchill’s wish to restore the monarchy without consulting the Greek people. In turn, Churchill had little sympathy for the ELAS guerrillas, whom he described as “miserable banditti”.

Into the Cold War

In October 1944, the German forces abandoned Greece, replaced by Greek and British troops. In December 1944, bitter fighting erupted in Athens between ELAS fighters and British forces. Inflation continued to soar, the black market still flourished and violence erupted country-wide between the Security Battalions and their opponents.

The December 1944 fighting marked a decisive turning point in the slide towards the civil war that subsequently broke out between the national government and Communist insurgents, raging from October 1946 until October 1949. King George had returned to Greece in September 1946 following an apparently rigged plebiscite on the monarchy’s re-instatement.

Greece during the late 1940s became a key battleground in the developing Cold War. In March 1947, the United States took over from Britain as Greece’s principal external patron. American military and economic aid flooded in, enabling the central government, at times very hard-pressed, to defeat the rebel Democratic Army in the mountains of northwest Greece by autumn 1949. But the victory entailed the incarceration of suspected left-wingers on desolate prison-islands like Makrónisos, Gyáros and Paleó Tríkeri and the forcible evacuation of entire villages.

Violation of civil rights and the emergence of a powerful security apparatus did not end in 1950. Politics continued to be polarised, although the royalist-republican divide had become one between the royalist Right and the far Left; the banned Communists participated in the electoral system behind a front party, United Democratic Left (UDL, UDA in Greek).

Greece looks West

Democracy had weathered the civil war – but only just, with women finally granted the vote in 1952. In the following decade, a degree of stability was achieved, with only two conservative prime ministers in power between 1952 and 1963 – from 1955, the redoubtable Constantine Karamanlis. Yet this stability was precarious, relying as it did on restricted civil liberties, and a first-past-the-post electoral system designed to exclude small parties from parliament.

Greece had joined NATO in 1951, and the pro-Western orientation of its foreign policy secured continued support from the United States. However, the relationship was not straightforward: when the Cyprus dispute flared up in 1954, Greece refused to take part in NATO manoeuvres, and relations with putative ally Turkey soured. This foreshadowed the problems that later governments would experience, attempting to define Greece’s role in Europe. Nonetheless, the Cyprus issue was resolved – temporarily – when that island became an independent republic in 1960.

The “economic miracle”

During the 1950s and 1960s, Greece, like Italy and Spain, experienced an “economic miracle” which transformed the country. Malaria was wiped out through anti-mosquito spraying, electric power reached many remote areas and communications improved. Athens mushroomed until it contained more than one-third of the country’s entire population – as it still does.

Old forms of political control, which had operated best in small rural communities, began to erode. A new urban middle class arose which regarded the conservative elite as lacking a vision of Greece as a modern state.

British troops liberate Ath-ens in October 1944.

Benaki Museum, Photographic Archive

The bitterly fought 1961 elections saw the resurgence of the political centre under the leadership of former Venizelist Georgios Papandreou. When the results were announced in favour of Karamanlis and his National Radical Union, Papandreou alleged that they were fraudulent.

Public disquiet at possible links between the palace, the ruling party and extreme right-wing violence increased in May 1963 when a prominent UDL deputy, Grigoris Lambrakis, was assassinated at a rally in Thessaloníki. Shortly afterwards, Karamanlis resigned and in the two successive elections that followed, Papandreou’s Centre Union Party won power, the first centrist ruling party in Greece for over a decade. With conservative politicians prepared to surrender power – and Karamanlis gone into voluntary exile in Paris – an extended period of centrist rule now seemed possible, although right-wingers in the military and the palace saw this as a threat.

When Papandreou demanded a reshuffle of senior army officers, he found himself opposed by his defence minister and the new young king, Constantine II. The king tried clumsily to bring down the Centre Union government, but when Papandreou agreed with the main conservative opposition to hold elections in May 1967, Constantine was faced with the prospect of a third Centre Union victory.

Partisan hospital in Greece during WWII.

Public domain

However, schemes hatched between the king and senior army officers for military intervention were dramatically pre-empted when a group of junior army officers, working according to a NATO contingency plan, executed a swift coup d’état early on the morning of 21 April 1967. Martial law was proclaimed; all political parties were dissolved. The so-called Colonels (only two junta officers actually held this rank) were in power.

The military junta

The military junta was motivated by self-interest, anti-Communism and ultra-nationalism. This combination was certainly not new: on various occasions in the interwar period, army officers had used the rhetoric of national salvation to avert being dismissed in politically motivated purges. In their attitudes, too, the new junta’s officers drew on earlier examples. They claimed that they wanted the country to “radiate civilisation in all directions” by establishing a “Greece of the Christian Greeks” which would make it once again “a pole of ideological and spiritual attraction”. An escape from the modern world into a chimerical fusion of classical Athens and Byzantium.

A Totalitarian Approach

With their peasant or lower-middle-class backgrounds, the junta officers symbolised a provincial reaction to the new world of urban consumers brought about by Greece’s economic “miracle” of the 1950s and 1960s. They stressed the need for a return to traditional morality and religion, and set about this with a fanatical attention to detail. Not only did they close the frontiers to bearded or mini-skirted foreigners (at least until the tourist trade was hit), they also prevented Greeks from reading “subversive” literature – much ancient drama included. This grim period of Greek history was marked by torture and internal exile of opponents.

The first signs of widespread discontent coincided with the 1973 economic downturn. The protest leaders were students, whose occupations of university buildings in March and November were brutally broken up. After the November student occupation of the Athens Polytechnic, Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos, the regime’s figurehead, was replaced by the even more sinister Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannides, previously commander of the military police.

In the end, the Cyprus problem toppled the junta. A foolhardy Greek nationalist coup, prompted by Athens, against Cypriot president Archbishop Makarios led the Turks to invade northern Cyprus. Ioannides ordered Greek forces to retaliate by invading Turkey, but mobilisation was so chaotic and the disparity of forces so obvious that local commanders mutinied. On 24 July 1974, Constantine Karamanlis made a triumphant return from exile to supervise the restoration of parliamentary democracy.

Karamanlis’s “New Democracy”

The transition to democracy proceeded remarkably smoothly considering the enormous problems that Karamanlis faced. Aware of his own vulnerability, he moved slowly in dismissing junta collaborators and for some time never slept in the same quarters two nights running to forestall attempts by junta diehards to abduct him. At the elections held in November 1974, Karamanlis’s New Democracy (Néa Dimokratía or ND) party won an overwhelming victory, though many people seemed to have voted for ND simply as a guarantor of stability – “Karamanlis or the Tanks” was an unofficial slogan.

Karamanlis was in theory able to proceed with necessary reforms, since a December 1974 referendum produced a decisive vote for the permanent abolition of the monarchy, compromised by the king’s actions before and during the junta. To replace it, Karamanlis created a presidency with sweeping powers. In the event of a swing to the Left, Karamanlis could simply resign his parliamentary seat and become president.

A move to the Left

Signs of such a swing were evident after the 1977 elections in which Andreas Papandreou’s Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) made large gains. The younger Papandreou, Georgios’s son, represented a new post-war generation; with his background as a professor of economics in the US, he seemed the ideal candidate to lead a technocratic party. Yet he still cultivated his 1960s reputation as a radical, vehemently attacking Karamanlis’s policies, taking a belligerent stand over relations with Turkey, and threatening that a PASOK government would take Greece out of both NATO and the EEC, subject to a referendum. Support for PASOK grew, until, in 1980, Karamanlis resigned as prime minister and was voted in as president by parliament.

Tank patrols Athens’ streets during the failed military coup by King Con-stantine against Greece’s junta, December 1967.

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Papandreou and PASOK

After PASOK’s victory in the October 1981 elections, based on the simple campaign slogan of Allagí (“Change”), Papandreou formed Greece’s first notionally socialist government. His significance lies not in his socialism – though the regime was manifestly anti-big-business – but in his remarkable success in articulating populist views, and engaging in no- or low-cost gestures such as instituting civil marriage and recognising the ELAS wartime resistance for the first time.

PASOK rhetoric carried the party until the three successive elections of 1989 and 1990, when accumulated scandals returned the New Democracy party to power. This proved to be only a short interregnum, for – helped by a fatal split within ND – PASOK won early elections in October 1993, returning Andreas Papandreou to office until ill health forced him to step down two years later. PASOK chose as his successor the relatively uncharismatic Kostas Simitis, whose style contrasted markedly with his flamboyant predecessor.

As prime minister, Simitis had to oblige a population long accustomed to government largesse to accept economic reality. After Andreas Papandreou’s death in June 1996, the government followed a tighter economic policy so as to allow Greece to join the European Monetary Union (EMU). This was not easy, since many PASOK deputies and labour unions strenuously opposed such attempts.

Andreas Papandreou in 1994 in Washington, DC, during an official visit to the US.

Corbis

FYROM and Turkey

In foreign affairs, the emergence of an independent Macedonian state from the ruins of ex-Yugoslavia in 1991 acted as a red flag before a bull to the more nationalist fringe of Greeks. In 1993, Antonis Samaras pulled the plug on the ND government by defecting with other deputies to form the short-lived Politikí Ánixi party, whose main platform was intransigence on the Macedonia issue. But by the late 1990s, Greece was reconciled to the existence of an independent Macedonian state on her northern border, although agreement was yet to be reached on its name – Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), or the more disparaging Ta Skópia (The Skopje Things), were the only labels permitted in Greek public discourse, until 2018 negotiations produced the compromise ‘North Macedonia’, approved by referenda in both countries – though not without Greek nationalist grumbling.

Traditionally poor relations with Turkey improved markedly late in 1999 when there was an upsurge of public sympathy in each country for the other when both were afflicted by severe earthquakes. Helped by good personal rapport between the Greek and Turkish foreign ministers, one result was Greece dropping opposition to Turkish EU candidacy.

On the domestic front, Simitis secured a very narrow victory over nephew-of-Constantine Kostas Karamanlis’s ND party in spring 2000 elections. Simitis continued with austerity measures aimed at controlling public expenditure and curbing inflation. These enabled Greece to join the eurozone in 2001 and it adopted the euro in early 2002 – abandoning Europe’s oldest currency, the drachma. Despite Simitis’ nickname of O Logistís (The Accountant), it eventually became evident that the books had been cooked under his watch to allow Greece to join the EMU, so Simitis now languishes in enforced retirement, persona non grata for any sinecure post with the EU.

The visit of Pope John Paul II to Athens in May 2002 demonstrated how long historical memories are in Greece when the Pope formally apologised for the sack of Constantinople following the diversion of the Fourth Crusade in 1204.

Just two months later, Dekaeftá Noemvríou (“17 November”), Europe’s longest lived far-left terrorist group, which had operated with seeming impunity (and 23 fatalities) since 1974, was abruptly liquidated. By late 2003, trials saw most of its members convicted and jailed.

The 2004 Olympics

Simitis resigned before the elections of March 2004, leaving his polished foreign minister, George Papandreou (son of Andreas), as PASOK party leader. Despite 17 November having been wound up during PASOK’s term, a decisive victory was won by ND under Kostas Karamanlis. He appointed himself minister of culture as well as premier to oversee the behind-schedule construction of the Olympic Games venues. Basic urban infrastructure, such as the new international airport at Spáta and the Athens metro, had been operating since 2001. In the event, Greece staged memorable games that confounded the most cynical critics – but left huge cost overruns and crumbling facilities with no compelling future role.

In 2007, Karamanlis called early elections for September and won almost as easily as in 2004. The new parliament only sat for half its statutory term of four years; “Kostakis” (“Charlie” or “Chuck” approximately), as the younger Karamanlis was derisively dubbed, unwisely called another snap election in October 2009, resulting in a resounding defeat for his party; and “Georgakis” (“Georgie” as George Papandreou the younger was equally disparagingly nicknamed) finally realised his dream of becoming prime minister.

The crisis unfolds

Although PASOK had clearly benefitted from public disgust at ND inaction and corruption, there was to be no honeymoon period. State finances turned out to be in dire condition, such that Greece’s ability to pay its public payroll, meet obligations for bond maturities and pay debts to both domestic and foreign lenders was in doubt. Total debt eventually approached 400 billion euros. Greece was obliged to beg for a bailout from international lending agencies.

In May 2010, a €110 billion loan was offered by the so-called troïka, comprising the IMF, the European Union and the European Central Bank, subject to conditions. These were the implementation of the harshest austerity measures ever imposed by any civilian government: the privatisation of most government assets and enterprises; an effective crackdown on rampant tax evasion by freelance professionals, along with sharp hikes in taxes; and the implementation of so-called structural reforms to make the Greek economy more competitive and spur growth.

These proposals sparked vehement opposition from those worst affected within Greece, including repeated civil disturbances in Athens which adversely affected the vital tourist industry. The economy instead shrunk so precipitously that a second bailout of €130 billion had to be secured in late 2011, with a two-year extension on the implementation of reforms negotiated in late 2012.

The street-level effects of all these measures were massive unemployment, in particular the dismissal of many civil servants and the cutting of most salaries and pensions to levels comparable to those in the Global South. Many businesses, small and large, failed, evidenced in the vast number of boarded-up shop, and a growing number of homeless.

In 2015, Greece renegotiated bailout terms with the troïka, and the new government, headed by SYRIZA’s Alexis Tsipras, finally agreed to introduce the lenders’ harsh economic measures. However, in a referendum held in July, the public opposed these measures, resulting in the finance minister’s resignation, numerous strikes and protests, growing fears of Grexit and the renegotiation of the relief programme. In May 2016, a new compromise was reached, whereby the lenders agreed to the major restructuring of Greece’s debt, on the strict condition that the country remained on the path to radical political and economic reform.

Aléxis Tsípras and Angela Merkel, Berlin 2015.

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Political meltdown

Politically, the effects of the crisis were equally cataclysmic, ending the party duopoly which had run Greece since 1974. Papandreou resigned as prime minister in November 2011, deferring to a unity government led by European banker Lucas Papademos, whose brief was to negotiate effectively with the troika. Despite the appreciable headway he made, inexorable pressure caused 2012 elections.

These returned two hung, unprecedentedly splintered parliaments, with seven parties taking seats, and support for both PASOK and ND plunging below 20 percent nationwide. Both times ND was the top poller, fractionally ahead of SYRIZA. Even with 50 bonus seats for finishing first, ND had to cobble together a coalition with moribund PASOK and DIMAR (Democratic Left). SYRIZA, originally a disparate leftist umbrella, benefitted from the evaporation of both the PASOK and the Communist vote. The worst surprise from both ballots was the emergence of neo-Nazi, violently xenophobic Hrysí Avgí (Golden Dawn), whose symbol was a swastika-like adaptation of the ancient Greek meander. They fed on the collapse of rival far-right LAOS and the public’s disgust with dynastic politics.

COVID-19 testing, Larissa.

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SYRIZA won early elections following parliament’s failure to elect a president in January 2015 and Alexis Tsipras became prime minister. In August 2015, Tsipras resigned due to an inability to get the long-negotiated bailout agreement through parliament. However, September 2015 snap elections reinforced SYRIZA’s position, with the party winning 149 seats in the 300-strong parliament. Tsipras was again sworn in as prime minister, heading a government formed by SYRIZA and the Independent Greeks Party (ANEL).

Elections in autumn 2019 returned a majority ND government led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis. SYRIZA went into a prolonged state of opposition and a new party named KINAL (Movement for Change), formed by merging PASOK and DIMAR, now features in the political landscape. ANEL and Hrysí Avgí both vanished from parliament, the latter destroyed by the October 2020 trials and convictions of its top members for running a criminal organisation and committing several violent crimes against opponents.

Green shoots of recovery

Having weathered the global storm of economic insecurity caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Greece has since defied the odds and started to place itself on a much surer financial footing, despite continuing hardships for many. Unemployment has fallen below ten percent, income from tourism has bounced back tremendously and it was even named “Country of the year” in 2023 by the Economist.

In summer 2023, having failed to get an outright majority at the first attempt, Mitsotakis secured another term for ND in the new eight-party parliament at the second ballot, winning around twices as many votes as SYRIZA, who in turn had roughly twice as many as PASOK-KINAL. Harking back to ancient glories, the new standard bearers of the far right are the Spartiátes (Spartans), effectively Hrysí Avgí in another guise. As Greece becomes an increasingly diverse society and the economy slowly improves, however, their extreme ideas are gaining less traction than ten years previously.

Meanwhile, the continuing effect of climate change has led to several scorching summers in succession, leading to water shortages on some islands and worsening forest fires. In August 2024 a rampant fire in Attikí ravaged parts of Mount Pendéli and penetrated the northeastern suburbs of Athens, casting a pall of smoke and showers of ash across the city.

COPING WITH THE CRISIS

From 2012 to 2016, not a month went by in Greece without a “back to the land” newspaper feature – young people, not just retirees, re-occupying old family property, rent free, in their ancestral villages. Here they could grow their own food, raise children in a bucolic environment, and perhaps even ply the trade they did back in town, if they weren’t unemployed. Young people who couldn’t leave the cities moved back in with their parents (many had never left) or occupied a spare flat owned by the family, rent free.

Failing internal migration, there was outright emigration; Australia, Canada, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands were favourite destinations. Even now, there are still exceedingly few well-paying jobs for recent graduates in Greece, with thousands applying for any vacancy that appears; engineers in particular can be fairly sure of positions overseas.

Greek banks, thanks to huge portfolios of non-performing loans, were dangerously undercapitalised. Between 2010 and 2016, they lost a third of their deposits as customers, fearful of bank failures, withdrew euros as banknotes to keep under their mattresses. Capital controls were put in place in 2015, with an initial €60-per-day-per-person cash withdrawal allocation and a ban on currency export, though these were eventually rescinded.

Many small businesses shut down. Others vacated commercial premises but continued to operate out of sitting rooms or converted garages at home. Pawnshops remained ubiquitous, and still do today, as do “we buy gold” signs.

As insurance, fuel and road tax costs soared, up to 40 percent of vehicles circulated without insurance coverage; many cars were put up for sale or abandoned illegally, sans number plates, on public thoroughfares. Bicycling as a means of transport became and remains popular, and cycling shops are one of the few flourishing retail sectors.

Winter heating became a major issue, with massive conversion to energy-efficient wood stoves (especially to avoid punitive taxes on heating oil). Unfiltered chimneys and lacquered furniture bits used as kindling created major air-quality issues. Utility prices jumped steeply again in autumn 2021.

Make do and Mend

Second-hand goods, including formerly disdained clothing, became socially acceptable, as did rubbish- and roadside-scavenging. Little was bought new unless heavily discounted, with shops holding continual sales. Middleman-free street markets emerged, with farmers selling produce direct to consumers.

Farmers selling milk during a protest in Thessaloníki.

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Seeing the state as effectively useless, people took many independent initiatives e.g. parents hiring an entire bar for a benefit party to fix the local, structurally unsafe school. Or taverna owners in a sea-side resort sponsoring divers at summer’s end to retrieve all the junk submerged in the adjacent picturesque fishing port.

Leisure spending fell considerably, with people eating out perhaps once a week, not two or three times as before. Many tavernas only opened on peak nights in winter. Those that offered real value or prix fixe menus (a recent novelty) were full to bursting, while fancy places struggled and cheap, takeaway cookshops did a bumping trade. Smarter live-music venues, realising that some money is better than none, moderated cover prices.

GREEKS TODAY

In many ways, Greece has become a modern European country, but other facets of the national character have not changed in centuries.

Is the phrase “modern Greece” an oxymoron? A Greek might well pose this question to Western visitors, given the history of the past 200 years: to claim a place among the Western European family of nations, Greeks have been obliged to prove themselves more like their 2,500-year-old forebears than their peasant grandparents. This is perhaps to say that notions of “modernity” are always in the eye of the beholder, and that contemporary Greece is rife with contradictions.

The spread of Westernisation

Regular visitors to Greece over the past 50 years will have likely noticed a certain Westernisation of behaviour patterns – not just in the bigger cities such as Athens but also in small villages. Greece is a country that traditionally associated thinness with illness or meanness, but Western beauty ideals that tend to place more value on a slender or muscular physique are beginning to make their mark; nowadays it is not difficult to find slimming centres and beauty salons wherever you go.

Although Greece has historically tended to be one of the countries in Europe with a high obesity rate (along with the UK, Malta and Iceland), over the past decades Greeks have also discovered an increased interest in fitness, generally speaking. Anecdotally, many regular visitors to Greece report that they have noticed a rise in the number of gyms, runners and cyclists, particularly in the years that followed the 2004 Olympics which were hosted in Athens; this is a common phenomenon in countries that host the Olympic Games, as the population is inspired by the dedication and physical prowess of the competing athletes.

Striking changes are also manifest in politics, as election campaigns – the subject of tremendous passion throughout the 1970s and 1980s – have been met increasingly with contempt reflected in a startlingly high abstention rate (over one-third) for a country where violators of the compulsory-voting law were until recently punished with fines. Politicians are sometimes considered on par with criminals, regarded as corrupt and self-serving. Many Greeks now prefer to make their views known on the street, in demonstrations or with forthright graffiti.

Pensioners protest against the austerity policy.

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A strong national identity

Yet there is another side to contemporary Greece that stands firm against the tide of Westernisation, epitomised by the public protest over a proposed law in the mid-1990s which would have forced tavernas and bars to close at 2am rather than 4am, supposedly to increase worker efficiency. The widespread outcry eventually led to it being shelved or at worst applied weeknights only. An attempt to re-introduce the measure more recently met with more compliance. Amidst the often acrimonious exchange of abuse between Germany and Greece during the height of the crisis, mediated in great part by each country’s gutter press, a recurrent motif by Greek partisans was “they [northern Europeans] envy us our lifestyle”.

Protests against the Republic of Macedonia using the term to name the country.

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Greece’s working day, with its ostensibly inefficient split every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday into morning and early-evening work shifts (producing two sets of daily commutes), has also come under attack from overseas creditors and Eurocrats. The compromise is north-European style synéhies óres (a single shift) from October to April. But come summer, the mikrós ypnos or siesta again reigns supreme as shops revert to the only sensible rhythm in the roasting heat.

Localism and homeland

Another facet of contemporary Greece that stresses the local can also be found in the unusual relationship that exists between villages and the large urban centres of Athens and Thessaloníki. While certainly not free of the snobbery that urban dwellers commonly express for the “backwardness” of their rural cousins, most of Greece is somewhat unusual in having a comparatively short urban memory. There are few Athenians whose grandparents were born in that city. Thus, a Greek who answers the question “Where are you from?” with “Athens” will invariably be asked “Yes, but where is your village?”

What seems an unusual query for anyone from a city such as London, Paris or New York makes perfect sense to the Athenian. These rural loyalties are manifested in the enormous flows of people out of the cities for Easter, most of August, and at election times, when many who have grown up in the largest towns still retain voting privileges in their family’s ancestral village – where, indeed, their vote will numerically have more effect. Many city-dwellers – a rapidly increasing proportion of the population – will wax lyrical about the virtues of the food, the air and the water in their village; about an uncle’s freshly pressed olive oil, a grandmother’s cheese, an aunt’s fig tree.

The population of Greece is currently around 10,500,000 – down almost 600,000 since the start of the crisis – of whom about 3.5 million live in Greater Athens. Thanks to a century-plus of emigration, there are also around 6 million Greeks living overseas. Families typically have fewer than two children on average.

Regional pride is often more a matter of friendly rivalries, with differences in traditional costumes and wedding rituals, or whether Easter lamb (or goat) is prepared on a spit or in a clay oven, becoming topics of lengthy discussion. Such localism should not be surprising given that, in Greek, the word “homeland” (patrída) is used to refer as equally to one’s country and to one’s village or region of birth. Hence the condition of xenitiá, or “longing for homeland”, experienced by many in the far-flung Greek diaspora is inherently equivocal: is one primarily nostalgic for the sight of the Parthenon or for the view across the valley to the mountains?

The hipster crowd at a café in Ermoúpoli in Sýros.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Kós versus Kálymnos

What Greece may have, until recently, lacked in ethnic diversity, it certainly made up for in the multitude of claims to regional diversity. Residents of villages, towns and cities are eager to discuss the myriad differences in manners and customs of their nearby neighbours. Often this may lead to hyperbole: “The Kalymniots are all crazy!” insisted a taxi driver on the neighbouring island of Kós. “The Koans are all lazy”, a Kalymniot shoots back, calling them – for good measure – kótes (a pun on the island-name Kós, and a particularly grave insult in Greek, meaning “hens”, reserved usually for frivolous women).

The women’s sphere

Perhaps nowhere are the paradoxes of contemporary Greece more evident than in shifting gender relations. Gender in Greece has always been more complicated than the stereotype of Mediterranean male dominance. Men have certainly dominated the public sphere of politics, but women have always dominated in the public sphere of the church and religious life, in spite of the all-male church leadership.

In many parts of Greece, particularly the Aegean Islands, dowry and home ownership have given women resources not available to their husbands (although there is also property passed down through the male line). With the tourist boom, many of these houses have been turned into lodgings, also providing women with a source of ready cash. This meant that despite the rhetoric of male power, this hasn’t necessarily played out in real life.

As one woman from the island of Kálymnos put it: “Women would make the pretence of consulting their husbands, but more often they would simply make decisions for the family in their husbands’ absence. My mother sold the family house while my father was away fishing for several months and then found ways to sugar-coat the news to him when he returned”. This notion of female power is captured by Lainie Kazan in the Hollywood comedy film My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002): “Yes the man is the head of the family, but the woman is the neck – she can turn him in any direction she wants”. On the other hand, however, the rather patronising “Re Kopeliá! (Hey girlie!)” is still considered an acceptable form of public address by certain older men.

The early 1980s coming to power of the first PASOK government brought legal changes that improved women’s position in relation to property ownership and pensions, as well as mandating civil marriage – a church ceremony by itself was no longer sufficient. Women also moved into national politics in increasing numbers. The two Greek Communist parties have been led by women in recent years (Aleka Papariga and, briefly, Maria Damanaki before she became an EU Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner), and ex-Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis’ daughter Dora Bakogianni has long been a figure to be reckoned with in the centre-right ND party, having served as foreign minister and mayor of Athens. Until her death in 2021, Fofi Gennimata, daughter of two PASOK founders, was the head of successor party KINAL. Women, however, remain under-represented in the Greek Parliament as a whole, recently at around 22 percent of the 300 MPs.

Loosened family bonds

While these changes in the public sphere have been substantial, in everyday life it might be more accurate to think less in terms of a shift in power from men to women than as a shift from the older to the younger generation. As Greece has moved away from agriculture and other “traditional” occupations into a more anonymous urban society, parents and other relatives no longer have the crucial technical knowledge that will determine their children’s future work lives. Their control over the personal lives of the younger generation has also largely withered away. No longer can parents “keep their daughters locked up in their houses”, as many claimed to do in the old days – most parents cease trying when the girl is about 15. It is now common, even in smaller towns, for couples to cohabit for extended periods in Holy Bedlock rather than get married, and even have children out of wedlock – something unheard of in the 1980s. Perhaps the most prominent example of this is Alexis Tsipras, 2015–19 prime minister from the centre-left SYRIZA party, who has neither married his long-term partner nor had their two children baptised.

Women in the men’s world

The traditional Greek kafeníon, serving just Greek coffee, brandy and oúzo to an all-male clientele, is dying out. Such establishments are now vastly outnumbered by the so-called frappádika, which serve cold or hot cappuccino and espresso, Nes-frappé and other exotic drinks to a young, mixed-sex crowd, often seen glued to their mobiles. Ironically, recent years have seen the simultaneous increase in coffee shops that pride themselves on making Greek coffee the old-fashioned way, heated ever so slowly over a bed of ember-heated sand: kafés sti hóvoli.

In late-night bars, it is no longer uncommon to see women engaged in dances that were once the sole preserve of men, like the zeïbékiko, the swaying, eagle-like solo dance which had long been a particular expression of Greek male passion and pain. And the dowry, a source of economic security to an older generation of women, is shunned by their daughters as an insult to ideas about romantic love.

Generations old and new in Náousa on Páros.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

While older Greeks tend to see a struggle for power between the sexes, many younger people embrace gender equality. Fathers are now expected take a large share of childcare, which extends to pushing the pram and changing nappies – something unthinkable four to five decades ago. Also, in a marked contrast to Anglo-Saxon practice, if the parents go their separate ways, unless the father has behaved monstrously towards them, it is considered normal and expected that he will continue to have a close relationship with any offspring.

PEOPLE AND IDENTITIES

The population of Greece is more diverse today than it has been for centuries, but Greek character is still defined by ancient traditions.

Until the early 1990s, Greece was unusual in the remarkable homogeneity of the ethnic and religious identifications of its population. This apparent homogeneity was itself a historically recent development – the preceding Byzantine and Ottoman empires were remarkably multicultural by today’s standards – which was due in large part to events such as the population exchanges between Greece and Turkey in 1923 and the near-total extermination of Greek Jewry by the Nazis during World War II. This relative homogeneity has meant that Greek citizenship and “Greek” ethnicity have been seen as almost synonymous.

Tending an olive grove on Páros.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Post-war populations

In the post-war period, upwards of 97 percent of the population identified themselves by ethnicity as Greek and by religion as members of the Greek Orthodox Church. This still left room for some different identifications, including a sizeable Muslim Turkish minority in Thrace, plus much smaller ones on Rhodes and Kos; a Slav/Macedonian minority in Greek Macedonia; small Vlach villages throughout west-central Greece; the Pomaks, a separate Muslim group which claims ancestry from the aboriginal Thracians; the remaining Jewish population in Thessaloníki, Lárissa, Ioánnina, Corfu, Halkída, Vólos and Rhodes; Greek Catholics largely on the islands of Tínos and Sýros; Roma and Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout the country. However, all of these minorities are regarded with varying degrees of suspicion or outright dislike by “mainstream” Greeks.

There are also ethnically identified Greeks who distinguish themselves in terms of origins, including the Greeks from the Pontic region and Caucasus around the Black Sea, Greeks from northern Epirus (today in Albania), Asia Minor Greeks from west/central Anatolia, ethnic Greeks from Bulgaria or Romania, plus Arvanites, whose ancestors migrated to Greece in the Middle Ages and who spoke until recently a medieval dialect of Albanian.

Waiting for custom in Líndos.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Asia Minor refugees

An interesting case of borderline “ethnic” difference is the Greek refugees from Asia Minor who came to Greece during the Greek-Turkish population exchange of 1923 (in fact, the majority had arrived gradually since 1914, when the Ottomans moved against many Anatolian Greek Orthodox communities in revenge for the sufferings inflicted on Muslim communities in the Balkans by the victors of the two Balkan wars). Although relatively indistinguishable from mainland Greeks in physical features and religion, the refugees, most of whom settled around Piraeus, Athens and Thessaloníki, still hold onto a separate identity several generations after their uprooting.

So what set this group apart from mainland Greeks? They brought with them a shared heritage and historical experience distinct from that of metropolitan Greece, a cosmopolitan outlook, a sense of grievance and dispossession (many refugees joined the Greek Communist Party in the 1930s), and a distinctive tradition in food and music – indeed, the once underground, now popular rebétika music traces its roots to the Asia Minor refugees.

Classroom on the beach in Páros.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Being within the Ottoman Empire for a century longer than Greece proper, they felt a particular tie to Byzantium and the legacy of Constantinople. Their experience of major cosmopolitan cities, particularly Smyrna and İstanbul (or Constantinople as they refer to it), gave a sense of multiculturalism and high culture which didn’t exist on the Greek mainland. Indeed, most Asia Minor refugees have positive memories of Greek-Turkish relations, claiming that it was the machinations of politicians and the “Great Powers” which caused problems between them. Thousands of such refugees from Cappadocia and Karamania, deep in the Asia Minor interior, didn’t speak a word of Greek upon arrival; Turkish was their first language, written somewhat awkwardly in the Greek alphabet. Many of these karamanlídiki manuscripts and books still exist. Such “Turkish” habits earned them contempt from “real” Greeks who called them tourkóspori (seeds of the Turk) and giaourtovaptisméni (baptised in yoghurt, after that foodstuff hitherto little known in metropolitan Greece).

Coastal Asia Minor Greeks also brought with them a sense of class superiority: many of them had been well educated or were wildly successful merchants (or both) and felt themselves superior to what they saw as the “peasants” of Balkan Greece, even if they no longer enjoyed the financial advantages they once had. As refugees, the only possessions most were able to bring with them were the skulls of ancestors, a handful of earth from home and religious icons sewn into clothing. These icons were closely guarded and passed down to children and grandchildren.

Often completely overlooked in the fixation on Asia Minor Greeks are the 300,000-plus ethnic Greeks who arrived, mostly from Bulgaria, but also Romania and what today is the Republic of North Macedonia. Because they came gradually over a long period (1908–28), they were able to bring considerable wealth with them, usually selling their property and not merely abandoning it as the Anatolian Orthodox did. This migration, though mediated by treaties, was effectively voluntary – all the Greeks of the Black Sea had to do to stay in their home countries was espouse that nationality and adhere to the local national church. A surprising number did, and these days many Bulgarians are proud to have an ethnic Greek grandparent or two.

Food for thought

A Greek saying goes: “Eat, in order to remember!” In this straightforward, Proustian injunction lies a whole social and moral philosophy. Indeed, if anything unites all the diverse regions, classes, rural and urban dwellers, ethnic groups and genders that make up modern Greece, it is perhaps best found in an attitude towards food as an embodiment of the good life, in which friends, family and community are all blended. It is striking to the outsider that Greek food, which does not rank among the world’s haute cuisines, can be such a focus of everyday life, conversation and memory.

So what makes Greek food Greek? No doubt a cookbook writer will speak of ingredients and preparations – but equally key is the context of eating, that food be shared among friends, neighbours, even strangers and fortunate tourists, that people dip their forks into collective bowls (at least, prior to the spread of Covid-19), with one man spearing a particularly juicy tomato or nicely done bit of fish and force-feeding it to his friend; that there be music and boisterous conversation. That one should always have a full plate: there is no clearer symbol of the good life in Greece. At the same time, convention dictates that glasses are only to be filled two-thirds full at most; topping up is considered boorish.

Eating with the dead

Kóllyva made from boiled, sugared winter wheat kernels, supplemented by some or all of the following ingredients – pomegranate seeds, sesame seeds, (sugared) almonds, walnuts, parsley, breadcrumbs, currants, pistachios and raisins – is the food that living women offer in memory of the dead, or that the dead symbolically consume as part of their ongoing participation in the community of the Greek Orthodox faithful. It is obligatorily prepared for the three annual Psyhosávvata (Soul Saturdays, one before Carnival Sunday, the second preceding Pentecost Sunday, the last one just before 8 November), when the dead are collectively remembered.

When preparing this dish, the entire family gathers and sprinkles a handful of it into a plate in the shape of a cross, asking God to forgive the deceased (indeed, the standard polite way to refer to a departed person is o synhoriménos/i synhoriméni, the “forgiven one”). Once the kóllyva is ready, the female head-of-house takes it to the church to be blessed. After the service, the priest reads each family’s list of the named dead relatives who they wish to be remembered. Once the liturgy is over, the women retrieve their lists and plates and, on the steps of the church, feed spoonfuls of kóllyva to each other, in a true moment of reciprocity and shared memory.

Cretan shepherds.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Home from Home

The refugees were not able to bring much to Greece, but they did carry their memories with them, and often preserved their spatial maps of life in Asia Minor by renaming their new Athenian neighbourhoods or towns after the places they had known (invariably prefixed by “Néa/Néos” (new), for example Néos Marmarás). One man in his twenties, whose grandparents were refugees, notes: “It’s hard to forget about Asia Minor, they are always reminding us. My grandmother has made me promise to go back to her home village just to see it, and to bring back some water and some soil. Even if she is no longer alive, she wants me to pour it onto her grave”.

NEW IMMIGRANTS – AND EXTREMIST REACTIONS

Since 1990, almost 2 million immigrants have entered Greece, producing a huge ratio (1:7) of foreign-born to native in a once-homogeneous culture.

Far-right Golden Dawn party at a pre-election rally.

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In 2005, an Athens newspaper ran a cartoon encapsulating Greece’s demographics. An elderly man stops a little boy and asks, “Can you help me find the Kafenio Orea Ellas (Café Beautiful Greece)?” The boy replies, “Sure! Go straight past the Kurdish Culture Club, turn right at the Bengali halal butcher, it’s between the African cheap-call shop and the bar with the Russian floozies, you can’t miss it!” Most recent arrivals are Albanian or central European, but also come from a dozen other states. Racist (re-)actions are now commonplace; as one NGO leaflet put it, “Our grandfathers refugees, our parents emigrants, and we – xenophobes and racists?”

Greece has responded to its refugee crisis in substandard fashion, contravening various UN and EU rules (except the Dublin Regulation, which requires refugees to remain in the first European state of landfall – a hosting Greece can ill afford). As part of the Schengen Group, it sees itself as the “first line of defence”; barbed-wire fencing on the Greek-Turkish land frontier serves to stem traffic approaching 80,000 persons annually. After a brief detention, many refugees disappear into the immigrant underground. A new holding camp on Sámos is akin to a jail.

In 2001, legal status was offered to the (then) 500,000 illegal refugees who could prove two years’ residency and make social insurance contributions. But barely 350,000 applied, and irksome red tape meant that subsequent amnesties garnered scarcely any more applicants.

2015 to 2021 saw a sharp increase in the number of refugees travelling to Greece by sea, with many fleeing the Syrian Civil War to the east. In 2015, more than 850,000 people arrived in Greece, a fivefold increase on the previous year. Many intended to treat the country solely as a gateway to the Schengen Area, but have been prevented from travelling further as many central European states have sealed their borders.

Since the crisis began, migrants found themselves surplus to employment requirements; many took their savings and headed home. Others, unable or unwilling to leave, were targeted by the overtly nationalist, neo-Nazi Hrysí Avgí (Golden Dawn) Party and its successors. Widespread resentment of migrants – especially after violent crimes committed by Pakistanis and Afghans – was instrumental in GD’s original rise.

Golden Dawn thugs undertook vigilante action against migrants, legal or otherwise: raiding street markets, demanding trading licenses from “obviously” non-Greek sellers, and trashing their stalls where none were forthcoming. Motorcycle-riding GD activists smashed the windows of cars driven by foreigners in Athens, and several Asian people have been killed to date. Cadres have also set up soup kitchens for the numerous poor, but only serve food to “real” Greeks with identity documents. The police stood accused of actively cooperating with Golden Dawn, and of casting up to half their votes for them. GD’s most egregious crime was the 2013 murder of leftist rapper Pavlos Fyssas; eventually, in September 2020, 15 members of the GD party were convicted for the deed.

Accordingly, immigrants who report or complain about abuse often suffer sustained beatings and torture at police stations. The ND government panders to anti-immigrant sentiment lest it lose more votes to the new Far-Right party, Greek Solution.

Christmas family dinner, Athens.

Alamy

Any kóllyva left over from this communal act is offered to passers-by, perhaps even to tourists, as the women make their way home. But the ritual is not definitively over until that evening, when a plate of kóllyva is left out on the dining room table, with the front door open, so that the dead can also come and partake.

Honouring the departed

Kóllyva plays a key role not just in the two annual collective rituals of eating with/remembering the dead, but at the regular memorial ceremonies that must be held for each deceased person three, nine and 40 days after death, and then three, six and nine months after, and finally every year on the anniversary of the death. These memorials begin in church with a liturgy in honour of the dead, and are followed by a reception, sometimes in the church courtyard, sometimes in a nearby reception hall, or, more intimately, in people’s homes. Coffee and assorted baked goods are served, but kóllyva is the centrepiece. A photograph of the deceased is often placed near the plate of kóllyva, as if he or she were offering it to the assembled mourners. Indeed, the living are not just offering kóllyva to the dead, but on behalf of the dead; in other words, the soul of the dead person will be relieved of its sins by these acts of generosity on their behalf.

Greece and Feta Cheese

Féta (the word just means “slice”) as a national symbol? It is certainly true that this pungent, delicately textured cheese has been embraced by tourists ever since they discovered slices of it sprinkled with olive oil and oregano complementing the motley flavours and colours of a Greek salad. Féta is made from variable mixes of goat’s and ewe’s milk (egopróvio gala says the label in Greek), and variations are found across the lower Balkans and Turkey. But in the mid-1990s, in the wake of challenges by Denmark to the EU calling for the right to produce a cheese called “feta”, this humble staple took on new ethnic significance. In this case, it was the whiteness of féta produced from egopróvio milk, compared to what Greeks claimed was the yellower Danish “feta” produced predominantly from cow’s milk, which seemed to stand for the purity of Greek féta – a tasty reflection of the whiteness of those eternal symbols of Greekness themselves, the Parthenon Marbles.

If féta seems simple from the outside, that is not the experience of the Greeks themselves who will discuss the fine distinctions of taste, smell, texture and provenance between different types of tomato, olive oil, fig, or spring water. In talking about food, Greeks are not wallowing in the mundane, but rather recognising the key role that it plays in creating social/family relations.

The Chios Rocket War.

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The custom of preparing kóllyva has a long history, resembling the ancient Athenian practice of panspermia – offerings of boiled grains to the dead or to Hermes, the god who, in his avatar Psychopompos (Soul Guider), conveyed the dead across the River Styx. The use of pomegranate seeds is another link to the ancient Greek symbolism of death.

In the Christian tradition (the practice was proclaimed canonical by the patriarch of Alexandria in the 7th century), the symbolism is clearly one of death and rebirth, as the grain or seed which falls to the ground must rot before it yields new life.

Food and faith

Food plays an important role in Greek Orthodox Christianity, most notably in the cycle of fasting and feasting throughout the year that sets the daily and seasonal rhythms of life for numbers of Greek rural and urban dwellers. As in many aspects of Greek religion, women are the caretakers of the observance, coaxing husbands, children and other family members to faithfully observe the fast. If they prove unable to keep it up, the women will at least fast in their place during the 40 days of Lent that culminate in the Easter feast and other fasts throughout the year, including the “Little Lents” before Christmas and 15 August.

Traditionally, Greeks did not celebrate on their birthdays (birthday parties for children are a recent Western importation), but rather on the feast-day of the saint after whom they are named.

If you attend a Greek liturgy, you will notice the predominance of women and children inside the church. Men, when they come to church, tend to sit outside and talk with their friends. It is not that Greek men are not religious, but they do tend to have a long-standing distrust of priests and of women’s spaces – some even refer to the church as the woman’s coffee shop. Absence from church is further mitigated for men by the fact that women bring consecrated bread, incense, basil and other items associated with the church home with them.

Women also prepare the appropriate foods for the different saints’ days celebrations, which function like birthdays in Greece. This religious devotion gives women a particular power within the family. As one woman noted when her husband half-jokingly threatened to leave her and move back to his village for some peace and quiet, “If you leave, you won’t have anyone to light a candle for you in church. If you leave, who will tend to your soul then?”

Name days

The great majority of Greeks are named after Orthodox saints, according to a system in which parents name children typically after the children’s grandparents. A special bond tends to exist between a child and their eponymous grandparent, and in some cases that child will be favoured in property inheritance from that grandparent. Exceptions to this rule include naming a child after a recently deceased relative, after a protector saint (especially if the pregnancy or birth was difficult) or after an ancient Greek name – but even people with a resolutely “pagan” name will also have an alternate baptismal name (eg, a woman named Kyveli, the savage oriental goddess Cybele, may officially be Maria Kyveli). But this basic pattern ensures that there are relatively few names circulating through the system at any one time which creates some variation.

Everyone named Katerina will celebrate their name-day on 25 November, the date associated with the martyrdom of Agía Ekateríni of Alexandria. Name-day celebrations do not involve receiving presents or throwing a party, but rather opening one’s house to family and neighbours who wish to come by and give you their good wishes, while you provide them with sweets and coffee. Name days thus have a collective aspect absent in birthdays, tying individual Greeks to their community, to grandparents and ancestors who have shared that name, and to the history of Greek Orthodoxy.

A common act of religious devotion in Greece is to build a chapel for one’s saint (or for a miracle-working saint who helped you) and to hold liturgies in the saint’s honour. Saints are believed to be protectors and intercessors between humans and God and are seen as responding to people’s prayers if they show proper devotion.

Ritual as sensory experience

Entering a church or chapel in Greece can be an overpowering sensory experience. From the thymíama (incense) spread by priests, swinging censers rhythmically back and forth, to the flicker of candles which each person lights and places in a sand-filled brazier when entering, or again to the reverberating pitch of the liturgy being sung by the psáltes (cantors), often projected via loudspeaker throughout the town or village. And of course there is the sight of the multicoloured icons, illustrating key Biblical stories or individual saints and the taste of communion bread and wine mixed to the consistency of gruel and presented by the priest on a spoon. This sensory aspect of Greek Orthodoxy is part of official doctrine as well, an expression of the notion of the “deification of matter”, the idea that humans manifest the spiritual not in opposition to the material but in and through the material world.

Al fresco lunch in Ýdra.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Explosive Easter

Local differences come in many hues, from the typical colours used for house-painting, to the different dialects – such as Cretan, where the sound “k” is replaced by a more ancient “tch” found also in Cyprus – to the matrilineal inheritance patterns that characterise many of the Aegean Islands. On the island of Kálymnos, difference takes the form of a sonic assault every Easter.

In most of Greece, Easter is celebrated with the lighting of fireworks. On Kálymnos, fireworks are replaced by dynamite – several thousand euros’ worth, formed into projectiles and hurled from the courtyards of churches, from the two clifftops that bracket the harbour town, or in a “friendly” exchange across neighbouring back yards. No mere firecracker barrage can quite compare to the sound of dynamite going off around you, and Kálymnos’s Easter celebrations have been known to both attract some stout-hearted tourists and to send others scurrying for the next boat out.

The practice of dynamite-throwing from the island’s heights can be traced back to the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese in the early 20th century. Legend has it that one Easter, Kalymniots set off dynamite from one mountain and, while the Italian authorities were hurrying to investigate, then set off charges on the opposite mountain. As one man put it, it was a way of saying “We’re alive” to the colonisers. Why has this “tradition” persisted, with the Italian occupation now a distant memory? Perhaps as a reminder, not only to neighbouring Turks but to Athenians and other Greeks, that Kálymnos is not to be trifled with.

Easter Vigil, St. George Church in Athens.

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Hospitality and honour

Local loyalties run high in Greece. One aspect of localism that tourists may find themselves on the receiving end of is local claims to being more “hospitable” (filóxeni) than their neighbours. “Neighbours” is a relative term: people will claim that Southern Europeans are more filóxeni than Northern Europeans, Greeks more than Italians, their town or village more than Athenians, and they themselves more than the person across the street. Greeks often buy in bulk – 2kg of cheese, a couple of watermelons – in order to always have food on hand to offer guests, invited and uninvited alike.

If you think you might be able to detect a competitive nature to hospitality in Greece, you are not far off the mark, as generosity is closely tied to Greek notions of honour. Acts of generosity are part of building one’s reputation in the community. They also, as noted by anthropologists, make claims to the higher status of the giver than the receiver.

This often has a faint feel of role reversal in cases where the receiver of hospitality comes from a Northern European country or the United States: Greeks are well aware that their country’s voice is routinely ignored in international contexts, especially since the advent of the economic crisis, and so by being generous they are in a sense also subtly communicating the message: “You may be from a powerful country with the whip hand over us, but for the moment you are dependent on me”.

All this is in no way to deny the genuineness of generous offers, nor the curiosity they may express about life in other countries over a proffered cup of coffee. A generous appreciation of your host’s hospitality and, in some cases, a postcard, text message or photograph is all that is usually expected in return.

A Song of the Mountains

Throughout the centuries, the Greeks have used their landscape – rugged mountains, rolling plains – as a metaphor to describe the different natures of the people living there, a convention this old Cretan folk song (composed by hill-dwellers, one presumes) cunningly exploits:

Fie on the young men down on the plains

Who taste the good things in life,

The choicest foods,

And are base to look at, like creeping lizards.

Joy to the young men up in the hills

Who eat the snow and the dew-fresh air

And are fine to look at, like the orange-tree.

Ýdra greengrocer.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

LITERATURE

Greece was the cradle of European poetry and drama; modern writers keep the tradition alive with outstanding novels, drama and especially poetry.

When someone asked Greece’s most famous composer, Mikis Theodorakis, where he got his inspiration for the hundreds of songs he had written in his lifetime, he said: “It’s perfectly simple. I never thought of my music as anything but a way of clothing Greek poetry”.

Statue of writer Papadiamantis.

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Perhaps only a Greek would have given such an answer. Relative to the size of its population, more poetry is published in Greece than in any other European country except Slovenia, and it is still common for Greeks to present their friends with slim volumes of verse they have written and self-published. Poetry is something people still revere and read for pleasure, and the marriage of poetry and music, familiar from the folk-song tradition, still endures.

Folk songs and the oral tradition

Both Greeks and non-Greeks have sought traces of continuity between ancient and modern Greece, and found it – if sometimes only in their imagination – in the folk songs and dances of rural Greece. In the 19th century, philhellenes and early Greek nationalists viewed the folk tradition as a way of establishing Greece’s legitimate claim to liberation from the Turks. Certainly the country’s folk songs are remarkable in their rich variety of imagery and metaphor, and it is not surprising that the first poets of modern Greece used them as a source of inspiration.

Although the tradition is dying out, it is still possible, in a village in the mountains of Epirus or the Peloponnese, to come upon a festival or a wedding where the night is filled with songs like this:

Now the birds, now the swallows,

now, now the partridges,

now the partridges chatter and speak:

Wake, my lord, wake my good lord

wake, embrace a body like a cypress,

a white throat, breasts like lemons…

Dionysios Solomos, writer of the lyrics to the Greek national anthem.

Benaki Museum, Photographic Archive

Some of the most memorable folk lyrics of Greece are the laments for the dead. In these powerful songs, usually performed by women, Death is addressed in the person of Haros (from the ancient Charon), a sinister figure on a black horse:

Why are the mountains black, why so heavy with clouds

is the wind fighting them, is rain lashing them?

The wind doesn’t fight, nor the rain lash.

Only Death crosses them, carrying off the dead.

He drags the young in front of him, the old behind

and the tender children are lined up on his saddle.

You will have to search hard for such songs in the tourist-laden landscape of the Aegean Islands, once the source of an astonishing variety of music, song and dance. Yet even on Skópelos you just might overhear men in a taverna conversing in mandinádes (rhyming couplets), ordinarily set to music on the island of Crete. Crete is in fact exceptional in preserving a lively, traditional music scene where song lyrics are still improvised by local performers, but do not expect to hear the old island songs of Mýkonos, Santoríni or Rhodes when you visit.

The epitaph on Nikos Kazantzakis’ grave: “I hope for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free”.

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The Greek Dostoyevsky

The Murderess, by Papadiamantis, may well be one of the most daring stories of its day. It tells the story of an old woman who, having witnessed the misery of local women’s lives, begins to murder infant girls rather than let them grow up. At the end of the story, she drowns while being pursued by the police, her guilt punished by divine rather than human justice; but Papadiamantis’s sympathetic treatment of her character brings many assumptions of traditional Greek behaviour into question. “Once married, she was her husband’s slave... when she had children, she served them, and when they had children, she became their slave”.

Fortunately, until recently, there existed an exceptionally active recording industry in Greece, and among the best sources of folk-song texts are the booklets accompanying CDs of same, some with translations supplied. Recording notes will also provide the serious Greek music fan with lyrics to the popular urban songs of Greece, the rebétika, though English versions are often merely summaries. Risqué and laced with slang referring to hash and prison, they open an interesting window onto the shady life of Piraeus in the early to mid-20th century.

What is modern Greek literature?

The question of where Ancient Greek literature ends and modern Greek literature begins has no clear answer. Most of Greece was untouched by the Renaissance, but a notable exception was the island of Crete, which had been under Venetian rule until its conquest by the Ottomans in the mid-17th century. Some argue that the plays and poems produced on that island from the 15th to the 17th centuries mark the beginning of modern Greek literature. The most famous of these works is the Erotókritos, a long romance in verse by Vitsentzos Kornaros. Remarkably, this written text became part of the oral tradition of the island, all 10,000 lines of it being sung as if it were a folk song until the 20th century. It is rare to hear more than a small section of the poem sung today, but it is an exhilarating experience to listen to even a handful of these verses performed in a Cretan nightclub, preserved since the Renaissance in popular memory.

Another contender for the source of modern Greek poetry is the Ionian island of Zákynthos. Like Corfu, the other Ionian Islands had been part of the Venetian Empire from the late 14th or early 15th century. The aristocracy were Italians, often married to local women, and the poet who is often referred to as Greece’s “national” poet was the child of such a union. Born on Zákynthos in 1798, Dionysios Solomos was educated in Italian but, fired by the spirit of the Greek revolution, he began to write in Greek. His most famous poem is the Hymn to Liberty, which became the lyrics of the new nation’s anthem. Solomos’s co-islander Andreas Kalvos, who spent most of his life in Italy, also achieved national recognition as a poet. Between them, the two poets inspired the national school of Romantic poets.

A statue of early writer Adamantios Korais, on Híos.

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The 19th century

Emmanuel Roïdis’s wickedly satiric novel Pope Joan has achieved a deservedly wide readership in several languages, but it is otherwise difficult for the non-Greek reader to discover the prose of 19th-century Greece. Only lately have the works of two other remarkable prose writers begun to appear in English: Alexandros Papadiamantis and Georgios Vizyenos. Papadiamantis (1851–1911) was the son of a village priest from Skiáthos and most of his fiction is set on that small Aegean island. The 200 stories he produced in his lifetime, including the novella The Murderess, offer a vivid, unsentimental portrait of Greek island life. They are written in a combination of formal Greek and village dialect reminiscent of Dickens or Hardy.

English translations of Georgios Vizyenos (1849–96), born in eastern Thrace, now comprise the novella Moskov Selim and the collections My Mother’s Sin and Other Stories, plus Thracian Stories. Enigmatic and sophisticated, his tales are, like Papadiamantis’s, preoccupied with questions of guilt and traditional Greek mores.

The early 20th century

Poetry flourished during the 20th century in Greece, a period dominated by four tragedies: the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22 that resulted in the loss of an ethnic Greek presence in Asia Minor; World War II, when Italian, Bulgarian and German troops occupied the country; the 1946–49 civil war; and the military dictatorship of 1967–74, which put a temporary end to the Greeks’ struggle for democracy and freedom of expression. Poetry, often sung poetry, gave a voice to people’s suffering during these periods. The banning of poetry and song during the latter three of these crises was a reflection of how powerful such expression was.

With the restoration of democracy in 1974, Greece’s entrance into the European Community and the galloping urbanisation of the post-dictatorship era, tastes in literature changed. Songs and poems no longer talked about the heroism of the people or the beauty of Greek nature, but about the disillusionment of urban life or private concerns. Prose, which had occupied a secondary position to poetry, proliferated in the last half of the 20th century. With few exceptions, the better early-modern Greek prose writers had favoured the short story over the novel; but in the aftermath of the Asia Minor defeat, a group of novelists emerged who chronicled the events of the period and became known as the Aeolian School. Two were refugees from Asia Minor (Stratos Doukas and Ilias Venezis), and the third (Stratis Myrivilis) from the island of Lésvos, just off the Turkish coast. All three began their literary careers on Lésvos; their prose was realistic and the Greece they depicted was rural.

Odysseus Elytis, Nobel Prize winner in 1979.

Corbis

Meanwhile, in Athens and Thessaloníki, a number of young writers began writing about the new urban reality of a country whose population had increased by over 25 percent as a result of the Asia Minor war. More daring than their rural contemporaries, they experimented with Modernist techniques. The most original of these writers were Nikos Pentzikis, Giannis Skaribas and Giannis Beratis.

Prize-winning poets

Those poets who matured in the early to mid-20th century are best known outside of Greece. In 1963 and 1979 respectively, two Greek poets, George Seferis (pseudonym of Georgios Seferiadis) and Odysseus Elytis (born Odysseas Alepoudelis), won the Nobel Prize for Literature, drawing attention to the extraordinary flourishing of poetry in a country that was considered a cultural backwater by many western Europeans. A third poet, Constantine Cavafy (Konstantinos Kavafis; 1863–1933), was admired by E.M. Forster and W.H. Auden and became one of the most influential poets of the 20th century.

Living and writing his whole life outside modern Greece, in Alexandria, Cavafy removed himself still further from his contemporaries by setting most of his poems in the past. Like Cavafy, the characters that inhabit his elegant, ironic poems are Greeks of the eastern Mediterranean whose Hellenism is based on language and a common respect for Greek culture. His poem, Ithaka, may be the most often quoted modern Greek poem of all:

Ithaka has given you your lovely voyage

Without Ithaka you would not have set out.

Ithaka has no more to give you now.

Two other poets who benefitted from international attention and foreign translations were Nikos Kazantzakis and Giannis Ritsos. Kazantzakis’s modern sequel to The Odyssey (1938), in Kimon Friar’s fine translation, was probably read by more English-speakers than Greeks, despite the fact that it is twice as long as Homer’s original. These figures tower over modern Greek literature like a formidable Dead Poets’ Society, their works overshadowing those of their contemporaries and followers. Kazantzakis, of course, was also a novelist, and if English-speakers have read any modern Greek novels, they are probably his Alexis Zorba, Christ Recrucified or Freedom and Death.

George Seferis, Nobel Prize winner in 1963.

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A Non-Conformist Life

Thanks to his unorthodox views and writings, Nikos Kazantzakis was to court controversy not only throughout his life, but even after his death in 1957. When his book The Last Temptation of Christ was first published, the Orthodox Church sought to prosecute him, then excommunicated him. When it was made into a film in 1988, Athenian priests together with Orthodox parishioners marched on cinemas, where projection screens were slashed in anger. Today, admirers can make for the Kazantzakis Museum in the village of Myrtiá, 24km (15 miles) due south of Iráklio, where well-arranged displays illustrate an extraordinary literary and political life.

Poetry out of conflict

Scarcely known outside Greece are the Greek poets who were Cavafy’s near-contemporaries – Kostas Karyotakis, Kostis Palamas, Angelos Sikelianos and Kostas Varnalis. It was left to the somewhat younger poets who came of age in the 1930s to bring modern Greek poetry into the mainstream of European writing. Despite their political differences, these poets drew on what they saw as the enduring virtues of the Greek spirit as a way to confront the evils and privations of the war years. For Seferis, Ritsos, Kazantzakis, Andreas Embirikos, Elytis, Nikos Kavadias and many others, the war was a devastating experience that initially united Greeks against a common enemy and then tore them into two bitterly opposed camps who fought one another in a civil war lasting until 1949. During this period, many writers and intellectuals were persecuted by right-wing forces and imprisoned on Aegean Islands. Giannis Ritsos was among those who spent years in prison and exile. Others, like Seferis, spent the war years outside Greece. But no Greek writer was remained unaffected, and these dark years inspired some of the greatest works of modern Greek poetry.

Elytis, whose long poem To Áxion Estí (Worthy it is), memorably set to music by Mikis Theodorakis, drew on all the traditional resources of the Greek language – ancient, Byzantine, folk song – to create a modern secular liturgy. Beginning with the poet’s childhood on Crete, To Áxion Estí spares the reader none of the horrors of the war – including a long passage from a soldier’s diary on the Albanian front – but ends in a redeeming “Gloria”, praising the beauty of the Greek islands and its lovely women:

A Karagiózis shadow puppet show.

Photoshot

Sífnos, Amorgós, Alónisos

Thásos, Itháki, Santoríni

Kós, Íos, Síkinos.

Praised be Myrto standing

on the stone wall facing the sea

like a beautiful eight or a jug

with a straw hat in her hand.

The post-war writers

The central challenge to Greek literature is that so few people read modern Greek. To become known outside the country, you have to be translated; and even then the chances of being recognised are small unless you are discovered, like Cavafy, by an E.M. Forster, or recognised by a Nobel Prize. Since the 1960s, tourism has helped create a market for Greek literature, especially if it fits the traveller’s ideas of what Greece is all about. Writers who instead concentrate on the less attractive themes of modern urban life are less likely to appeal to non-Greek readers. One brilliant exception is the writer Petros Markaris, born in Istanbul in 1937, who has made a name for himself with his ingenious crime novels set in Istanbul or Athens, featuring Detective Costas Haritos.

Greek writers, many of them women who began publishing in the 1950s and 1960s, were mostly born in Athens or Thessaloníki. They matured in a period of tentative democracy that was interrupted by seven years of stultifying dictatorship (1967–74). Reluctant to adopt the themes of earlier generations, they wrote about personal relationships, disillusionment and Athenian life. Among the recent and contemporary women Greek poets whose works exist in English translation are Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke (died 2020), Kiki Dimoula (also died 2020), Jenny Mastoraki, Maria Laina and Rhea Galanaki. This is necessarily a brief list, not intended to diminish the brilliance of their male contemporaries, among whom Manolis Anagnostakis (died 2005), Titos Patrikios, Nasos Vagenas, Tassos Denegris (died 2009), Yannis Kondos and Mihalis Ganas stand out.

Of this generation, Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke (1939–2020) is probably the poet who has been most widely translated and therefore the most instrumental for the reception of Greek poetry abroad. Anghelaki-Rooke was brilliantly articulate in French, English and Russian and translated the works of many of the most “untranslatable” writers from those languages into Greek – including Dylan Thomas and Pushkin. Her old red house on Égina has long been a mecca for foreign writers and scholars of Greek literature, many of whom have relied on Anghelaki’s sharp insights into her country’s literature as their guide to reading and translation. Her own poems are characterised by a combination of frank, lyrical sexuality and ironic self-criticism. As she writes in Penelope Says:

The body keeps remaking itself

getting up and falling into bed

as if it had been chopped down,

sometimes sick and sometimes in love hoping

that what it loses in touch it gains in essence.

In prose too, women writers have emerged since 1950, to rival their male counterparts. Novels about Greek society may be the traveller’s best guide to the changing mores and manners of Greek life. And since many Greek writers have chosen their own recent history as a subject for their fiction, novels and short stories may also be a good introduction to the vicissitudes of the period. Alki Zei’s Achilles’ Fiancée, for example, is a gripping roman-à-clef about the period of the civil war and its aftermath, when Leftist guerrilla fighters took refuge in the Soviet Union. Among the other outstanding contemporary Greek novelists whose works have been translated into English are Costas Taktsis, Thanasis Valtinos, Margarita Liberaki, Maro Douka, Eugenia Fakinou, Menis Koumandereas, Apostolos Doxiadis and Vangelis Hatziyannidis.

Drama

Modern Greek dramatists have not, as yet, achieved the international recognition of their poetry- and fiction-writing colleagues. Despite a lively national theatrical scene that began promisingly in the 19th century and continues to satisfy the tastes of a large local audience, only a handful of Greek plays have been translated. Women dramatists were among the first to compose original plays, notably Evanthia Kaïri.

Many writers better known in other fields turned their hand to writing plays; but in the post-war period, the theatre has been dominated by a group of writers whose primary concern is the theatre. The most outstanding of these was the prolific Iakovos Kambanelis (1922–2011), originally from the Cycladic island of Naxos.

Poet Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke.

Getty Images

Another delight for those who have some knowledge of Greek is the shadow puppet theatre. The hero of these charming, ribald, satiric performances, Karagiózis, is an anti-hero with whom Greeks have always identified. Set in the Ottoman period, the comic puppet plays, once watched by open-mouthed children and their guffawing parents in the village square, have always been tailored to fit each new political crisis and allowed Greeks to laugh at themselves, even in the harshest periods of their history. As the song-writer Dionysios Savvopoulos put it:

What consumes me, what saves me

Is that I dream like Karagiózis…

MUSIC AND DANCE

Music in Greece goes far beyond Zorba’s Dance played on a bouzoúki and reflects the country’s complex political and cultural history.

The sounds of Greece: the whine of motor-scooters; the thrumming of ferry-boat engines; passengers and taxi-drivers shouting at one another; the clang of church bells; sheep and goats bleating, their bells tinkling, donkeys braying, and music – loud music blaring from nightclubs, cars, cafés. The Greeks do not seem to need or desire quiet; they fill any silence with noise. They also love music, and even if it has to compete with ambient noise, they listen to it constantly.

A lýra maker in Rhodes.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

What may surprise the visitor is that nearly all of the music they play is distinctively Greek. It may be influenced by American, Spanish or Brazilian music, but more often than not it is Greek in instrumentation or rhythm. Anyone who came to Greece 40 years ago must lament the steady erosion of Greece’s traditional folk music; however, despite globalisation and modernisation, Greek music is still flourishing and full of surprises.

A continuous tradition?

Anyone who has attended the famous Dora Stratou folk-dance performances in Athens, or any other presentation of Greek music for tourists, will have been told that modern Greek music and dance preserve some of the features of their ancient Greek origin. These claims are hard to substantiate, since we have almost no idea what ancient Greek music sounded like. We know its instruments and its famous system of modes (such as Dorian, Lydian, Aeolian), but only a few tantalising fragments of notation have survived. Greek vases show dancing figures, accompanied by lyre, flute and tambourine, who could as well be dancing at a modern Greek wedding, but neither these line-dances nor their instrumentation are unique to Greece.

These ceramic figurines show that the Minoan people also enjoyed dancing.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

What was unique about Greece was the desire of 19th-century western philhellenes and early Greek nationalists to see, in modern Greece, traces of continuity with the mythical world of antiquity. The claims that early folklorists made for a continuous tradition were not only few in number, but they were also based almost entirely on the poetry of Greek songs, ignoring both the astonishing variety and richness of the music, and also the ritual context in which it was performed. Like all folk music, Greek songs and dances were not originally performed for entertainment but were associated with religious festivals, weddings, celebrations, funerals or seasonal work.

Music of the mainland

While there is some overlap between these categories, Greeks usually make a distinction between regional folk music (dimotikí mousikí) and popular or city music (laïkí). In the case of regional folk music, they also distinguish between music from the mainland (sterianí) and music from the islands and coastline (nisiótika, paraliakí). Mainland Greece is further divided into regions that have their own musical traditions: Epirus, in the northwest; Macedonia; Roúmeli; Thrace and the Peloponnese.

Street parade musicians.

Dreamstime

The most common rhythms of the mainland are the threes of the tsamikós (taking its name from the Albanian Tsámides tribe), the sevens of the kalamatianós (named after the town of Kalamáta in the Peloponnese but common throughout central and southern Greece) and the slow double and triple time of the syrtós and sta tría. Once, it was common to hear music performed outdoors by classic pairs of instruments, either a large drum (daoúli) and folk oboe (zourná), or a bagpipe (gáïda) and tambourine (daïrés, défi); nowadays it is more common to hear an ensemble that includes clarinet, violin, drum and perhaps an accordion or a hammered dulcimer (sandoúri).

In addition to Epirus, other areas of mainland Greece where the traveller may still be lucky enough to find live music at a summer panigýri (religious festival) are Thrace and Macedonia, both of which have a wide variety of local songs and dances. In central Greece and the Peloponnese, you are these days more likely to find recorded music at such events.

The islands and Asia Minor

The islands once boasted an amazing variety of musical traditions. West of the Greek mainland in the Ionian Islands, which had for centuries been under Venetian control, people sang songs in four-part harmony. Called kantádes or ariétes, these songs, usually accompanied by a guitar, were clearly influenced by Neapolitan folk song. Partly because of their western European character and partly because they were songs that could be sung in a restaurant or tavern, kantádes became very popular in Athens where they were still sung by groups of men and women until the 1960s. The island of Zákynthos remains famous for its arékia, the local variant of kantádes and, although the genre is slowly dying out, it is not uncommon to hear the islanders perform these light and charming songs. The Ionian Islands were also, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a regional centre for Italian opera, which was performed in opera houses on both Corfu and Kefaloniá.

The Music of Epirus

A well-known Greek singer from the Aegean once said, “When I die I want to be born again as an Epirot”. This declaration almost certainly y came from the fact that the music of Epirus is among the most beautiful of any Greek region.

Epirus is famed for its skilled clarinet players, who improvise like jazz masters on the folk clarinet (actually a B-flat Albert clarinet, still played by many musicians in Central Europe). It is also one of the regions of Greece where you are still likely to encounter live music being played at a festival, celebration or a wedding, especially in the mountain villages.

Improvised rhymed couplets in 15-syllable metre (mandinádes) are a common feature of Aegean island music and persist to this day, especially on the islands of Crete, Kárpathos and Kálymnos.

In the Aegean, music is usually somewhat arbitrarily divided into groups conforming to the grouping of islands. Here, the dance rhythms are mostly double, with the most common dance being some variety of syrtós. The exceptions are the nine-beat rhythms of the zeïbekikó and karsilámas, plus the four-beat couples’ dance, the bállos, found in the Aegean islands and off the coast of Asia Minor, particularly Lésvos, and the Dodecanese. The traditional local instruments were the lýra (not to be confused with the ancient Greek lyre) or bowed viol, and the tsamboúna, or island bagpipe. As with the mainland instruments, there has been a shift in instrumentation, with the violin replacing the lýra on most islands, accompanied by the laoúto, akin to a mandolin, often with the addition of accordion, hand-drum or clarinet.

Whereas live music has all but disappeared from many Aegean islands, Crete is something of an exception. Any traveller wanting to discover more about Greek folk music might well begin his or her journey in Crete. Still performed on the classic combination of the Cretan lýra and laoúto, Cretan music continues to flourish and is being performed by young as well as older players. Not only is the tradition of improvised poetic couplets still preserved, but sections of the long poem Erotókritos, a 17th-century verse play, are still performed as part of many singers’ repertoires. Cretan dancing is spectacular, and the combination of music and dance, whether it is performed in a noisy nightclub or at a village wedding (sometimes lasting for three days), is awe-inspiring.

The islands of the central Aegean, especially the Cyclades, have become so overwhelmed by tourists that these days it is difficult, on most of them, to hear live music. Those lucky enough to encounter it at some special occasion like a wedding will discover the vanishing beauty of the nisiótika, songs and dances performed by a violin-led ensemble. The islands near the Turkish mainland, especially Lésvos, once had a very different musical tradition, one strongly influenced by the cosmopolitan cities of Smyrna (modern Izmir) and Aïvali (Ayvalık), both of which had large Greek populations until the 1920s. On Lésvos, there were many local varieties of the Asia Minor songs and dances – including brass bands – some only found in a particular village, and it was through its principal town, Mytilíni, that many of the features of Asia Minor music found their way into the popular music of Greece.

A traditional wedding on Ýdra.

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One type of music that the tourist is unlikely to encounter – in part because it is considered bad luck to perform them outside their proper context – but which is rich in its lyrics and striking in its emotional style of performance, is the mirolóï (funeral lament). It is rare for women to perform such songs at funerals in urban centres, but in the remote countryside, no funeral is complete without its chorus of women lament-singers. In most regions of Greece, laments are distinguished from songs. They are a genre apart, and yet they have melodies that may be performed as separate instrumental pieces in other contexts – even at weddings, strangely enough. It is through these songs that women communicate with the other world, addressing the dead directly and often berating them for leaving the living behind.

A tsamboúna, the island bagpipe, and a toumbéki drum.

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While these laments are performed in the context of a Christian ritual, they are remarkable in their lack of Christian references and in their striking pagan imagery. Despite repeated clashes with the Orthodox Church, village women have been permitted to continue improvising these graveside laments as part of the funeral service, with priest and female chorus taking turns to articulate conflicting messages about the afterlife.

Religious music

Greeks often refer to the music of the Orthodox Church simply as Byzantine music. This is only partly true. While some of the music heard in the Orthodox services dates to the Byzantine period, much of it was composed later. Early Byzantine music was influenced by the chant of Syria and Palestine rather than Greece or Rome, and was probably based on melodies already familiar to the congregation from the local folk tradition. The okotíhos, which forms the basis of all Byzantine chant, was not a system of modes like those of ancient Greece, but based on such a collection of songs. What was important was the association of a set of melodic formulas with their liturgical function: certain tunes came to have a symbolic function in the Church and were incorporated into the hymns.

By far the greatest composer of Byzantine hymns was Romanos O Melodos (Romanos the Melodist), born in Syria in the late 5th century and probably actively composing at the height of the Emperor Justinian’s reign. His combination of dramatic poetry with melody has never been surpassed in the Eastern Christian tradition and his hymns form part of the Orthodox liturgy to this day.

There is now a considerable variety of music performed in Greek churches, some of it accompanied by an organ, and some including polyphonic arrangements, although many churches still retain the earlier style of monophonic singing (without harmonies) by a chorus, with a drone supplied. The richest music of the Church calendar can be heard at Easter week, particularly the Thursday evening Crucifixion service, and at the Epitáfios, or Good Friday evening liturgy. Don’t miss a chance to hear young Nektaria Karantzi, the only student of the great Thracian singer Khronis Aïdonidis, performing Byzantine music in either a secular or church setting.

Musicians on guitar and bouzoúki, Skiáthos Town.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

The sound of the city

For many visitors to Greece, one of the attractions is the “Zorba factor”. That dance of Anthony Quinn and Alan Bates on a Greek beach in the 1964 movie Zorba the Greek, accompanied by the rapid twanging of the bouzoúki, spells a particular exuberance and excitement regarded as quintessentially Greek. Granted, the two men are dancing on a Cretan beach, but they are not dancing a Cretan dance. They are dancing urban music composed by Greece’s most famous modern composer, Mikis Theodorakis (1925–2021). It is music and dancing derived from a particular style of Greek music called rebétika, a style that still forms the basis of much of modern Greece’s popular music and is played by revival groups all over Greece.

Rebétika is a music associated with certain ports of Asia Minor and Greece from the beginning of the 20th century onwards, though it probably existed around the east Aegean coast and the Black Sea for decades before that.

Rebétika is often, but not always, divided into two types: the Piraeus-style rebétika, and the Asia Minor music brought into Greece through the islands and by the flood of refugees who arrived in the mainland following the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22.

The Asia Minor style was generally performed in cafés known as cafés-aman in the towns along the Anatolian coast, where the ensembles were made up of a violin, guitar, oud, sandoúri or kanun (zither) and perhaps an accordion. Non-Muslim women and men both performed in these venues and their repertoire of songs often included rather daring and humorous stanzas about hashish, drinking, prison, smuggling and prostitutes. Leading female performers in this genre included such names as Rita Abatzi and Roza Eskenazi.

With the arrival of the refugees, cafés-aman sprang up in Piraeus and Athens, and the taste for this music in the Greek communities of the US led to a burgeoning recording industry. Refugees, many of them poor and unemployed, also joined local musicians in the back streets of Piraeus, where a new sort of music began to grow in popularity. This was performed not by the traditional café instruments, but on the bouzoúki, a long-necked, lute-like instrument that had already been observed in the Cyclades being used for folk music by the great traveller James Theodore Bent early in the 1880s.

Mikis Theodrakis, who won international fame.

Corbis

By the 1930s, the bouzoúki and the songs it accompanied were all the rage in Greece. Rather like the urban blues of the US, or the tango of Argentina, or Portugal’s fado, the songs of the prewar rebétika were daring in their lyrics and appealed to an audience that revelled in hearing about the shady milieu they depicted.

Markos Vamvakaris, the central member of the “Piraeus Quartet”, is often regarded as the “father” of rebétika. Other outstanding figures were Stratos Pagioumtzis, Giannis Papaïoannou, the prolific songwriter Vassilis Tsitsanis and his singers Sotiria Bellou, Ioanna Georgakopoulou and Stella Haskil, whose recordings are as fine an introduction as one could wish to rebétika.

The heyday of the rebétika lasted from the 1930s to the 1950s, but the songs were revived in the 1970s, beginning in the years of the dictatorship (1967–74) when the music of Theodorakis was banned by the colonels and other composers either refused to compose or found their lyrics censored. References to smoking hashish also appealed to a generation of young Greeks who identified with the streetwise, social outcasts of rebétika.

Popular music of the 1960s–1970s

Mikis Theodorakis and his fellow-composer Manos Hatzidakis were the leaders of an extraordinary experiment in Greek popular music. After the terrible years of World War II and the civil war, Greeks were demoralised and emotionally exhausted. The two composers deliberately set out to provide the public with a new sort of popular music that would elevate and inspire. They both recognised rebétika as the only musical form that could reach a broad public, but as classically trained musicians, they wanted to extend the boundaries of popular song and combine it with the poetry of the country’s leading poets.

Beginning in the late 1950s, the two composers transformed Greek music and produced some of the most exciting popular music in Europe by joining the rhythms of the rebétika (particularly the dramatic 9/8 of the solo male dance, the zeïbekikó) with the poetry of Seferis, Ritsos, Nikos Gatsos and Elytis. In the case of Mikis Theodorakis, this music acquired a strong political dimension because of his commitment to the freedom of the persecuted Greek Left. During the dictatorship, his music was banned and he was imprisoned for years, making his music still more popular among the population at large. Gatsos was just one of a group of lyricists such as Manos Eleftheriou and Kostas Virvos, who were not “straight” poets but nonetheless of critical importance for Greek song.

Theodorakis and Hatzidakis’s music has had a lasting effect on Greek music. Not only are their songs still popular (Theodorakis’s music will likely be played at the latest street demonstration), but they inspired a younger group of composers to write music for the theatre and cinema as well as song cycles. Among the best known of these, who belong to the “New Wave” or more specifically éntekhno (folk-influenced orchestral music), are Dionysis Savvopoulos, Giannis Markopoulos, Manos Loïzos and Stavros Xarhakos.

The contemporary music scene

Some of the best-known figures of the Greek musical scene are singers rather than composers, though some do write their own material. Maria Farandouri, George Dalaras, Mariza Koch, Alkinoös Ioannides, Dimitris Mystakidis, Sokratis Malamas, Haris Alexiou (now retired), Nena Venetsanou, Glykeria, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Dimitra Galani, Vassiliki Papageorgiou, Savina Giannatou and Martha Frintzila, have all become internationally popular. The World Music phenomenon has created a demand for certain types of Greek sounds, both folk and urban, and these singers have presented Greek music to a broad audience.

Island wedding in full swing.

Travel Pictures Ltd

Composers who emerged during the 1980s, like Stamatis Kraounakis, the late Nikos Papazoglou and Nikos Xydakis, are less known. The same decade saw the emergence of the Ta Paradosiaká (The Traditional) movement, emphasising the rediscovery of Ottoman or Asia Minor traditions in Greek music, with Turkish musicians joining performances. Leading figures were, and are, Irishman Ross Daly, a virtuoso musician, resident on Crete; Sokratis Sinopoulos, a master of the polítiki (Constantinople) lýra and laoúto; and composer-lýra-player Stelios Petrakis.

As a direct outgrowth of this, the hottest contemporary music often features collaborations between Greeks and Turks, for example the joint appearances of Glykeria, singer and sandoúri player Areti Ketime and Thessaloníki-resident Dilek Koç, or the concert tour of multinational musicians which accompanied the release of My Sweet Canary, an Israeli-produced documentary on the life and career of Roza Eskenazi. Top musical venues are dispersed around central Athens and the inner suburbs, from Votanikós, Gázi or Néos Kósmos to Exárhia and Neápoli. Athens by night is still full of music that lifts the spirits and lasts till morning. And for those fortunate enough to catch a concert by a star performer, discover a good if little-known rebétika group in a small club, or stumble on a wedding in the mountains of Crete, the splendid, haunting music that once filled the air of Greece may still set the night on fire.

INSIGHT: RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS

Greek religious festivals – and there are many – celebrate saints’ days and other events in the religious calendar with devotion and high spirits.

Greek island life is punctuated throughout the year by saints’ days and religious festivals or panigýria. As there are around 300 saints in the Orthodox calendar, there is an excuse for a party on most days of the year.

Easter is the most important festival of the year. It’s a great time to visit, with traditional services marking the Resurrection everywhere from humble chapels to mighty monasteries. Colourful, noisy and potentially dangerous – on Kálymnos they throw dynamite; on Híos, parishes rocket each other – it’s akin to Guy Fawkes Night and Christmas rolled into one.

During Holy Week, or Megáli Evdomáda, churches are festooned in purple ribbons and velvet. On Maundy Thursday, monks on Pátmos re-enact the washing of Christ’s feet at the Last Supper, while that evening sees the moving Crucifixion liturgy. On Good Friday, the Epitáfios, or bier of Christ, is decorated by the parish women and paraded through the streets as sombre hymns are chanted. On some islands (especially Crete or Ýdra) an effigy of Judas is burnt, or “executed” with gunfire.

On Easter Saturday evening, all church livery changes from purple to red-and-white. At midnight, everything is plunged in darkness as the priest lights the first candle from the holy flame, to represent the light of the world, and intones: “Hristós anésti” (Christ has risen). This is the signal for the congregation to light their candles. Families then break the Lenten fast with Easter soup made from the lamb’s viscera and later play conkers with red-dyed eggs.

On Easter Sunday, there is great rejoicing as a lamb or goat-kid is barbecued outdoors over charcoal (or oven roasted), with the usual music and dancing.

Kathará Devtéra (“Clean Monday”) marks the end of the pre-Lenten carnival, with exuberant celebrations on some islands, including kite-flying and flour fights.

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Celebrating all year Round

Greeks mix piety and pleasure with gusto for all their festivals, from the most important to the smallest fair. The biggest religious festival after Easter, the Dormition of God’s Mother (Kímisis tis Theotókou) on 15 August, draws Greeks home from all over the world.

Following a liturgy on the evening of the 14th, the icon of the deceased Virgin is solemnly processed through the streets, possibly while accompanying brass bands play dirges. There are communal celebrations afterwards, particularly spectacular in Kárpathos, with dazzling costumes, special dances and traditional songs.

Every month, there are festivals on the islands for everything from sponges to snakes, and national holidays like Óhi or “No Day” (28 October), with patriotic parades to mark the Greeks’ emphatic refusal of Mussolini’s surrender ultimatum.

Celebrations begin the night before feast days and everyone in the community takes part, from babies to grannies. Patron saints are honoured with services followed by barbecues, music and dance.

FOOD AND DRINK

Simple recipes using seasonal, local ingredients is the key to Greek cuisine – but food for the Greeks is about more than just cooking and eating.

The cook sets before you a large tray on which are five small plates. One of these holds garlic, another a pair of sea-urchins, another a sweet wine soup, another ten cockles, the last a small piece of sturgeon. While I’m eating this, another is eating that; and while he is eating that, I have made away with this. What I want, good sir, is both the one and the other, but my wish is impossible. For I have neither five mouths nor five hands… – Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists

The scene conjured up by Athenaeus in the quote describes the frustration Greeks, as well as tourists, often feel when they fail to taste all the dishes that are part of a mezédes spread. It is obviously an age-old problem, as the passage comes from a semi-fictitious Greek work of the 3rd century AD. Although pizza, hamburgers, gýros and the ubiquitous Greek salad can render modern Greek food banal, the age-old tradition of sharing many small dishes – as prelude to a meal, or the meal itself – lives on.

Greeks were essentially vegetarian until about the mid-20th century, not by choice but because it was not possible to pasture large herds and provide meat for everybody. The traditional Greek diet, frugal yet delicious, was based on the agricultural produce of each region: vegetables, weeds and leafy greens – foraged from the hills or cultivated – and grains, mainly in the form of home-made bread. Olive oil was the principal fat used, while olives, beans and other legumes, local cheeses and yogurt were everyday staples.

Only occasionally was the diet enriched with some fresh or cured fish, or with meat. Meat was a rare, festive dish, consumed on Sundays, at the major festivals of Easter and Christmas, as well as on important family feasts. But after the mid-1960s, as the country became more affluent, meat gradually took on a significant role at the Greek table. Around that time, the Greek demographic structure also changed.

Starters of féta cheese and fava, which is made from puréed yellow peas and similar to pease pudding.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Some four out of 10 middle-aged Greeks now living in big cities originally came from agricultural areas. They relocated in the last 60 years or so, bringing with them the cooking and culinary habits of their mothers and grandmothers. Although well settled in the urban environment, most of them have kept their ancestors’ village homes and visit them on long weekends, during the summer holidays, as well as at Christmas and Easter. Many have also kept much of their land, so it is still common for Greek families to produce the olive oil they consume: between 18 and 23 kilo (40–50lbs) per person yearly. People who do not produce it themselves buy it from friends who have a surplus.

Along with olive oil, psomí (bread) was the basic staple food up until the mid-1960s, as it used to be in ancient and Byzantine times. Although Greeks can now afford a great variety of foods, they still consume enormous quantities of bread. Traditional breads are often made with a combination of wheat, barley and sometimes maize flour, using sour old-dough starter. Barley grows easily with only spring rainfall in mountainous southern Greece and on the islands, so it has been a staple for centuries. Today, in Crete and other islands paximádia (rusks) – slices of twice-baked and completely dry barley bread which only need to be briefly soaked in water to soften – are still very popular. Paximádia are perfectly suited to traditional lifestyles: they keep well for many months, they are easy to carry in the field and are the ideal food for sailors. Moreover, baked every two or three months, they made efficient use of oven heat, as wood is scarce on most islands.

Grilled sardines in a traditional taverna on Naxos.

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An indication that Greeks still take their religious fasts seriously can be found in the branches of McDonald’s in Greece, where special Lenten menus are offered during these periods.

Outside influences

In its long history, Greece has been subjected to many culinary influences. The Venetians and Genoese, who ruled much of the country during the Middle Ages, and later the Ottoman Turks, who ruled northern Greece and Crete up until the early 1900s, have all left their marks on Greek cooking; since then, the cuisine brought by Asia Minor refugees has been of paramount importance. But the most important factor in shaping people’s eating habits was the rules of the Greek Orthodox Church. Even non-religious Greeks sometimes abstain from foods deriving from animals – meat, dairy products and eggs – during the fasting periods that precede Easter, Christmas and 15 August. This is the reason why many traditional dishes such as gemistá (stuffed vegetables), yaprákia or dolmádes (stuffed grape or cabbage leaves), píttes (filo-wrapped pies) come in two versions: one with meat and/or cheese, and one without, often called gialantzí (“liar’s” dolmádes, ie fake, meatless) for fasting days.

Festival food

Numerous religious holidays are scattered throughout the year. Many have evolved from ancient celebrations and are often closely related to the seasons and the lunar calendar. Easter, Greece’s most important feast, seems to have its roots in the agricultural spring festivals of antiquity. Celebrated in the open country, amid fragrant herbs and multicoloured flowers, the Easter table features succulent spit-roasted baby lamb or goat-kid – at the right age for slaughter in spring – and salads of wild greens, tender raw artichokes and fresh fava beans. Magirítsa, a delicious soup made with chopped lamb’s innards, spring onions and dill, with a tart egg-and-lemon sauce, is eaten during the small hours of Easter Sunday, after the midnight Resurrection Mass. Traditional Easter sweets are stuffed with myzíthra, a generic name for the various regional creamy fresh cheeses of the season, usually made with a combination of goat’s and sheep’s milk.

The informal taverna is the most common form of eatery.

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Pork is associated with Christmas and New Year, as pig slaughtering and curing is done from October onwards. Fish (especially galéos skordaliá) is consumed on 25 March, and at meals that follow funerals. Fish and seafood has never been plentiful enough to become an everyday food in Greece, not even for those who live by the sea. The fish and seafood of the Aegean is delicious but scarce, and subject to regulated seasons; the best fish islanders manage to catch is sold to the big cities for much-needed cash.

Dining out

Despite its rich culinary heritage, Greece has a very recent restaurant tradition and the finest magirevtá (cooked dishes) are still best savoured in the home. People eat lunch at around 3pm and dinner at around 9pm – in the summer at around 10pm or even later. Breakfast is usually just a cup of coffee and a biscuit. Wine accompanies the meals, especially dinner, and a salad of fresh, raw or blanched seasonal vegetables or greens is always part of the everyday menu. Seasonal fruits are the most common dessert. Sweets were originally part of the festive table but now tend to be eaten daily, while meat (until the recent economic crisis) had also become an almost everyday staple.

Traditionally, two kinds of restaurants attract the Greeks when they want to entertain their families and friends. A psistariá (grill house) offers charcoal-grilled meat (baby lamb, kid, pork, veal and chicken), often by weight. Psarotavérnes (fish taverns) are scattered all over the shoreline, on the islands and the mainland. Fresh fish and seafood, the catch of the day, is grilled or fried according to the customer’s choice. Both meat and fish taverns offer a few appetisers and seasonal salads.

Frugal, ingenious Greek cooks have learned to complement a few simple ingredients with rice, potatoes, cheese and a few pieces of meat to create dishes that dieticians now hold up as models of the famously healthy Mediterranean diet. The irony is that modern Greeks, in their quest to distance themselves from their impoverished past, have enthusiastically forsaken this traditional fare and adopted the unhealthy eating habits of northern Europeans and Americans; obesity is now rampant in children and adults alike.

Local foods

Many traditional foods had nearly disappeared when, in the mid-1990s, a trend towards updated home-style cooking began to emerge in Athens and gradually all over the country. Visitors should ask for regional specialities – for example, píttes (cheese- or herb-stuffed turnovers) in Epirus; trahanás soup (pasta made with yogurt and sourdough) all over the mainland; lahanodolmádes (stuffed cabbage leaves) or local loukánika (sausages) almost everywhere; and loúza or lóza (pork loin macerated in wine and air-dried or smoked) in the Cyclades. Look out, too, for thyme honey on small, unforested islands, and pastéli (a sesame seed and honey sweet), home-cured caper greens, and wonderful local shepherd’s cheeses, often just called tyráki (small cheese).

Greek food traditionally follows the seasons. Cooks do not make gemistá (stuffed tomatoes and peppers) or melitzanosaláta (aubergine dip) in the winter, although these vegetables are now available all year round from hothouses.

In the Cyclades and the Dodecanese, goat’s and sheep’s milk cheeses are a real treat, but they seldom travel further than their island of origin. Greece is finally beginning to capitalise on its delicious artisan foods, with fancy delis in the largest cities and speciality boutiques on many islands. There are now even a few truffle (troúfa) reserves scattered across the mainland – Greek beech and oak forests are perfect for their culture.

Greek wines

Some of the most admired wines in antiquity were produced in Greece. Oar-powered cargo ships carried clay amphoras filled with the precious liquid to ports and markets all over the Mediterranean. Yet if we were to try these wines today, we would probably find them undrinkable. They were mainly sweet, and contained flavourings and herbs such as thyme, mint and even cinnamon. Seawater and pieces of pine bark were also added as preservatives, to keep the wine from turning sour.

The Byzantines continued to add resin to some wines. A more refined legacy of this is modern retsína, a white wine laced with Aleppo pine resin. Retsína was widely consumed until the mid-1970s. But as the new generation of quality Greek wines gradually spread, its consumption declined sharply. Today, many medium-sized and small wineries, employing modern techniques and talented oenologists, combine indigenous and imported grape varieties to produce quality wines.

Greek vineyards are diverse, following the contours of the country’s morphology. Omnipresent hills and mountains divide the land into small regions, each with its own microclimate. Mostly indigenous grape varieties – many of which existed also in antiquity – are grown, which acquire different characteristics in each region. According to EU regulations and Greek law, the system of controlled appellations of origin (AOC) matches the Greek varieties to the areas where the best of their kind is traditionally produced. But you will also find exceptional regional wines outside of these AOC classifications.

Grilled octopus makes for an affordable seafood meal.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Northern Greece

Macedonia, perhaps the most rewarding mainland wine region, is the home of the xinómavro grape, which produces well-loved, robust red wines. Naoussa is the best-known example, while Amyndeon, made from the same grape, is a lighter red and can also be a pleasant still or sparkling rosé. Xinómavro combined with the negóska variety – another Macedonian native – makes Goumenissa, a meaty red. By itself, negóska yields a soft red. Extensive vineyards on the central peninsula of Halkidikí produce the Côtes de Meliton wines, both white and red, from a combination of French (Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc) and Greek varieties. The Dráma region is not yet an AOC, but the two Lazaridi wineries make upmarket wines based on Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon for whites, and Cabernet Sauvignon plus Merlot for reds.

In Epirus, the most isolated, mountainous region of northwestern Greece, Zitsa, a fresh, fruity, often sparkling white is produced from the débina variety. In the valley below Métsovo, Katóï, a fine, rich red, is made from imported Cabernet Sauvignon vines. For maps and details of all northern-Greek wineries, visit http://wineroads.gr.

Greek wine producers use both indigenous and imported grape varieties.

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Thessaly produces two distinguished wines. Rapsáni vintners make a red with a fine bouquet, from xinómavro, stavrotó and krasáto grapes grown on the southeastern slopes of Mount Olympos. Anhiálos, on the shores of the Pagasitikos Gulf, offers a fresh white wine, made from a blend of savatianó and rodítis grapes.

Central Greece and Peloponnese

Attica, the region around Athens (not an AOC region), nonetheless produces very interesting wines. The main variety here is savatianó, traditionally used for the production of retsína. Matsa in Kántza is one of the best Attic vineyards, known for fine white wines based on malagouziá grapes, native to western Greece.

In the northeastern Peloponnese, Nemea, made from aïgiorgítiko grapes, is one of the most versatile Greek reds. Mantineia, a delicate aromatic white wine, is produced at vineyards north of Trípoli, mostly from moskhofílero grapes. The Pátra area yields dry and sweet white and red wines. Muscat of Patras and Muscat of Rio as well as the dark Mavrodáfni (Mavrodaphne) are three well-loved sweet dessert wines.

Some scholars believe that medieval Monemvasiá used to be where malmsey wine (called also malvasia or malvoisie) was made. Others claim that this wine, mentioned by Shakespeare, was actually produced in Crete, with the boats transporting it merely stopping at Monemvasiá on their way north. This magnificent sweet white is no longer made in Greece.

The islands

On the island of Límnos, a quaffable white wine is produced from Alexandrian Muscat grapes, while the limnió variety, mentioned by Aristotle, produces light, fragrant red wines. Lésvos boasts the all-organic Methymeos winery in the remote village of Hídira, producing superior reds and whites from a local heirloom type of grape, grown in a volcanic caldera. In northeastern Híos, the Ariousos winery has recently revived the ancient red grape varieties krasséro and agianítis in a line of quality reds, as well as more conventional whites. Vineyards on Sámos, a mountainous island, are planted on terraced hills, rising to 800 metres (2,625ft); Ageri is the best-value label of dry white wine here, made from moskháto grapes, fokianós and rítinos grapes are the source of easy-drinking rosé, while the local fortified dessert wines, in four grades, are world famous. Rhodes produces dry whites mainly from athíri grapes, and dry reds made chiefly from mandilariá grapes, as well as sparkling wines of middling quality.

The ubiquitous ouzo.

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Crete produces 20 percent of Greek wines. Although far to the south, the cool etesian winds never let the temperature rise much, and lofty Mt Psilorítis keeps hot African winds from reaching the northern slopes where most vines are cultivated. Arhánes and Pezá are two appellations of dry red made from kotsifáli and mandilariá grapes. Another red, Dafnés, is made from the ancient grape liátiko. A dry red made from liátiko and mandilariá, and a very popular fruity white mostly from vilána grapes, comprise the AOC of Sitía.

Santoríni, the spectacular volcanic island, produces lovely white wines made from asýrtiko or aidáni grapes, as well as good reds from the mandilariá and mavrotrágano varieties. To guard their vines from the strong etesian winds, local growers shape their branches into intricate basket shapes called kouloúria, inside which the grapes grow. Vi(n)sánto is a marvellous fortified sweet wine made from partly sun-dried white grapes. Similar sweet wines, often called liastó, are produced throughout the Cyclades. On Páros, sprawling vines produce a red with dark colour and a characteristic bouquet, made from mandilariá, savatianó and monemvasiá grapes (the latter unrelated to the medieval malmsey-producing grape).

Corfu, Zákynthos and Levkáda produce interesting wines, but only Robóla from Kefalloniá, a dry white from the eponymous grapes, is an AOC.

Fire Water: Oúzo and other Spirits

The most popular Greek drink, traditionally served with mezédes, is undoubtedly oúzo, produced across the country. Many people enjoy it so much on holiday they take a bottle home, only to find the pleasure doesn’t travel well; it’s not the same without the fierce Greek sunshine, a beautiful beach and a plate of Greek olives.

Only oúzo made in Greece can bear that name according to EU regulations. Oúzo is made from distilled grape-pressings left after the wine-making process, and takes its flavour from anise, fennel seeds and occasionally other spices. Some people say the best oúzo is from Lésvos; others will insist that the oúzo of Tyrnávos, Thessaly, or that of Híos or Sámos, is superior. In Híos, there also exists mastíha, a sweet liqueur flavoured exclusively with mastic, the aromatic sap of the mastic bushes that grow on the island.

Another popular strong alcoholic drink, like Italian grappa, is made by distilling grape skins and stems. This clear tipple is called tsípouro in central and northern Greece – preferably without flavourings, though you will sometimes find it infused with anise – and rakí or tsikoudiá in Crete, where it is recommended as a universal panacea. It usually contains between 40 and 45% alcohol by volume. On Rhodes and Sámos, a nearly identical distilled clear spirit is called soúma.

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

The Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras left Greece with an artistic heritage that has inspired later artists and architects.

Few countries have influenced Western art more than Ancient Greece. But because of its geographical position, Greece itself has been subjected to many influences. The origins of Greek art lay in Neolithic Anatolia, the Middle East and Egypt. Greece, in turn, influenced Rome, and thus Western Europe and the Byzantine world. Absorbed into the Ottoman Empire for over 400 years, on liberation Greece was on the receiving end of Western influences, often mixed with its Byzantine heritage. The region’s fine marbles, good clays and early exploitation of Cypriot copper ensured an enduring artistic gift.

Minoan fresco, Iráklio Archaeological Museum, Crete.

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The Bronze Age

The earliest art is that of the Cyclades. Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures developed complex settlements, but the most characteristic artefacts are the Cycladic idols, placed for unknown purposes with early burials. Here, the Greek love of idealised, perfect forms is already apparent. Facial details, save for relief noses, were probably painted on.

By 2300 BC, Minoan civilisation had emerged fully in Crete and on neighbouring Santoríni, characterised by palace complexes such as Knossos and Phaistos, and the town at Akrotíri. Architecture was labyrinthine, of stone with plastered and frescoed walls, and looked inwards onto courtyards which were venues for elaborate games, including bull-leaping as represented in paint and ivory figures.

The sacred bull – suggested by the twin horn symbol – was represented in terracotta, and as rhytons (drinking vessels) of gold or soapstone. The frescoed composite plants and chariots pulled by winged beasts, and the sculpted flounced dress of the snake goddess, a protective deity, demonstrated Mesopotamian influence. Sea and land creatures – shells, octopuses, bees – inspired vase decoration and jewellery. The double-headed axe or labrys, used as a motif, was a sacred symbol.

The Lion Gate, Mycenae.

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The peaceable, sophisticated Minoan culture declined around 1450 BC as the Myceneans of the mainland gained ascendancy. Warlike and great sea traders, they adopted Minoan motifs such as wasp-waisted costumes and the downward tapering column seen on the Lion Gate at Mycenae (c. 1250 BC). This entry to the citadel/palace supports the first large-scale European sculpture, relying on a corbelled arch technique also used for the Cyclopean-scale vaulted chambers at Tiryns, and more adventurously for tholos (“beehive”) tombs, the most impressive of which is the Treasury of Atreus (late 14th/early 13th centuries BC) at Mycenae, a 15-metre (49-ft) span dome with side chamber. Earlier shaft graves have revealed elaborate niello-inlaid bronze daggers, lion and bull-head rhytons, and the remarkable, haunting and somewhat heraldic gold masks placed over the faces of the dead.

Geometric and Archaic art

Iron Age peoples entered Greece c.1120 BC: Mycenaean society ended and the so-called Dark Ages, preceding the Geometric period, ensued until about 900 BC. Few Geometric artefacts except pottery vessels survive. Decorated with geometric horizontal banding, including spirals akin to Minoan and Mycenaean work, and also the “Greek key” (properly known as the meander pattern), these were often associated with burials. Some depict funerary processions with geometrised figures; others assumed anthropomorphic shapes. From c.850 BC, small figurines of seated goddesses, charioteers, animals and warriors appeared in bronze, ivory and ceramic.

Lion at Kerameikos Cemetery museum, 6th century BC.

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The Archaic period, c.750–490 BC, was one of rapid development. In sculpture, large kouroi (nude male) and korai (draped female) standing figures were carved, perhaps as personifications of gods, as grave markers, or as worshipper figures. Early kouroi demonstrated Egyptian influence in their stance and braided hair. Over time, the males become less anatomically stylised and the girls’ clothing become looser; smiles were depicted, and the feel was for naturalism. These statues represented ideal figures shown in the prime of life: over time, the depiction of the ideal came closer to reality, but the sense of idealisation was never lost.

Central to this concept was harmonic proportion. In the evolution of the temple, a perfectly balanced system of horizontals and verticals developed. Archaic temples followed the Doric form: it was sturdy (likened to a man), with sharply fluted columns that had simple capitals and no base. These carried an entablature featuring square metope panels between vertical triglyph mouldings. The form of a colonnaded, box-like structure as a “home” for the deity, often sited on a hilltop, created a perfect backdrop for the open-air ceremonies.

Classical art

The subsequent Classical period, 490–323 BC, saw further rapid developments. Although known by report, scarcely any early Greek paintings survive: ceramic decoration gives some clues to its qualities. Archaic vase-painting had been dominated initially by a Corinthian “orientalising” style of fabulous beasts, and then by a vigorous Athenian style of figurative ware in which black figures were placed against the red of the pot (black-figure ware). Around 500 BC, a reversal of the process yielded red-figure ware, in which a finer linearism captured greater detail and movement, enhanced by the development of foreshortening and eventually rudimentary perspective.

Early writers tell of panel paintings by the masters Zeuxis and Apelles that exactly mimic nature. In sculpture, too, much has been lost, and many works are now known only through Roman marble copies of lost bronzes.

The greater structural strength of bronze when cast hollow led to more adventurous poses of movement, as with the Poseidon (or Zeus) recovered from the sea off Évvia in 1928. The sculptor Polykleitos’s Doryphoros (Javelin thrower) was originally in bronze. In this, he realised controposto – the establishment of convincing weight distribution in a figure.

Late Classical sculpture saw the emergence of a more private attitude to the figure, particularly in portraiture and the self-involved statues of Praxiteles; notably his Knidian Aphrodite and the Hermes with the infant Dionysos. The former introduced the nude female figure, previously rare. A feminine architectural theme was provided by the more slender and elegant Ionic style of temple, where the spiral volutes of the capitals were equated to a girl’s curling hair. In these temples, the entablature rejects the Doric metopes and triglyphs, but might include a continuously sculpted frieze section. After 370 BC, a more forceful sculptural manner emerged with Skopas of Paros. His active military reliefs foreshadowed the dynamic work of Alexander the Great’s favoured sculptor, Lykippos, whose Apoxyomenos (Sweat-scraper) was given a tight muscularity and the smaller proportioned head of an aggressive figure.

Hellenistic art

Alexander’s accession in 336 BC, prefiguring the beginning of the Hellenistic era, was followed by the rapid expansion of the Greek Empire: his capital was established at Babylon, and the centres of artistic production tended to move eastwards, particularly to Anatolia. Pergamon was especially important sculpturally during the period 250–160 BC. In sculpture, emphasis was put on movement, as in the Nike of Samothrace (now in the Louvre in Paris), realism, the display of emotion and more complex poses. From this period survive many mass-produced ceramic figures of gods, dancing figures and satyrs, often known as Tanagra figures after the town in Boeotia. During this luxury-loving age, the continuance of refined goldwork for jewellery, and filigree and leaf diadems was matched by the remarkable Derveni krater, a copper-alloy repoussée wine vase used as a cinerary urn despite its Dionysiac scenes.

Vase excavated at Elefsína.

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Pheidias the Great

From 447 to 432 BC, Pheidias mastered the depiction of narrative schemes and vigorous action in his reliefs and statues for the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and the Parthenon in Athens. The Parthenon reliefs were brightly painted. For both temples, Pheidias created gigantic divine statues of ivory and gold, now lost. A perfect blend of naturalism with idealism had been achieved, well seen in the Nike adjusting her sandal (Temple of Nike Apteros, Athens Acropolis). This, surprisingly small and easy to miss, is now exhibited in the Acropolis Museum, and referred to familiarly as the Sandalízousa.

In architecture, a new, complex quality was introduced with the foliate Corinthian column capital, first used at the Choregic monument of Lysikratos, Athens, in 336 BC. The Corinthian order was often used on a gigantic scale, as in the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens, c. 130 AD. Houses appear to have been simple structures, judging from painted Thracian tomb chests preserved in the Thessaloníki Archaeological Museum.

Mosaic depicting the arrival of Asklepios, god of healing, on Kós, with Hippocrates to the left; Kós Archaeological Museum.

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The absorption of Greece by Rome after 146 BC reaffirmed Roman admiration and development of Greek forms of art and architecture. Indeed, apart from sculptures, a few larger episodes such as the mosaic Battle of Isos (Pompeii, c.50 BC) are known through their Roman copies. The practical bent of the Romans emphasised physically truthful portraiture and its use as propaganda (see the Augustus from Athens’s Roman agora), and hero worship as with the bust of Antinoös from Pátra. Roman forms of arched architecture were adopted, as was a preference for sumptuous palaces. The surviving Galerius Gateway, AD 298–303, at Thessaloníki conveys something of their splendour: its reliefs reflect the Roman-Hellenic interest in illusionism and narrative.

Christianity and Byzantium

That Christian communities were quickly established in Greece is demonstrated by St Paul’s letters to the Corinthians and Thessalonians. Constantine the Great’s decision to make Byzantium (modern İstanbul) his capital in 330, coupled with his advocacy of Christianity (though he himself did not convert until on his deathbed), determined the future direction of Greek religion and what is known as Byzantine art. Christianity led to an art of symbolism, and because of a fear of idolatry, sculpture in the round became rare, as did the nude; figures thus became defined by their drapery. Many artefacts of this mystic art were produced in Byzantium and exported to the Balkans. Levantine motifs, particularly from silk artefacts, were mixed with Roman ones in an art that emphasised richness and sophistication, religiosity and secularity, although little survives of the latter type.

Corinthian columns on the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens.

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Architecturally, two forms of church emerged alongside the Roman basilica form of nave, aisles and apse: one, the central domed space, sometimes over an octagon (as at Ósios Loukás), and the other a cruciform domed space (such as Ágii Apóstoli, Athens). In these, the dome was often emphasised by the image of almighty Christ giving his blessing (the Pandokrátor) or as the Judge (the Kritís), a fitting symbol as one took communion below.

Surviving decoration is often mosaics of pigmented glass tesserae, usually implanted with gold leaf, that were set at slight angles to each other so that in the flickering candlelight the images shimmered.

Many paintings were destroyed during the Iconoclastic crisis of 726–843, when the validity of figural imagery was challenged. However, Néa Móni on Híos has good mosaics from c.1050, and Mystrás has fine 13th- and 14th-century paintings. Other devotional works were relief-carved ivory codex (book) covers, boxes and pyxes; but most characteristic were icons (tempera- or occasionally encaustic-painted panels of saints). These were initially domestic and often for women at home, but were later placed on pillars flanking the space to the altar. In turn, more icons were added to the témblon or barrier before the altar, and in time they multiplied to create an iconostasis or screen separating nave from chancel and congregation from clergy (as with the fine example found in Megálou Meteórou monastery). An arrangement of a central Christ flanked by Mary and St John the Baptist, Saints Peter and Paul and other apostles and saints in order of importance became known as the Great Deisis. Such screens greatly enhanced the mysticism of the Orthodox Church, which formally dates from the Great Schism of 1054.

Byzantine culture was increasingly under threat, first from Islam but also from the West, particularly its former allies, Venice and Genoa. However, it did experience an artistic revival in manuscripts and the paintings at Mystrás, which show a greater interest in plasticity, under the Palaeologos dynasty (1261–1453).

The capture of Byzantium by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 meant Greece became nominally part of the Islamic world, although from as early as 1204, the Ionian and some of the Aegean Islands, the Dodecanese, Crete and several mainland cities were ruled by Venice, Genoa and other Western, Catholic powers (for more information, click here). In consequence, Venetian and Frankish influence was felt in architecture throughout Greece, notably on the Peloponnese, the northeast Aegean islands, the Cyclades and on Crete, in both military and domestic architecture, as well as on sacred art.

Mosaic from the Monastery of the Panagía, Ýdra.

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Crete’s most famous painter is Domenikos Theotokopoulos, whose Adoration of the Magi (Benaki Museum, Athens) shows his work as an icon painter before his move to Venice and later to Spain – where he was known as El Greco.

After 1453, many refugee painters emigrated to the Venetian-held Ionian Islands, Crete or Venice itself, so Venetian influence is evident in the 16th- and 17th-century icon-painting of Mihaïl Damaskinos, Emmanuel Tzanes and Theodoros Poulakis.

Art under the Ottomans

Ottoman rule in Greece allowed religious tolerance, but the Islamic scepticism of figurative imagery was nevertheless felt, particularly in larger public works. Although icon-painting persisted, more emphasis was put on the decorative arts in which Eastern and Western influences are found, especially in textiles – including kilims – jewellery and metalwork (lamps, platters and other domestic utensils). Often distinct, lively regional and island vernacular styles are apparent, particularly in embroidery.

The Italian-built Governor’s House in Rhodes New Town.

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Domestic architecture favoured timber-panelled rooms which stylistically linked traditions from İstanbul with European precedents. The emigration of many Greeks in all directions, known as the diaspora, helped fuse many influences into Greek art. One notable example is that of Greek craftsmen working at İznik on ceramic ware with Grecian subject matter. Many domed Ottoman civic buildings have been destroyed, but numerous others survive, especially in regions united with Greece after 1881. These include the bezesténi (covered bazaar), two baths and several mosques in Thessaloníki, a hammam and five mosques in Rhodes, plus scattered mosques, baths and ornate fountains in Tríkala, Lárissa, Halkída, Véria, Kós, Ioánnina, Návplio, Crete, Lésvos and Híos. In the last five locales, hammams and mosques have been restored for use as event venues.

Neoclassicism

Roman Pompeii, discovered in 1763, provoked a renewed interest in antiquity, and the German scholar Johann Joachim Winckelmann suggested that Greek art was superior to Roman. Consequently, a pro-Hellenic movement arose in Western Europe which, allied to growing nationalist aspirations, led to a resurgence of interest in Classical Greece (often known as neoclassicism) which dominated the arts during the War of Independence of 1821–28 and after full independence in 1830. A Bavarian prince was appointed king and it is therefore Germanic influence, particularly from Karl Friedrich Schinkel, that dominates neoclassical architecture – especially in Athens, the capital from 1834.

The Mosque of Murad Reis, an Ottoman legacy on Rhodes.

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Monumental, largely Ionic structures that reflect mainstream European neoclassicism are Friedrich Von Gärtner’s Royal Palace (1835–43), and the work of two Danish architects, Christian Hansen’s National Capodistrian University (1837) and Theophil Hansen’s National Library (1888–91) and Academy (1856–85), the Observatory (1842) and the Záppio (1874–88). Ernst Ziller, though belonging to the next wave of immigrant architects, contributed the Numismatic Museum (originally the Schliemann residence: 1878–80), the Presidential Mansion (1891–97) and many other landmark buildings across Greece.

Native architects adopted the style, notably Lysandros Kaftantzoglou (Athens Technical University) and Stamatis Kleanthis, Schinkel’s student. The latter built the neoclassical Wortheim house (Athens, 1843) and also the Renaissance-revival-style mansion of the Duchess of Plaisance, now part of the Byzantine Museum (Athens, 1840–48). This eclectic attitude gained pace and, unsurprisingly, Byzantine adaptations found favour, as with Kaftantzoglou’s Athens Eye Clinic. Scores of houses composed as assemblages of geometric forms with Classical detailing and an overall symmetry show the popularity of the neoclassical style.

Theophil Hansen’s neoclassical Academy, Athens.

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Just as architecture paralleled the mainstream European patterns, so too did painting and sculpture. Sculpture, marginalised during the Byzantine and Ottoman years, was revived, initially in the Classical taste, especially at Tínos where a school of decorative carving flourished. The greatest exponent of this school was Yannoulis Chalepas, celebrated for his Oréa Kimoméni (Sleeping Beauty) Grave Monument (1877) in Athens’ Próto Nekrotafío (First Cemetery). Other examples are the Corfiot Pavlos Prosalentis’s Plato (1815), or Leonidas Drosis’s Penelope (1873, both in the National Gallery in Athens). Given the dominance of German tutors at the Royal School of Fine Arts, Teutonic concepts affected students like the Tiniot Lazaros Fytalis, whose Shepherd (1856, National Gallery) owes something to Schadow. Ioannis Vitsaris’s Pavlopoulos Tomb (1890, Athens Próto Nekrotafío) demonstrated interest in western Baroque, while Kostas Demetriades’s Male Figure (1910, National Gallery) picked up contemporary naturalist tendencies.

In painting, portraiture – at first somewhat naïve – and subject painting took off following independence, thus supplementing the Venetian-influenced religious works that had been popular in the Ionian Islands in the 18th century, such as Panagiotis Doxaras’ Birth of the Virgin (Zákynthos Museum), as well as his painted ceiling for the Ágios Spyrídon church in Corfu.

Events of the 1821–28 battles provided many dramatic paintings with a Romantic flavour and occasional religious overtones, such as Theodoros Vryzakis’s Exodus from Mesolóngi (1853, National Gallery). Greek life was also celebrated, as in the Munich-trained Nikolaos Gyzis’s Children’s Betrothal (1877, National Gallery) or Nikiforos Lytras’s The Dirge on the Isle of Psará (pre-1888). Both artists were also attracted to Orientalist subjects, while Gyzis (1842–1901) had a marked predilection in later years for symbolism and mysticism. By the late 19th century, other artists were picking up on new subjects, landscape and portraiture (Polychronis Lembesis) and still life (Périclès Pantazis), while others fell under the spell of Impressionism and its offshoots – for example, Symeon Savvides’s Boats on the Bosphorus (1903, National Gallery).

The 20th century

Greek artists of the 20th century broadly followed major European trends and readily accepted modernism, not least because many studied in Paris or Germany. (An important exception was the neo-Byzantinist Photis Kontoglou, who, although well-travelled in Europe and Africa, remained rooted in Orthodox tradition.) However, where most progressive Western developments occurred before 1930, Greek modernist artists were latecomers; consequently, in international terms much appears derivative.

Elements of Cubism appear in the paintings of Kostantinos Parthenis, and of Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, for example Athenian Houses (1927–28); in Sky of 1966, Ghikas touches on futurism (both pictures are in the National Gallery). Surrealist imagery akin to Giorgio de Chirico surfaced with Nikos Engonopoulos (Poet and Muse, 1938, National Gallery), and persisted in later artists such as Christos Karas (Three Graces, 1974, National Gallery). Perhaps more successful was Ioannis Tsarouhis’s interpretation of Matisse’s linearism, as in Youth in an Overcoat (1937, National Gallery), also seen in Yiannis Moralis’s figurative work of the 1940s and 1950s (as in Figure, 1951, National Gallery). Moralis’s classicist realism was typical of much painting produced during the dictatorship; sometimes painterly as with Panagiotis Tetsis, or linear with Giorgos Mavroïdis. Such work can feel more truly Greek than the experiments with abstraction and recent conceptual and post-modernist art.

Sculptors of the early 20th century were likewise often trained in Paris. Consequently, the impact of Maillol is felt in Michael Tombros’s Fat Woman (1926, National Gallery), and Despiau in Bella Raftopoulou’s Sculpture (1932, National Gallery). These matched an interwar concern for the figure while embracing some abstraction, a trend that lingered into the 1950s and 1960s with Georgios Kastriotis’s enchanting Dance (1953, National Gallery), and Yannis Pappas’s Male Figure (1965, artist’s collection). But generally, from 1949, abstraction and the international style tended to prevail. Kostas Koulentianos’s Tree (1988, Athens, Portalakes collection) reflected the spirit of Chadwick; Takis’s Light Signals (1985, Paris, private collection) revealed a dull post-modernist wit; and Hrysa Vardea’s New York Landscape (1971–74, Athens, Mihalarias collection) used light intriguingly but in a formally predictable presentation.

Farewell at Sounio, Theodoros Vryzakis.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

In architecture the eclecticism that persisted into the 1930s extended to vernacular forms. Not just with Zahos, who drew inspiration from Macedonian and Aegean traditional building, but also Dimitris Pikionis who, with a greater eye for functionalism, came closer to modernism in his Pefkákia School (1933, Athens), and as a landscape architect designed the approach zone to the Acropolis during the 1950s. Zahos was also in part responsible for the rebuilding of Thessaloníki following the fire of 1917. True modernism was introduced with buildings on Híos by the Bauhaus-trained Ioannis Despotopoulos, aka Jan Despo; P Mihaïlidis, who worked with Le Corbusier; and Patroklos Karantinos who studied under French pioneer Auguste Perret, and then worked on the ambitious ministry-led programme of new school buildings in the 1930s. Many Athenian blocks of flats were in the modernist manner, examples being those by Kyriakos Panagiotakos on Themistokléous (at the corner with Arahóvis), or those by Mihaïlidis and his colleague Thoukidydis Valentis on nearby Zaïmi (on the corner with Stournára).

Icon painter in his studio showroom.

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A key figure in post-war architecture was Emmanouel Vourekas, responsible for the landmark Hilton Hotel (recently renovated) on Vassilís Sofías, which Conrad Hilton considered the most beautiful of the 53 in his chain.

The 1950s and 1960s rebuilding of the rapidly expanding main cities and towns saw, as in most countries, much shoddy and uninspired concrete building, both public and private. Nevertheless, certain structures, essentially to internationalist patterns, are particularly distinguished, especially around Athens: the Mégaro Mousikís (completed 1991); the Athens School of Music (1976); the Museum of Cycladic Art by Yiannis Vikelas (1986) with its serene interior; the solar-powered Mytaras house by Michalis Souvatzidis (1985); the round Ágios Dimítrios School by Takis Zenetos (1976); and the sculptural Emmanouíl Benáki Street apartments by Atelier 66 (1972). These and others parallel the best architecture in any modern city.

Across the country, Aris Konstantinidis designed most of the Bauhaus-y late-1950s hotels of the government-owned Xenia chain, though surviving specimens are looking rather dated (if not derelict) unless privatised and revamped.

Into the 21st century

Nothing of comparable merit has emerged indigenously since the millennium; “façadism” – whereby buildings from the 1920s or 1930s are gutted and rebuilt inside, preserving only their original street profile – is big on Athens’ main boulevards. The most iconic structures of the 2004 Olympic Games – the new roof of the OAKA stadium in Maroúsi, suspended by cables from giant swooping arches, and a couple of pedestrian suspension bridges relying on his trademark leaning single pylon – were the work of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

FLORA AND FAUNA

As befits its wide variety of habitats, Greece contains a great diversity of wildlife – including some of Europe’s last bears, wolves and jackals.

Greece is a land of tremendous ecological diversity, second in Europe, in this respect, only to the Iberian Peninsula. Biomes range from the temperate forests of the Píndos and Rodópi mountains in the north to the arid semi-desert of eastern Crete, or from the alpine vegetation on the bald, rocky upper slopes of mountains like Smólikas and Ólympos to the delta marshlands of Évros or even the dunes of islands such as Rhodes and Límnos. The current mosaic of landscapes and habitats is due to a combination of geography and the hand of man. Sited in the region where Europe butts up against Asia Minor, and only a short hop from Africa, Greece lies at an ecological crossroads.

Loggerhead turtles have lost their nesting beaches to mass tourism.

Design Pics Inc/Rex Features

Since Neolithic times (12,000 to 3,000 BC), man has wrought enormous changes on the landscape, clearing the primeval forests that once covered much of the country for fuel, shipbuilding, pasture and agriculture.

Habitats

Somewhat less than a quarter of Greece is now forested, with the largest tracts being in the north of the country, in the Rodópi Mountains and the Píndos ranges. Here you have a variety of oak, chestnut, beech and other broadleaf woodlands, with tracts of coniferous forest more evocative of the Scandinavian north than to the Mediterranean south of Europe. Drive inland, north from Amfípolis on the coast of Central Macedonia, and you will pass through three of Europe’s major vegetation zones in the space of 150km (90 miles): Mediterranean, Central European and Northern conifer, typified by trees like birch, Scots pine and Norway spruce.

Pastureland covers some 40 percent of the country, while around 30 percent is cultivated land. Areas where traditional agriculture is still practised are often rich in wildlife but, as elsewhere in Europe, labour-intensive traditional practices are declining. Terrain unsuited to modern agriculture is being abandoned to scrub, which means a decline in the diversity of habitat; where intensive modern agriculture has taken over, the use of herbicides, insecticides and fertilisers degrades the land from a wildlife perspective. There are, however, still plenty of mature olive groves which provide a good habitat for birds and insects.

Olive trees on Lésvos.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

One of Greece’s most emblematic habitats is Mediterranean maquis – scrubby, drought-resistant vegetation that covers much of the mainland and islands. This consists of low trees like the glossy-leaved kermes oak (Quercus coccifera) and the holm oak (Quercus suber), with its thinner, tapering leaves; hardy shrubs like myrtle, arbutus, strawberry tree and bay; and the fragrant under-layer of phrygana – plants like wild rosemary, oregano, lavender and thyme.

On river banks, you will notice trees like willows, oleanders, plane trees and poplars; species such as Australian eucalyptus and African acacia have also been widely introduced. Eucalyptus thrives in the dry climate, but ecologists view the species with circumspection or downright hostility due to the amount of water these trees suck out from the soil and the damaging effects that has on the soil’s pH value. Seaside tamarisks, which tolerate saline soil, are nearly as disdained by purists.

The profusion of flowers and plants provides food for an equal profusion of insects.

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Wetlands are one of the most threatened habitats in Greece – three-quarters of the country’s original wetlands have been lost, and many others are under extreme pressure, what with the heavy demands for water for agriculture and tourist usage as well as targeted drainage for construction. Nevertheless, Greece still possesses various wetlands of great importance, including many protected under the international Ramsar Convention: Pórto Lágos and lakes Vistonís and Ismáris; the Néstos Delta; Lake Mikrí Préspa; the Mesolóngi lagoons; Amvrakikós Gulf; lakes Vólvi and Korónia; Lake Kerkíni; the contiguous deltas of the Aliákmon, Axiós and Loudías rivers; the Évros Delta; and the Kotýhi lagoons. These encompass a variety of habitats from river deltas, shallow lagoons, salt-marsh, swamps, reed beds and lakes.

Elusive mammals

Man’s impact on the wildlife of Greece has been as significant as his impact on the land’s habitats. The Barbary lions and Anatolian leopards known to the ancient Greeks are long gone, hunted to extinction. And many of the most famous species that have survived are scarce and elusive – only the luckiest or most patient visitors will glimpse them in the wild.

In the mountains of northern Greece, you can still find areas of wilderness, where some of the country’s rarest land mammals are to be found. For example, the continent’s most southerly population of European brown bears (Ursos arctos), found in the North Píndos range along the border with Albania and North Macedonia, and also in the Rodópi Mountains of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, close to the border with Bulgaria.

The conservation body ARCTUROS (www.arcturos.gr) – which has an information centre and refuge in Nýmfeo, southeast of Flórina– sets out to protect both the 150-odd animals that survive and the habitat they live in. Bears have been protected by law since 1969, but still suffer from illegal hunting and habitat destruction.

Wolves

The wolf is officially listed as “vulnerable”: population estimates range from a few hundred to low thousands, mainly in the Rodópi Mountains along the border with Bulgaria, but also along the borders with North Macedonia and Turkey, the Píndos mountains of west-central Greece, Kerkíni, Falakró and the Évros region. Wolves died out in the Peloponnese sometime between 1940 and 1970, and their survival elsewhere is precarious: they are threatened principally by habitat loss through logging, illegal hunting, road kills, hybridisation with dogs, and habitat disturbance through recreational tourism.

ARCTUROS works to protect Greece’s population of wolves (Canis lupus), who have a sanctuary at Agrapídia. It is only fairly recently that wolves have enjoyed protected status – official bounties were paid until 1980 and, until 1991, they were still considered “vermin”, which meant they could be hunted to protect livestock. Although wolves do take sheep from time to time, other ungulates – mainly red deer (Cervus elaphus), fallow deer (Dama dama) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) – constitute their preferred diet.

Wild sheep, otters, lynx

Other notable mountain mammals include three species of wild sheep: the nimble chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), the European mouflon (Ovis musimon) and the Cretan wild goat/ibex (also known as the agrími or krí-krí; Capra aegagrus cretica), with its bearded chin and curved horns, most dramatic on the large males. This latter species, worshipped in antiquity, is now endangered, largely due to hunting. It is mainly found in the Gorge of Samariá national park in western Crete, but during the 1960s, breeding colonies were established on nearby islets like Día and Ágii Pándes in an effort to save it from extinction.

Otters (Lutra lutra) can still be found but are scarce, and your best chance of seeing them is in river-rich areas like Thessaly, Préspa or Víkos-Aóös in Epirus. Similarly elusive are members of the cat family – the endangered lynx (Lynx lynx), with its characteristic ear tufts, which survives in the Víkos-Aóös National Park; and the much smaller wild cat (Felix sylvestris) – resembling a large grey domestic cat, with black stripes and a bushy tail – which are found in a variety of habitats on the mainland and as part of a small, threatened population on Crete, only confirmed to exist in the late 1990s.

A type of very small wild horse has lived on the island of Skýros since ancient times. There are fewer than 150 surviving pure-bred members of this unique breed.

Common mammals

Other woodland mammals include the wild boar (Sus scrofa) and the common Eurasian badger (Meles meles); the former is found on larger wooded islands as well as the mainland. In northern conifer forests, look out for the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) with its bushy tail, white underbelly and ear tufts (a subspecies is also endemic to Lésvos). The pine marten (Martes martes) is distinguished from its more widespread cousin, the beech or stone marten (Martes foina), by its creamy, yellowish throat patch, as compared with the latter’s, which is pure white. In addition to these two types of martens, you might see other members of the mustelid family, including the weasel (Mustela nivalis) and the European polecat (Mustela putorius). The most common nocturnal mammals you are likely to see are the country’s numerous species of bat.

Brown bears in the Rodópi Mountains.

Photoshot

The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is common and widespread, unlike a similar-looking animal more commonly associated with Africa and western Asia: the golden jackal (Canis aureus). Greece is the northwesternmost limit of the jackal’s range, but populations have collapsed since the 1980s. Now under a thousand remain, mainly in wetlands and maquis regions of Fokída, the Peloponnese, Halkidikí and the island of Sámos, as confirmed by a 2008–09 WWF survey (www.wwf.gr). Hunting jackals was forbidden in 1990, but they are still persecuted for stealing sheep and chickens, frequently taking the blame for kills by stray dogs. In fact, 50 percent of their diet is vegetarian, and the rest comes from carrion and hunting live reptiles, frogs, insects, small rodents and the ubiquitous rabbits. They are largely nocturnal, thus may be spied in car headlights when driving at night.

Reptiles and amphibians

Not all of Greece’s wildlife is elusive, and nor does tracking it down always demand time and effort. Basking in the sun or making a dash for it, lizards can often be seen in rocks and along paths.

The Mediterranean chameleon is now only found on Sámos island, and Crete.

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Other curious lizards of Greece include the Mediterranean chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleo), growing up to 30cm (1ft) long, and unmistakable with its prehensile tail, wedge-shaped head and bulbous eyes, now found only on Sámos and Crete, plus its cousin the African chameleon (Chamaeleo africanus), confined to Pýlos in the Peloponnese. The large, rough-scaled agama lizard (Laudakia stellio) lives in parts of northern Greece, and on Corfu, Paxí, the Cyclades, Dodecanese and the eastern Aegean islands. The Aegean Islands in fact have numerous reptilian endemics: six species of lizards and three types of snake are not found anywhere else in Europe.

Greece’s snake species include Europe’s most venomous, the nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes), with distinctive zigzags on its back; but most – like the grass snake (Natrix natrix) or the fast-moving Dahl’s whip snake (Columber najadum) – are harmless.

One of Greece’s most famous reptiles is the yellowish Hermann’s tortoise (Testudo hermanni), once heavily exploited for the pet trade, but now protected. It lives in scrubby land in coastal regions throughout the country; keep an eye out for it when looking around ruins. A related species found nearly as widely is the spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca); its cousin, Testudo marginata, is mostly restricted to the north of the country, and the Sporades.

Greece is home to two species of toads – the European green toad being more common – and 11 kinds of frogs, including tiny tree frogs and the highly endangered Pelophylax cerigensis, restricted to just a few hundred individuals on Kárpathos and Rhodes.

Marine life

Greece has more coastline than any other Mediterranean country – some 15,000km (9,300 miles) of it. The benign temperature of the Aegean and its relatively small tides make it good snorkelling territory. Look out for two types of octopuses – the common (Octopus vulgaris), with double rows of suckers, and the curled (Eledone cirrhosa), with single rows of suckers – plus cuttlefish, sea urchins, starfish, sea cucumbers, gorgonians and anemones. You may also spot pipefish (Sygnathus acus) and seahorses (Hippocampus).

Favourite Lizards

While the majority of wild animals are eager to keep away from people, some species actually visit you, in what might be called the wildlife equivalent of room service. Perhaps the most enchanting of these are the country’s three species of geckos (commonest the orangey-tan Hemidactylus turcicus) – the most keen-sighted of all lizards, whose large eyes are perfect for hunting insects at night or in darkened rooms. Not only do they look cute, but their ability to run along vertical and even upside-down surfaces thanks to the adhesive pads on their feet inspired the subsequent development of Velcro fasteners.

At local harbours, you will primarily see various species of breams, parrotfish, hake, swordfish, mackerel and dogfish-type shark among the fishermen’s catch. The Mediterranean is heavily overfished, with industrial fleets being particularly to blame; two prestige species that bear the brunt of this are the bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) and yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), the latter especially near Alónnisos.

Loggerhead and hawksbill turtles

Among the most vulnerable marine species is the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). Many die each year, entangled and drowned by fishing nets, or choked by plastic bags, but the real threat to their continued survival is the status of their ancestral nesting sites. Many of the beaches turtles once chose to nest on have lost out over the years to tourism developments; the only significant remaining nesting sites are on Zákynthos, Rhodes, the Peloponnese and Crete. Natural hazards have always meant that only a tiny proportion of eggs laid make it to adulthood: animals like foxes predate on the eggs (laid between the end of May and August), and birds eat hatchlings (which emerge from July to the end of October) as they make their way to the sea. But human disturbance has even more devastating effects. Noise and curious tourists can cause adult turtles to abandon nests, and light pollution disorientates hatchlings, causing them to head inland, where they die, rather than out to sea. Similar problems afflict the hawksbill turtle (Eretomochelys imbricata), which occasionally is found around the Ionian islands.

If you are keen on turtle protection, stay away from nesting beaches at night and think of joining ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece (www.archelon.gr). They have set up protected zones and rescue stations on Crete, the Peloponnese, Kefaloniá and Zákynthos, where the National Marine Park established for the turtles is finally overcoming past mismanagement and hostility from tourist concerns at Laganás.

Dolphins and whales

On boat trips, keep your eyes peeled for one of the cetaceans that can be found in Greek waters: the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), frequently seen playing in schools in the bow wave of boats; its larger, darker cousin, the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), the dolphin most commonly seen in aquariums; the striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba); a long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala caretta); a sperm whale (Physeter catadon); or a fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus).

The monk seal

Perhaps Greece’s most important marine mammal, however, is the predominantly brown or grey Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), unusual among seals because it lives in warm waters. It eats mainly fish, squid and octopus, and can grow to over two metres (6ft) in length and weigh more than 300kg (660lbs). In ancient times, monk seals were common – they figured on Greek coins from as far back as 500 BC and featured in the writings of Homer, Plutarch and Aristotle. Now, however, they are one of the most endangered mammals in the world. Between 300 and 500 individuals survive, with Greece, Dalmatia and Morocco having the only significant populations, and a battle is being waged to save them.

Mediterranean seals are a protected species.

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Whereas in ancient Greek times they were trusting, they are now shy of man and confined to the most isolated coasts. During Roman times and the Middle Ages, they were hunted assiduously for their pelts, meat and oil, but they have also been hard hit in the last hundred years by pollution, disease and a steep decline in fish stocks. Until very recently, they were persecuted by fishermen who viewed them as competition for fish stocks and who resented them for damaging fishing nets. Now one of the reasons for their continued vulnerability is disturbance through tourism – often unwittingly, as when yachts seek out the type of deserted coves where the caves in which the seals live and breed are located.

Both black and white storks migrate through Greece, nesting on the way.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Among their last remaining strongholds are Sámos and northern Kárpathos, where perhaps 30 individuals live; around Kímolos and Gyaros in the Cyclades, which hosts the largest colony in the Mediterranean, around Límnos and Aï Strátis, and the National Marine Park of the Northern Sporades, created in 1992, which has a population of about 50 seals. The main society fighting for their protection is the Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal (www.mom.gr). It is based on Alónisos, where it runs an exhibition centre in Patitíri and the Seal Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre for sick and orphaned seal pups at Stení Vála; there is also an information centre in Diafáni, Kárpathos. MOM’s work has helped bring about some small encouraging signs: local attitudes towards the animals have shifted, so that they are rarely intentionally killed; and scientists believe that local seal birth rates – about eight annually – have stabilised. More information on this fascinating creature can be found at www.monachus-guardian.org.

Birds

Sited on important avian migration routes, Greece is an excellent destination for birdwatchers, especially in spring and autumn, but also in winter, when many northern European birds come to avoid the cold. Enthusiasts should contact the Hellenic Ornithological Society (https://ornithologiki.gr).

One of the best wetland sites in the country is the Préspa National Park, on a mountainous plateau in western Macedonia, comprising the almost all-Greek Lake Mikrí (Little) Préspa, and Lake Megáli (Great) Préspa, its waters and shoreline shared with Albania and North Macedonia. Here you can find breeding colonies of both great white pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) and Dalmatian pelicans (Pelecanus crispus), as well as the threatened pygmy cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus), which also breeds on lakes Kerkíni and Petrón.

Another critical site is the Évros Delta, where you can see wetland and pastureland birds like the lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus), the crane (Grus grus), the Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), the glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), the purple heron (Ardea purpurea) and the white stork (Ciconia ciconia), which is also highly visible across central mainland Greece in summer, nesting on church belfries and utility poles.

As for seabirds, one of the most important is the Audouin’s gull (Larus audouinii), which is endangered but still found across the Aegean, while great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) and smaller shags are widespread in the Sporades, Cyclades and east Aegean.

Short-toed larks (Calandrella brachydactyla) and calandra larks (Melanocorypha calandra) are common on open agricultural land. Your eye might also be caught by the vivid hues of the turquoise-coloured European roller (Coracias garrulus), not to mention the smaller bee-eater (Merops apiaster), both of which you may see perched on fences or telegraph wires in spring.

Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) overwinter from Africa at salt marshes on Kós, Sámos, Lésvos and Límnos, and on the mainland’s west coast around the Amvrakikós Gulf.

Other glamorously coloured birds include the golden oriole (Oriolus oriolus), which is frequently found in woodland and orchards; and the kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), found near streams and waterways, as well as hiding in sea-level rock formations. In olive groves and open country, watch out for the ground-feeding hoopoe (Upupa epops), with its unmistakable pinkish head and crest and a long curved bill.

The endangered imperial eagle.

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Birds of prey

The Dadiá Forest in Thrace is one of the best places in Europe to see birds of prey, including three highly endangered birds: the imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca), the white-tailed or sea eagle (Haliaetus albicilla) and the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). The latter still exists elsewhere in remote mountainous regions of the country, but, like most birds of prey, they are vulnerable to hunting and poisoned bait, often put down to kill foxes or – illegally – wolves. The lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus), a type of vulture famous for its habit of dropping bones from a great height to smash them so that it can extract the marrow, has vanished from Crete but may just still hang on in the mainland mountains. Three other vultures are more commonly seen in Greece – the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), the black vulture (Aegypius monachus) and the white-and-black Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus). Other major birds of prey include the fish-eating osprey (Pandion haliaetus) and numerous types of kites, harriers, kestrels, hawks, buzzards and falcons.

Perhaps the most famous of Greece’s falcons is the Eleonora’s falcon (Falco eleonorae). Similar to a peregrine but with a longer tail and more slender wings, it is often seen in groups hunting off coastal cliffs in the Aegean. Over two-thirds of the entire world population of this threatened bird species spend their summer months in Greece, hunting insects during spring and early summer, and delaying their breeding season so that they can raise their fledglings on migrant birds heading to Africa in the autumn, before they too head off on their long annual migration to overwinter on Madagascar or smaller Indian-Ocean islands.

La Grotta Bay, Corfu Island.

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Parthenon temple on the Acropolis in Athens.

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Líndos Acropolis, Rhodes.

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PLACES

A detailed guide to the entire country, with principal sites clearly cross-referenced by number to the maps.

As Henry Miller wrote in The Colossus of Maroussi, “marvellous things happen to one in Greece – marvellous good things which can happen to one nowhere else on earth. Somehow, almost as if He were nodding, Greece still remains under the protection of the Creator. Men may go about their puny, ineffectual bedevilment, even in Greece, but God’s magic is still at work and, no matter what the race of men may do or try to do, Greece is still a sacred precinct – and my belief is it will remain so until the end of time”.

Corinth Canal.

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The dictionary defines the Greek word “chaos” as “disordered, formless matter said to have existed before the ordered universe”. Chaotic is certainly one way of describing the physical geography of a country characterised by heaps of rocks, furrowed mountain ranges and a jagged coastline. Flat, fertile areas such as the Thessalian plain are the exception.

The extensive Píndos mountain range in the west forms the country’s backbone, while in the east, the peaks of Mount Ólympos, at nearly 3,000 metres (10,000ft), are the highest in Greece. The coast is a series of so many coves and inlets that it runs to a length of 15,000km (9,320 miles). The 60-plus inhabited islands that speckle the seas surrounding Greece are divided into distinct groups: the Ionian islands to the west, the Sporádes in the middle, and the Cyclades and Dodecanese trailing out southeast from Athens. The three largest islands are Crete, Lésvos and Évvia, the latter little known outside of Greece.

In this section, our expert writers will take you on 15 individual journeys. Starting with the capital, Athens, we take a clockwise loop through the mainland and then set sail for the many islands, finishing in the westerly Ionian archipelago. En route, you will find the history, geography and local culture of each area covered in detail. The opening hours given for sites and museums are for summer only, unless otherwise stated; shorter hours usually apply from October to April. Tourist facilities on the islands in particular tend to close abruptly once the summer season has finished – which varies from early September just before school starts.

The chapters have been loosely designed as two-week itineraries, but of course the longer you stay, the better. Perhaps, like Lord Byron, you will one day be able to declare: “It is the only place I ever was contented in”.

THE MAINLAND

The mainland of Greece contains a wealth of historical monuments, in landscapes that are often breathtaking.

Many visitors to Greece head straight for the islands – of which there are of course dozens to choose from, offering everything from sybaritic nightlife to serene tranquillity, from historical marvels to stunning natural beauty. Naturally, this book explores Greece’s offshore assets in great detail later on (for more information, click here). But to bypass the Greek mainland is to overlook the heart of the country, to miss its range of dramatic scenery, and to neglect some spectacular ruins recalling the grandeur of ancient civilisations.

The Kesarianí Monastery offers sweeping views of Athens below.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

The six chapters that follow explore this rich and varied land, starting in Athens, birthplace of democracy and home to the most impressive remains from the Classical period to be found in Greece. However, relics of ancient civilisations can be seen throughout the mainland – the ancient strongholds of Mycenae and Tiryns, predating the Trojan War; the holy site of Delphi, regarded by the ancients as the centre of the world; the stadium and temples of Olympia, where the Olympic Games began; and wonderfully preserved theatres at Epidauros, Argos, Dodona and elsewhere.

Monuments from the Byzantine period include elegant churches and monasteries decorated with glorious mosaics or frescoes. Thessaloníki, the second city of the Byzantine Empire, has a rich heritage of these stylish churches, and the monasteries of Dafní and Ósios Loukás are world famous for their artworks. Venetian and Frankish occupation enriched Greece’s coastline with picturesque castles and walled cities such as Monemvasía, Návplio and Koróni. Throughout the country, archaeological museums are treasure-houses of beautiful and intriguing relics from Greece’s complex past.

But the Greek mainland is not just about history: its timeless landscapes are often captivating. The rugged mountain ranges of central and southern Greece, snowcapped for four months of the year, descend through craggy ridges to sea-girt peninsulas and promontories. Deep gulfs and inlets penetrate the land, bounded by mountains cradling tiny harbours and fishing villages, or bordered by pine slopes. Elsewhere, a narrow coastal plain meets the sea in a fretwork of marshland or bays, some of them inaccessible overland.

ATHENS

Both East and West converge in this vibrant metropolis, lively and brimming over, just like its inhabitants. The city is also home to some of the country’s finest cutting-edge museums.

Main Attractions

The Acropolis

Acropolis Museum

Strolling in Pláka

Varvákios Agorá

Sunday/Easter services at Agías Irínis

National Archaeological Museum

Benáki Museum

Dafní mosaics

Poseidon Temple, Soúnio

If there is one quality for which Athens (Athína in Greek) should be credited, it is elasticity. Throughout its long history, the city has by turns been obscure, triumphant and, now, the capital of the modern Greek state. Athens is barely mentioned in Homer, but emerged as a growing power in the 6th century BC. During the Periclean “golden age”, Athens became a great centre of art and literature, commerce and industry. With Macedonian expansion came the first shrinkage, though Athens remained a prestigious intellectual centre with particular emphasis on philosophy and oratory.

The Acropolis at dusk.

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During the Hellenistic period, Athens was overshadowed by the great kingdoms founded by Alexander’s successors – but not obliterated. The rulers of Egypt, Syria and Pergamon courted the old city with gifts of buildings and works of art. Yet it was already beginning to rest on its laurels, to turn into a museum-city, a “cultural commodity” rather than an active, living organism. Besieged and sacked by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 86 BC, restored and pampered under two phil-Athenian Roman emperors, Augustus and Hadrian, sacked again by the Herulians in AD 267 and Alaric the Goth in AD 395, Athens entered the Byzantine era as a small provincial backwater, shorn of all its glory. The edict (AD 529) of the Byzantine emperor Justinian forbidding the study of philosophy there rang down the curtain on the ancient city.

From broken city to capital

Under Latin rule (1204–1456), invaded, occupied and fought over by the French, Catalans, Florentines and Venetians, Athens shrank even more. It was only after the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century that it began to expand again, but still falling far short of its ancient limits. There were more setbacks, including a devastating Venetian incursion in 1687. Athens finally rose from its ruins after the War of Independence, an “exhausted city”, as Christopher Wordsworth noted in 1832, that was suddenly raised, unprepared, to the status of capital of the new Greek state.

Evzone guards outside the Parliament.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Fact

One thing to be prepared for, on a visual level, is the ubiquitous graffiti; Athens must be one of the most heavily “decorated” of all European cities. Luridly colourful or often supremely witty, it ranges aesthetically from the crudest tags to high art, sometimes apparently commissioned or at least tolerated (as at the trolley depot near Kerameikos cemetery). As Greece undergoes more social travail under lingering austerity, and political uncertainty, it continues to proliferate.

Athens is thus a town that has grown haphazardly since then, and too fast. It never had a chance to mellow into venerable old age. Old and new have not blended too well; you can still sense the small, pre-1940s city pushing through the huge sprawl of today’s modern capital, like the proverbial thin man struggling to get out of every fat man. Occasionally, you come across what must have once been a suburban villa, ensconced between tall office buildings, its owner still fighting with hermetically closed, double-glazed windows against building-site dust and the roar of the traffic.

Congestion in Athens can be unbelievable, particularly when there is some work stoppage or demonstration underway and traffic is forced off the main streets, or it increases because the metro or buses are on strike. When it works, however, public transport makes journeys to, and through, the heart of the city, in a matter of minutes. Fairly thorough pedestrianisation of central Athens has made it more liveable and inviting, palpably less polluted.

In addition, branching off from the manic central arteries are the minor veins of the city, relatively traffic-free. Most apartment blocks have balconies and verandas, and there you can see the Athenians in summer emerging from their afternoon siesta reading the paper, watching the neighbours, watering their plants or eating their evening meal.

Later on after dark, younger Athenians head out for nightlife, still fairly lively and long despite the economic pinch. The original district for this was Psyrrí, just beyond Monastiráki (with which it shares a metro station). Accounts of hip Psyrrí’s demise in popular lore are greatly exaggerated, but it is true that the margin of trendiness and gentrification spreads steadily outward and further northwest, encompassing the formerly dismal neighbourhoods of Gázi, Rouf, Keramikós, Metaxourgío and Votanikós. Hot venues, for cutting-edge arts events as well, change regularly – consult a listings website or ask a friendly local.

The Acropolis

Seen from the right angle driving east on the Ierá Odós (the Sacred Way), especially at night, or looking up at its rocky bulk from the Pláka, the Acropolis 1 [map] (Apr–Oct daily 8am–8pm, 5pm closure Nov–Mar; various ticket combinations available) still has a presence that makes the grimy concrete of modern Athens fade into insignificance. Climb up in early morning in summer or early afternoon in winter, when the crowds are thinnest, and a strip of blue sea edged with grey hills marks the horizon. On a wet or windy day, walking across its uneven limestone surface feels like being on a ship’s deck in a gale.

The Acropolis nowadays looks like a stonemason’s workshop, much as it must have done in the 440s BC when the Parthenon A [map] was under construction as the crowning glory of Perikles’ giant public works programme. Some of his contemporaries thought it extravagant: Perikles was accused of dressing his city up like a harlot. In fact, the Parthenon celebrates Athena as a virgin goddess and the city’s protector. Her statue, 11 metres (37ft) tall and constructed of ivory and gold plate to Pheidias’s design, once gleamed in its dim interior; late in antiquity, it was taken to Constantinople, where it disappeared.

Conservators have taken down hundreds of blocks of marble masonry from the Parthenon to replace the rusting iron clamps inserted in the 1920s with non-corrosive titanium (rust made the clamps expand, cracking the stone, while acid rain turned carved marble surfaces into soft plaster). The restorers also succeeded in identifying and collecting about 1,600 chunks of Parthenon marble scattered over the hilltop, many blown off in the 1687 explosion caused by a Venetian mortar igniting Ottoman munitions stored inside the temple. When they are replaced, about 15 percent more building will be on view. New blocks cut from near the ancient quarries on Mount Pendéli (14km/9 miles north of Athens), which supplied the 5th-century BC constructors, will fill the gaps.

Acropolis Museum exhibits.

Acropolis Museum/Nikos Daniilidis

The Parthenon Frieze

The Parthenon Marbles are a 76-sq-m (500-sq-ft) stretch of sculpted figures – mostly from the frieze – carved under the direction of the master-sculptor and architect Pheidias. By 1799, when Lord Elgin was appointed British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, the Parthenon was in a sorry state, having been practically destroyed and then plundered by the invading Venetians in 1687. Elgin negotiated a permit from the sultan to remove “some blocks of stone with inscriptions and figures”, which he did between 1801 and 1812. He then shipped the marbles back to Britain (some were lost in transit), and in 1816 sold them to the British Museum, where they remain today.

The marbles are an integral part of one of the most beautiful buildings that still survives from antiquity, say the Greeks, and can be better appreciated in the city that made them. A key aim in building the Acropolis Museum was to reunite the surviving sculptures that once adorned the Parthenon: with its controlled environment, there were hopes that the museum would overcome what had ostensibly been the main objection to the return of the marbles, namely Athens’ lack of a suitable location in which to display them. So far, however, the world’s major museums claim that to return the marbles would set a disastrous precedent.

The Erechtheion B [map] , an elegant architecturally complex repository of ancient cults going back to the Bronze Age, is already restored. The Caryatids now supporting a porch over the tomb of King Kekrops, a mythical founder of the ancient Athenian royal family, are modern copies. The surviving originals were moved to the Acropolis Museum to prevent further damage from the néfos, the ochre summer blanket of pollution, now thankfully less frequent, that hangs over Athens.

Completed in 395 BC, a generation later than the Parthenon, the Erechtheion also housed an early wooden statue of Athena, along with the legendary olive tree that she conjured out of the rock to defeat Poseidon the sea-god in their contest for sovereignty over Attica.

The Propylaia C [map] , the battered official entrance to the Acropolis built by Mnesikles in the 430s BC, was cleverly designed with imposing outside columns to awe people coming up the hill. Parts of its coffered stone ceiling, once painted and gilded, are still visible as you walk through. Only reassembled recently, the exquisite square temple of Athena Nike D [map] (finished in 421 BC) stands on what was once the citadel’s southern bastion. It supposedly occupies one of the spots – the other is Cape Sounion – where Theseus’s father, King Aegeus, is said to have thrown himself to his death on seeing a black-sailed ship approaching the harbour. Theseus had promised to hoist a white sail for the return voyage if he had succeeded in killing the Minotaur on Crete, but carelessly forgot.

Acropolis Museum

The sculptures that Lord Elgin left behind are in the Acropolis Museum 2 [map] , below the Parthenon by Akrópoli metro station (https://theacropolismuseum.gr; Apr–Oct Mon 9am–5pm, Tue–Thu and Sat–Sun 9am–8pm, Fri until 10pm, Nov–Mar Mon–Thu 9am–5pm, Fri 9am–10pm, Sat–Sun 9am–8pm). Opened in 2009, the Acropolis Museum is the result of a competition won by New York-based Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi. From outside, the concrete-and-glass building, with its retro, mid-20th-century feel, is starkly antipathetic, in contrast to two neighbouring, listed apartment blocks on Dionysíou Areopagítou, threatened with demolition but ultimately saved by public outcry; no. 17, of early 1930s vintage, ranks as Athens’ best surviving example of Art Deco.

The impressive Acropolis Museum.

Acropolis Museum/Nikos Daniilidis

Once inside, however, the building works much better, effectively harnessing natural light for the optimum presentation of sculptural objects (a different proposition from the kind of light called into play when displaying paintings or drawings). From the entry on Dionysíou Areopagítou, a glass walkway leads over excavated sections of ancient Athens, including dwellings, wells, water and sewage works, an olive press, and even a Classical symposium hall with mosaic flooring. The excavations extend well under the museum which hovers above, supported by 100 massive anti-seismic columns, and muted natural light filters through the glass panels that make up much of the flooring.

From the ground floor, the upper levels are reached by a ramp, simulating the approach to the Acropolis and watched over by the six scarred but still impressively female Caryatids (one of them a copy, as the sixth original resides in the British Museum in London). On the first floor, the Archaic exhibition features the famous “Calf-bearer” or Moschophoros, and various coquettish korai (sculptures of women) revealing the Archaic ideal of beauty – look closely and you can make out their make-up, earrings and the patterns of their crinkled, close-fitting dresses.

Then up past the second-floor restaurant and shop to the top floor and the pièce de résistance: a glass gallery holding a reconstruction of the Parthenon pediments, of the same size and compass orientation as the real Parthenon looming just outside the wrap-around windows. The friezes, including the triangular western aetoma, are mounted at eye level – unlike the originals, which sat overshadowed by the eaves so that the ancient Athenians couldn’t really appreciate them. The authentic fragments which Greece retains have been mounted; everything else is a plaster cast, pointedly awaiting the return of their prototypes, the so-called Elgin Marbles, from the British Museum.

The Agora and Theatre of Dionysos

Just north of the Acropolis lies the Ancient Greek Agora (Apr–Oct daily 8am–8pm, Nov–Mar 5pm closure). The main entrance to this site is on Adrianoú Street, but there is an alternative way in behind the church of the Holy Apostles. While the Acropolis was mainly a religious site, the Agora was used for all public purposes: commercial, religious, political, civic, educational, theatrical, athletic. Today, it looks like a cluttered field of ruins.

Sculpture in the Stoa of Attalos, in the ancient Greek Agora.

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The reconstructed Stoa of Attalos 3 [map] , a 2nd-century BC line of shops, contains a wonderful, small archaeological museum (same hours as site); top marks go to a small perfume vial in the form of a kneeling kouros (a statue of an idealised nude youth). The Hephaisteion (also known as the Theseion), the temple opposite, is the most complete surviving Doric order temple and gives some idea of what the intact Parthenon looked like – though the vaulted ceiling dates from its time as a church.

On the south side of the Acropolis lies the Theatre of Dionysos 4 [map] (Apr–Oct daily 8am–8pm, Nov–Mar 8am–6.30pm). The marble seating tiers date from around 320 BC and later, but scholars generally agree that plays by playwrights such as Aeschylos, Sophokles, Euripides and Aristophanes were first staged here at religious festivals during the 5th century BC. A state subsidy for theatre-goers meant that every Athenian citizen could take time off to attend (entrance on Dionysíou Areopagítou;hours as for Parthenon).

The well-preserved Hephaisteion temple.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Just east of the theatre, in Pláka’s Platía Lysikrátous, stands the Choregic Monument to Lysikratos, the earliest example of the use of external Corinthian columns (the last and most ornate order of ancient Greek architecture). The inscription commemorates Lysikratos’ sponsorship in 334 BC of a drama contest; the elegant monument was originally crowned by a tripod. During medieval times, a Capuchin monastery, which hosted Lord Byron during his second stay in Athens, incorporated the monument.

KERAMEIKOS AND ISLAMIC ART COLLECTION

Beyond modern Thisío district, the Kerameikos Cemetery 5 [map] (all year daily 8am–5pm) in the potters’ district of the city was a burial place for prominent ancient Athenians. An extraordinary variety of sculptured monuments – tall stone urns, a prancing bull, winged sphinxes and melancholy scenes of farewell – overlooked the Sacred Gate, from which the paved Sacred Way led to Eleusis, where the mysteries were held. In the site museum (same hours) is a collection of grave goods, an excellent guide to Greek vase-painting, from a squat geometric urn with a rusting iron sword twisted around its neck to the white lekythoi (oil or perfume flask) of Classical Athens, and self-consciously sophisticated Hellenistic pottery.

Nearby, on the corner of Agíon Asomáton and Dipýlou Streets, an annexe of the Benáki Museum houses an Islamic Art Collection (Thu–Sun 10am–6pm), which ranks among the best in the world. More than 8,000 artefacts chart the evolution of Islamic art and civilisation up to the 19th century. The superb displays include a 16th-century velvet saddle from Bursa and the marble-faced interior of a 17th-century Cairo reception room.

Roman Athens

A few Roman monuments recall a time when Athens was revered, but stripped of its movable artworks. The 2nd-century Emperor Hadrian, a fervent admirer of Classical Greek culture, erected an ornate arch, known as Hadrian’s Arch 6 [map] , marking the spot where the Classical city ended and the provincial Roman university town began. On the side facing the Acropolis is the inscription “This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus”, on the side facing the Olympieion it reads “This is the city of Hadrian and not of Theseus”.

Little of this Roman city can be seen beneath the green of the Záppio Park and the archaeological area behind the towering columns of the Temple of Olympian Zeus (Stilés Olympíou Diós; Apr–Oct daily 8am–8pm, until 5pm in winter). Work on the temple had been abandoned in around 510 BC when funds ran out, but Hadrian finished the construction and consecrated the temple in AD 131–32.

Later in the century, Herodes Atticus, a wealthy Greek landowner who served in the Roman senate, built the steeply raked theatre on the south slope of the Acropolis (the Herodeio or Iródio Theatre 7 [map] , now used for Athens Festival performances, otherwise closed) as a memorial to his wife Regilla. A 1st-century BC Syrian, Andronikos of Kyrrhos, was responsible for the picturesque Tower of the Winds 8 [map] (Aérides; Apr–Oct daily 8am–8pm, until 5pm in winter), in the Roman Agora, a well-preserved marble octagon that is the highlight of this area. It is decorated with eight relief figures, each depicting a different wind direction, and once contained a water-clock. Later, it served as a tekke (ceremonial hall) for Ottoman dervishes. The other standout of the forum is Hadrian’s Library (Apr–Oct daily 8am–8pm, Nov–Mar 8am–5pm), an enormous colonnaded-courtyard building subsequently adapted to accommodate a four-apsed Byzantine basilica, from which mosaic flooring survives.

Pláka

Pláka, the old quarter clustering at the foot of the Acropolis, has been restored to its former condition (or rather to a fairly good reproduction of it), cars prohibited (for the most part), derelict houses rescued and streets tidied up. It has become a delightful, sheltered place to meander in; you might almost imagine yourself in a village, particularly in the winding narrow streets of the Anafiótika district that nestles below the Acropolis.

The towering columns of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Pláka is also the best place to track down Athens’ Ottoman past. The 15th-century Fethiye Mosque beside the Roman Agora is one of the finest, and oldest, examples of Muslim architecture in the city, restored in 2016–17 and now open as part of the Roman agora visit.. Nearby on Platía Monastiráki stands the Tsizdarákis Mosque (1759), once home to the Kyriazopoulos Collection of Pottery but now closed indefinitely. The mosque’s interior has been sensitively conserved and – should it re-open – is well worth a look, especially the brightly painted mihrab. Perhaps the most fascinating remnant of Ottoman life, however, is the 16th-century Abdi Efendi Hamam (Bath House of the Winds: www.melt.gr; Mon & Wed–Sun 8.30am–3.30pm) on Kyrrístou. This hamam (Turkish bath) with its warren of atmospheric rooms has been beautifully restored; a well-produced guide gives background on the building and the place of bathing in Greek and Turkish culture.

Treasures to be found at the Monastiráki flea market.

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Just uphill from the hamam at the eclectic Kanellopoulou Museum 9 [map] (www.camu.gr; Wed–Sun 9am–4pm), a newer wing shelters exquisite ancient objects like Archaic ceramic birds in flight and relief sphinxes on a pithos; the original 19th-century mansion is now devoted to early Christian and Byzantine displays, like several Fayyum portraits, Coptic textiles and rare icons. Nearby, at Pános 22, the well-labelled Man and Tools annexe of the Museum of Greek Folk Art (www.melt.gr; Mon & Wed–Sun 8.30am–3.30pm), showcases extinct or vanishing craft-trades and their implements – some truly bizarre, like a kataïfi dough-extruder.

A few steps from Aérides, also housed in a neoclassical mansion, is the excellent Museum of Greek Folk Music Instruments (www.athensmuseums.net; Mon & Wed–Sun 8.30am–3.30pm; free), showcasing the collection of Fivos Anoyanakis. On two floors are documented and displayed every instrument ever played in Greece, their sounds to be heard at the adjacent listening posts. The shopstocks (of course) plenty of Greek traditional music CDs. It is one portion of the Museum of Greek Folk Art, which will soon occupy an entire square block of restored houses along Vrysakíou Street; consult www.melt.gr for current details, or visit the museum shop at Adrianoú 43–45.

On the eastern edge of Pláka is another worthwhile museum. At the end of Kydathinéon, at Níkis 39, the Jewish Museum of Greece ) [map] (www.jewishmuseum.gr; Mon–Fri 9am–4pm, Sun 10am–4pm) records the long presence of Jews in the territory of modern Greece through documents, costumes and liturgical items, with frequent special exhibits and events.

Monastiráki

This entire area, essentially Athens’ central bazaar, is a vast sprawl of shops, which get more upmarket towards Platía Syndágmatos. Monastiráki ! [map] brings to mind the market described in a 4th-century BC comedy by Euboulos: “Everything will be for sale together in the same place at Athens, figs, summoners, bunches of grapes, turnips, pears, apples, witnesses, roses, medlars, honeycombs, chickpeas, lawsuits, beestings-puddings, myrtle-berries, allotment machines, irises, lambs, waterclocks, laws, indictments”. Kitsch-collectors will find much to interest them: Greek kitsch is arguably the most orgiastically hideous in the world. Monastiráki Square (Platía Monastirakioú), by the eponymous metro station, emerged from a 2017 overhaul completely pedestrianised and more inviting; the little central monastery-church of the name, originally 11th century, is usually open.

Retaining a traditional pattern, similar shops still tend to cluster together, as can be seen from those around the Mitrópolis (Athens’ cathedral), specialising in ecclesiastical articles. The cathedral itself dates from the mid-19th century and is as large as it is undistinguished. However, next door the small “old cathedral” (formally known as Panagía Gorgoepikóös or Ágios Eleftheríos) dates from the 12th century, although its masonry is a hotchpotch of materials reused from ancient pagan buildings. Above the door arch is a 2nd-century relief showing the calendar of Attic festivals.

Robustly vulgar Pandrósou Street bills itself as the Flea Market, though the genuine article(s) – liveliest on Sunday– is/are at Platía Avyssinías, crammed with old furniture dealers. In the lanes all around are open-daily shops selling everything from old engravings to superannuated light fixtures. Head north up Athinás or its side-streets from Monastiráki Square and you find the shops get more practical: wood stoves, hand-tools, screws, chainsaws, irrigation systems, hats, camping gear, knobs and knockers – truly a serendipitous accumulation.

Equally so are the goods in the Varvákios Agorá @ [map] , a 19th-century gem roughly halfway between Monastiráki and Omónia squares on the east side of Athinás Street, originally endowed by Ioannis Varvakis, hero of Yiannis Smaragdis’ 2012 film God Loves Caviar. This is the city’s main covered meat-and-fish market, where shoppers mill between open stands displaying fish, seafood and any type and part of animal you can imagine. Near the base of Eólou is the flower market on Platía Agías Irínis, flanked by the eponymous church which features the finest Sunday-morning and Easter chanting in the city, courtesy of the Lykourgos Angelopoulos choir, and several trendy tavernas.

The vibrant streets of the Pláka old quarter.

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Omónia to Sýndagma

The city’s heart, now largely pedestrianised, lies within an almost equilateral triangle defined by Platía Omónias in the north, Monastiráki in the south and Platía Syndágmatos to the southeast – lately dubbed ‘the Commerical Triangle’.

North of Omónia (also close to Viktória metro station) and crammed with treasures from every period of antiquity is the National Archaeological Museum £ [map] (www.namuseum.gr; Apr–Oct Tue 1–8pm, Wed–Mon 8am–8pm; Nov–Mar Tue 1–8pm, Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) for more information, click here. It emerged from a five-year refit in 2008 to retain its rank as one of the world’s great galleries.

Omónia itself went in for a facelift in 2019–20, which slightly calmed traffic and restored a cooling central fountain which had spouted until the 1960s. The parallel streets of Stadíou and Panepistimíou run southeast from Omónia to Platía Syndágmatos. Halfway down Panepistimíou is Christian and Theophil Hansen’s neoclassical trilogy of the National Library, University and Academy. Erected between 1837 and 1891, they are built of Pentelic marble and draw heavily on ancient Greek architectural forms. Startlingly bright painting and gilding gives some idea of how the now-stark marble of ancient monuments may have originally appeared.

Evening falls on bustling Monastiráki Square, with the illuminated Acropolis behind.

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Further along is the house of Heinrich Schliemann, designed by Ernst Ziller (1878), now home to the Numismatic Museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–6.30pm, but shut Thu in winter), which hosts summer concerts in its garden. Of greater interest is the National Historical Museum $ [map] (www.nhmuseum.gr; Tue–Fri 9am–4pm, Sat-Sun 10am-4pm), which occupies the prominent Old Parliament Building on Stadíou. Arranged thematically as much as chronologically, the museum covers episodes like the War of Independence to the Balkan Wars by way of a folklore collection and foreign philhellenes.

Sýndagma Square (Platía Syndágmatos, or Constitution Square) is the de facto centre of the city, dominated by the Parliament Building % [map] , which was originally the Royal Palace, built in 1836–42 for King Otto. The changing of the Évzoni (Evzone guards), a favourite tourist spectacle, takes place almost hourly in front of the Parliament.

Ermoú, running west from the square, is now a long pedestrian walkway with fashion outlets, enlivened by pavement buskers. Improved lighting makes this an attractive area to wander in the evening in search of a taverna or café – of which there are many in the perpendicular lanes. Also on Ermoú is the attractive Byzantine church of Kapnikaréa, thought to date from the 11th century; inside are frescoes executed by the neo-Byzantinist Photis Kontoglou.

The National Gardens ^ [map] (sunrise to sunset; free), much the coolest spot downtown during summer, are just behind the parliament building. Full of tangled bowers and ponds alive with terrapins, ducks or fish, there are also constant rivulets of water running along recessed troughs and a large colony of noisy parrots (escaped from pet shops or private owners) in the trees. It was laid out by Queen Amalia as the palace gardens during the 19th century. She used the new Greek navy to bring back botanical specimens from their voyages around the world. Sadly, the single café inside is grossly overpriced – you’ll have better luck at the popular Aigli, just outside the gardens proper, next to the 1888-vintage Zappeio hall, another Theophil Hansen work, which hosts regular conferences and is often surrounded by nocturnal book fairs.

Kolonáki

Chic Kolonáki is the city’s upmarket shopping district – though half its shops have closed down thanks to the crisis – as well as being the location of many diplomatic missions and some highly desirable apartments. It is not, however, devoid of culture; Kolonáki – or rather its southerly margins – has some of the finest museums in the city.

The National Archaeological Museum.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

The two-wing Museum of Cycladic Art & [map] (www.cycladic.gr; Mon, Wed, Fri–Sat 10am–5pm, Thu 10am–8pm, Sun 11am–5pm) features a unique collection of slim, stylised Cycladic statuettes in white marble, beautifully mounted. These figures, mostly of the third millennium BC, were scorned by 19th-century art critics as hopelessly primitive, but their smooth, simple lines attracted Picasso, Brancusi and Modigliani. Mostly female, the figures hail from graves scattered throughout the Cyclades islands; to this day, scholars are still uncertain of their true purpose. The museum is also renowned for frequent, engrossing special exhibits with un-Cycladic themes in the newer wing.

The Benáki Museum * [map] (www.benaki.gr; Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat 10am–6pm, Thu 10am–midnight, Sun 11am–5pm), together with its four annexes and excellent temporary exhibits, easily counts as the best all-round museum in Athens. Its wonderfully eclectic permanent collection of treasures from all periods of Greek history includes jewellery, costumes, and two icons attributed to El Greco. Among the most impressive exhibits are the collection of traditional costume, mostly bridal and festival dresses, and the reconstructed reception rooms of a mid-18th-century Kozáni mansion. Also compelling are the displays of gold on the ground floor, and the collections relating to the Greek struggle for independence. The museum has a gift shop selling covetable stock and a pleasant if pricey terrace restaurant. For information on some Benáki Museum annexes ( [map] , see feature on for more information, click here.

The Hellenic Parliament, located in the old Royal Palace.

Dreamstime

Mount Lykavitós ‚ [map] (Lycabettus; 215 metres/705ft) rises above Kolonáki, crowned by the tiny chapel of Ágios Geórgios. The easiest way to get to the summit is by the funicular railway that starts from the top of Ploutárhou Street (every 30 minutes, in summer 9am–1.30am). From the top, the views over the city are spectacular.

While not strictly speaking in Kolonáki (being on the far side of Vassilísis Sofías), three other nearby museums merit a visit. The Byzantine and Christian Museum ⁄ [map] (www.byzantinemuseum.gr; Wed-Mon 9am–4pm) was originally housed in a mock-Tuscan villa, commissioned by the 19th-century philhellene Duchesse de Plaisance (who has a suburban metro station, Doukíssis Plakendías, named for her). Most exhibits, dating from the early Christian period to 13th-century Attica, now reside in an impressive modern underground wing. Despite being subterranean, the galleries are light and spacious, and the artefacts (including the 7th-century Hoard of Mytilene) well-displayed and informatively labelled; what was once a specialist collection has been transformed into one of Athens’ major museums.

Near the Hilton hotel the National Art Gallery ¤ [map] (Thu–Mon 10am–6pm, Wed 12–9pm, Tue closed) re-opened in 2021 after a thorough, from-the-basement-up reconstruction. The re-instated core collection of Greek art from just before independence to recent years does a good job of placing it in social context and as part of international trends. The first gallery reached after crossing the bridge over a water feature is devoted to 19th-century Greek art, beginning with events of the 1821 uprising, exemplified by Theodoros Vryzakis’ Camp of Karaïskakis, and assorted naval battles, most excitingly Kanaris’ Firing of the Ottoman Flagship, or Kostas Volonakis’ Exodus of the Ares from Encirclement. Then it’s on to ‘bourgeois’ paintings, where Nikephoros Lytras and Nikos Gyzis are prominent, though Girl at Window (1877, by Georgios Avlinos) and Iakovidis’ 1885 Portrait of Zinovia Psyha are the star works. Next, genre paintings include traditionally dressed peasants engaging in spinning, fetching water, playing musical instruments, feeding rabbits and milking a goat. One section is devoted to Orientalism, billed ‘a pathology of Romanticism’. Late 19th- and early 20th-century landscapes and seascapes get a look-in, though few artists here except Nikos-Hadjikyriakos Ghikas – with plenty of works on show – are household names overseas, but that’s no reflection on their merit. Level 2 showcases mid-20th century work, including interwar print-making and the surrealism of Engonopoulos. The best modern piece has to be Photis Kontoglou’s 1932 mural, which adorned his own house.

Icons, frescoes and church relics on display at the Byzantine Museum.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Walking distance away, in central Pangráti, the private Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art ‹ [map] (Wed–Sun 10am–6pm, until 8pm Fri; https://goulandris.gr/en/visit/be-athens), occupies an imaginatively adapted neoclassical mansion (plus modern extension) at Eratosthénous 13, next to the enormous Ágios Spyrídon church. The collection includes works by such luminaries as Cezanne, Chagall, Giacometti, Kandinsky, Klee, Miró, Modigliani and Renoir.

Byzantine Athens

Of the city’s Byzantine past little remains, but a dozen or so churches, many dating from the 11th century and most in Pláka, can be tracked down. One of the best – and one of the few normally open – is Ágii Theodóri › [map] just off Platía Klavthmónos, built in the 11th century in characteristic cruciform shape with a tiled dome. The masonry is picked out with slabs of brick and decorated with a terracotta frieze of animals and plants.

The Byzantine church of Ágii Theodóri.

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On Athens’s eastern and western limits lie two famous monasteries: Kesarianí and Dafní. Kesarianí ﬁ [map] (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) on Mount Ymittós, surrounded by high stone walls, is named after a spring which fed an aqueduct constructed on Hadrian’s orders. Its waters, once sacred to love goddess Aphrodite, were long credited with healing powers (and encouraging child-bearing), though sadly are no longer potable. The monastery church dates to the 11th century but the frescoed figures who gaze out of a blue-black ground were painted mostly in 1682. Highlights include, in the conch, the Virgin Enthroned flanked by the Communion of the Apostles; the vaulting contains scenes from the life of Christ, while the narthex displays assorted miracles.

Dafní ﬂ [map] is 11km (7 miles) out of town on the road to Eleusis (bus from Platía Eleftherías, near Psyrrí; Wed–Sun 8.30am–3.30pm; free). This small monastery is a curious architectural combination of Gothic and Byzantine, occupying the site of an ancient sanctuary of Apollo. The church is decorated with magnificent 11th-century mosaics, most famously a fierce-looking Christ Pandokrátor, staring down threateningly from the vault of the dome, surrounded by Old Testament prophets, biblical episodes and saints. The building dates from 1080 but the Gothic porch was added in the 13th century when Dafní belonged to Burgundian Cistercian monks and served as the burial place of the Frankish Dukes of Athens.

Piraeus

Athens’ port is a city in its own right but most people merely pass through on their way to the islands. From central Athens it is most easily reached by metro (line 1; 40 minutes journey time); alternatively, express bus X96 runs to Piraeus (Pireás) from Athens airport via the coastal suburbs, with stops near the Aktí Miaoúli, Platía Karaïskáki, the metro station and the northeast quay.

Piraeus Archaeological Museum (Nov–Mar Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm, Apr–Oct Wed–Mon 9am-6pm) has various wonderful bronzes. On the first floor is a graceful, Archaic Apollo kouros, pulled from the sea in 1959; made in 530–520 BC, this is the earliest known life-sized bronze statue. Two other bronze statues, of Athena and Artemis and both dating to the 5th century BC, were found shortly after in Piraeus itself when new sewers were being dug.

Getting to the Islands

If you want to catch a ferry to one of the islands, your ticket agent should tell you which quay/gate (numbered E1–E10 going clockwise around the port) your boat departs from. Gates E1 to E3 are too far to walk to in the heat; a free shuttle bus (every 10min), from gate E5, takes you there. As a general guide, boats to the Cyclades depart from E5–E7 opposite the metro station, or E10; slow boats to the Argo-Saronic from E8 on the far side of Platía Karaïskáki, southwest of the metro; direct boats to Crete leave from E3–E4, on the north side of the port; hydrofoils and catamarans to Argo-Saronic islands leave from E9 on Aktí Miaoúli; Dodecanese-bound boats leave from all the way around the port at E1; while those for the northeast Aegean go from E2.

The hills of Athens

Central Athens is said to have eight hills (lófi). As well as Lykavitós and the equally conspicuous rock of the Acropolis, flanked by the Pnyx on one side, and Philopappou (Filopáppou) on the other, where Athenians fly kites on the first day of Lent, there are: the hill of Ardittós, next to the marble horseshoe stadium, built by Herodes Atticus in AD 143 and totally reconstructed in 1896 (the first modern Olympic Games were held there – it is now a popular concert venue); the Hill of the Nymphs, capped by the grey 19th-century, Hansen-designed Observatory; the barren, windblown Tourkovoúnia; and Lófos Stréfi, something of a “needle park” for local down-and-outs.

Taking in the fabulous view from the top of the hill of Philoppappou.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

ATHENS’ NEW MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES

Beginning before the millennium and continuing through challenging economic circumstances, Athens has added an impressive roster of mostly private art museums to its portfolio of galleries.

The best known is the Benáki Museum Pireós annexe (www.benaki.gr; Thu, Sun 10am–6pm, Fri–Sat 10am–10pm), housed in Greece’s former main Lada showroom in Pireos 138 (nearest metro Keramikós), now renovated and expanded. As many as five separate exhibits may be going on at any one time, showcasing 20th-century art or architecture; recent highlights have included retrospectives of Greek photographers Voula Papaioannou and Kostas Balafas, the Czech Josef Koudelka, the Greek architect Emmanouel Vourekas and the Belgian expressionist-surrealist James Ensor. There’s also a tempting shop and popular café-restaurant.

Modern European Art at the Frissiras Museum.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

From here, you can easily walk to the newest Benaki annexe, NIMA, in Káto Petrálona at Polyfímou 6, installed in a still-functioning silkworks (Tue–Sat 10am–3pm), which makes ribbons, tassels and curtain ties.

Just about walking distance away is the Herakleidon (16 Herakleidon Street in Thissio; www.herakleidon-gr.org/home; Apr–Oct Mon–Sun 10am–6pm, Nov–Mar Wed–Sun 10am-6pm; new annexe at Apostolou Pavlou 37nearby; Apr–Oct daily 10am–6pm), with large permanent collections of M.C. Escher and Victor Vasarely prints plus always-stellar temporary exhibits (eg Toulouse Lautrec); again, the well-stocked shop is hazardous to your wallet.

Across Sýndagma, next to the French embassy at Vasillís Sofiás 9, the galleries of the elegant Theoharakis Foundation (www.thf.gr; Mon–Wed & Fri–Sun 10am–6pm, also Thu 10am–8pm Oct–May) are another reliable bet for blockbuster temporary exhibits – recent ones have featured modern Russian painters and the seminal late-1800s Greek painter Nikolaos Gyzis.

Just a block or so behind, at Kriezótou 3, is perhaps the best small Athens art museum for the uninitiated: the Hadjikyriakos-Ghika Gallery (www.benaki.gr; Fri–Sat 10am–6pm). Most of the many galleries honour just about everybody who was anybody in 20th-century Greek cultural life. To name just a few: archaeologist Athanasios Orlandos, architect Dimitris Pikionis, photographer Takis Tloupas, caricaturist Bost, and painter Yiannis Moralis– a painless if not so quick (allow 2 hours to visit) introduction to the modern nation.

The newest and most imposing addition is the massive National Museum of Contemporary Art (www.emst.gr; Tue–Sun 11am–7pm, until 10pm on Thu), which occupies the former FIX brewery at the junction of Kalliróis and Frantzí. Spread over six floors, with sweeping views from the roof terrace, the emphasis is on 21st-century work by Greek and international artists, often showcasing cutting edge installations by creative talents little known to the general public and featuring thought-provoking themes such as the role of female artists in society.

For a real escape, you have to go further afield, up one of the three mountains that encircle Athens. The road-accessible summit of Mount Ymittós (Hymettos), 5km (3 miles) east of Athens, beloved of honey-bees, nicknamed trelóvouno (crazy mountain) for its unbelievable violet glow at sunset, makes a tranquil vantage point from which to contemplate the whole of Attica. Mount Párnitha, just over an hour northwest, was sadly burnt to a crisp in August 2007, losing most of its thick fir forest; the same happened again in summer 2021 at lower elevations.

Below Mount Pendéli on the northeast is Athens’ most exclusive suburb, Kifisiá, populated, like Kolonáki, with the city’s great and sometimes not so good, who reside in often whimsical early 20th-century villas. Kifisiá’s only specific attraction is the Goulandris Natural History Museum (www.gnhm.gr; Mon–Fri 9am–2.30pm, Sat–Sun 10am–3pm), devoted to the flora, fauna and geology of Greece and certainly worth visiting.

Excursion to Attica

Outside Athens, a 69km (43-mile) drive to Cape Sounion on the windy southeast tip of the Attica peninsula takes you to the Doric Temple of Poseidon (daily summer 9am–sunset, winter from 9.30am–sunset). Completed in 440 BC, its slender, salt-white columns, fetchingly illuminated by night, are still a landmark for ships sailing to/from Piraeus. Lord Byron set a bad, much imitated example by carving his name on a column on the north side. Today, the grounds swarm with introduced guinea fowl (frangókotes), effectively mascots of the site. Down the hillside, you can see the remains of ancient ship sheds in the bay below; a sandy beach northwest of the temple, with its pricey tavernas, is more likely to appeal.

Just 10km (5 miles) north of Soúnio on the Attic east-coast road is Lávrio, the industrial hub of Attica before the rise of Piraeus, with an explosives plant and metalworks. Mining was still practised locally from the 19th century until 1989 by French and Greek companies, extracting arsenic, silver, lead, iron, and ferromanganese; the ancient silver-mine tunnels, between Soúnio and Lávrio in Keramíza district, can be toured (follow signs to Keramíza, and take old clothes). The town itself, mostly passed through en route for its ferry boats to Kéa, Kýthnos and the north Aegean, deserves a halt. The partly neoclassical centre has been gentrified and pedestrianised, the yacht-harbour front has some charm, though conventional attractions are limited to a good, central archaeological museum (Tue–Sun 8am–3pm) and by the disused train station, the Ziller-designed fish market building, now full of mezedopolía. About 2km north of down, the site of ancient Thoriko (unenclosed) is well worthwhile for its unusually shaped ancient theatre hewn from the living rock.

Zéa Marina.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Excursion to Brauron

From Lávrio, it’s easy to continue to the Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron (modern Vravróna; Apr–Oct Daily 8am–8pm, Nov–Mar Daily 8.30am-3pm) on the east coast of Attica, 35km (22 miles) directly from Athens. A 5th-century BC colonnade visited by owls at twilight is flanked by a 16th-century chapel, built on the site of an altar to Artemis. Nearby is the still-flowing sacred spring, an arm of the Erásinos River running past the site. In Classical times, well-born female children aged from seven to twelve (“little bears”) performed a ritual dance at the quadrennial Arkteia festival honouring Artemis as the goddess of childbirth and virgins. Their plump statues – dressed like miniature adults, often clutching birds as offerings – are now in Room 3 of the much-improved site museum (Tue–Sun 8.30am–3pm), while in Room 2 are several fine stelae of the goddess, flanked by some of her totemic animals (stags, lions, dogs), facing groups of worshippers approaching with bulls to sacrifice in her honour. Room 1 helps you make sense of the sanctuary before visiting it.

The Temple of Poseidon, Soúnio.

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Excursion to Marathon

The battle of Marathon in 490 BC was fought on a seaside plain 42km (26 miles) northeast of Athens, between the modern villages of Néa Mákri and Marathónas. What can be seen today are the presumed burial mounds of the Athenians and of the Plataeans, and the Archaeological Museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm).

The burial mound of the Athenians, a circular tumulus 9 metres (30ft) high, 50 metres (164ft) in diameter, and 185 metres (600ft) in circumference, has a modern copy of the ancient stele on the top (the original is in the National Archaeological Museum). The mound is impressive, but nothing compared to the victory it symbolises. The mighty Persian Empire, the largest on earth, had sent its army against Athens, and approximately 9,000 Athenian soldiers were joined before the battle by 1,000 soldiers from Plataea in Boeotia. A runner was sent to ask the Spartans for help, but the Spartans did not arrive until after the battle. The Athenians won despite being outnumbered by a factor of three, with the Persians losing 6,400 men and the Athenians 192. The Athenians were cremated and buried together in the mound. The mound of the Plataeans is near the archaeological museum, about 3km (2 miles) to the west. Nothing marks the Persian graves, but they seem to have been buried to the northeast, around the small church of the Panagía Mesosporítissa.

Excursion to Rhamnous

Rhamnous (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm; the temple of Nemesis, the fortress is closed), the site of an ancient fortress town on the northern borders of Attica with a sanctuary of Nemesis, lies 53km (33 miles) from Athens and 13km (8 miles) from Marathon. The sanctuary contains two temples, today merely foundations. The older, built after Xerxes’ defeat in 480 BC, was dedicated to Nemesis and also to Themis, the god of justice. The slightly larger Doric temple of Nemesis, built in 436–32 BC, almost touches the older temple. The fortified garrison, its walls roughly 800 metres down from the sanctuary towards the shore, flourished in the 5th and 4th centuries BC.

Tip

If you’re craving a swim near Athens, the best beaches are some distance away, most easily accessible by rented car. On the west Attic coast, Thalasséa beach in Voúla, accessible by tram, is a good choice, while sandy Ágios Spyrídon cove in Pórto Ráfti (go by car) is very popular. Skhínia, near ancient Marathon and Rhamnous, is another sand beach, part of a protected forest area, though at certain time of the year much flotsam washes up.

Excursion to the Sanctuary of Amphiareion

The city-state that built the Sanctuary of Amphiareion (Daily 8.30am–3.30pm) late in the 5th century BC was ancient Oropos, now buried beneath modern Skála Oropós, known for its Évvia-bound ferries. The sanctuary, 37km (23 miles) north of Athens, had its acme during the Hellenistic period, much patronised by those in search of advice or medical help. The supplicant sacrificed a ram to Argive hero Amphiaraos, after which a dream would either cure the illness or answer a question. The surviving remains, in a lovely valley overlooked by pines, comprise a temple of the cult hero, a Roman theatre with many seats and a stage building, a long stoa, plus a small museum that makes for a worthwhile visit.

View of Athens from Mount Ymittós.

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INSIGHT: A NATIONAL TREASURE TROVE

The National Archaeological Museum in Athens houses a fabulous collection of ancient art and artefacts.

The museum (www.namuseum.gr) provides an unrivalled survey of ancient Greek art. Don’t be intimidated by the collection’s size, but plan carefully, using the ground plan available from the ticket booth. During tourist season, avoid midday, when coach tours march through the galleries.

The first gallery in from the foyer is the confusingly named Prehistoric Collection, devoted to artefacts from the Mycenaean period (1600–1100 BC). The so-called Mask of Agamemnon is just one of three hammered-gold death masks on display, along with bronze items and octopus-motif pottery. In flanking rooms which completely circle the ground-floor perimeter, you’ll find numerous examples of ancient Greek sculpture, from the Archaic era (750–490 BC) to the Classical (490–336 BC), Hellenistic (336–146 BC) and Roman (146 BC–AD 330) periods. Note the fine Eleusinian cult relief of the goddess Demeter offering grain to Triptolemos, watched by Persephone. In the far south gallery is the famous Roman group of Aphrodite, watched by Eros, about to whack a dirty old Pan with her sandal.

Two outstanding bronze statues are the 2nd-century BC Little Jockey from the Cape Artemísion wreck, beyond the Myceneaean room, and the Ephebe of Antikythera. The small bronze objects collection, towards the rear left of the building, has exquisite statuettes, helmets and griffon heads. Just behind is the well-selected Egyptian exhibit, a fast gallop through that civilisation, with the eclectic Stathatos collection around the corner.

The upper floor is principally ancient Greek pottery, including finely detailed Tanagra figurines, near rooms of glass, precious metalwork and jewellery. The famous Thera frescoes are just a small portion of the displays in the Minoan Akrotíri room.

Bronze Horse and Jockey of Artemesion (2nd century BC).

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Fabulous Frescoes

In the first third of the 2nd millennium BC the Cycladic island of Thera (today Santoríni), was much influenced – probably even ruled – by the Minoan civilisation of Crete. A Minoan settlement at Akrotíri on Santoríni, dating to approximately 1630 BC, was excavated by Spyridon Marinatos between 1967 and 1974. The most beautiful finds from Akrotíri are its frescoes. Just two originals (of boxers and antelopes) are kept in the National Archaeological Museum, while the rest remain on Santoríni.

Late in the 17th century BC, Thera’s volcano erupted in a tremendous explosion. The entire settlement of Akrotíri, including buildings up to three storeys high, was beautifully preserved beneath volcanic ash. The frescoes decorated the interior walls of houses in the ancient town. Most of them show everyday scenes, such as a naked fisherman carrying home a bountiful catch, elegant ladies, blue cavorting monkeys, and graceful antelopes, but there is also a 5.5-metre- (18.5-ft-) long detailed fresco of a naval campaign.

THE PELOPONNESE

Steeped in ancient history – from Agamemnon’s Mycenae to the first Olympic stadium – this giant peninsula also offers fine beaches, turquoise-coloured bays, and the wild and unspoilt Máni.

Main Attractions

Nemea Zeus Temple

Ancient Mycenae

Návplio

Epidauros Theatre

Loúsios Gorge Region

Mystrás

Monemvasiá

Ancient Messene

Ancient Olympia Museum

Vouraïkós Rack-And-Pinion Train

The Peloponnese (Pelopónnisos) takes its name from the legendary hero Pelops, plus the Greek for island, nísos, although it is seldom considered an island. Driving over from Attica (Attikí), it’s easy to miss the little isthmus – riven by the Corinth Canal, lending some credence to the “island” tag – that joins the Peloponnese to the mainland. The area’s medieval name was the Moreás, now rarely used; it derives either from an abundance of mulberry trees (mouriés) or more probably from the mulberry-leaf shape of the peninsula.

The Apollo Temple at Corinth with its seven standing Doric columns.

Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications

Korinthía province

By an administrative quirk, Korinthía province in the northeast includes a bit of the central mainland northeast of the canal; 13km (8 miles) beyond the spa resort of Loutráki lies the Perahora Heraion 1 [map] , with the foundations of an Archaic Hera temple and a stoa. Another important ancient sanctuary, the venue for the quadrennial Isthmian games, can be found at Isthmia on the southwest side of the canal; the Roman baths here retain extensive floor mosaics of sea creatures real and imaginary, while the well-arranged if one-room site museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm, same hours as site) features vivid opus sectile panels from AD 375 portraying harbour scenes, sea creatures, Nile bird life and revered ancient personalities, as well as finds from the local shrines to Poseidon and Palaimon.

The canal itself, dug between 1882 and 1893, is obsolete in our era of mega-container ships, but a few freighters and yachts still squeeze through its 23-metre-wide (75-ft) channel, to the delight of spectators up on the pedestrian bridge – who can also watch the antics of the bungee-jumpers who practise here. At the Saronic Gulf end of the canal, two flanking cafés provide vantage points to watch the workings of the submersible bridge on the old highway to Athens – taking a dive whenever ships pass.

Aphrodite and pastoral mosaic at the Ancient Corinth Museum.

Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications

If you’re intent on reaching ancient Epidauros directly, especially for a performance, carry on south of Isthmía along the fast, partly coastal road via confusingly named Paleá Epídavros, once the harbour for the ancient sanctuary. On the way, pause at the 11th-century monastery of Agnoúndos, where the tall, narrow katholokón (the church of the monastery) has fine frescoes from the 11th to the 18th centuries (the highest being the oldest).

Ancient Corinth 2 [map] , 4km (2½ miles) southwest of modern Kórinthos, could not help but prosper through domination of trans-Isthmian haulage in pre-canal days. The Hellenistic city was razed by the Romans in 146 BC in reprisal for resistance, but refounded a century later as capital of Greece. What remains (Apr daily 8am–7pm, May–Aug 8am–8pm, 1–15 Sept daily 8am–7.30pm, 16–30 Sept 8am–7pm, Oct 8am–6.30pm, Nov–Mar Wed–Mon 8am–3pm, except Nov–9 Dec daily 8am–5pm), despite devastating earthquakes in AD 375 and 521, is the most complete imperial Roman town plan in Greece. Corinth’s well-deserved reputation for vice and luxury predictably exercised Saint Paul when he arrived in AD 52 for an 18-month sojourn.

Fact

The word “currant” derives from the word “Corinth” – a reference to the city’s long-established trade in these dried grapes, still one of Greece’s most successful exports. Fresh, seedless ones appear in supermarkets in fall.

A typically Roman obsession with plumbing is evident: there are the graphically obvious latrines off the marble-paved Lehaion Way, the still-functioning Lower Peirene Fountain at its end, and the ingenious Glauke Fountain, its four cisterns hewn from a monolith and filled by an aqueduct. Of the earlier Greek city, only seven columns of a Doric Apollo Temple still stand, though the site museum (same hours as site) retains a generous collection of late Archaic pottery and some intricate Roman-villa mosaics from Corinth’s glory years.

Rather more evocative, however, is the nearly impregnable hilltop fortress of Acrocorinth (Akrokórinthos; daily 8.30am–3.30pm), long the military key to the peninsula and necessarily held by every occupying power. Enter via the gentler west slope through a set of triple fortifications to find yourself amid weedy desolation; little is left of the Ottoman town here, evacuated after Greek rebels took it in 1822. Most sieges, however, were successfully resisted thanks to the Upper Peirene Fountain, a subterranean structure near the southeast corner of the ramparts. At the very summit stand foundations of an Aphrodite Temple, reputedly once attended by 1,000 sacred prostitutes; the view all around is quite marvellous, stretching up to 60km (40 miles) in every direction.

The Corinth Canal was completed in 1893.

Fotolia

Nemea and Stymfalía

The toll motorway to Kalamáta forges southwest from modern Kórinthos. Near Dervenákia, an exit leads west 8km (5 miles) to ancient Nemea 3 [map] , yet another shrine with its own biennial games. You can see the stadium where these events – supposedly inaugurated by Herakles, slayer of the Nemean lion – were held, but the most striking landmarks are nine Doric columns and two architraves of a 4th-century BC Zeus Temple, mostly re-erected since 1995; its fellows, toppled by Byzantine vandals, lie all about like so many sausage slices. The dispersed site (May–Aug daily 8am–8pm, Apr daily 8am–7pm, Sept daily 8am–7pm, Oct 8am–6pm, Nov–9 Dec daily 8am–5pm, 10 Dec–Mar Wed–Mon 8am–3pm), including a well preserved baths and worthwhile museum, occupies the floor of a bucolic valley; surrounding vineyards produce the grapes for the full-bodied Nemea red wines, some of Greece’s best, with several roadside vintners in Arhéa Neméa village open for tasting and purchase.

Návplio waterfront and the fortress-island of Boúrtzi.

Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications

From Neméa, it’s easy to continue west to the valley and shallow, reedy lake of Stymfalía 4 [map] , site of yet another of Herakles’ labours (dispatching the Stymphalian birds), closed to the northwest by often snowcapped Mount Zíria (2375m). Highlight of the area is the excellent roadside Environment Museum of Stymfalia (www.piop.gr; Wed–Mon Mar–Oct 10am–6pm, Nov–Feb 10am–5pm), which ably documents all rural local activities, from lake-fishing to bee-keeping, and provides a viewing platform for the ducks, grebes and coots who gather on the water. The way continues west via Kastaniá village to the eerie upland of Feneós; at its north edge there’s a namesake village, the scenic Dóxa lake and Agíou Georgíou Feneoú monastery, offering exceptionally vivid 18th-century frescoes and friendly monks. Return to the Corinth gulf coast via Tríkala village, divided into three districts, on the north flank of Zíria; this was the first mountain resort in Greece, owing to easy access from Athens since the 1920s.

Argolída province

The twisty old highway enters the Argolid plain at modern Mykínes, a village devoted to citrus and tourism; nearby stands ancient Mycenae 5 [map] , a fortified palace complex covering an easily defendable, ravine-flanked ridge. Mycenae gave its name to an entire late Bronze-Age era – and made the reputation of a German self-taught Classical scholar (and self-made millionaire), Heinrich Schliemann. From 1874 to 1876, he excavated here, relying on little other than intuition and a belief in the literal accuracy of Homer’s epics. Greek archaeologists had already revealed the imposing Lion Gate of the citadel, but the rich tomb finds Schliemann made, now in the National Museum of Athens, amply corroborate Mycenae’s Homeric epithet “rich in gold”. Later revisionists point to Schliemann’s sloppy excavating techniques and economy with the truth – the gold death mask which prompted his boast “I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon” is now dated to 300 years before Troy – but the dedicated amateur did beat the experts to the greatest archaeological trove of that century.

At the site itself (Apr & Sept daily 8am–7pm, May–Aug 8am–8pm, Oct 8am–6pm, Nov daily 8am–5pm, Dec–Mar 8.30am–3.30pm), little remains above waist height inside the perimeter walls of the palace, though a rather alarming secret stairway descends to a siege-proof cistern in the northeast corner. Outside, however, are two burial chambers of unsurpassed ingenuity: the tholos tombs dubbed, very speculatively, the Treasury of Atreus and the Tomb of Klytemnestra, also known as “beehive” tombs after the shape of their construction.

Ancient Argos

The onward road divides at Árgos, capital of Argolída province and a major agricultural centre. Tomatoes and citrus – the latter introduced by American advisers after World War II – are grown extensively; the modern town itself is of little interest apart from its Archaeological Museum (currently closed for refurbishment). But just south, beside the Trípoli-bound road, sprawl the ruins of ancient Árgos; most notable is the huge, steeply raked theatre. From the opposite end of town, drivers can reach the Frankish castle atop Lárissa hill, site of the ancient acropolis, for a view nearly on a par with that of Acrocorinth, extending from Mt Zíria to Návplio (Nauplion), by way of the low hillock of ancient Tiryns.

Inside the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae.

Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications

Just over halfway to Návplio from Árgos loom the 13th-century BC ruins of Homer’s “wall-girt” Tiryns 6 [map] (daily 8.30am–3.30pm; may close later in summer), another royal palace complex. The site, an 18-metre (60-ft) bluff rising from an ancient marsh, was not as naturally defensible as Mycenae, so the man-made fortifications – originally twice their present height – were necessarily more involved. Massive masonry blocks reaching 3 cubic metres (100 cu. ft) each were joined in mortar-less walls termed “Cyclopean”, after the only beings thought capable of manoeuvring them. No heraldic lions over the entry-gate here, and no beehive tombs; but Tiryns intrigues with a secret stairway (off-limits) to the westerly postern gate and, near the southeast corner, a corbel-ceilinged gallery (viewable past a barrier), its walls polished smooth by the millennial rubbings of sheltering sheep.

Návplio and Epidauros

Návplio 7 [map] , rising in tiers at the southeast corner of the plain, is more than a little mirage-like, for the well-preserved old town retains an elegance a world away from utilitarian Árgos just 12km (7 miles) to the northwest. The neoclassical architecture, pedestrian-friendly marble streets and interlocking fortresses date mostly from the second Venetian occupation of 1686–1715, and subsequent Ottoman reconquest; the fortified rock here had been a pivotal point in their struggles for control of the Aegean from the 15th century onward. Between 1829 and 1834 Návplio served as the country’s first capital, but today it’s a laid-back place, despite playing a role as an upmarket resort; it stays busy year round, thanks to Athenian weekenders.

Návplio is overawed by Akronavpliá, four separate fortresses of various ages just overhead, plus, on an easterly hill, the sprawling, early 18th-century castle of Palamídi (daily Apr–Aug 8am–8pm, Sept 8am–7.30pm, Oct daily 8am–6.30pm, Nov–Mar 8.30am–3.30pm), whose meandering curtain wall encloses seven self-contained bastions designed to withstand the strongest artillery of the era. Yet its Venetian garrison capitulated with barely a fight in 1715 to the Ottomans, who in turn surrendered to the Greek rebels after a more protracted siege in 1822. Supposedly 899 steps (or a road) lead up from the Old Town to the summit – and to more eyefuls of the Argolid.

High-perched Karýtena.

Fotolia

Down in town, excellent museums include the Archaeological Museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), in a restored Venetian barracks, where pride of place goes to a complete set of Mycenean armour; the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation Museum (www.pli.gr; Mon–Sat 9am–2.30pm and 5.30–8.30pm, Sun 9.30am–2.30pm and 5.30–7.30pm); and, in the new quarter, an annexe of Athens’ National Gallery (www.nationalgallery.gr; Mon & Wed–Sun 10am–6pm, Wed 12–8pm), always with stellar temporary exhibits.

Some 27km (17 miles) east of Návplio, Epidauros (Epídavros) 8 [map] is visited mainly for the sake of its magnificent 4th-century BC theatre, whose perfect acoustics tour guides perpetually demonstrate with coins dropped on the orchestra floor. Because it lay buried until the late 19th century, the theatre masonry survived the ages relatively unscathed, and restoration has been minimal. It is now the venue for sell-out performances of ancient drama during July, as part of the Hellenic Festival; special buses from Athens are laid on.

The theatre is just one part of a vast sanctuary (daily Apr 8am–7pm, May–Aug 8am–8pm, Sept 8am–7pm, Oct 8am–6pm, Nov–Mar 8am–5pm) to the healing demi-god Asklepios, extending northwest, and steadily being excavated and re-erected. Standing tall already are the propylon of the Hestiatoria, the Enkimitirion colonnade, and the Tholos of Polykleitos, a circular, once-domed structure with a concentric maze in the foundations thought to originally contain serpents (sacred to Asklepios), and centre of the god’s cult. The site museum (same hours) is, by contrast, of specialist interest.

Arkadía province

Heading west from Návplio along the Argolid gulf coast road, past Lerna (modern Mýli), where Hercules slew the many-headed Hydra, you enter Arkadía – specifically, its easterly sub-region of Kynouría – just before Parálio Ástros 9 [map] an established beach resort whose older houses back against a headland crowned with a medieval fortress built atop a Mycenean acropolis. Ástros, 5km (3miles) inland, has a worthwhile archaeological museum (currently closed) and 5km further west, adjacent to medieval Loukoú monastery with its fine 16th-century frescoes being steadily cleaned and rather worldly nuns, the fascinating remains of an arcaded Roman aqueduct so encrusted with lime stalactites as to form a Dalí-esque sculpture.

A ruined tower near Paralio Astros.

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The road south from Ástros passes fine beaches like Kryonéri and Poulíthra before turning inland at sizeable Leonídio, homeland of Tsakonian – a relict Dorian dialect being revived in writing on local signage. Now your way creeps up through a spectacular, Wild-West type gorge, past the convent of Elonís, to the “hill station” of Kosmás, high amidst fir trees on the flank of Mt Párnon and the best base to explore this range, blessed with good walking and one of the starriest night skies in Greece. From Kosmás, it’s easy to cross the mountain (in your own car) to either Mystrás or Monemvasiá.

Both the old highway from Mýli and the inland expressway converge on the pear- and apple-planted uplands around dull Trípoli ) [map] , capital of Arkadía province. This has little to offer aside from two very good archaeological museums: one in town inside a Ziller building (Wed–Mon 8am–3pm) and another (www.tegeamuseum.gr; Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) at Aléa village with finds from Trípoli’s ancient nearby predecessors: Tegea, with a tumbled Athena temple, and Mantineia, now amidst a major wine-growing district.

Exiting the motorway at Nestáni, passing close by the freakish neo-Byzantine wedding-cake church of Agía Fotiní at Mandínia, the main westbound road skirts the base of fir-cloaked, blade-like Mount Ménalo with its ski resort (the closest to Athens), via the handsome villages of Levídi and Vytína ! [map] , the latter a popular weekend resort for Greeks. Beyond Vytína, towards Ilía province, the most logical and compelling halt is Langádia, its famous masons responsible for sturdy stone houses teetering on a slope above the local gorge.

But the main attraction of montane Arkadía resides along the Loúsios valley, reached by a turning south between Vytína and Langádia. Near the head of the Loúsios valley, Dimitsána @ [map] sprawls engagingly over a saddle demarcated by the river, its skyline graced by four belfries. The imposing mansions here date from its mercantile golden age, the 1700s. Specific local sights include the Open Air Water Power Museum (www.piop.gr; Mar–15 Oct Wed–Mon 10am–6pm, 16 Oct–Feb 10am–5pm), with mill workings in situ, and further down the same side road, cliffside Emyalón Monastery (daily 9am–1pm & 4-7pm), with four resident monks, and frescoes from 1608.

Chapel overlooking the Loúsios Gorge.

Bigstock

Stemnítsa £ [map] 11km (6.5 miles) south of Dimitsána along the east flank of the Loúsios, has been officially renamed Ypsoúnda, but the Slavic toponym remains more popular; it’s an atmospheric, introverted place in a hidden cirque, with imposing mansions looking only at each other. A single jewellery shop recalls the former silver-smithing industry, while a Folklore Museum (daily 8.30am–3pm, closed Feb) highlights pan-Hellenic items, local dress and (best of all) fascinating publicity posters for a local karagiózis (shadow-puppet) player.

Hyperbolically dubbed the “Toledo of Greece”, thanks to its evocative castle and houses overlooking a kink in the Alfiós River, the sleepy demeanour of Karýtena $ [map] , 16km (10 miles) beyond Stemnítsa, belies a tumultuous history. Established as the seat of a Frankish barony during the 13th century, it was later retaken by the Byzantines, who endowed Karýtena with three churches (Ágios Nikólaos has fine 18th-century frescoes) and an arched bridge over the Alfiós. Both bridge and town figured on one side of the old 5,000-drachma note; the turbanned Independence War chieftain Kolokotronis glared out from the other, for he successfully resisted a long Ottoman siege here in 1826.

All of these hill towns serve as gateways to different parts of the Loúsios Gorge, which in its relatively short extent has a lot to offer. Canoeing and kayaking on the two local rivers are offered locally by several outfitters, while a marked hiking trail threads the canyon from just below Dimitsána to the Atsíholos bridge. The first significant stop, also reached by road from Dimitsána, is the restored Néa Filosófou monastery on the west bank, home to two monks, with late 17th-century frescoes including Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee; a little beyond, the 10th-century Paleá Filosófou monastery is largely ruined and almost indistinguishable from its cliff-side surroundings.

Fact

In March 1821, Germanos, the local Archbishop of Pátra, gave his blessing to an uprising against the Ottomans, which led to the liberation of all Arkadía.

Further downstream, also accessible by narrow roads from Stemnítsa or Ellinikó village, awaits the spectacular, originally 11th-century monastery of Agíou Ioánnou Prodrómou (St John the Baptist; closed 1–5pm), rebuilt during the 20th century, one of those swallow’s-nest-type monasteries which the Orthodox Church loves to tuck into cliff faces. It has just three monks, frescoes and a well-stocked ossuary. The west-bank trail (and a branch of the road) continues to the medieval Kokkorás bridge, the Byzantine chapel of Ágios Andréas and excavated ancient Gortys, an asklipeion or therapeutic centre; the architectural highlight here is a peculiar round structure, thought to be a bathhouse. Finally, a minor road from Karýtena descends to the two-arched Atsíholos bridge and then the eponymous village, beyond which awaits Kalamioú monastery, new and old. A caretaker monk at the newer foundation will unlock the 1713-vintage church, covered with superb, rare frescoes such as two Christs Emmanuel in the vaults, and a visualisation of the Byzantine hymn ‘Epi Soi Haire’. A short stair-path leads to cliff-clinging old Kalamioú, mostly ruined except for a rock-cut church sheltering slightly older, moderately well preserved frescoes of the Life of Christ.

Mount Taýgetos on a fine spring day.

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From Karýtena, the main road west follows the Alfiós, past its co-mingling with the Loúsios, to Andrítsena % [map] , actually over the border in Ilía province. Sadly, shuttered traditional shops along the main street recall the village’s past as a major entrepôt with 3,000 souls; today’s permanent population is a tenth of that. A steady trickle of summer tourist traffic passes through to the 5th-century temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae (Vásses), 14km (9 miles) south. Although the most intact ancient shrine in Greece and a UNESCO World Heritage site, it’s unlikely to enchant, concealed as it is by a colossal, guy-wired permanent tent to protect it from winter frosts.

More rewarding for many is the gorge of the River Néda ^ [map] 18km (11 miles) south of Andrítsena, just below modern Figália village and the ruins of ancient Phigaleia, whose citizens originally built the temple in gratitude for Apollo having lifted a plague. A marked, 90-minute trail loop (or a steep road, just passable to ordinary cars) descends past the ruins – best of these a temple of Athena, whose altar glimpses the sea – to the lushly vegetated north bank of the river, where a spur path goes briefly west to the stómio or tunnel-cave, through which the Néda runs underground for 10km (6 miles). Photogenic waterfalls on the Marathónios tributary stream feed the main river just before it disappears from view.

Lakonía

As you descend the 64-km (40-mile) road from Trípoli to modern Spárti, the long ridge of Mount Taýgetos with its striated limestone bands looms into sight on your right. Ahead stretches the olive-and-citrus-rich floodplain of the Evrótas River, belying the stereotypical image of ancient Sparta as a harsh, “spartan” place (the modern province’s name, Lakonía, also lives on abroad as “laconic” – supposedly the distinguishing characteristic of the Classical natives).

Spárti & [map] , the modern successor to ancient Sparta, is an unexciting place redeemed only by some attractive squares and neoclassical facades, vestiges of Bavarian town planning in 1834. The archaeological museum (8.30am–3.30pm, Tues closed) is particularly rich in late Roman floor-mosaics from local villas, and eerie votive offerings from the sanctuaries of Apollo at Amýkles and Artemis Orthia on the local acropolis – where youths were flogged until bloody to honour the goddess. At the acropolis itself, however, 700 metres northwest of town, not much remains aside from a badly eroded theatre and the sparse remains of the Byzantine church of Ágios Níkon.

Fact

Nearby vineyards produced Malvasia sweet white wine – known as Malmsey or Malvoisie in the west – but local production had ceased by the 15th century. Following the opening of the Corinth Canal, Monemvasiá lost all commercial and military significance.

What little the Spartans built was appropriated for the construction of Byzantine Mystrás * [map] 6km (4 miles) west (daily Apr–Aug 8am–8pm, Sept 8am–7pm, Oct 8am–6pm, Nov–Mar 8am–3.30pm). A romantically ruined walled town, clinging to a conical crag and topped by a castle, Mystrás is a corruption of mezythrás, the Greek for “cream-cheese maker” – thought to be a reference to the cheese’s traditional conical shape.

Originally founded by the Franks in 1249, Mystrás grew to a city of 20,000 souls under the Byzantines, becoming the capital of the Morean despots after 1348.

The church of Perívleptos monastery contains a complete cycle of frescoes depicting the Dodekaeorton or 12 major church feasts, with such light touches as children up a tree in the Entry to Jerusalem. Nearby Pandánassa convent, the newest church built in 1428 and now home to nuns, has a typically Gothic exterior as well as vivid frescoes within, the best of these neck-craningly high. By contrast, the oldest church, the Mitrópolis or cathedral of Ágios Dimítrios, is resolutely conservative in structure, notwithstanding awkward domes added later; here frescoes include a complete cycle of Christ’s Miracles. The Vrondóhion monastic complex harbours yet another 14th-century church, the more daring Afendikó, the weight of its six domes borne by a system of piers below and colonnaded gallery above. Sea monsters bob in the Baptism fresco, while above the altar, apostles marvel at Christ ascending in a mandorla.

Mystrás’ Perívleptos church has some superb frescoes.

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Monemvasiá and Gýthio

Originally the port of Mystrás, Monemvasiá ( [map] , lies 94km (58 miles) southeast of Spárti. Like Mystrás, it’s a fortified double town, clinging to a limestone plug rising 350 metres (1,150ft) from the sea and inevitably nicknamed the “Gibraltar of Greece” – although the “Dubrovnik of Greece” would be an equally apt term for the tile-roofed, wall-encased lower town on the south slope. Supporting a population of 50,000 in its heyday as a semi-autonomous city-state, Monemvasiá prospered by virtue of its fleets and handy location, halfway between Italy and the Black Sea. Never taken by force, it did surrender on occasion through prolonged siege – no crops could grow on the rock, though enormous cisterns provided water.

Monemvasiá’s fortifications cling to a crag by the sea.

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The lower town, within its 900-metre three-sided circuit of Venetian walls, is invisible as you cross the causeway until the massive west gate (closed to vehicles) suddenly appears. Immediately above the gate perches the house in which prominent poet Giannis Ritsos was born in 1909; one wonders what the ultra-conservative locals made of his forthright Marxism and bisexuality. On his death in 1990, he was buried in the nearby cemetery, with one of his poems chiselled on the gravestone in lieu of religious sentiment.

The Byzantine Gem

Until the Ottomans took over in 1460, the court at Mystrás flourished as a major cultural centre, attracting scholars and artists from Serbia, Constantinople and Italy. The latter’s influence is evident in the brilliantly coloured (and remarkably well-preserved) frescoes which adorn Mystrás’s churches – these are as crammed with extraneous figures, buildings and landscapes as any Italian painting of the time. Architecturally, the churches are a composite of three-aisled-basilica ground plan and domed cross-in-square gallery, making them airily well-lit by Byzantine standards. Proto-Renaissance sensibilities inspired belfries and colonnaded porticoes. It is easy to see why Mystrás is regarded as the last great Byzantine architectural flowering before the onset of the Ottoman era.

Linked by a maze of tunnels, arcades and cul-de-sacs at the end of steep, cobbled lanes, many of the lower-town houses have been bought up and restored by wealthy Athenians and foreigners. Masoned steps zigzag up the cliff face overhead to the older, upper town, first settled and fortified in the 6th century AD but abandoned since the early 1900s and now utterly ruined. The sole exception to the desolation is the 14th-century Agía Sofía church with its 16-sided dome, poised at the edge of the northerly cliff and the first point in Monemvasiá to catch the sunrise.

Overnighting at Monemvasiá is expensive, and beaches are remote; if you have transport but not the wallet, there are wonderful alternatives to either side. Kyparíssi, 56km (34 miles) north with the final approach along a one-lane corniche, is an idyllic Shangri-La grouped in three neighbourhoods, with a good pebble beach and fish tavernas. Elafónisos, the Peloponnese’s only inhabited island, 39km (24 miles) to the south towards Neápoli via Poúnda jetty, has a single town with all amenities but some of the best beaches around at Símos (south of town) and Panagítsa (west).

Where

It was on Marathonísi that Paris and Helen legendarily spent their first night together, and so launched a thousand ships.

Gýthio ‚ [map] , 65km (40 miles) west of Monemvasiá, is a port town on the ferry routes to Kýthira and Crete, a holiday resort in its own right, and a deceptively congenial gateway to the austere Máni. The quay is lined by tiled vernacular houses and pricey seafood tavernas; across the Lakonian Gulf the sun rises over Cape Maléa, and Mount Taýgetos is glimpsed one last time on the north. In ancient times, Gýthio served as Sparta’s port, and more recently exported acorns for use in tanning. There are few sights, apart from a Roman theatre and the Ethnographic/Historical Museum of the Mani (Mon–Sat 9am–5pm) on Marathonísi islet (ancient Kranae), tied to the mainland by a causeway.

The best nearby sandy beach – and weirdest sight – is 5km north at Selinítsa, where an enormous, derelict smugglers’ freighter, the Dimitrios, has been grounded in a few feet of water since 1981.

The view towards Monemvasiá.

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Fact

In Roman times, Gýthio supplied the nobility with murex, a purple dye extracted from a species of mollusc, which was used to give togas their aristocratic colour.

The Máni

An arid, isolated region protected by Taýgetos’ southerly outriders, the Máni was the last part of Greece to espouse Christianity (during the 9th century), but made up for lost time by erecting dozens of small country chapels. Little grows except stunted olive trees, though in late summer an extra dash of colour is lent by hedges of fruiting prickly pears. “Outer” or Éxo Máni (Ítylo northwest to Kalamáta) is more tourist-friendly, fertile and better watered; “Inner” or Mésa Máni, south of a line connecting Ítylo with Gýthio, has the more noteworthy churches on the west shore, and tower-studded villages sprouting from the east-coast settlements. But extreme conditions have prompted wholesale depopulation, and the villages here only fill during the autumn hunting season.

From Gýthio, the main road into the Máni passes the castles of Passavá and Kelefá, the only Ottoman attempts at imposing order locally, before reaching Areópoli ⁄ [map] , main market town and tourist base of the Inner Máni. Formerly Tsímova, stronghold of the Mavromihális clan, it was renamed after independence for Ares the god of war, in recognition of its contribution to the independence struggle. Two churches, both 18th-century, distinguish it: Taxiárhis with its campanile and zodiacal apse reliefs, and frescoed Ágios Ioánnis, near which is a worthwhile museum of early Christianity in the Máni, located inside the Pikoulakis Tower Mansion (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3pm).

Váthia in the Máni.

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Some 8km (5 miles) south, just off the west-coast road towards Cape Mátapan (Ténaro), the caverns at Pýrgos Diroú are the sole organised tourist attraction in the Máni (daily Apr–Oct 9am–5pm, Mar & Nov 8.30am–4.30pm); visits are partly by boat along a subterranean river. Tickets can sell out early; advance booking through www.diros-caves.gr is recommended.

Between here and Geroliménas stand various frescoed Byzantine churches; sadly, most are permanently locked, and hunting for the warden can be futile. Two of the best, at Áno Boularí, are also the easiest to access. Apply in the Geroliménas post office for the keys to Ágios Stratigós, with extensive frescoes from the 12th to the 18th centuries; and to nearby Ágios Pandelímon which has the earliest (10th-century) frescoes around, depicting saints Pandelímon and Nikitas in the apse. Geroliménas ¤ [map] itself, 20km (12 miles) from Areópoli, can offer tavernas and good accommodation, but not much else – it dates only from 1870. The 35 ridgetop tower-houses of dramatic, deserted Váthia ‹ [map] , 10km (6 miles) further east, have become photogenic synonyms for the Máni.

The main tarred road out of Geroliménas loops along the eastern shore via Lágia (famed for its broad-based, tapering towers and purple-marble quarries) and Flomohóri (with the highest towers and pebbly Kótronas beach below) before re-emerging at Areópoli. Just across the ravine dividing Inner Máni and Areópoli from Outer is bluff-top Ítylo › [map] lushly set and – unlike so many of its neighbours – relatively prosperous; below the village lie the frescoed monastery of Dekoúlou and the beach resort of Néo Ítylo.

Tip

To see the best examples of the distinctive Maniot tower-mansions, head for the villages of Váthia, Kítta, Nómia and Flomohóri.

The pride of Langáda ﬁ [map] village 14km (9 miles) north, is the central 11th-century church of Metamórfosi tou Sotíra, whose frescoes still await uncovering and restoration; contiguous Plátsa and Nomitsís have four more Byzantine chapels. Mass tourism takes over at the picturesque fishing port of Ágios Nikólaos (Selenítsa); nearby Stoúpa ﬂ [map] has two sandy bays and plenty of facilities as well. Kardamýli ‡ [map] ranks as the premier resort before Kalamáta, offering a long pebble beach, a late-medieval citadel and some good walking just inland.

Messinía province

Kalamáta can also be approached directly from Spárti via the spectacular 60-km (37-mile) road which crosses Mount Taýgetos. Kalamáta ° [map] itself suffered a devastating 1986 earthquake which left half the population homeless; despite subsequent emigration, it’s still the biggest town hereabouts (60,000 people), with an attractive seafront and some lively, untouristy tavernas to recommend it.

Gýthio waterfront.

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The worthiest nearby target is ancient Messene · [map] , 27km (16 miles) north, the Peloponnese’s most up-and-coming archaeological site (www.ancientmessene.gr; daily May–Aug 8am–8pm, Apr & Sept 8am–7.30pm, Oct 8am–6.30pm, Nov–Mar 8.30am–3.30pm), at modern Mavromáti village. Already excavated and commendably labelled are the enormous stadium – the biggest in Greece – an intact tomb at its far end, extensive colonnades, an ekklesiastirion (type of theatre), and the hulking Arcadia Gate in the walls (raised against the Spartans, Messene’s sworn enemy) of the ancient city, which flourished into Roman times, and was supplied with water from the still-gushing spring in the centre of the modern village. There’s also a small site museum.

Most visitors to Messinía province, however, have their sights set on the low southwesterly promontory ending in Cape Akrítas, with its fine beaches and balmy climate. Prime destination is Koróni º [map] , founded by Venice in 1206 to guard the sea lanes between the Adriatic and Crete. The castle here still shelters a few houses, orchards and pine groves, but a convent occupies most of it. The town outside the walls (built since 1830) has weathered tourism well, its vernacular houses with their wooden balconies still lining the steep stair-streets. Zánga beach, one of the best in the Peloponnese, extends for 3km (2 miles) west.

Methóni ¡ [map] , the second “eye of Venice” lying 35km (22 miles) west, grew wealthy after 1209 from the pilgrim trade to Palestine. Its sprawling castle (www.methoni-castle.gr; Nov–Mar daily 8am–3pm, Apr–Oct daily 8am-8pm), washed on three sides by the sea, combines military architecture of various eras: beyond the Venetian sea-gate, a Turkish octagonal tower – the Boúrtzi – overlooks two islets, while a French arched bridge of 1828 spans the Venetian moat. Little remains of the medieval town inside, however, and the modern village outside the walls is not nearly as attractive as Koróni’s, and neither is the beach.

Methoní’s Boúrtzi - a fine example of Ottoman military architecture.

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Pýlos ™ [map] , 13km (8 miles) north, is another rather sleepy town; despite its pleasant setting on huge, landlocked Navaríno Bay; what life there is seems confined to the immediate environs of Platía Tríon Navárhon, the main square. The bay has seen two momentous naval battles: in 425 BC, when the Athenians bested the Spartans off Sfaktiría island, and in October 1827, when a combined French, Russian and English armada sank Ibrahim Pasha’s Egyptian-Ottoman fleet, thus guaranteeing Greek independence. The three allied admirals are honoured by an obelisk in their namesake square, Trión Navárhon. The sprawling Venetian-Ottoman fortress of Niókastro (mid-May–Oct Wed–Mon 8am–8pm; Nov–Mar 8.30am–3.30pm) dominating Pýlos contains a huge, well-restored mosque-church and a collection of fine historical or ethnographic engravings installed inside the French barracks of 1828.

For idyllic beaches, you’ll have to head for the north end of the bay beyond Giálova, where perfectly half-circular Voïdokiliá bay is both beach and wildlife refuge, featuring on every poster and postcard of Messinía. About 11km (6 miles) north of Giálova lies the Bronze Age Palace of Nestor # [map] (Wed–Mon Nov–Mar 8.30am–3.30pm, Apr–Aug 8am–8pm; Sept closes 6pm, Oct closes 4pm), discovered in 1939, excavated more recently and now protected by a synthetic roof. The elderly museum at Hóra Trifylías (currently closed due to refurbishment, check online beforehand to see if it’s open yet) desperately needs a refit, but a huge trove of gold tomb finds from Peristéria manages to shine through.

On your way out of Messinía, stop – halfway between Filiatrá and pretty Kyparissía – at Agrílis for Fournier’s Castle (always viewable), the brainchild of a returned Greek-American. This impressive four-storey, crenellated, turretted folly with pseudo-heraldry is flanked by outsized figures of the Trojan horse, Helen and Hector – a monster of kitsch unequalled (despite stiff competition) in Greece, but hugely enjoyable and very much worth the detour.

Sturdy tower-mansion typical of the Máni region.

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Feuds in the Máni

While there may be some truth to Maniot claims that they are descended from the ancient Spartans, more crucial to the region’s history was the arrival, during the 13th to the 15th centuries, of refugee Byzantine nobility. These established a local aristocracy, the Nyklians, which formed competing clans; only they had the right to erect tower-mansions.

Poor farmland and a fast-growing population spurred not just piracy and banditry, but complex vendettas between clans. Blood feuds could last for years, with sporadic truces to tend crops; women, who delivered supplies, were inviolate, as were doctors, who treated the wounded impartially. Combatants fired at each other from neighbouring towers, raising them as high as five storeys so as to lob rocks onto their opponents’ flat roofs. The vendettas generally ended either with the annihilation or utter submission of the losing clan. Rather than rule the Máni directly, the Ottomans encouraged the feuding in the hopes of weakening any concerted rebellions.

The office passed between rival clans, but under the last bey, Petros Mavromihalis, the clans united, participating in the Greek independence uprising as of 17 March 1821. Rather less illustriously, the brother and nephew of “Petrobey” assassinated first president Ioannis Kapodistrias on 9 October 1831, for perceived insults to the Mavromihalis clan.

Olympia and the Cape of Kyllíni

From Kyparissía it’s a pleasant coastal drive to ancient Olympia ¢ [map] , where the Kládeos River meets the Alfiós. The sanctuary here served for two millennia as a religious and athletic centre; of all the Hellenic competitions associated with shrines, the Olympic Games, held every four years at the late-summer full moon, were the most prestigious, and the pan-Hellenic truce declared for their duration was honoured by the various city-states on pain of stiff fines. Although the first verified games were held in 776 BC, the Altis, a sacred forest at the base of the hill of Kronos, was consecrated to pre-Olympian deities as early as the second millennium BC. Recent fires have stripped the hill’s pines, but the site is still liberally planted with Zeus’ oaks, and in early spring, judas trees provide vivid flashes of colour.

The most salient monuments at the Olympia site (daily summer 8am–8pm; Nov–mid-Dec & Apr 8am–5pm; mid-Dec–Mar 8am–3.30pm) are the Palaestra training centre, whose courtyard colonnade has been re-erected; the workshop of Pheidias, the celebrated sculptor (identified by a cup found with his name inscribed); the Leonidaion guesthouse, with its lobular central pool; the Archaic Hera temple with its dissimilar columns; the enormous Zeus temple, now reduced to column sections; and the stadium with its 192-metre (630-ft) running course and surviving vaulted entrance.

Voïdokiliá beach, near Pýlos.

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In the newer Olympia Museum (same hours as site, summer/winter), pride of place goes to the pediment reliefs recovered from the Zeus temple debris, depicting the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs, with the god Apollo at the centre. Other unmissable items include the Hermes and baby Dionysos of Praxiteles, showcased in Room 8 at the right rear; the Geometric and Archaic bronze gallery (Room 2), offering a gorgon shield ornament; and the painted terracotta of Zeus with Ganymede in Room 4, near the heavily damaged Nike of Paionios. If time permits, the old museum nearby (Mon–Fri 9am–4pm) offers a fine late Roman mosaic, a statue of Hadrian’s lover Antinoös, a stele of Herakles wrestling with the Nemean lion, and a bronze miniature of two human wrestlers.

The closest beaches to Olympia (modern Olymbía) are southeast of the picturesque cruise-ship port of Katákolo, full of converted old warehouses. More edifying targets lie northwest along the main highway, in Gastoúni ∞ [map] where the 12th-century church of Panagía Katholikó at the southwest edge of town offers narthex frescoes, cleaned after the millennium, nearly on a par with those at Mystrás, including a wonderful bestiary amongst apocalyptic scenes.

Further into the cape ending at Kyllíni, Hlemoutsi § [map] (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm; may close later in summer) was the strongest purpose-built Frankish castle in the western Peloponnese, erected in 1220–23 by Geoffrey de Villehardouin. If restoration of the hexagonal citadel inside the huge, fan-shaped bailey is still ongoing, the rooftop viewpoint may be closed, but it’s still well worth the trip. The adjacent village of Kástro is appropriate for a meal, and the beaches just downhill are excellent.

Aháïa province

Continuing deeper into Aháïa province along the coast north of Kyllíni, sample the enormous, 7-km (4-mile) beach of Kalogriá ¶ [map] and the swamps (plus umbrella-pine dune forest) just behind. This, one of the largest wetlands in the Balkans, has finally gained protected status as the Strofyliá National Park; get the full story from the park HQ near Lápas, the village where you leave the main highway for the beach.

Pátra • [map] , 38km (24 miles) further, is Greece’s third-largest city, and the principal port for ferries to Italy and some of the Ionian Islands. It’s hardly the ideal spot for a quiet holiday retreat; only the ancient acropolis (with an originally Byzantine castle) seems peaceful. But linger at Carnival time to witness Greece’s best observance, with parades, floats and conspicuous attendance by students and the gay community.

Some 44km (27 miles) east along the motorway toward Athens, Diakoftó ª [map] is the start/end point of the famous rack-and-pinion (odontotós) railway up the precipitous Vouraïkós Gorge. It is perennially threatened with closure, but while it lasts – currently 3–5 departures daily – take advantage (information on www.odontotos.com). It takes well over an hour to cover the mere 22km (14 miles) to Kalávryta, terminus of the line and target of a savage Nazi reprisal in December 1943 when the town was burned and all the men shot. Today it is busiest in winter, thanks to the Mt Helmós ski resort overhead, but you can also use it as a base to visit the Spílio Limnón/Cave of the Lakes q [map] (www.kastriacave.gr; daily 9am–4.30pm, July/Aug until 6.30pm, weekends 5.30pm), 17km (11 miles) south near Kastriá village, where tours take in the first 500m of a series of small lakes.

Pátra is awash with colour during its carnival.

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CENTRAL GREECE

A region rich in temples and monasteries, from Delphi – mythical centre of the ancient world – to the Monastery of Ósios Loukás and the dramatic Metéora peaks.

Main Attractions

Pórto Germenó

Ósios Loukás

Ancient Delphi Site

Delphi Museum

Galaxídi

Návpaktos

Karpenisiótis Valley

Makrynítsa, Pílio

Tsangaráda & Its Beaches, Pílio

Agíou Nikoláou Anápavsa, Metéora

Roúmeli, the poetic medieval term for south-central Greece, encompasses the present-day provinces of Étolo-Akarnanía, Evrytanía, Fokída, Viotía and Fthiótida – yet more ancient place-names revived by the modern Greek state. Few contemporary visitors concern themselves much with these tongue-twisting toponyms as they rush headlong towards the main attraction of the region, the Classical site at Delphi. Their single-mindedness is forgivable, since Delphi uniquely combines a wealth of monuments with a breathtaking setting.

The meandering road through the Metéora.

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The drive from Athens takes anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 hours depending on your route; the most historic, scenic one follows a steep but well-paved road over the pine-covered mountains from near dreary Elefsína – perhaps detouring for a pebble-beach swim and a fish lunch or – with a late start out of Athens – even an overnight at Pórto Germenó 1 [map] on the Gulf of Corinth – to Thíva (Thebes) 2 [map] . The modern town has been built on top of the ancient one, so little is visible of the ancient Thebes so prominent in Greek myth and history. A small ancient palace has, however, been excavated and the excellent archaeological museum (Nov–Apr Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm, May–Oct Wed–Mon 8am-8pm) contains tomb and sanctuary finds from Bronze Age to Classical Boeotia, especially the painted sarcophagi and figurines from Tanagra.

Livadiá and Aráhova

The next main town, Livadiá 3 [map] , was a major power base for the Frankish Crusader fiefdoms during the 13th and 14th centuries. In the gorge of the River Érkyna yawns the entrance to the ancient Oracle of Trophonios, near a graceful Ottoman bridge and below the Catalan-built castle. Springs nurture a dense colony of plane trees, a pleasing backdrop to the handful of tavernas on the pedestrianised banks.

Hosios Loukas monastery.

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Beyond Livadiá, the road west begins to climb into the foothills of Mt Parnassós. The left turn for Dístomo village and the Monastery of Ósios Loukás 4 [map] (daily 8am–3.30pm), dedicated to a local 10th-century ascetic named Luke, is clearly marked. The monastery commands a wonderful view over a secluded valley in the shadow of Mt Elikónas. The smaller chapel of the Virgin (on the left) dates from the 10th century; the 11th-century katholikón, or main church, contains superb mosaics, survivors of a 1659 earthquake. The best and easiest to view, including a Resurrection and Washing of the Apostles’ Feet, are in the narthex.

The village of Aráhova 5 [map] clings to the toes of Parnassós; formerly a bastion of pastoral culture, it has now adopted a new role as a ski resort, with Athenian-weekender chalets sprouting rapidly on the outskirts. Tourist souvenirs, including various types of noodles and the almost-purple local wine, are pitched more at Greeks than foreigners.

Delphi

The ancient site of Delphi 6 [map] is 11km (7 miles) further along, built on terraces at the base of sheer cliffs, the whole poised to topple over into the Plístos Gorge. One of the major religious centres – indeed, reckoned the geographical centre – of the ancient world, a much-consulted oracle functioned here for over a millennium until the proscription of paganism in AD 391–92. Since its excavation by the French School in Athens between 1892–1906, Delphi has ranked as the most popular, memorable ruin on the mainland, attended as well by gliding birds of prey launching themselves from the palisades. A visit involves steep climbs rewarded by ever-changing viewpoints and new monumental treasures.

The first locale, on the south side of the road, is the so-called Marmaria (daily same hours as main site below; free), comprising a gymnasium (complete with a straight track and a round bath) and the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia. Pronaia means “guardian of the temple” and ancient visitors passed first through this shrine. The original 7th-century BC temple was destroyed by the Persians, and replaced by the present complex; the most interesting structure here is the 4th-century tholos (a circular building with a vaulted or conical roof), whose purpose remains unknown.

On the north side of the road gushes the Castalian Spring (fenced off). Parts of the older, rectangular fountain right next to the road date to the 6th century BC, although thin marble slabs on the floor are Hellenistic or early Roman. All pilgrims had to perform ritual ablutions here.

The main sacred precinct at Delphi is the Sanctuary of Apollo (Apr 16–Sep 15 daily 8.30am–7.30, Sep 16–Apr 15 daily 8.30am–5pm), above the road past the Castalian Spring. Many of the ruins exposed today date from Roman times, but just as many monuments, including the stadium and main temple, are earlier. For the casual visitor, highlights include the Athenian Treasury, the theatre and the Temple of Apollo.

The Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, Delphi.

Nowitz Photography/Apa Publications

The top sights at Delphi

The Doric-order Athenian Treasury (late 6th- or early 5th-century) was pieced together by French archaeologists in 1904–06, using the inscriptions covering its surface as a guide. The late-6th-century Athenian stoa, today retaining three complete Ionic columns before a polygonal wall, was a roofed area protecting trophies from various Athenian naval victories, including the defeat of the Persians at Salamis in 480 BC. An inscription reads: “The Athenians have dedicated this portico with the arms and bow ornaments taken from their enemies at sea”.

The Temple of Apollo just above the Athenian stoa is the third confirmed temple to have stood here, and there are literary rumours of three even earlier ones; two 7th- and 6th-century predecessors were done for by fire and earthquake respectively. What you see dates from 369–329 BC, and is impressive enough, measuring 66 by 26 metres (215 by 85 ft): six columns were re-erected by the French. The god Apollo was associated, among other things, with prophecy, his main function here. His oracle resided under the temple flooring in the adyton chamber, where a chasm in the earth belched forth noxious and possibly mind-altering vapours. Consulting the oracle of Delphi consisted of several stages. The petitioner’s question would be relayed to the god Apollo by a priestess known as the Pythia, who could hear the answer only when she was in a trance – induced, conveniently enough, by residing in the vapour-filled adyton. Her ravings, in turn, could be understood only by the sanctuary’s priests, who interpreted them for the supplicant – often ambiguously – for a suitable fee. One of the oracle’s more memorable pronouncements was that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother – thereby giving the world its most tragic hero and Freud his Oedipus complex.

Plays were performed at Delphi’s theatre during the Pythian Festival, held every four years.

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The small theatre above the temple, originally 4th-century but thoroughly restored during the Roman era, seats 5,000 people and has marvellous acoustics. The stadium, a long narrow oval, is well worth the somewhat steep walk beyond the theatre. It retains 12 rows of seats on the north side and six rows of seats, now mostly tumbled, on the south (both, sadly, off-limits). You will easily find the starting and finishing lines, the limestone blocks complete with grooves for the runners’ toes.

The Delphi Museum (same hours as archaeological site; entrance included in site ticket) underwent a comprehensive refit in the run-up to the 2004 Athens Olympics, further highlighting its magnificent collection. The bronze charioteer of 470 BC with his onyx eyes is the most famous denizen, but look out also for two huge 6th-century kouroi (standing statues of idealised youths), the votive, life-sized bull made from hammered silver sheets, the Ionic Naxian sphinx, dating from 565 BC, and the Siphian frieze with scenes from the Trojan War and a battle between the gods and the titans.

The coast of Fokída

Below Delphi and its namesake modern, touristic village (Delfí), a vast plain of olive trees stretches south towards the Gulf of Corinth. Literally gritty Itéa was once the ancient port of Delphi and still ships out the odd cargo of purple-red bauxite, strip-mined from the flanks of Mt Gióna to the west. But the real star of this often bleak coast is little Galaxídi 7 [map] . With its Venetian-influenced mansions, the place seems closer in style to Koróni or Návpaktos than the rough-hewn, stone village houses of Fokída.

Local shipowners prospered during the 18th and 19th centuries when Galaxídi was, amazingly, the fourth-busiest harbour in Greece – thus the elaborate housing. But captains refused to convert to steam after the 1890s, and the place sank into obscurity until being rediscovered by wealthy Athenians looking for a pleasant weekend bolt-hole. Foreign tourists are thus few, but there are plenty of comfortable lodgings and expensive restaurants along the south harbour quay, where yachts congregate.

Galaxídi, a popular weekend retreat for wealthy Athenians.

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Fact

Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes, of Don Quixote fame, then a naval marine on a Spanish ship, lost the use of his left hand at the battle of Lepanto, fought off Návpaktos in 1571.

The coastal road of Fokída heads west, passing Trizónia, the only inhabited island in the Gulf of Corinth, before arriving at Návpaktos 8 [map] , just inside Étolo-Akarnanía.

Walk or drive up from the little egg-shaped Venetian harbour to the sprawling, pine-tufted castle above. Much the largest place on the gulf’s north shore, today Návpaktos gracefully combines the functions of low-key resort and market town. The better hotels and most restaurants stand behind plane-tree-shaded Grímbovo beach, although bathing there is dubious; swim instead at westerly Psáni beach.

Étolo-Akarnanía

Continuing further west into Étolo-Akarnanía from Návpaktos, the landscape becomes flatter and less dramatic; the main sight en route is the earthquake-proof suspension bridge at the Río-Andírrio straits, the second longest in the world (2,880m/9,449ft) and clearly visible from jets 10,500 metres (35,000ft) up. The road veers inland briefly before arriving at Mesolóngi 9 [map] , where Lord Byron died on 19 April 1824. The Ottomans had been trying to take the town since 1822; in April 1825, the final attack was mounted by 30,000 troops against 5,000 active insurgents. After a year of close siege, about half the population of 20,000 – combatants and civilians alike – broke out but were ambushed, with only about 1,600 surviving. Those remaining in town fired their own powder magazines, killing themselves, several thousand children and the elderly, plus many Turkish attackers.

The Rio–Antirrio bridge in the Gulf of Corinth.

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The northeast entrance to the town through the Venetian wall is known as the Gate of the Sortie, built by King Otto where the inhabitants defied the siege. To the west lies the Garden of Heroes (signposted “Heroes’ Tombs”), with a tumulus covering the bodies of the anonymous defenders; the tomb of the Greek commander, Markos Botsaris; and a statue of Byron. Today, Mesolóngi is, more on sentimental than practical grounds, the capital of Étolo-Akarnanía, and lives mostly from the products of the vast and sometimes whiffy lagoons which surround the town on three sides: salt, avgotáraho (compressed grey-mullet roe), and smoked eels. The latter two items can be sampled at several tavernas on and around Athanasíou Razikótsika, at the heart of the old quarter, or at Tourlída, out on the lagoon.

Beyond Mesolóngi, and the enormous walls of ancient Pleuron on the mountain side, the road splits near Etolikó ) [map] , a strange place built as a medieval refuge on an island in a lagoon. The more popular highway goes through the Klisoúra Gorge past unsightly Agrínio, commercial capital of the province, and on through tobacco fields, along the Iónia Odós Motorway, to Amfilohía at the southernmost tip of the Amvrakikós Gulf.

The Battle of Lepanto

The Ottomans used Návpaktos as a base before sailing out to their defeat in the naval battle of Lepanto (the Venetian name for Návpaktos). They were brutally crushed by an allied Christian armada commanded by John of Austria in 1571. An Ottoman chronicler later lamented of the sorry scene, “The Imperial fleet encountered the fleet of the wretched infidels and the will of Allah turned another way”.

For all its resonance in the West, however, the battle – which was gleefully celebrated as the first major bloodying of the so-called “Terrible Turk” – had little noticeable local effect, since the Ottomans had already taken Cyprus that summer, and they quickly rebuilt their navies and went on to conquer Crete within a century.

A more interesting route to western Epirus veers off at Etolikó and mostly follows the coast all the way. Once across the mighty Ahelóös River and over the hills of the Lesíni ash forest, you emerge at Ástakos, a minor ferry port with services to Itháki and Kefaloniá but also a major yacht anchorage. The onward road offers spectacular views over small and large members of the Ionian archipelago before cruising through Mýtikas and Páleros, two little resorts in the lee of Lefkáda which make excellent meal stops or overnight halts. At the end of the journey is Vónitsa, with its little castle, gulf-front tavernas and, as usual hereabouts, a merely functional beach; from here you are poised to head either southwest to Lefkáda or northwest through a tunnel under the mouth of the Amvrakikós Gulf to Préveza.

North into Evrytanía

From Návpaktos, a little-used but highly scenic road goes northeast into the valley of the Évinos River, beloved of rafters, and then climbs again to the basin of Lake Trihonída, the largest natural body of fresh water in Greece. On a plateau out of sight to the northeast lies the lively town of Thérmo and its predecessor, ancient Thermon ! [map] (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), the main religious centre of the ancient Aetolians.

Welcoming Lord Byron at Mesolóngi by Theodoros Vryzakis, 1861.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Beyond Thérmo, the gradient steepens as you head north through the forest to Evrytanía province. First up are Prousós @ [map] village and monastery, poised on the precipitous, landslide-prone north slopes of Mt Panetolikó; its isolation made the area a haunt of revolutionary hero Karaïskakis. Some spectacular gorges bring you to the main Karpenisiótis valley, heart of Evrytanía and nicknamed the “Greek Switzerland”. Helvetic indeed are the green slopes and fir trees, matched by stratospheric accommodation prices. The ski centre on Mt Veloúhi, north of the provincial capital of Karpenísi £ [map] is a popular target, as are day-walks up Mounts Kaliakoúda and Helidóna, the valley’s 2,000-metre (6,200-ft) flanking peaks. The main villages just outside Karpenísi (which was ravaged by World War II and the civil war), more appealing for a stay or a meal, are Megálo Horió, Mikró Horió, Voutýro, Gávros and Koryskhádes.

Karpenisiótis valley, at Prousós: the “Greek Switzerland”.

Dreamstime

North from Fokída to Thessaly

From the Delphi area, it is also possible to head straight north between mounts Parnassus and Gióna towards Lamía $ [map] , capital of its own province and a pleasant lunch stop. On the way, you pass near to a hallowed site of Ancient Greek heroism. In antiquity, Thermopylae % [map] was a narrow passage between the cliffs and the sea, although today silt from a nearby river has displaced the coastline by almost 5km (3 miles). In 480 BC, the Spartan general Leonidas held this pass for three days against a vastly larger Persian army, until the Persians, tipped off by the traitor Ephialtes, outflanked the defenders by using a higher pass. Leonidas ordered most of the Greek army to retreat, but covered their flight by fighting to the end with his hand-picked guard of 2,300 men. A monumental statue of Leonidas now marks the spot, across the road from the grave mound for the Greek dead. Just beyond are the still-popular hot sulphur springs (Thermopylae means “hot gates”) after which the pass is named.

Less than one hour’s drive along the motorway from Lamía, Vólos ^ [map] , capital of the Thessalian province of Magnisía – is certainly not the most photogenic of towns. Destroyed by several earthquakes between 1947 and 1957, it is a busy, modern port, a sort of compressed version of Thessaloníki and Piraeus. That said, it is also a spirited town, with (like most of Thessaly) a tradition of leftist politics, a university, and arguably the densest Greek concentration of mezedopolía along its waterfront. This gets leafier and more Aegean as you head east towards the excellent archaeological museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), which houses finds dating back to Neolithic times and Vólos’ early days as ancient Iolkos.

Mount Pílio

The great Thessalian plain, once the bed of an inland sea, is ringed by mountains; the only natural outlet is where the Piniós River exits through the fabled Vale of Témbi, a 10-km (6-mile) gorge between Mount Ólympos (Ólymbos) and Mount Óssa. Looming above Vólos is Mount Pílio (Pelion), legendary home of the centaurs. These fantastic beings had the legs and bodies of horses, the arms and heads of men, and – well-versed in magic and herbology – served as the wise tutors of several ancient heroes, including Achilles. Probably the centaurs were a mythologisation of an aboriginal tribe who, hiding in the dense Pílio forests, preserved the lore of pre-Hellenic ages.

Fact

Orchards of cherry and apple spread out on the terraced hillsides below Mount Pílio. You’ll find cherry jam for sale in the local village shops, as well as candied nuts and jars of tsitsíravla (pickled terebinth shoots).

Intriguingly, the entire region was a prominent centre of learning in Greece during the 17th and 18th centuries. Many important officials of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, of the sultan’s inner circle and even of the Russian court, were educated on Mount Pílio. The peninsula probably became such a nursery of Greek erudition owing to its timber-based wealth and also thanks to its location, which boasted some distance from grasping Ottoman officials.

Picturesque Damoúhari port.

Dreamstime

Fact

Ambelákia, to the north of Lárisa, is where the world’s first cooperative was founded in 1778 around the weaving and natural dying of textiles.

The Pílio Peninsula has two faces: the damp, shaggy northeast flank dropping to the Aegean, with excellent sand beaches of near-Caribbean hue; and the balmy, olive-covered slopes fringed with pebble shores lapped by the Pagasitic Gulf. Even if you fly to Vólos’ airport at Néa Anhíalos and pick up a hire car, a week is realistically needed to tour it. The obvious, over-subscribed target is Makrynítsa & [map] , 17km (11 miles) north of Vólos, with its large concentration of 18th-century mansions and a fountain-and-church-flanked square. But Vyzítsa * [map] to the east is quieter, with nearly as many grand houses.

Zagorá ( [map] and Tsangaráda in the northeast each comprise four villages in one, their several parishes strung out along kilometres of road: because of abundant water, few Pílio communities form dense clusters as they do on the islands. Tsangaráda is also a major hiking trailhead, for example down to the beach at Damoúhari or inland along an old trail which was once used by the locals to reach the rail station at Miliés.

Postcard-perfect Mylopótamos beach.

Dreamstime

The main developed coastal resorts are Ágios Ioánnis ‚ [map] , near Zagorá, Plataniá in the far south and Áfyssos which is located closer to Vólos. For contrast, try to stop at relatively unfrequented villages like Láfkos, Sykí and Promýri in the south. Tríkeri ⁄ [map] and its port Agía Kyriakí, at the crab-claw southwest tip, lead a largely separate existence, with a strong maritime tradition. Beaches are too numerous to list, although the postcard stars tend to be of Mylopótamos with its natural arch, and Damoúhari port with its tiny Venetian castle, both below Tsangaráda.

The Metéora

If you have time on your way up to the Metéora, you may want to detour to Ambelákia ¤ [map] , some 30km (20 miles) north of Lárisa.

Monasteries

Religious hermits were already colonising the caves in this region by the 10th century, but legend attributes the first rock-top monastery (Megálou Meteórou) to the Athonite monk Athanasios, midway through the 14th century. Progress was slow as materials were transported first by rope ladder, then by winches and baskets, and it took nearly three centuries to finish Megálou Meteórou, by which time it was just one of 24 religious communities that were flourishing on the summits. After the 17th century, the monastic impetus slowed, and the more flimsily erected structures began to crumble on their exposed perches; the vicissitudes of modern Greek history since independence further hastened decline, and today only eight of these extraordinary buildings survive, of which just six are inhabited.

The village’s outstanding architectural heritage includes the mansion of George Schwartz (Fri–Mon 9am–3pm, Wed 9am–12pm, Thu 12am–3pm), whose painted rooms evoke domestic interiors of the Ottoman bourgeoisie.

As you approach Kalambáka from Tríkala, towering rock formations – the Metéora ‹ [map] – rise before you in one of the great spectacles of mainland Greece. Some of the most extraordinary monasteries in the world cling to these massive pinnacles, whose name derives from the verb meteorízo, “to suspend in the air”. These cones, cylinders and rounded buttresses, flecked with vegetation and caves like so many un-brushed, carious molars, are remnants of river sediment deposited at the margins of the prehistoric sea covering the plain of Thessaly some 25 million years ago. Tectonic-plate pressure and erosion by the young Piniós River are jointly responsible for their present shape.

Heading north out of Kalambáka through the village of Kastráki, set unimprovably in the shadow of the rocks, you encounter monasteries in the following order. Agíou Nikoláou Anápavsa (Apr–Oct Sat–Thu 9am–5pm, Nov–Mar 9am–3pm), built around 1388, has well-cleaned frescoes by the monk Theofanes of the Cretan School (c.1527), including a stylite (column-dwelling) hermit being supplied by winch-hoist, as would have been done locally. Megálou Meteórou (Apr–Oct Wed–Mon 9am–3pm, Nov–Mar Fri–Mon 9am–2pm) is the largest and highest monastery, although its church is overshadowed by a collection of rare icons and manuscripts in the refectory. Varlaám (Apr–Oct Sat–Thu 9am–4pm, Nov–Mar Sat–Wed 9am–3pm), founded in 1517, offers 16th-century frescoes by Franco Catellano (partly retouched in 1870), including an Ascension and a Pandokrátor in the two domes respectively. It is also the last monastery to preserve in situ its old windlass mechanism, formerly used for elevating monks and supplies; a new electric pulley lifts goods now.

Beautiful little Roussánou (Apr–Oct Thu–Tue 9am–4pm, Nov–May 9am–2pm), completely occupying a knife-edge summit, was built in 1545 for monks, later abandoned, and re-occupied by nuns in the 1970s. It too has vividly gory 17th-century frescoes dwelling on martyrdom by various unpleasant means. Agías Triádos (Apr–Oct Fri–Wed 9am–4pm, Nov–Mar Fri–Wed 10am–4pm), with a final approach of 130 steps tunnelled through a rock, has frescoes in its katholikón (main church) which were thoroughly cleaned during the 1990s. Like other monastic churches here, this was built in two phases, resulting in two domes, two Pandokrátors and two complete sets of Evangelists. Agíou Stefánou (Apr–Oct Fri–Wed 9am–1.30pm, 3.30–5.30pm, Nov–Mar 10am–4pm), like Roussánou, operates as a convent but, heavily damaged by bombs during World War II, is the obvious one to skip if time is running short.

The Varlaám monastery as seen from Megálou Meteórou.

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EPIRUS

A spectacular mountain region of limestone peaks, wooded valleys and traditional stone villages, the northwest also offers a pristine national park where bears and wolves still roam.

Main Attractions

Karavostasi Beach

Parga

Nikopolis Mosaics

Árta Byantine Chuches

Ioannina Lakefront

Ancient Dodona Theatre

Western Zagorohoria

Old Bridges near Kípi, ZagorI

Hiking the Zagorian Pindos

Inland Epirus (Ípiros in Greek) is a world apart from the azure, sun-bleached Greece of the coasts. Its character is determined by the limestone peaks and deep river gorges of the Píndos range, which attains its greatest height just before the Albanian border in mounts Smólikas (2,637 metres/8,645ft) and Grámmos (2,520 metres/8,270ft). The winter precipitation, the highest in mainland Greece, ensures that forests are shaggy and rivers foaming.

View over of Vikos Gorge, the deepest gorge in Europe, in Zagori Epirus.

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An isolation enforced by both mountains and climate fostered the growth of medieval semi-autonomous villages built by traders and craftsmen returning from abroad. Local stone and wood has been transformed into imposing houses, with street cobbles, walls and roof slates blending in a uniform grey which, far from being depressing, is a classic example of harmonious adaptation to environment.

In antiquity, this was considered the limit of the civilised world; few ruins have been unearthed besides shadowy oracles at Dodona (Dodóni) and Aheron, and the planned Roman town of Nikopolis. The Byzantines had scarcely more time for this rugged terrain south of the Vía Egnatía, even though during the 13th and 14th centuries, the Despotate of Epirus extended from the Ionian Sea to Thessaloníki. This mini-state sheltered members of the Byzantine nobility who had fled the imperial capital when it was sacked by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. They left behind some truly intriguing churches around Árta, joining earlier masterpieces at Kastoriá in western Macedonia.

Like the rest of northern Greece, Epirus was not incorporated into the modern state until March 1913, during the First Balkan War and some 80 years after the end of the initial Greek War of Independence.

Gorgeous sandy beaches in Epirus.

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Low impact tourism
in Zagóri

The area long suffered from neglect and mass emigration, but archaeological initiatives and financial incentives have boosted the economy, and many buildings have been restored. This is most notable in the Zagóri district of Epirus, where entire villages are now preserved as homogeneous traditional settlements. Simultaneously, old roads have been widened and paved, and new ones bulldozed, giving access to the tiniest hamlets. Because of the nature of tourism here, Zagóri is one of the few places in Greece where more than lip service is paid to the idea of quality trekking routes – although trails off the most popular itineraries can be haphazardly marked and maintained at best, and facilities in the villages where you finish a day’s hike can be rudimentary.

As in the whole of Greece, a touristic plum as lucrative as Zagóri has inevitably become the focus of ongoing battles between conservationists, developers and entrepreneurs. Dirt roads serving timber tracts and high pastures scar the landscape, as does the national power corporation’s reservoir at the sources of the Aóös River. Cuttings and tunnellings for the Vía Egnatía have a significant visual impact, especially near Métsovo. Yet during the late 1980s and early 1990s, not a few shepherds and villagers allied themselves with urban mountaineers, local tourism personnel, international ecologists and even the European Kayaking Federation to halt a scheme promoted by Ioánnina-based interests for a second dam on the lower Aóös, plus various ski lifts and roads which would have ruined the national park at the heart of Zagóri.

From Igoumenítsa
to Párga

The modern port of Igoumenítsa 1 [map] , at the very northwestern corner of mainland Greece, is the third busiest in the country after Pátra and Piraeus (Pireás), a turnstile sort of a place where an enforced halt should be avoided at all costs. Far more rewarding is the coastal road south, which after 33km (20 miles) reaches the side road for Karavostási 2 [map] , indisputably the finest beach in Thesprotía province. Two rivers at each end of the long strand are responsible for the ample sand, and since it is an archaeologically protected area, development is still limited. Just up the hill from the side-turning sits the village of Pérdika, whose pedestrianised centre offers a range of tavernas and a surprisingly lively night scene, courtesy of Athenians and Greeks returned from overseas.

Fact

Low-impact, high-quality tourism has been successfully promoted in Zagóri, particularly in the gateway villages where the inhabitants sided with the conservationists to protect the national park.

From the Karavostási-Pérdika junction, a few more kilometres – via the well-preserved castle of Agiá (daily all day; free) – bring you to Párga 3 [map] , Epirus’s main coastal resort and deservedly so for its fine beaches, tiered houses and dominant Norman-Venetian castle. From the 14th to the late 18th centuries, this was the Serene Republic’s lone stronghold in Epirus, peopled by Souliot Orthodox Christians in constant conflict with their Muslim neighbours, as well as a small community of Jews who lived from the export of citrons to Europe for Jewish liturgical use. The British acquired it in 1814 and soon ceded it to the rapacious Ali Pasha of Ioánnina; the townspeople collected their holy relics and moved to Corfu and Paxí. Párga now enjoys 100 percent hotel occupancy (mostly from package tours) from early July through to early September, although out of season it still makes an atmospheric stop.

Panoramic view of Parga city.

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Emigration and Revival

During the 20th century, the remoteness that once protected this region undermined its continued vigour. The ravages of World War II and the subsequent civil war, along with poor communications, the non-sustainability of traditional livelihoods and apparently punitive government neglect, spurred massive emigration, particularly to North America, Germany and Australia. By the 1970s, many Epirot villages were in an advanced state of physical and social decline. Numerous houses were left to decay (or shoddily repaired), while others sheltered an ever-dwindling population of the economically inactive elderly.

But matters have slowly changed. The government has acted to integrate the region into the national economy, most obviously with frequent flights to Ioánnina and good roads, including the Vía Egnatía expressway and its ambitious tunnels through the Píndos, plus the Ionian Highway up from Mesolóngi. Emigration has slowed down and just occasionally – thanks to tourism, subsidies for logging or grazing, and better infrastructure – even halted. Attitudes towards village life have softened, with traditional architecture and methods now viewed less as stumbling blocks to economic prosperity and more as cultural heritage to be preserved.

Fact

Áktio, the promontory dovetailing with Préveza at the mouth of the Amvrakikós Gulf, was Roman Actium, also the name of the naval battle in which Octavian defeated Anthony and Cleopatra’s forces in 31 BC. Octavian then named himself Emperor Augustus and established Nikopolis, “Victory City”, nearby.

Oracle of the dead

Some 22km (14 miles) southeast, beside Mesopótamos village, lies the Nekromanteion 4 [map] (Nekromándio; daily Apr & Sept 8am–7pm, mid-May–Aug 8am–8pm, Oct 8am–6pm, winter 8.30am–3.30pm) of Acheron, the venerable oracle of the dead described by Circe in The Odyssey. Today, the Ahérondas River (one of the legendary rivers swirling around Hades) has silted up the surrounding agricultural plain, but in Homeric times the oracle was a suitably mysterious, tree-fringed island in a lagoon. Supplicants entered the sanctuary via a maze of corridors and were then lowered by a pulley into a vaulted underground chamber to experience whatever spectral hoax the resident priests had concocted.

The Ahérondas enters the sea at Ammoudiá just 5km (3 miles) to the west. The river makes bathing at the beach here cold, and should you choose to stay the night, the mosquitoes are out in force after dark. But lunching at the row of tavernas on the pedestrianised quay, where tour boats for hire to the Nekromanteion bob at anchor, is exceedingly pleasant; and a small but excellent visitor information centre (Mon–Sat erratic hours; free) at the town entrance covers the natural history and ethnology of the area.

Church of Panagía Parigorítissa.

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Inland from the Nekromanteion, closer to its source, the Ahérondas squeezes through a spectacular gorge. From the village of Glykí 5 [map] , a side track signposted for the “Skála Dzavélenas” dead-ends at the start of the skála: a spectacular 90-minute path down to the river bed and up into the realm of the Souliots, a Christian tribe never completely subdued by the Ottomans. From Glykí, continue south another 30km (19 miles) to the combined side turning for Zálongo and ancient Kassope. The former, a mountain top monastery of little intrinsic interest, was witness to a dramatic incident in 1803 which has since become a staple of Greek nationalist legend known by every schoolchild: trapped by Ali Pasha’s forces, several dozen Souliot women fled to a nearby pinnacle, where – rather than submit to the enemy – they danced off the edge into thin air clutching their children. A hideous 1961 sculpture by aptly named Georgios Zongolopoulos celebrates their defiance.

Kassope, Nikopolis
and Préveza

Nearby, Kassope 6 [map] (June–Oct Mon–Sun 8am–3pm, Nov–May 8.30am–3pm) is less visited and eminently rewarding: a minor Hellenistic city whose jumbled ruins are matched by a fine view over the Ionian Sea and Lefkáda island. No views are to be had from the artificial Roman city of Nikopolis 7 [map] , some 15km (9 miles) south and 600 metres (2,000ft) below, but since 2009 the site has been tidied up and made more comprehensible, especially the theatre, and three superb floor mosaics in the Dometios basilica. A site museum (Apr–Oct Wed–Mon 8am–8pm, Nov–Mar Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), 2km south towards Préveza, ably documents Roman and early Christian life here with statuary, coins, household implements and grave goods.

Préveza 8 [map] , once a sleepy, shabby provincial capital, has also been spruced up, partly to cater for package tourists in transit between Áktio airport and the fine beaches to the north or Lefkáda. In its old bazaar, with rather more character than Párga’s, a clutch of pleasant and good-value restaurants still offer the gulf’s famous grilled sardines, and summer nightlife is loud and varied. In 2002, an earthquake-resistant tunnel under the gulf finally replaced the old RO-RO ferry ride across to Áktio.

Artá and Byzantine churches

Some 50km (31 miles) over on the far side of the gulf lies Árta 9 [map] , the ancient Ambrakia and capital of King Pyrrhos (he of the original pyrrhic victory). It later became the seat of the Despotate of Epirus, and retains a legacy of churches from that era. Most notable is the enormous, cubic Panagía Parigorítissa (Wed–Mon 8.30am–4pm), which dates from the late 13th century and betrays Italian influences in its palazzo-like exterior. High in the dome, supported by a gravity-defying cantilever system, floats a magnificent mosaic of the Pandokrátor (Christ in Majesty); it’s the finest on the mainland after Dafní near Athens, despite damage from World War II bombing by the Italians.

Fact

The decapitated head of Ali Pasha, the 18th-century tyrant who ruled here, was sent to Istanbul as a trophy, after having toured the provinces which he had so effectively terrorised.

In the sweet-smelling citrus groves around the town lie other fascinating late Byzantine churches and monasteries, the most beautiful of which is Panagía Vlahernón in the village of Vlahérna, 6km (4 miles) to the north. Despot Michael II added the domes in the 13th century, and is thought to be entombed inside. A magnificent colourful floor mosaic is on view under glass near the altar and makes a worthwhile detour.

The Roman Odeon of Ancient Nikopolis, Epirus.

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Ioánnina

Lining the shores of Lake Pamvótis (Pamvótida), spread below the stark face of Mount Mitsikéli, Ioánnina ) [map] has been one of Greece’s great cities for nearly 1,000 years: a beacon of Hellenic culture, a traders’ entrepôt and, in the 19th century (its last glorious epoch), the capital of the infamous Ali Pasha. Today the town remains one of Greece’s liveliest and exciting provincial centres.

Ioánnina’s layout is testimony to Ali’s dubious legacy. While he left behind the city’s most distinctive monuments (its mosques, and the redoubtable Kástro in its present form), he also had much of the city burned to deny it to a besieging Ottoman army, sent by the sultan to put down his unruly vassal in 1820. This, along with a 1960s penchant for large apartment blocks, has resulted in the relentlessly modern Ioánnina which lies outside the old town.

The wide expanse of central Platía Pýrrou, joined to the plazas of Akadimías and Dimokratías and lined by various public buildings, makes an obvious starting-point for a city tour. Just east of Dimokratías stands the archaeological museum (Nov–Mar Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm, Apr–Oct Wed–Mon 8.30am–8pm), home to a fine collection of bronzes and tablets inscribed with questions for the Dodona oracle.

Ioánnina’s lake and Aslan Pasha Mosque.

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Except for a couple of cinemas with first-run fare, this area is no longer the main nocturnal hub of Ioánnina. That has shifted downhill along Avérof towards the Kástro to take better advantage of the town’s setting, past two shop fronts selling the famous local bougátsa (sweet custard or savoury cheese pie) at Dimokratías 2 and Avérof 3 respectively. State-of-the-art late-night bars cluster at the far end of Ethnikís Andístasis, in a former tradesmen’s bazaar by the lake, and around Platía Mavíli, on the opposite side of the citadel. On summer nights, the latter – better known as Mólos – throbs with townspeople taking an evening stroll along the waterfront, which is lined with vendors selling roast corn, halvás and bootleg CDs of local clarinet music from gas-lit pushcarts.

Kástro, the five-gated, walled precinct of various Epirot rulers including Ali Pasha, best conjures up Ioánnina’s colourful past. A tangle of alleyways rises to a fortified promontory jutting out into the lake; at the lower corner looms the Aslan Pasha Mosque, now home to the Municipal Ethnographic Museum (Mon–Fri 8.30am–3pm, Sat–Sun 9am–3pm), with its diverse collection of Epirot costumes, jewellery, artwork and various donations from the city’s once-large Jewish community.

One of Ali Pasha’s most infamous exploits – involving Kyra Frosini, the beautiful Greek mistress of Ali’s eldest son – is supposed to have taken place near the mosque-museum. In the most common variant of the tale, Ali punished the girl for resisting his advances by having her and 17 female companions tied up in weighted sacks and drowned in the lake. Islamophobic-kitsch postcards of the episode are still sold, depicting wild-eyed “barbarians” and swooning Greek maidens in the clutches of their tormentors.

Ali Pasha in Ioánnina

Unlike most large Greek centres, Ioánnina’s history does not predate early Christian times, when an earthquake blocked the natural drainages of the surrounding plain and thus created the lake. Its name derives from an early church of St John the Baptist, long since vanished. After the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204 and the establishment of the Despotate of Epirus, Ioánnina grew in size and importance as refugees from “The City” swelled its population. It surrendered to the Ottomans in the 15th century; in 1788, Ali Pasha designated this town of 35,000 inhabitants (large for that time) his headquarters. Nicknamed “the Lion of Ioánnina”, this maverick, notably cruel Albanian Muslim tyrant long defied the Ottoman sultan to establish an autonomous fiefdom.

Eat

Alas, Nisí’s tavernas are touristy and poor in quality; if Ioanninans want a lakeside meal, they patronise the half-dozen restaurants which line Pamvotídas, the shoreline street heading northwest from Mólos.

At the summit of the citadel looms the Fethiye Tzami (Victory Mosque) and one of Ali’s heavily restored palaces – today an indifferent Byzantine Museum (daily 8am–5pm). The former treasury nearby makes an appropriate showcase for displays on the city’s traditional silver industry.

After defying the sultan for three decades, Ali finally met his end on the islet of Nisí, on the far side of the visibly polluted lake (bus-boats make the trip from Mólos all day until 11pm). A small house in the grounds of Ágios Pandelímon monastery was his last hide-out; here, trapped on the upper storey by an assassin, Ali was shot through the floorboards then decapitated.

Monasteries with more peaceful histories, and a fine island loop walk, lie in the opposite direction. The nearest to Nisí village, Agíou Nikoláou Filanthropinón, contains vivid late-Byzantine frescoes; some depict unusually gruesome martyrdoms, while others, by the entrance, depict ancient sages such as Plutarch, Aristotle and Thucydides.

Across Lake Pamvótis to the city of Ioánnina.

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Diversions around Ioánnina

Some 20km (12 miles) south of Ioánnina lies Dodona ! [map] (Dodóni), Epirus’s main archaeological site (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), nestling in a valley at the foot of Mount Tómaros. According to Herodotus, its oracle (the oldest in Greece and, until the 4th century BC, the most important) was established by a priestess abducted from a similar one in Egyptian Thebes. Zeus – considered resident in the trunk of a holy oak tree – was worshipped here, priests and priestesses deciphering the rustlings of the leaves which were the god’s sacred pronouncements. The carefully restored theatre, dating from the 3rd-century reign of King Pyrrhus, has a capacity of 17,000 spectators – always far too large for the needs of the little town that existed here from 1000 BC until early Byzantine times. It is now, sadly, roped off; foundations of the Zeus sanctuary lie beyond it.

Inside the caves at Pérama.

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Though now superseded by the Vía Egnatía expressway passing south of town, the old highway east into Thessaly curls clockwise around the lake. This road passes Pérama (daily 9am–5pm), one of Greece’s most spectacular cave systems, on the outskirts of Ioánnina. Then, after a long, twisting ascent, the village of Métsovo @ [map] , 58km (36 miles) from Ioánnina, appears in a ravine below. It ranks as the “capital” of the Vlachs, famous for its imposing houses, handicrafts, cheeses and the traditional costumes still worn by some of the older inhabitants.

Apart from the wonderful frescoes covering the interior of the medieval monastery of Ágios Nikólaos, a short walk below town, the only other recognised sight is the Metsovo Folk Art Museum, housed in the Tositsa mansion (www.metsovomuseum.gr; Fri–Wed 10am–4pm; half-hourly guided tours only), its reconstructed interior displaying fine woodwork and textiles.

Unlike so many Greek mountain villages, Métsovo is thriving: local worthies who made their fortunes abroad have set up endowments to encourage local industry, such as the nearby ski resort whose clients periodically fill the dozen or so hotels – of a better standard than most in Ioánnina.

East of Métsovo towards the Metéora in Thessalía (Thessaly), the Katára Pass (“Curse Pass”, 1,694m/5,558ft) for decades accommodated the highest paved road in the country, but this is now abandoned and absolutely impassable since the Vía Egnatía opened.

The Zagorohória

The road northwest out of Ioánnina leads to the region of Zagóri which forms a culturally and geographically distinct region of Epirus. Its 46 villages – called the Zagorohória – lie in an area bounded by the Métsovo–Ioánnina–Kónitsa highway and the Aóös River. Because of a total absence of arable land, local men emigrated to major commercial centres in Eastern Europe during the Ottoman era, subsequently returning to their homeland with considerable wealth. This allowed locals to hire a representative to send taxes to the sultan directly rather than suffer from tax-farmers, securing a large measure of autonomy.

Central Zagóri is best reached by the side road some 14km (9 miles) out of Ioánnina, prominently marked for the Víkos Gorge. Vítsa village has fine traditional houses, a shaded central square, one of the oldest churches in the region (Ágios Nikólaos), and the easiest trail access to the floor of the gorge, the intricately engineered Skála Vítsas. Just up the road, more frequented Monodéndri £ [map] supports a taverna offering local cuisine on its lower plaza, near the photogenic basilica of Ágios Athanásios flanking the classic path descending to the gorge. For the less committed, either the 1990s-vintage, rather tasteless kalderími (cobbled path) to the eyrie of Agía Paraskeví monastery, or the 7-km (4-mile) drive up to the Oxiá overlook, will afford breathtaking views.

From the junction below Vítsa, the easterly main road passes the turning for exquisite Dílofo on its way to the major villages of Kípi, Kapésovo and Tsepélovo. Kípi $ [map] stands nearest to a much-photographed cluster of 18th- and 19th-century packhorse bridges, the most famous of which is the three-arched Plakída span. East of Kípi, Negádes has a frescoed basilica, one of the best examples of the Zagorian style, while above and to the north perches Kapésovo, with a rural museum in its enormous old school.

Vradéto

Kapésovo also marks the start of a one-hour path incorporating the most amazingly sinuous of all Zagorian kalderímia (cobbled paths) ending at Vradéto, the highest (1,340 metres/4,400ft) – and formerly most desolate – village in the area, now enjoying a mild renaissance (although the winter population is still only seven). Continue on foot for about 40 minutes and you will reach Belói viewpoint, more or less opposite Oxiá. Twelve kilometres (7 miles) further, the paved road arrives at Tsepélovo % [map] , flanked by rural monasteries and crammed with more mansions. Frescoed Rangóvou monastery (rarely open) stands just below.

Skiers at Metsovo Ioannina.

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Zagorian People and Landscape

Zagóri’s villages differ markedly: the east is populated largely by Vlachs (more properly, Arouman), a people rooted in Greece since antiquity, speaking a Romance language and living as caravan-drovers and shepherds driving their flocks from summer to winter pastures. Early in 1944, the occupying Germans retaliated against local resistance by burning most of the eastern villages, which were later rebuilt haphazardly. The western and central Zagorohória show more of a Slav/Albanian influence in place names and architecture; happily, most survived the war unscathed and today constitute one of Greece’s showpieces.

The Zagorian landscape embraces sheer rock faces, limestone dells, dense forests, upland pasture and deep canyons. The national park at its core, comprising the Víkos Gorge plus the Voïdomátis and Aóös rivers, was established partly to protect a threatened population of bears, lynx, wolves and birds of prey. Yet even in the remotest corners there are signs of man: a post-Byzantine monastery with belfry, or a graceful, slender-arched bridge from the Ottoman period. Unfortunately, the pastoral culture that used to feature prominently is in sharp decline; EU subsidy policy means that few shepherds now occupy the high pastures, and unattended cattle herds have mostly replaced the tenanted sheepfolds of the past.

Pápingo Trail

The four-to-five-day hiking loop outlined below begins and ends in the Pápingo villages where there is plentiful accommodation, as well as reliable tavernas.

Be prepared to hike into and out of Pápingo, along the trail linking it to Klidoniá village on the Ioánnina–Kónitsa highway, if you happen not to coincide with the sparse bus service. The alpine refuge on Astráka col, just visible from Megálo Pápingo, is open from May to October (www.astrakarefuge.com to reserve bunks). It is a 900-metre (2,953-ft) ascent of at least three hours, with water available at regular intervals. If the refuge is full, camp near the spring at the north end of the seasonal Xiróloutsa pond (15-minute path descent east from the col). Spend the balance of the day with a short walk (1 hr each way) up to Drakólimni, an alpine tarn at 2,050 metres (6,725ft) altitude, ideal for views and picnics, just northwest of the 2,500-metre (8,202-ft) Gamíla peak.

A five-to-seven-hour hike the next day takes you between mounts Astráka and Gamíla, through alpine meadows grazed by cattle, and past the head of the Mégas Lákkos Gorge to Tsepélovo (steep final descent; net altitude loss of 850 metres/2,790ft). Water is scarce, so plan accordingly. You should have a comfortable overnight stay in one of Tsepélovo’s dozen hotels and smaller inns, although reservations are advisable during July and August.

The Pýrgi of Pápingo.

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From the ravine flanking Tsepélovo to the west, a crumbled but discernible kalderími climbs the cliff to the uplands towards Vradéto; after about 90 minutes you are forced onto a paved road for the final 45 minutes. From Vradéto (café serving drinks only), descend the amazing skála to Kapésovo (45 minutes), then use the old dirt track (not the asphalt highway) to arrive in Koukoúli within the next 45 minutes and in time for lunch. You can stay overnight here at the single inn (https://tritoxo.gr) or carry on eastwards to Kípi (another 45 minutes), which has another taverna as well as several inns.

From either Koukoúli or Kípi, there are marked routes into the upper end of the Víkos Gorge, crossing it by the Misíou bridge and ascending the stair-kalderími to Vítsa (2 hrs), with abundant accommodation and a taverna or two. A three-hour track partly shortcuts the road up to Monodéndri, 300 metres (985ft) above Kípi, with several more inns and tavernas.

A signposted, well-renovated kalderími takes you down to the usually dry bed of the Víkos Gorge (45 minutes). A fairly strenuous path marked as the O3 route negotiates the length of the canyon, on its true left bank after the first few minutes. At the intersection of the gorge and the Mégas Lákkos side canyon (2.5 hrs), a potable spring flows (unreliable after July). Continue through thick forest, then open pasture, before reaching the movable sources of the Voïdomátis River (4.5 hrs from Monodéndri), which well out of the base of the Pýrgi formations.

Bearing left on an obvious cobbled path leads to Vitsikó (Víkos) village, 45 minutes away, where you will find two inns; the O3 route crosses the river, heading up and right, reaching either of the Pápingos within two hours, for a day’s total of 6.5 hours. About 90 minutes along, there is a divide in the path where you cross a stream on the left to head up to Megálo Pápingo, rather than continue straight to Mikró Pápingo.

Back on the Ioánnina-Kónitsa highway, you pass through Kalpáki, where, in the early winter of 1940–41, the Greeks halted the Italian invasion, rolling Fascist troops back into the snowy Albanian Mountains for a season of hell; a small roadside museum (daily May–Sept 10am–2pm, 5.30–8pm, Oct–Apr 9.30am–3pm) tells the tale in full. Just beyond, a 19-km (12-mile) side road heads east to the focus of most Zagorian tourism, the paired villages of Pápingo ^ [map] , Megálo and Mikró. They have become quite fashionable, especially during peak holiday seasons, but there is no denying their superlative setting at the foot of the 600-metre (1,970-ft) Pýrgi (“Towers”), the sheer outriders of Mount Gamíla. This massif (the heart of the national park) offers fine hiking, most notably to newt-filled Drakólimni (Dragon Lake).

Tip

Many Metsovot souvenirs pitched at coach tours are bogus – notably imported Albanian rugs – but the food is not: the red katoï wine, cheese, salami and trahanás (sourdough “pasta” for soup) all make excellent purchases.

The icy Voïdomátis River, popular with kayakers, drains out of the lower Víkos canyon at Klidoniá, where a lovely old bridge marks the edge of the national park a few hundred metres in from the busy highway. An even bigger one spans the Aóös River some 10km (6 miles) north, where it exits some narrows to a vast floodplain. A 90-minute walk along the southern bank of the Aóös Gorge leads below steep, forested slopes to the Stomíou monastery, magnificently perched on a cliff.

Kónitsa & [map] itself offers a fine view of the floodplain, but an earthquake in 1996 and massive shelling during the civil war put paid to any real architectural distinction here. For that, head 23km (14 miles) west to the monastery and namesake village of Molyvdosképastos * [map] , just where the Aóös enters Albania. The monastery’s early 14th-century church betrays a Serbian influence with its high, stovepipe dome. Early in the 1990s, it was reinhabited by rather zealous monks, who encourage your conversion on the spot if you speak any Greek.

Dodona’s theatre.

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Tip

Overnight trekkers should purchase three to four days’ worth of foodstuffs in Ioánnina, as stocks in village shops remain quite limited.

Due east of Kónitsa looms 2,637-metre (8,652-ft) Mount Smólikas, roof of the Píndos and second summit of Greece after Mount Olympos. From several of the Vlach villages along the Aóös north bank, trails lead up towards the peak and yet another “Dragon Lake”, and then onward to either Kerásovo village on the northern toes of the mountain, or to Samarína at the eastern end of the range.

The 105-km (65-mile) road from Kónitsa to Neápolis is the main paved connection between Epirus and western Macedonia. It follows the valley of the Sarandáporos River upstream, between Smólikas and Mount Grámmos, site of the final battles of the civil war, passing faded blue-painted graffiti “Elefthería Gia Vória Ípiros!” (“Freedom for Northern Epirus!”) – an expression of lingering irredentist sentiment for the Albanian portion of Epirus, home to perhaps 90,000 remaining Greek Orthodox.

Hiking in the Píndos

The North Píndos offer many rewarding hiking routes, from strenuous, multiday, high-level treks to various interconnected day hikes. Landscapes vary from the limestone dells of the Gamíla uplands to the forested Víkos Gorge floor. In these days of global climate change, the best seasons for hiking are no longer high summer, but instead from mid-May to mid-June, and September to early October. Although the local trail system is extensive on paper, it is unevenly maintained and often badly waymarked; the usual method is multicoloured paint splodges or, for the long-distance O3 route, metal diamond-shaped symbols nailed to trees.

The 1:40,000 Zagori Valia Kalda Metsovo topographic map issued by Anavasi cartographers (available in Greece and the UK) is essential if not infallible, as is a keen sense of direction, an ability to double-check trail information from villagers, and a good sense of humour. In any month, Píndos weather can change rapidly with little warning, so rain gear and a light tent are essential – the latter also because indoor accommodation can fill up suddenly.

Kónitsa bridge over the Aöós river.

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Zagorian landscape with autumn colours.

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THESSALONÍKI

Greece’s second city does not live in the shadow of Athens. It has its own distinctive character, with more Balkan influences and a host of splendid Byzantine churches.

Main Attractions

Platía Aristotélous

Museum of Byzantine Culture

Rotunda of Ágios Geórgios

Ágios Dimítrios

Kástra

Lefkós Pýrgos (White Tower)

Eptapýrgιo

Modiáno market

To a visitor approaching by sea, contemporary Thessaloníki 1 [map] presents the uniform facade of modern apartment blocks characteristic of so many Mediterranean seaside cities. At the beginning of this century, the same view was marked by minarets rising elegantly from a tile-roofed town picturesquely climbing between medieval ramparts to an upper quarter, with vast cemeteries outside the walls. When more than half the town was destroyed by the Great Fire of August 1917, British and French architects (who were accompanying Entente forces at the time) were promptly commissioned to produce a new town plan.

The White Tower was added to the Roman-Byzantine walls by the Ottomans, using Venetian workers.

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Surviving Art Deco buildings enhance the wide, sea-facing boulevards they designed, although their advice to ban high-rises was disregarded. But the fire spared much, including the old hillside quarter of Kástra. Roman ruins, Byzantine churches, Ottoman public and domestic buildings, and displaced Jewish tombstones lie encircled by Roman and Byzantine walls, or scattered alongside asphalt boulevards and pedestrian lanes. And after years of neglect until 1997, this great architectural heritage has been signposted and selectively renovated.

One of Greece’s liveliest and most interesting cities, Thessaloníki was founded in 316–315 BC by the Macedonian king, Kassander, who named it after his wife, and it rose into prominence under the Romans, boosted by their Via Egnatia “trunk road”, which stretched from the Adriatic to the Hellespont (Dardanelles). Saint Paul visited twice, and wrote two Epistles to the Thessalonians; Christianity (and the city) got further boosts from the Byzantine emperors, especially Theodosios (who issued his edict here, banning paganism) and Justinian, who began new churches to supplement those adapted from Roman structures. Despite Slavic and Arab raids, frequent earthquakes, fires, adjacent malarial swamps and a spotty water supply, resilient Thessaloníki prospered. Even in temporary decline, it made a rich prize for the Ottomans in 1430.

The Arch of Galerius.

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Fact

They say you can always tell a Thessalonian in the rest of the mainland; with a spring in their step, they seem a head taller than the characteristically hunched-over, downtrodden Athenians. They are also said to be the best dressed, which explains the variety of shops and department stores.

Sephardic settlers

After 1500, large numbers of Sephardic Jewish refugees from Spain and Portugal settled here, giving Salonica – as they called it – its most distinctive trait for the next four centuries. On the eve of the Balkan Wars, they accounted for just over half the population of 140,000, making it the largest Jewish city of that era. In 1943, 70,000 remained to be deported to the Nazi death camps, and barely 1,000 remain today.

Following the three wars leading up to 1923, the city came to epitomise a Greek refugee town: in absolute numbers, Athens may have had more, but by proportion of population, Thessaloníki contains more citizens with Anatolian ancestry than anywhere else in Greece. There are abundant Turkish surnames (such as Dereli and Mumtzis) and spicy cuisine rarely found elsewhere in Greece; indeed, the city has some of the best places to eat in the country. Its own self-deprecating nicknames have long been I Protévousa tón Prosfygón (The Refugee Capital), after the ring of 1920s settlements, all prefixed “Néa” (New), across eastern Macedonia, and Ftohomána (Mother of the Poor).

But 21st-century Thessaloníki is not all changing demographics. After years in Athens’ shadow, it has come into its own. The International Fair held every October in permanent grounds by the university promotes the city as a Balkan trade centre and the natural gateway to the upper Balkans. Its November film festival is one of Europe’s most important. Thessaloníki is confidently on the move, with innovative restaurants and clubs occupying historic buildings, its native musicians (such as Sokratis Malamas) frequently at the forefront of Greek song.

A tour of the city

Platía Aristotélous A [map] is the hub of the downtown city, stretching up from the waterfront towards the Roman Agora and the dominant church of Ágios Dimítrios. The sunny cafés and bars are popular here, especially in the early evening, while morning shoppers enjoy the daily market to the northwest, and lunchtime and evening diners fill the pavement tables of market restaurants to the east. Leofóros Níkis follows the seafront and is a good place for a stroll or a fashionable bar-hop from the port to the White Tower, with views across the wide blue bay to Mount Ólympos. In 2014–16, the shore promenade southeast from the White Tower was widened as the Néa Paralía, a point of pride for locals, with cycling and skateboarding lanes parallel to pedestrian ones.

The city has been as hard hit by the financial crisis and austerity measures as anywhere in Greece, so construction of an underground metro system, one line following Egnatía, has been severely delayed – by archaeological finds too – but works have resumed since 2016 and the first trains should roll by April 2023.

At the eastern end of the seafront, behind the White Tower (more on this later), is the archaeological museum B [map] (www.amth.gr; Apr–May daily 9am–4pm,May–Dec daily 9am–5pm), which displays Macedonian, Hellenistic and Roman finds from the entire region, including the notable Síndos collections. Sumptuous jewellery and household effects in gold, silver and bronze vie for your attention. Just beyond the Archaeological Museum is the Museum of Byzantine Culture C [map] (www.mbp.gr; Jun–Oct Mon, Wed–Sun 8am–8pm Tue 1pm–8pm, Nov–Mar daily 8.30am–3.30pm; combined tickets with White Tower recommended), holding artefacts from the Early Christian period (4th–7th century) through to the Middle Byzantine period (8th–12th century). The exhibits in this modern building are beautifully displayed and clearly explained; among the most impressive pieces are a 5th-century mosaic floor, wall paintings from a local house, and some extraordinary early textiles.

Roman Thessaloníki can be seen in Platía Navarínou D [map] in the shape of the excavated remains of the Hippodrome and the Palace of Galerius Caesar, the Christian-hating Emperor who martyred the city’s patron saint, Demetrius, in AD 305. And on the inland side of Via Egnatia survives the western part of Galerius’s triumphal arch, erected over this highway in AD 297 to celebrate a victory over the Persians. The reliefs on the arch repay close inspection, showing, as well as Galerius himself, Diocletian and Julius Caesar.

The “Umbrellas” Installation in Thessaloniki was created by George Zongolopoulos in 1997.

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The other remaining building in this Roman complex is the Rotonda of Ágios Geórgios E [map] (daily 8am–8pm, may close earlier winter), just northwest of the arch. Perhaps intended as Galerius’s mausoleum, this is one of the few remaining examples of circular Roman architecture, enduring largely through conversion into a church, then a mosque. Glorious 4th-century wall mosaics partially survive, high up inside the dome and recesses; the truncated minaret is the city’s last surviving one.

The largest Greco-Roman site is the Agora F [map] (AD 32–138) on Platía Dikastiríon, uncovered in 1966, which was the social and religious centre of ancient Thessaloníki. Its theatre provides a summer concert space.

The Roman Rotunda, built in the 4th century AD, is now the church of Ágios Geórgios.

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Byzantine Thessaloníki

More fine and important Byzantine churches survive in Thessaloníki than in any other Greek city. The earliest examples are clear adaptations of the colonnaded Roman basilica, in turn descended from Greek temples, with the outermost columns replaced by walls. The most significant are near the Agora: 5th-century Ahiropíitos G [map] (hunt for fine mosaic patches under the arches, between ornate columns) and its heavily restored contemporary, Ágios Dimítrios H [map] (daily 8am–10pm; free), the largest church in Greece. Both are double-aisled basilicas with a central nave.

Ágios Dimítrios is the city’s main church, although not its official cathedral. It was founded shortly after the saint’s demise on the site of his martyrdom and was almost entirely rebuilt after the 1917 fire, which spared only the apse and the colonnades. Six small mosaics of the 5th to 7th century, featuring the saint, survive mostly above the columns standing on either side of the altar. The fire was responsible for the rediscovery of the crypt (Mon–Thu 8am–3pm, Fri 8am–1pm; free), which is thought to be partly constructed from the Roman baths where the saint was imprisoned; a reliquary found on the site supports this. Also here are the attractive remains of a fountain that previously fed a fishpond.

Below the Agora to the west of Ahiropíetos is Panagía Halkéon (daily 7am–noon; free), founded in 1028. The brick-built church is in the shape of a cross and contains a cycle of frescoes dating back to the 11th century. During the Ottoman occupation, it served as the mosque of the local coppersmiths.

South of Ahiropíetos stands 8th-century Agía Sofía I [map] (Holy Wisdom; daily 9am–7.30pm; free), built in conscious imitation of its namesake in Constantinople. This one, 10 metres (33ft) wide, has a vivid Ascension mosaic, with the Apostles watching Christ borne heavenward by angels, rather than the Pandokrátor (Christ Enthroned) that became the rule later. In the apse, you can detect traces of an earlier mosaic of the Cross behind the Virgin Enthroned. It was one of a pair, and the other figural cross survives in the adjacent vault.

The steep alleys of Kástra J [map] are about a 20-minute walk from the seafront. Since the late 1980s, this neighbourhood of dilapidated half-timbered houses below the acropolis (citadel) has been transformed from poor and despised to renovated and trendy, with scattered tavernas and cafés.

Tiny 5th- or 6th-century Ósios Davíd K [map] (Mon–Sat 9am–3.30pm, Sun 7am–noon; free), all that’s left of the Latómou Monastery, is tucked away in this district. The west end of this church has vanished, but visit for the sake of an outstanding early mosaic in the apse, revealed in 1921 when Ottoman whitewash was removed. It depicts the vision of the Prophet Ezekiel of Christ Emmanuel, shown as a beardless youth seated on the arc of heaven, surrounded by the symbols of the Evangelists. Together, the mosaics of Ósios Davíd and Ágios Dimítrios rank as the best pre-Iconoclastic sacred art in Greece, and predate more famous work at Ravenna in Italy.

Fact

Churches often fly flags showing a two-headed eagle on a yellow background. This is the symbol of Byzantium. The Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church still resides in the ancient Byzantine capital of Constantinople, today’s İstanbul.

Another batch of churches all well uphill from the Via Egnatia date from the 13th and 14th centuries – examples of a cultural “golden age” at odds with the Byzantine Empire’s political decline and the numerous disasters visited on Thessaloníki from the 10th to the 12th century. Financial constraints meant that frescoes, rather than mosaics, were the preferred ornamentation in these churches, most of them attached to now-extinct monasteries. By far the best of these is Ágios Nikólaos Orfanós L [map] (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.15pm; free), on Irodótou 1 at the northeast edge of Kástra. Among the better-preserved and more unusual frescoes are Christ Mounting the Cross and Pilate Sitting in Judgment, the very image of a Byzantine scribe; in Washing of the Feet, it seems the talented painter inserted an image of himself on horseback, wearing a turban.

Great people-watching on the waterfront.

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At the nearby monastery of Vlatádon, the only one among the city’s 20-odd to still be occupied by monks, you may hear peacocks cry. The monastery was founded in around 1360 by the Empress Anna Paleologina, but 11th-century wall paintings survive in the small church, which is open during services.

The city walls

Thessaloníki’s seafront Lefkós Pýrgos M [map] (White Tower; Tue–Sun 8.30am–3pm), effectively the city’s logo, was built during the brief Venetian occupation as an addition to the Roman-Byzantine walls. The Ottomans used it as a prison; that, and the massacre of unruly Janissaries here in 1826, earned it the epithet “Bloody Tower”. The Greeks whitewashed it post-1912 – thus the new alias – and then removed the pigment in 1985. A spiral staircase, with small windows, emerges at a lovely bistro-café and then the crenellated roof terrace, affording fine views over the seafront and bay, and up to Kástra.

The view from the walls of Eptapýrgio.

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The vanished curtain wall leading inland from here past the university linked the White Tower with the Chain Tower, the northeastern corner of the fortifications; beyond it lies the Eptapýrgio N [map] (Yedi Küle in Turkish), the Seven Towers Fortress, on the northeastern corner of the old walled acropolis. The seven towers on the northern side of the Eptapýrgio incorporate part of the Early Christian acropolis walls, and the six towers on the southern side were built during the Middle Byzantine period. The Ottomans made considerable additions to the fortress, transforming the southwesterly section into a jail in the late 19th century, in which function it continued – much commemorated in rebétika songs – until 1989. It is now sometimes used as an exhibition space.

Ottoman and Jewish Thessaloníki

Thessaloníki was taken by the Ottomans in 1430, 23 years before the fall of Constantinople. The new overlords converted most churches into mosques during the first century of their rule, tacking on minarets and whitewashing over mosaics and frescoes. As a result, there are few purpose-built Ottoman mosques, though there are other interesting civic buildings. Worthy 15th-century specimens include the graceful Ishak Pasha or Alatza Imaret Mosque at the base of Kástra – around the corner from the Yeni Hamam, or bathhouse, engagingly restored as a bistro, concert hall and summer outdoor cinema – and the dilapidated Hamza Bey Mosque on the Via Egnatia, last used as the Alcazar cinema. It has yet to get the same treatment as the nearby Bezesténi, a refurbished six-domed covered market now tenanted by luxury shops. The nearby Bey Hamam O [map] (erratic hours, may only open for special exhibits), dating from 1444, has intact stalactite vaulting over the entrance and inside.

At the rear of the Turkish consulate, at 7 Apostolou Pavlou, stands the wooden house where Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), founder of the Turkish republic, was born in 1881 (daily 10am–5pm; free). And a few hundred metres east of the archaeological museum, at the edge of the 19th-century “New Town”, is the Yeni Cami or “New Mosque” – an Art Nouveau folly erected by the influential Ma’amin (Dönme). This so-called crypto-Jewish sect followed their 17th-century self-proclaimed messiah, Shabbetai Zvi, into Islam. In the mass exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey in 1923, most of the Ma’amin were among the 100,000 Muslims who left the city.

By contrast, there are few tangible traces of Thessaloníki’s Jewish past, owing to the 1917 fire and the Nazi desecration of cemeteries and synagogues in 1943. Only the Art Deco Monastiriótou synagogue P [map] , near the Ministry of Northern Greece, survived the war. Centrepiece of the vast central market – which extends to either side of Aristotélous, selling everything from wooden furniture to live poultry – is the covered Modiáno Q [map] , a fish, meat and produce-hall named after the Jewish family that established it. Their former mansion, out beyond the Yeni Cami at Vassilís Ólgas 68, now houses the Folk and Ethnological Museum of Macedonia (www.lemmth.gr; Fri–Tue 9am–3.30pm, Wed until 9.30pm;), which has informative displays on housing, costumes and handicrafts. Though only half-occupied today, the Modiáno still supports several authentic, atmospheric mezedopolía in two arcades.

Close by, the Louloudádika Hamam or Flower-Market Bath was also known as the Yahouda Hamam or Jewish Bath R [map] ; the Jewish clientele is gone, but the flowers are still outside. In the same area, at Agíou Miná 11, is the Jewish Museum of Thessaloníki S [map] (www.jmth.gr; Mon–Fri 9am–2pm; Wed also 5–8pm; Sun 10am–2pm free). This two-storey museum presents the history of the Jewish community in Thessaloníki and contains interesting material from the ancient, destroyed, Jewish cemetery.

Eat

For atmospheric bars, restaurants and clubs, head for Ladádika, the former red-light district and port quarter behind the passenger ferry terminal.

Outside the city

For an escape from the city, try a half-day excursion to Panórama, an affluent village 11km (7 miles) to the east whose views justify its name; several zaharoplastía sell such Anatolian specialities as salépi (orchid-root drink), dóndurma (Turkish-style ice cream) and trígona, triangular cream pastries. Hortiátis, 10km (6 miles) north of here, has since ancient times supplied Thessaloníki with water. It also retains some pines spared by arsonists, plus good tavernas. From either point, you can on a clear day look southwest across the Thermaïc Gulf to glimpse the bulk of Mount Ólympos (Ólymbos) to the southwest, the traditional separation point between Macedonia and Thessaly.

Panagía Halkéon, one of the city’s many Byzantine churches.

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MACEDONIA AND THRACE

Along with a landscape of fertile plains and imposing mountains, you’ll find a wondrous mix of peoples here – as well as the major holiday playground of Halkidikí.

Main Attractions

Kastoriá

Préspa Lakes

Dion

Vergína

Mount Áthos

Kavála

Philippi

Xánthi

Dadiá Forest Reserve

Thessaloníki 1 [map] (for more information, click here), first city of northern Greece and “capital” of Macedonia and Thrace, stands halfway between Albania to the west and Turkey to the east, and scarcely 100km (60 miles) south of Northern Macedonia) and Bulgaria – a boundary settled after World War I. Bordering so many Balkan states, into which ancient Macedonia (Makedonía) and ancient Thrace (Thráki) spread, has given the region great ethnic variety and cultural richness. Northern Greece does not possess the magnificent archaeology and stunning temples of the centre and the south and its latitude spells a short summer season. But it does have some key sites, a large number of Byzantine churches and some handsome Ottoman-era domestic architecture, as well as varied and dramatic landscapes and exceptional areas of wildlife, from snow-capped mountains to extensive wetlands. Dominating the southern part of this region is Mount Ólympos, the highest mountain in Greece, which you can climb from Litóhoro (for more information, click here).

Kastoriá on its lake.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Northwest Macedonia

Coming from Epirus, you officially enter Macedonia just before Pendálofos 2 [map] , the only place of any importance or appeal en route. Its fine stone houses – still in the Epirot style – straggle across the ravines which give the town its name (“Five-hills”). At Neápolis, the road divides: north to Kastoriá, southeast to Siátista 3 [map] . Perched on a bleak ridge some 20km (12 miles) from the fork, this small town is noted for its fine 18th-century mansions or arhondiká – the residences of the árhons, or leading citizens – offering a glimpse into the self-contained society that flourished here during late Ottoman times. Then a wealthy centre for fur-trading, tanning, wine-making and a stopping point for caravans on the trade route to Vienna, Siátista declined when commercial networks changed after Greek independence.

Start with the Nerandzópoulos mansion on Platía Horí, whose warden has the keys to other interesting structures such as the Manoúsi, Kanatsoúli and Poulikídou residences. Visiting these will give you a good background for nearby Kastoriá, another town which prospered from the fur trade.

Returning north, the road follows the upper valley of the Aliákmonas River, the longest in Greece, whose 300-km (185-mile) course arcs from the Albanian border to the Thermaïkós Gulf. Soon you reach the lake of Orestiáda, or Kastoriá, almost divided in half by the eponymous town built on a peninsula. On the town’s southern outskirts lies a significant military cemetery, the last resting place of government troops who were killed during the battle for Grámmos-Vítsi, which brought an end to the civil war. In the town itself, a lakeside plaza named after General James Van Fleet serves as a reminder that American equipment and advisers guaranteed a royalist victory over the communist insurgency.

Kastoriá

Kastoriá 4 [map] is one of northern Greece’s more appealing spots, a peaceful upland town on a peninsula jutting into a large tranquil lake, with a popular promenade of restaurants and bars. Its 54 surviving medieval churches indicate its importance in Byzantine times. Many were erected as private chapels by rich furrier families, and shops still sell myriad furry items, mostly made from mink. (Kastóri is the Greek for beaver, now extinct here.)

The Byzantine art and architecture here is among Greece’s finest, showing strong folk and Slav influences. You can see the best in a single morning, starting with the fine icon collection at the Byzantine Museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), and working your way south to the Karyádis quarter, with its fine old mansions.

Triple-aisled Ágii Anárgyri – built in 1018 by Emperor Basil II – sits at the northeast edge of town, overlooking the lake. Nearby Ágios Stéfanos is the second-oldest church in town (10th century), again with intricately geometric masonry and an unusual women’s gallery inside. South of the museum, tiny Panagía Koumbelidíki is unmistakable with its disproportionately tall, drum-shaped dome, the only one in town, painstakingly rebuilt after Italian bombing in 1940. There are some fine frescoes inside and a highly unusual Holy Trinity, complete with bearded God, in the barrel vault.

Continuing south and downhill, the extensive frescoes of the single-aisled basilica Ágios Nikólaos Kasnítsi are the best-preserved in Kastoriá; female saints predominate in the narthex, which long served as the women’s section, while the image of the Virgin in the Dormition on the west wall is curiously reversed right-to-left. Finally, the Taxiárhis tis Mitropóleos is the oldest surviving church (9th century), with a later (14th-century) fresco of the Virgin Platytéra adored by archangels in the apse.

Waterfall at Édessa.

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In the low-lying Karyádis (Doltsó) district, inland from the southern lakefront, stand the restored Natzís and Immanouíl arhondiká (residences of the árhons, or leading citizens) of the same style and era (18th century) as those in Siátista. The Folklore Museum (Tue–Fri 10am–3pm, Sat–Sun 10am–4pm) is lodged in the Nerantziz-Aïvazís Mansion on nearby Kapetán Lázou. The refurbished mansion dates from the late 17th century when it stood on the lake shore, and it shows how the wealthy Christian and merchant Aïvazís and Nerantziz families lived. From here, a narrow lake-shore lane heads 2.5km (1.5 miles) east to Panagía Mavriótissa monastery, now in ruins apart from two Siamese-twin churches – one 11th-century, the other 14th, both with fine frescoes. Peacocks strut, providing entertainment for the diners who patronise the adjacent lake-view restaurant.

To the Préspa Lakes

Some 36km (22 miles) north of Kastoriá, following a branch of the Aliákmonas, is the side road to the Préspa Lakes 5 [map] basin. This atmospheric backwater, where the northwestern borders of Greece meet those of Northern Macedonia and Albania, was designated a Balkan Park by the governments of the three countries in 2000. There are two lakes: Mikrí Préspa, shallow and reedy, lying mostly in Greece, and deeper, reed-free Megáli Préspa, shared by Albania, Northern Macedonia and Greece.

Mikrí Préspa is the nesting ground for some extraordinary bird life, notably two endangered species of pelicans and pygmy cormorants, but also for a unique trout and a hardy breed of small cattle. The bird life is most active in the spring. The cattle are in the surrounding hills, also a haven for bears and wolves, although you will be lucky to spot any of the latter.

The best single target in the region is Ágios Germanós 6 [map] , which has a visitor centre, good lodging and two frescoed Byzantine churches. Psarádes, the only Greek village on Megáli Préspa, also has an information centre and more tourist facilities, and offers the opportunity to take a highly worthwhile boat excursion to the painted cave-church of Panagía Eleoússa. Mikrí’s islet of Ágios Ahíllios has an evocatively ruined 10th-century basilica and is connected to the mainland by a 1-km (0.5-mile) long pontoon. The main road leading east passes through nondescript Flórina 7 [map] , worth a stop only for its wonderful Museum of Contemporary Art (temporarily closed) at Fouledáki 8, among the best such in Greece, then on towards Thessaloníki.

On the northern horizon, you will notice snowy Mount Vóras (Kaïmaktsalán), now a popular ski resort. This area saw little peace during the first half of the 20th century, with the Macedonian Struggles (1903–08), the Balkan Wars (1912–13), and a two-year battle in World War I between Serbs and Greeks on one side, Germans and Bulgarians on the other. World War II and subsequent civil war strife add to a narrative equalled in few parts of the globe.

Vergína, Véria and Pella

Traces of Phillip II of Macedonia (382–336 BC) who united the Greek people, and of his son Alexander the Great (356–323 BC), whose empire stretched as far as India, are scattered in a broad arc west to southwest of Thessaloníki, at the edges of the current flood plains of the Axiós and Aliákmonas rivers. In ancient times, the Thermaïkós Gulf covered this plain, but the silt-bearing rivers have pushed the shoreline east. All of these sites can be toured with your own transport in a full day out of Thessaloníki.

Fact

The society for the protection of the Préspa lakes, a key breeding ground for birds, operates two information centres, one in Ágios Germanós, the other on the shore of Megáli Préspa lake in Psarádes.

Dion 8 [map] , northeast of Mount Olympus (Ólympos), was founded by Macedonian kings both as a military mobilisation ground and a precinct holy to the Olympian gods; its ruins, dating largely from the Roman and Byzantine eras, were buried by an earthquake-triggered mudslide in the 5th century AD (daily Apr–Aug 8am–8pm, closes 7pm Sept, 6pm Oct Nov–Mar 8am–5pm). Since 1990, well-preserved mosaics have been found here, the best – of Medusa – transferred to safekeeping in the completely modernised village museum (daily, same hours as site). However, pride of place in the museum goes to a 1st-century BC hydraulis or water organ, a type of pipe organ and the oldest to be found in the world.

Vergína 9 [map] , on the southeast bank of the Aliákmonas, was formerly Aigai, the first Macedonian capital, and remained the royal necropolis. It got its modern name after the exchange of populations in 1923, when incoming Greeks called it after a fairytale queen. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the subterranean chamber tombs of Philip II and three others lay undiscovered until Manolis Andronikos of the Aristotle University of Thessaloníki broke through to the tombs on 8 November 1977. It was one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. The dazzling treasures of the chamber tombs (www.aigai.gr; summer Wed–Mon 8am–8pm, Tue noon–8pm; Sept closes 7pm, Oct 6pm; earlier closure winter), including gold artefacts, ivory carvings and vivid paintings, are impressively displayed as Andronikos found them. Lesser tombs (same hours, if open) and a summer palace, the Palatítsa (closed for excavations), lie just up the hill.

Some 18km (11 miles) northwest, Véria sits at one end of an escarpment running north to Édessa. Extensive Ottoman neighbourhoods of vernacular houses have been preserved, and a handful of Byzantine churches are open to the public. Begin at the Véria Byzantine Museum (15 June–Oct Wed–Mon 8am–8pm, Tues 12–8pm; winter earlier closure), wonderfully housed in a restored 19th-century flour mill at Thomedoú 1, but don’t miss the 14th-century wall paintings in the Hristós Monastery (Tue–Sun 8.30am–3pm) and even older ones in the Old Cathedral (daily 10am–6pm; free).

North of Véria, in the Míeza suburb of Náoussa (about 2km/under a mile from the centre), there are substantial and attractive grass-covered remains of the school of Aristotle (open access), and four imposing Macedonian tombs can be visited at Lefkádia (Apr–Oct Mon, Wed–Sun 8am–8pm,Tue noon–8pm, Nov–May Mon, Wed–Sun 9am–5pm, Tue–closed).

Mount Ólympos.

Fotolia

Some 43km (27 miles) from Véria, Édessa ) [map] is unlike any other Greek town because of the numerous rivulets that wind through it heading for its waterfalls. A path leads down the ravine, through cascade mist, past a cave in the cliffside; upstream, on top of the bluff, is a medieval bridge serving the Via Egnatia. Offering further reasons to linger, the attractive 19th-century Városi quarter at the precipitous edge of town has a Folklore Museum (Tue–Sun 10am–6pm), with a nice collection of household items and traditional objects, and an Open-Air Water Museum (Tue–Sun 10am–4pm), in a complex that includes the mills and the old hemp factory, now a café, all-year cinema and occasional exhibition space.

Pella ! [map] , a third of the way back to Thessaloníki from Édessa, was the Macedonian capital after the mid-4th century BC. From here, Philip II ruled a united Greece after 338 BC, and here also his son Alexander studied under Aristotle – and trained for his fabled campaigns in the Orient. Most of the imperial capital is yet to be unearthed, but the superb mosaics of a lion hunt, Dionysos riding a panther, and other mythological scenes, more than justify a visit to the site and the museum (both mid-May–Oct Wed–Mon 8am–8pm, Tue noon–8pm; Nov–Dec Wed–Mon 8am–5pm, Tue 12–5pm; Jan–mid-May Wed–Mon 8.30am–4pm).

East to Halkidikí

Many roads lead east out of Thessaloníki. One heads initially north to the town of Kilkís and the Greek shore of Lake Doïránis, then into the Strymónas river valley towards the road crossing into Bulgaria at Promahónas. On the way you can dip slightly south to the Límni Kerkinis wetlands, home to 300 species of birds at various times of year and a popular eco-tourism centre.

A more direct, northeasterly road leads to Sérres @ [map] , important since Byzantine times and still a prosperous town. It was burned down by the retreating Bulgarians in 1913 and has been largely rebuilt, but two Byzantine churches remain, much altered by war and restoration: 11th-century Ágii Theodóri and 14th-century Ágios Nikólaos. The domed Ottoman Bezesténi in the central square serves as a museum (Wed–Mon 8am–3pm).

Fact

The convoluted route of the Central Macedonian railway has led cynics to assert that European contractors who built the railways for the Ottomans were paid by the kilometre. In truth, the sultan, having been at the wrong end of some 1870s Russian gunboat diplomacy in Constantinople, decreed that the track was to be shielded from bombardment from the sea.

In a wooded mountain valley 19km (12 miles) north is another, more venerable foundation: the monastery of Tímiou Prodrómou, where Gennadios Skholarios, first patriarch of Constantinople after the city was captured by the Ottomans in 1453, elected to retire and is entombed.

The busiest road east of Thessaloníki skirts the lakes of Korónia and Vólvi en route to Thrace, but a slightly less travelled one veers southeast towards Halkidikí, a hand-like peninsula dangling three fingers out into the Aegean. Long a favoured weekend playground of Thessalonians, since the 1980s it has also seen ever-increasing foreign patronage, especially Hungarians, Serbs, Czechs, and Bulgarians in search of sun, sand and sea on a cheap sunny package or on a few tanks of fuel, as well as north Europeans who fly into Kavála/Thásos Airport. Little is left to suggest the area’s important role in Classical times, when local colonies of southern Greek cities served as battlefields during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. However, fossils and a half-million-year-old skull have been discovered in the Petrálona Cave (www.petralon-cave.gr; daily 8am–8pm), 50km (31 miles) southeast of Thessaloníki, revealing the existence of prehistoric settlement; finds are displayed at a somewhat depleted site museum.

Mount Ólympos

The imposing bulk of Mt Ólympos (Ólymbos) – Greece’s highest mountain at 2,917 metres (9,570ft) – dominates the horizon southwest of Thessaloníki. The ancient Greeks believed the mountain was the home of the gods, presided over by Zeus. Its summit defied climbers for years, not least because of the numerous bandits who lurked in the surrounding region. Sultan Mehmet IV is supposed to have attempted the mountain in 1669, but it was not until 1913 that two Swiss mountaineers (one the great photographer Fred Boissonas) with their Greek guide managed to scale the highest peak, Mýtikas (“the needle”).

The climb is usually tackled from the village of Litóhoro, south of Kateríni, with an overnight stay in either the Giósos Apostolídis or Spílios Agápitos mountain refuge (book in advance during the summer through the SEO or EOS mountaineering clubs respectively, both of which have an office in Litóhoro). The climb itself is not technically difficult: the initial part is just a walk in, but the last section is steep and very exposed. You will need a good sense of balance and a head for heights, particularly when taking what is known as the Kakí Skála (“evil stairway”) for the final few hundred metres. This overlooks the Kazánia chasm, a sheer drop of 500 metres (1,640ft).

Fact

Porto Karrás is a gated community created by Greek ship-owner Yiannis Karras in 1973. This comprises massive 5-star hotels and the biggest private marina in northern Greece.

The tips of Halkidikí

At Stágira on the way to Áthos, a modern statue of Aristotle overlooks the Ierissós Gulf and the philosopher’s birthplace, ancient Stageira. Xerxes’s Canal, now silted up, was built around 482 BC across the neck of Áthos peninsula to help the Persians avoid the fate suffered in their previous campaign, when their fleet was wrecked sailing round Áthos cape. This and Xerxes’s floating bridge over the Hellespont were considered by the Greeks to be products of Persian megalomania – “marching over the sea and sailing ships through the land”. The medieval Potídea Canal still separates the Kassándra peninsula from the rest of the mainland and serves as a mooring ground for fishing boats. The nearby site of ancient Olynthos (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) is surprisingly rewarding, with extensive remains.

Dionysíou monastery, built on a cliff high above the sea.

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The beautifully forested slopes of Mount Holomóndas cover the centre of rolling hills (the palm of Halkidikí’s three-fingered hand); Polýgyros, with a dull archaeological museum, is the provincial capital, but Arnéa £ [map] sees more tourists for the sake of its woven goods and well-preserved old houses. Kassándra, the westernmost “finger”, had little life before tourism – most inhabitants were slaughtered in 1821 for participating in the independence rebellion, and the land lay deserted until resettlement by post-1923 refugees from around the Propóntida. Néa Potídea $ [map] , by the canal, and Haniótis, near the tip, are probably your best bets for human-scale development on a generally oversubscribed bit of real estate.

Sithonía, the middle finger, is greener, less flat and less developed; the Mount Áthos monasteries owned much of it before 1923, so again there are few old villages, apart from rustic Parthenónas, just under Mount Ítamos. The adjacent clutter of Néos Marmarás % [map] and the mega-resort of Pórto Karrás are exceptions to the rule of ex-fishing villages converted slowly for tourism, with ample campsites, low-rise accommodation and beautiful sandy beaches. Toróni on the west coast is still relatively unspoiled, while nearby Pórto Koufós, landlocked inside bare promontories, is a yachter’s haven. Kalamítsi beach on the east coast has an idyllic double bay, although Sárti further north is the main package venue.

Following the coast north past Pyrgadíkia fishing hamlet brings you to the base of Áthos, the easterly finger, whose pyramidal summit rises in solitary magnificence across the gulf to the east. Several resorts, including the beach-fringed islet of Ammoulianí and cosmopolitan Ouranoúpoli ^ [map] , grace Áthos, but most people come here for the Holy Mountain, because Ouranópoli is the main gateway to Mount Áthos. For people not entering Mount Áthos, tour boats from Ouranópoli go around the peninsula, making it possible for these impressive monasteries to be seen from a respectful distance.

Mount Áthos

The fame of Áthos & [map] derives from its large monastic community, today nearly 2,000 strong. In past ages, these monks earned it the epithet “holy”, now an intrinsic part of the Greek name: Ágion Óros, the Holy Mountain. Its Christian history begins with the arrival of hermits in the mid-9th century, roughly 100 years before the foundation of the first monastery. Peter the Athonite, the most famous of the early saints, is said to have lived in a cave here for 50 years.

The Monastery Trail

Megistis Lavras is still the most important of the twenty surviving monasteries, which are spread throughout the peninsula and vary greatly in size, opulence and cultural interest. An increasing number of roads are being bulldozed, but the network of paths that link the monasteries is still the best way to get between them. Roads (and boats) extend down the Athonite northeast coast as far as Megístis Lávras, beyond which an often spectacular trail system rounds the end of the peninsula, taking in all monasteries and skítes (dependencies) as far as Osíou Grigoríou, keeping clear of the road system for the most part.

As the length of stay is restricted by the requisite permit (see www.mountathosinfos.gr), it is best to choose a cluster of monasteries in one area and reserve accommodation months in advance.

Tip

The northeast has later springs, hotter summers and cooler winters than the rest of Greece. The best time to visit Halkidikí is in June or early July, when the land is still green and the hills still covered in flowers.

The first monastery, Megístis Lávras, was founded in AD 963 by St Athanasios, a friend of the Byzantine emperor, Nikephoros Phokas. Thereafter, foundations multiplied under the patronage of Byzantine emperors who supported them with money, land and treasures; in return, these donors are prayed for, and imperial charters zealously guarded in the monastery libraries.

The 20 surviving monasteries are all coenobitic, a rule in which monks keep to strict regulations under the direction of an abbot, or igoúmenos. Property is communal; meals are eaten together in the trapezaría or refectory. All monasteries observe a Greek liturgy except for Russian Pandelímonos, Serbian Hilandaríou and Bulgarian Zográfou; all adhere to the Julian calendar, 13 days behind the Gregorian, and all (except for Vatopedíou) keep Byzantine time, reckoned from the hour of sunrise or sunset. Many monks prefer to live in smaller, less regimented monastic communities, the skítes and kelliá which are dotted around the peninsula but still dependent on the main monasteries. A few choose to live like hermits in an isyhastírion, a rough, unadorned hut or a cave, perched precipitously on a cliff edge.

Phosphori Tower, Ouranoúpoli.

Fotolia

Fact

Traditionalists decry, as elsewhere in Greece, the bulldozing of paths and the selling of timber to finance renovations – much of it in highly tasteless fashion.

During the 1970s, Áthos was perhaps at its nadir, with barely a thousand monks – many of limited educational and moral attainment – dwelling in dilapidated monasteries. Since then, a renaissance has been effected. The Holy Mountain’s claims to be a commonwealth pursuing the highest form of spiritual life known in the Orthodox Christian tradition appear to have struck a chord, and the quality and quantity of novices from every corner of the globe (especially Russia, following the collapse of Communism) is on the rise.

The number of pilgrims to Áthos has grown, too, even though the appropriately Byzantine process of obtaining an entry permit is expressly designed to discourage the frivolous and the gawkers (and women are not allowed entry). Only genuine religious pilgrims need apply – or at least that is the ideal. Political if not doctrinal strife is never far from the Holy Mountain. Most monks are born Greek, and prefer Greek predominance. Slavic novices and pilgrims have complained, since 1990, that they are discriminated against vis-à-vis Greeks. But divisions among Greek monks are well known, involving entire bodies of monks moving from one monastery to another in stormy disputes with abbots or civil authorities.

Áthos – No Women Allowed

Áthos is probably most famous for the ávaton edict, promulgated in 1060 by Emperor Konstantinos Monomahos, which forbids access to the Holy Mountain to all females more evolved than a chicken (although an exception seems to have been made for female cats, which are kept to control the rodent population).

How did this come about? Revisionists point to prior chronic hanky-panky between monks and shepherdesses, while the religious claim that the Mother of God, in numerous visions, has consecrated lush Áthos as Her private garden – and women would simply be an unnecessary temptation. Over the years, many women have tried to gatecrash in disguise, only to be ignominiously ejected; a variety of women’s groups in Greece and abroad have now taken up the issue.

A more serious challenge was posed in 1998 when the (female) foreign ministers of Sweden and Finland threatened to refuse to sign a decree upholding the Mount’s “special status”, since it contravenes one of the European Union’s most cherished laws: freedom of movement (Greece is one of 11 EU states that signed the Schengen Accord abolishing border controls among member states in 2000). The Athonite authorities have, nonetheless, vowed to resist all attempts to change the Holy Mountain’s single-gender character.

If you are a man and you want to visit Áthos (no women allowed), you must phone or fax (no email) most monasteries to reserve space in guest quarters often bursting with as many as 100 men a night in full season and, once there, put up with the squealing of other guests’ mobile phones. Accommodation and food are free, but taxi rides from one monastery to another can be costly. Walking is the best way to visit the monasteries, but the distances can be great and you will only get to visit a handful of monasteries anyway in your limited allotted time. Only time will tell if the Mountain can defend itself against the world.

Kavála

North of Áthos, the coast road threads through several resorts on the Strymonic Gulf, popular with Thessalonians and Serrans, before crossing the Strymónas itself at ancient Amphipolis. Scant ruins remain of this city, a Thracian settlement colonised by Athens in 438 BC, atop a bluff protected on three sides by the river. In 2014, the discovery of a monumental, three-chambered Macedonian tomb with five skeletons inside prompted speculation that this was the resting place of several of Alexander the Great’s relatives, but further excavations have not borne this out. Most passers-by content themselves with a glimpse from the river bridge of the Lion of Amphipolis, a colossal statue reassembled from fragments from the 4th and 3rd century BC. On the east bank, the road forks: a faster but less scenic coastal highway, or the inland road along the base of Mount Pangéo via Elevtheroúpoli, threading through picturesque, slate-roofed villages.

Both routes converge on the port of Kavála * [map] , Macedonia’s second city; as Neapolis, it was an important stop on the Via Egnatia, and a port for ancient Philippi. Well into the 1920s, Kavála was a major tobacco-curing and export centre, though today the harbour sees more passenger ferries en route to Thásos and the north Aegean than it does commercial traffic. A mansion from the tobacco boom days houses the Folk and Modern Art Museum (Fri–Wed 10am–4pm), featuring the Thásos-born sculptor, Polygnotos Vagis. The treasures in the modern archaeological museum (Nov–Mar Mon–Sun 8.30am–3.30pm, Apr–Oct Mon–Sun 8.30am–3.30pm) include tomb finds from both Avdira and Amphipolis.

The medieval walled Panagía quarter, southeast of the harbour, merits a leisurely stroll up to the hilltop citadel, tethered to the modern town by a 16th-century aqueduct. Start along Poulídou, passing a clutch of mezedopolía favoured by locals, arriving soon at the gate of the Imaret – a sprawling domed compound, allegedly the largest Islamic public building in the Balkans. Originally a soup-kitchen/hostel for theology students, it is now an atmospheric luxury hotel.

Philippi

Some 14km (8.5 miles) northwest, ancient Philippi ( [map] – although named after Philip II – contains little that is Macedonian. From the acropolis, where three medieval towers rise on the ruins of Macedonian walls, you have extensive views of the battlefield which made Philippi famous. Here, in 42 BC, the fate of the Romans hung in the balance as the republican forces of Brutus and Cassius, participants in the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, confronted the armies of Caesar’s avengers, Antony and Octavius. Upon their defeat, both Cassius and Brutus committed suicide; the Battle of Actium (Aktion) in 32 BC ended the struggle between the two victors.

The Roman ruins (daily June–Oct 8am–8pm, Nov–Mar 8.30am–3.30pm), mainly to the south of the highway, include foundations of both the forum and palaestra, plus a well-preserved public latrine in the southwest corner of the grounds. Philippi is reputedly the first place in Europe where St Paul preached the gospel. He arrived in AD 49, but offended the local pagans and was thrown into prison (a frescoed Roman crypt now marks the site). In AD 55, however, he got a better reception from the congregation later addressed in his Epistle to the Philippians. By the 6th century, Christianity was thriving here, as the remains of several early basilica-churches testify.

The Lion of Amphipolis.

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Drink

In Xánthi, the numerous, modern bars and cafés along Vasilíssis Sofías do a roaring trade, thanks to students from the University of Thrace, which has a campus here.

Driving east from Kavála, you soon cross the Néstos River, the boundary between Macedonia and Thrace, at the apex of its alluvial plain, a vast expanse of corn and tobacco fields. Some beautiful scenery along the Néstos Gorge can best be seen by train, marked riverside path, or from the old highway between Dráma and Xánthi.

Thrace

Ancient Thrace covered much of present-day Bulgaria and European Turkey, as well as the Greek coastal strip between the Néstos and Évros rivers. Greek colonisation of the coast from 800 BC onwards often led to conflict with the native Thracian tribes. The Via Egnatia spanned the area, leaving scattered Roman and, later, Byzantine fortifications. Later, Thrace was overrun and settled by both Slavs and Ottomans. It was eventually and messily divided between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece, between 1913 and 1923, following various wars. Although a traumatic population exchange between Turkey and Greece occurred in 1923, the Muslim inhabitants of the Greek part of Thrace were allowed to remain in return for protection granted to 125,000 Greek Orthodox living in Istanbul. (Today, the Greeks in Istanbul have been reduced to barely 2,000, whereas the population of Muslims of Thrace has increased slightly to about 130,000.)

Xánthi at carnival time.

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An ethnic Turkish minority dwells principally in Xánthi, Komotiní and the plains southeast of the two cities; gypsies who adopted Islam and the Turkish language are also settled here. Another Muslim minority, the Pomaks, live in the Rodópi range above Xánthi and Komotiní; descended from medieval Bogomil heretics, they speak a Slavic language and traditionally cultivate tobacco on mountain terraces. The best base for exploration of this area and trekking is Stavroúpoli.

The open-air Saturday market at Xánthi ‚ [map] , just 53km (33 miles) from Kavála, makes a good introduction to the region’s Muslim demographics. The call to prayer rings out over the town five times a day. Turkish and Pomak women favour long, dark overcoats and plain-coloured yashmaks (head-scarves), now steadily being replaced by more stylish grey or brown coats and printed scarves. The gypsy women stand out in their colourful shalvar bloomers, their scarves tied behind the ears. Many men still wear burgundy-coloured velvet or felt fezzes, or white skullcaps.

Xánthi became a prosperous commercial and administrative centre during the 19th century, thanks to tobacco. Renowned masons were brought from Epirus to build merchants’ mansions, tobacco warehouses and hans (inns). The hans, large square buildings around a central courtyard, were resting spots and trade centres near the marketplace. One of the handsome 19th-century mansions at the base of the old town has become the Folklore Museum (Tue–Sun 9am–2.30pm). Further uphill lie the minarets and houses of the Turkish quarter, with numerous satellite dishes for tuning into Turkish-language TV.

At Komotiní ⁄ [map] , 56km (35 miles) east of Xánthi via the bird-stalked lagoon of Vistonída and the water-girt monastery of Ágios Nikólaos, Muslims constitute nearly half the population. The Demokritos University of Thrace is based here and while Komotiní is less immediately attractive than Xánthi, there is an old bazaar of cobbled lanes (Tuesday is the busiest day), with tiny shops, 14 functioning mosques and many old-fashioned coffee houses. A Folklore Museum (Mon & Fri–Sun 9am–3.30pm, Wed 9am–8.30pm) just off the central park displays local embroidery, costumes and metalwork); the archaeological museum (Apr 15–May 17 daily 9am–4pm, May 18–Dec 15 daily 9am–5pm) keeps finds from such Thracian sites as Avdira, south of Xánthi, and Maroneia, south of Komotiní.

Avdira itself does not repay a visit in its bedraggled state, although it is famed for nurturing two major philosophers: Demokritos (c.460–370 BC), who first expounded atomic theory, and the sophist Protagoras (c.490–420 BC). Odysseus legendarily called at Maroneia after leaving Troy on his return to Ithaca, procuring a sweet red wine which later saved him and his companions from the cyclops Polyphemos. A cave north of the sparse cliff-top site retains the name of Polyphemos’s Cave.

Alexandroúpoli

The old road from Komotiní zigzags 65km (40 miles) through barren hills before coming down to the rather drab port of Alexandroúpoli ¤ [map] , gateway to Samothráki island.

It’s wisest to press on into the valley of the Évros River, especially if you’re a birdwatcher. The delta, east of the Roman spa of Traianopolis, is excellent for waterfowl, while the Dadiá Forest Reserve, a successful World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) venture, shelters black and griffin vultures. In between, you can pause at Féres for the sake of its 12th-century church, Panagía Kosmosótira, whose lofty, five-domed interior is generally open to visitors.

Fact

During work on the 680-km (423-mile) Egnatia highway, Roman road-building techniques were revealed in 2002 at a site near Komotiní. Much of the road has lasted 2,000 years, but it was here that archaeologists fully discovered the genius of Roman civil engineering.

North of the turning for Dadiá, the first town of any size is Souflí ‹ [map] , once famous for silk production. Corn fields have now replaced the mulberry trees whose leaves once nourished the silkworms, and only a small but good museum (Mar–15 Oct Wed–Mon 10am–6pm, 16 Oct–Feb closes 5pm) commemorates the vanished industry. Didymótiho, 30km (18.5 miles) further upstream, has a Byzantine fortress at the old town’s summit and the abandoned, central Beyazit mosque (1368) – its roof torched in 2017 and merely patched – whose features speak of Seljuk (and earlier) prototypes.

From here, most traffic is bound for Turkish Edirne, whose graceful minarets are just visible from the Greek border town of Kastaniés.

Traditional houses in the old town of Xanthi.

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A perfect place from which to admire Anthony Quinn bay in Rhodes.

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THE ISLANDS

Greece has more inhabited islands than any other European country – but it’s anyone’s guess how many there actually are.

The poet Odysseus Elytis once said: “Greece rests on the sea”. It’s an observation that few countries could claim with such confidence. Some 25,000 sq km (10,000 sq miles) of the Aegean and Ionian seas are covered by islands. And, in characteristic Greek fashion, their exact number has been the topic of discussion and dispute. There may be 3,000 islands and islets, of which 167 are inhabited. Or, according to someone else’s calculations, there may be only 1,000, of which fewer than 70 are populated.

Skiáthos town bathers.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

The criterion that defines a populated place is open to interpretation. Does a tiny outcrop, bare save for one goatherd and ten goats, constitute an inhabited island? Can an island that is totally deserted except for annual pilgrimages to a small chapel at its summit claim to be inhabited?

The arithmetic matters far more to foreigners than to the Greeks, who are interested in sea and sky, in food and festivals, rather than in facts and figures. What is indisputable, however, is the sheer variety of landscape and experience to be found lurking behind the familiar images.

This is what we attempt to show in this section – islands with an ancient past and a modern outlook, an array of choices juxtaposed against pure, simple pleasures. In order to accommodate everything that is encompassed in the phrase “a Greek island”, we have devoted space to tiny islands such as Kímolos and Lipsí, as well as the well-known giants like Crete and Rhodes and the holiday favourites such as Mýkonos and Corfu. We do not ignore the familiar, popular islands, of course, but we explore them to seek out the true heart of the place behind the tourist clichés.

The best way to enjoy the islands is to arrive with a certain attitude of mind. By all means, begin by uncritically enjoying the cluster of blazing white buildings against a shimmering sea, donkeys set against a backdrop of olive groves, and so on – the images seared into the senses by holiday brochures. But, when the novelty wears off, or perhaps earlier, examine each island as if it were an onion and start stripping off the skins. How to strip the onion is a large part of what this book is about. So, welcome aboard the ferry and prepare for a cruise around Europe’s most fascinating and welcoming islands – however many of them there might be.

ISLANDS OF THE SARONIC GULF

Salamína, Aegina, Angístri, Póros, Ýdra and Spétses are all within easy reach of the mainland and popular with day-trippers. But they are distinctive, rich in history and remarkably attractive.

Main Attractions

Faneroméni monastery, Salamína

Temple of Aphaia, Égina

Paleohóra, Égina

Halikiáda beach, Angístri

Volcano walk, Méthana

Póros Town, seen from Galatás

Ýdra Town

Walking to Kamíni & Vlyhós, Ýdra

Paleó Limáni, Spétses

Athens and the islands of the Saronic Gulf are often lumped together in guidebooks. There is some sense in this, since many Athenians frequent these islands at weekends, while during the summer they become veritable extensions of the more fashionable Athenian neighbourhoods. Yet this view of the Argo-Saronic islands doesn’t consider their separate identities. They are islands, not suburbs, each with their own character.

Aegina’s waterfront.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Salamína (Salamis)

Salamína is best known for an ancient naval battle (480 BC) in which outnumbered Athenian ships routed the enormous Persian fleet – the ships being the “wooden walls” that the Delphic oracle had predicted would save the Greeks. Pride of the island is Faneroméni Monastery 1 [map] (typical midday closure) on the Voudóro peninsula, just 6km (4 miles) from the capital, Salamína Town; it’s now a tenanted nunnery, with brilliant 17th-century frescoes, while its boathouse served as a 1941–52 retreat of the great poet Angelos Sikelianos.

The island is decidedly not posh but it is relatively undeveloped and can be reached quickly, just a few minutes’ ride across from Pérama, through the waters which saw the battle, to the port of Paloúkia 2 [map] . Plans for a submarine tunnel from the mainland have been approved. Most of the inhabitants live in Salamína also called Kouloúri), which has an archaeological museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) and a Folk Museum (Mon–Fri 9am–4pm), plus decent tavernas. Cyclists will find Salamína’s back roads uncrowded and untaxing on the stamina. The best beaches are on the south coast at Peráni, Kanákia and Peristéria.

Aegina (Egina)

Aegina is close enough to be within easy reach of the mainland and far enough away to retain its island identity. About an hour and a half by ferry from Piraeus – or 45 minutes by hydrofoil or catamaran – it has little trouble attracting visitors. The island remains more popular with Athenians seeking a retreat from the city than with foreign tourists or other Greeks. The main local produce is pistachio nuts, sold all along the harbour street.

Heading for Paloúkia from Pérama.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

Shaped on the map like an upside-down triangle, the island’s southern point is marked by the magnificent cone of Ellánio Óros, the highest (532m/1745ft) peak in the Argo-Saronic islands, visible on a clear day from Athens’s Acropolis. The island’s centre and eastern side is mountainous; a gently sloping fertile plain runs down to the northwestern corner where Aegina (Egina) Town 3 [map] overlays in part the ancient capital of the island.

The town has numerous 19th-century mansions constructed when the first Greek president, Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776–1831), lived and worked here, as well as an enormous disused jail (to eventually house a museum) that began life as a Kapodistrias-funded orphanage. Some 3km (2 miles) north of town is the Christos Kapralos Museum (Wed–Fri 8.30am–3.30pm, Sat–Sun 9.30am–4.30pm), dedicated to this prominent Greek sculptor and painter, occupying his former studios.

The modern harbour, crowded with yachts and fishing boats, adjoins the ancient harbour, which is now the shallow town beach north of the main quay. The little beach ends at the ancient site of Kolóna, meaning “column”, after the single conspicuously standing column of the Temple of Apollo. This Doric temple, built in 520–500 BC, was superseded by a late Roman fortress, fragments of which survive on the seaward side. Although from the sea the temple looks unimpressive, the view from its promontory is very fine. A small museum (Tues–Sun10am–5.30pm) on the site features finds from 2,500 years of local settlement.

The modern harbour, crowded with yachts and fishing boats, adjoins the ancient harbour, which is now the shallow town beach north of the main quay. The little beach ends at the ancient site of Kolóna, meaning “column”, after the single conspicuously standing column of the Temple of Apollo. This Doric temple, built in 520–500 BC, was superseded by a late Roman fortress, fragments of which survive on the seaward side. Although from the sea the temple looks unimpressive, the view from its promontory is very fine. A small museum (Tues–Sun10am–5.30pm) on the site features finds from 2,500 years of local settlement.

The island’s most famous ancient monument is the Temple of Aphaia 4 [map] (daily 10.30am–7pm), in the northeast, above the summer resort of Agía Marína. The temple crowns a hilltop in a pine grove commanding a splendid view of the Aegean. Built in about 490 BC, it is the only surviving Greek temple with a second row of small superimposed columns in the interior of the sanctuary.

The 5th-century temple of Aphaia on Aegina.

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On the way to the temple, you will pass the modern Monastery of Ágios Nektários (daily except for midday break), the newest (and very popular) Orthodox saint, canonised in 1961 and the subject of a worthwhile 2021 biopic, Man of God. Across the ravine from the monastery is ghostly Paleohóra (“old town”), established inland during the 9th century as protection against piracy. Abandoned after Greek independence, most of the surviving 38 churches are in utter disrepair, but you can still see fragments of brilliant post-Byzantine frescoes in several unlocked chapels.

The west coast of the island is quite gentle, with passable sandy beaches at Marathónas (also with good tavernas) and Eginítissa, but better reasons to head out here are to enjoy a meal in one of the many fish tavernas along the harbour at Pérdika 5 [map] , or to take a boat from there to swim at the clean and sheltered bay on the uninhabited islet of Moní.

Fact

Between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, Aegina was a leading maritime power and main rival of Athens; its silver coins – with a relief tortoise on one side, a dolphin on the other – became common currency in the Dorian city-states.

Angístri and Méthana

Angístri (Agístri) 6 [map] , the small island facing Aegina Town, has become very much a destination in its own right, especially with trendy Athenians who guarantee a surprisingly lively nightlife. It is lapped by the cleanest, most aquamarine waters in this part of the gulf, and has considerable appeal inland with its dense pine forests. Skála, where conventional ferries call, is the main resort with the only sandy beach, though Mýlos, 1,500m west where speed-boats stop, has more character, with a church, old houses, shops and again a few places to stay and eat. A bus links the two, and also plies to the two southerly hamlets of Metóhi and Limenária, both with tavernas. The most attractive, and famous, beach is pebbly Halikiáda south of Skála, supposedly Greece’s oldest naturist cove; its 125-metre extent is colonised by a semi-permanent tent community. Dragonéra cove on the west coast, looking west to the Peloponnese, is the runner-up.

Póros Town harbour.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Fact

Póros’ Poseidon sanctuary was the headquarters of the Kalaureian League, an association that included Athens. Athenian orator Demosthenes, who had opposed Macedonian domination of his city, sought refuge here in 31 BC after an Athenian revolt was quelled by Antipater. Surrounded by Macedonians sent to arrest him, Demosthenes took poison but stepped outside the sanctuary before dying so as not to defile holy ground.

Although linked to the Peloponnese via a road along a slender isthmus, Méthana 7 [map] is far easier reached by sea as a regular stop on the line to Póros, and so ranks as an honorary Argo-Saronic island, with a lively, characterful port town. It is in fact a dormant volcano, with lush vegetation and basalt-built cottages. Low-key Méthana port is distinguished only by its hot springs, a few open-air pools at the sea’s edge; the built spa has long been closed. In the far northwest, from Kaméni Hóra hamlet, a marked path leads 15 minutes through a chaos of solidified lava to a volcanic cavern, with fine views en route towards Angístri and Aegina.

Póros

The island of Póros is separated from the Argolid mainland by a narrow passage of water – póros in Greek means “passage” or “ford”. As your boat turns into the ford from its northern entrance, the channel opens out and the white houses, tiled rooftops and hilltop clock tower of lovely Póros Town 8 [map] appear. Almost landlocked, it provides one of the most protected anchorages in the Aegean, a fact not lost on literally hundreds of yachts. Póros can also be reached (with considerably more effort) by driving via the Isthmus of Corinth to Paleá Epídavros and then further down the coast to little Galatás, just across the channel.

Fisherman’s catch, Ýdra harbour.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Although Póros has numerous hotels, and Athenians have owned vacation houses here for decades, the island has never been as fashionable as Ýdra or Spétses, but during summer it gets every bit as crowded. Póros Town itself almost completely covers the sub-island of Sferiá, southwest of the small channel separating it from the larger part of the island, Kalavría.

North of the channel, you can still see the ruins of a Russian naval station established in the 1780s, but the most venerable building on Kalávria is the Monastery of Zoödóhou Pigís (Virgin of the Life-Giving Spring; daily 8am–1pm & 4pm–sunset), beautifully situated on a wooded hillside east of town and still home to a few monks. Below extends Monastiríou beach, perhaps the best on an island not known for stellar ones.

Above the monastery, a road climbs through pines to the ruins of the Sanctuary of Poseidon 9 [map] , in a saddle between the highest hills of the island. The temple was excavated by the Swedish Archaeological School of Athens during the 19th century, and they are digging again, so much is roped off, but its setting is rewarding.

Ancient Troezen ) [map] is about 8km (5 miles) from Galatás on the Peloponnese. The mythological hero Theseus is said to have grown up here before he went off to become king of Athens. Theseus also supposedly returned later to Troezen, providing Euripides and Racine with the plots for their famous plays about the young queen Phaedra who unjustly accused Theseus’s son Hippolytos of having violated her. The most obvious ruins of Troezen are of a shrine to Hippolytos (only foundations remain) and a Byzantine basilica in a parlous state. Nearby, the Diavologéfyro (Devil’s Bridge) may disappoint, being a small natural rock span once used as an aqueduct.

Fact

Ýdra is one of the few places in Greece that has banned almost all concrete construction, as well as cars within the town, and has therefore managed to retain its beauty.

Ýdra (Hydra)

The island of Ýdra ! [map] – in antiquity Ydrea, “the well-watered”, now appears as a long, barren rock. But the harbour, with its fine old stone buildings, is still lovely; the town has attracted the artistic and the fashionable since the 1950s and the masses ever since the 1970s.

The heart of the island is its harbour-town, also called Ýdra. All around the picturesque bay, white, tile-roofed vernacular houses climb the slope, interspersed with massive grey arhondiká (mansions of the shipping families who made fortunes during the 18th and 19th centuries), many of them designed by architects from Venice and Genoa. Along the quay are tourist shops and cafés, with the clock tower of the 18th-century Monastery of the Panagía in the centre; much of the masonry used to build it was taken from the ancient Sanctuary of Poseidon on Póros. The U-shaped harbour itself is girded by a little thread of a breakwater, and flanked by 19th-century cannons. The better of two museums is the Lazaros Koundouriotis Mansion (16 Jun–30 Sep Tue–Sun 11am–2pm, 7–10pm), the building itself on par with the contents – ethnographic items and art by the Byzantios family, who established the nearby School of Fine Arts.

View from the Póros rooftops across to Galatás.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

The town has many good backstreet tavernas, as well as extremely popular bars and clubs. Yet the higher reaches and the hills beyond remain surprisingly untouched; narrow alleys and steep staircases lead from one quarter to the next. The uniformity of white walls is broken again and again by a century-old doorway, a bright blue window frame, a flight of striking scarlet steps, or a green garden fence. One stair-path ultimately climbs to Agía Evpraxía, the only inhabited (by nuns) and visitable (except at midday rest) rural monastery on the island.

A wide coastal path heads southwest to Kamíni and Vlyhós, with its early 19th-century arched stone bridge, or a bit further to Plákes Vlyhoú. There are good tavernas in all three places. Water taxis are the only way to reach Ágios Nikólaos and Bísti @ [map] beaches, the island’s best, at the southwest tip, unless you undertake an arduous cross-country hike, equipped with a good map. A slightly easier path-walk leads southeast and within 90 minutes to the unfrequented pebble beach at Limnióniza.

Kamíni port, northwest Ýdra coast.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Spétses

Spétses £ [map] is the southwesternmost of the Argo-Saronic Gulf islands, though just off the Argolid coast with which it has short-hop seagoing links. In antiquity, it was called Pityousa, “pine tree” island, and, despite catastrophic fires in 1990 and 2001, it is still the most wooded of the group after Angístri. Tourist development here is more extensive than on Ýdra but less than on either Póros or Aegina, and since the 1980s, responsible planning has helped preserve the island’s charm.

Although Spétses Town has its share of bars and fast-food places, the Paleó Limáni (Old Harbour) area still radiates a gentle grace. The 18th-century arhondiká (merchants’ houses) you see in this part of the town now belong to wealthy Athenian families who return every summer.

Like Ýdra, Spétses’ heyday was the late 18th century, when seagoing trade made it prosperous. Also like Ýdra, it became a hive of activity during the Greek War of Independence, offering its merchant fleet of over 50 ships for the Greek cause. The island is distinguished for being the first in the archipelago to revolt against Ottoman rule in April 1821, and the fortified main harbour of Dápia, still bristling with cannon, forms one of the town’s focal points.

Laskarina Bouboulina, a great heroine of the Greek War of Independence, was from Spetses, and her great victory is celebrated every 8 September by a panigýri (religious festival, for more information, click here) focused on the church of the Panagía Armáta on the lighthouse headland close to the Old Harbour. A mock battle is staged and a model Ottoman flagship is burned in the harbour amidst a fireworks display.

Although after the War of Independence Spétses’ fleet declined, shipbuilding traditions continue unabated. The small museum (Nov–Mar Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm, Apr–Oct Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), in the imposing 18th-century arhondikó of shipowner Hatzigianni Mexi, contains polychrome prows of ships from the revolutionary fleet and an ossuary holding the bones of Bouboulína. Her own family mansion, also a museum (guided tours only; consult the sign outside for schedule) stands behind the Dápia.

National Heroine

Laskarina Bouboulina, Greece’s national heroine of the Greek War of Independence, was a Spetsiot woman who took command of her second husband’s fleet after he was killed by Algerian corsairs. She contributed eight of the 22 Spetsiot ships that blockaded the Ottomans in Návplio (Nauplion) for more than a year until the garrison surrendered in December 1822.

In the September before Návplio surrendered, an Ottoman fleet attempted to lift the blockade by threatening Spétses. The fighting was indecisive but the imperial fleet eventually withdrew, scared off by a ruse. Fezes were placed on the asphodel plants growing densely along the shore; from a distance these, swaying in the wind, looked like men – presumably armed.

Fact

Privately owned Villa Giasemiá, near Agía Paraskeví on Spétses, is supposedly the original of magical Bourani in John Fowles’s 1966 novel The Magus.

Outside of town to the northwest is the Anargýrios and Korgialénios College, a Greek version of an English public school. John Fowles taught here and portrayed both school and island in his 1966 novel The Magus. The school has closed, though the buildings are sporadically used as a conference centre.

The town beach of Ágios Mámas, busy Agía Marína a bit beyond, and amenitied Ligonéri east of town, can’t compare to the beautiful beaches of Zogeriá, Agía Paraskeví, Agía Anárgyri and Xylokériza (going around the island’s perimeter in an anticlockwise direction).

Genteel Spétses Town.

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THE CYCLADES

From the hectic nightlife of Mýkonos and Íos to the rugged beauty of Mílos and Sérifos, and the unspoilt seclusion of Síkinos and Anáfi, there is something for all tastes among these islands.

Main Attractions

Contemporary Art Museum, Ándros

Ermoúpolis Townscape, Sýros

Ancient Delos

The Cave, Andíparos

Hozoviótissa Monastery, Amorgós

South Coast Beaches, Mílos

Museum of Prehistoric Thera, Santoríni

For many people, the Cyclades are Greece; other island chains are mere distractions from this blue Aegean essence. They were inhabited early in the fifth millennium BC; by the third millennium, a fascinating island culture flourished here, with fine arts and crafts and lively commerce – as anyone who visits the excellent Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens will appreciate (for more information, click here).

Ancient masonry incorporated into Parikiá’s medieval kástro.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Of the 56 islands, 24 are inhabited. There are three basic ferry routes from Piraeus, Lávrio or Rafína ports: the easternmost takes in bucolic Ándros, religious Tínos, metropolitan Sýros, and cosmopolitan Mýkonos. The central line joins popular Páros, Náxos and Amorgós, concluding at spectacular Santoríni or remote Anáfi. The most western itinerary calls at Kýthnos, Sérifos, Sífnos and Mílos, usually extending to Folégandros and Síkinos. Especially in high season, connections exist between the basic routes. With regular links to Kýthnos and beyond from Lávrio, Kéa is no longer a dead end.

Ándros

Ándros 1 [map] was settled centuries ago by Orthodox Albanians; their stone dwellings in the north contrast with the whitewash and red roof tiles of the other villages. The port town, Gávrio, does have ample tourist infrastructure, though more visitors base themselves at Batsí, 6km (4 miles) south, a pleasant Cycladic seaside town with a long beach. On the east coast, Ándros Town (Hóra) 2 [map] remains remarkably unspoiled. Because so many rich Athenians have weekend houses here, tourism has not been assiduously pursued. The prize exhibit in the archaeological museum (summer Wed, Fri, Sat–Sun 9am–4pm, winter Fri–Sat & Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) is the famous Hermes of Ándros, a 4th-century AD copy of Praxiteles’ 4th-century BC statue at ancient Olympia. Nearby, the Museum of Contemporary Art (www.goulandris.gr/el/visit/be-andros; 3 July–27 Oct Wed–Sun 11am–3pm & 6–9pm, Mon 11am–3pm) has a fine permanent collection by both Greek and foreign artists, plus renowned temporary exhibits. South of the Batsí–Hóra road is the most spectacular of Ándros’s 13 monasteries, Panahrándou 3 [map] (9am–1pm, 4.30pm–sunset); over 1,000 years old, but home to just one monk.

Santoríni, famous for its whitewashed villages and blue-domed churches.

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Ándros has many beaches – the best on the west coast, either side of Batsí, are Hryssí Ámmos, Kyprí, Agía Marína and Delavógias. The east shore is more exposed to the meltémi, but try Giália north of Hóira, and Kórthi bay in the far south, popular with windsurfers.

Kéa (Tziá)

Kéa-bound boats leave from the mainland port of Lávrio, some 50km (30 miles) from Athens, and land at Korissía 4 [map] . The main town, Ioulída, huddles below a rounded ridge overlooking the island’s northern flank, a site chosen for its inaccessibility from pirates. The famous Lion of Kéa, a smiling, maneless beast almost 6 metres (20ft) long, is a 10-minute walk northeast of Ioulída. Carved from grey granite, it is probably early Archaic.

During the 19th century, there were a million oak trees on well-watered Kéa, and many still provide shade. Olive trees are absent; since ancient times, the island has been noted instead for its almonds. The jagged west coast has many sandy coves, some accessible by boat only. Písses, with a square, Hellenistic watchtower at Agía Marína just inland, and Koúndouros, are two of the more developed beaches. Close to Korissía is Vourkári, with yachts at anchor and pricy tavernas, plus Agía Iríni, a Minoan excavation. Walkers are well served by a network of numbered trails, intelligently rehabilitated and marked thanks to EU funds.

Tínos

Tínos receives many thousands of tourists – but they are mostly Greek Orthodox here for the church, the Panagía Evangelístria or “Annunciated Mother of God”. In 1822, local nun Pelagía dreamt of an icon; it was duly unearthed and the church was built to house it. The icon’s healing powers have made Tínos Hóra 5 [map] the Lourdes of Greece. Women fall to their knees upon arrival, and crawl painfully to the church (less painfully since a carpeted lane for that purpose was installed on the main approach). Healing miracles often occur. Despite all the foregoing, Tínos is about half Catholic in population, with most of them out in the rural villages.

For a reminder of the Ottoman conquest, visit the peak of Exóbourgo, 643 metres (2,110ft), with its ruined fortress (Tínos was the last Cycladic island lost by the Venetians, in 1715). A bus ride to Exóbourgo and beyond will also reveal some weird, mushroom-shaped, wind-sculpted rocks, especially above Vólax village, known for its basket-weaving (though only two workshops remain).

Kolymbíthra 6 [map] in the north is Tínos’s best beach. Ágios Sóstis, near Pórto on the south coast, is also a decent stretch of sand. Of the monasteries to see, the abandoned Katapolianí, near Ystérnia, is exceptional. Kardianí, the village southeast of Ystérnia, is Tínos’s most spectacularly set – though arcaded Arnádos and adjacent Dýo Horiá give it stiff competition. As on Kéa, a prepared network of trails appeals to walkers during the cooler months.

Kýthnos (Thermiá)

After iron-mining operations ceased, Kýthnos 7 [map] lost its prime source of income. Foreign tourism has not supplemented it, but Athenian visitors have helped. Mérihas port on the west coast has the biggest choice of accommodation. In summer, a “taxi-boat” runs from Mérihas to Episkopí, Apókroussi and Kolóna beaches to the north, the best ones on the island. Hóra, 6km (4 miles) northeast of Mérihas, is exquisite: its streets are spanned by wood-beamed arches joining facing houses, while rock pavements are decorated with white-painted fish, stylised ships and flowers.

Ermoúpoli.

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The island’s alias of Thermiá derives from thermal baths at Loutrá, on the northeast coast, 5km (3 miles) north of Hóra. The organised spa only works during summer, but there’s an open-air seaside pool at the far right end of the beach. Above Loutrá, at Maroúla, excavations have revealed the earliest known Cycladic settlement, dating from before 4500 BC. A ravine splits tile-roofed Dryopída 8 [map] (the medieval capital) into two; the chambered Katafíki cave here is linked in legend with the Nereids (water nymphs in Greek mythology). Kanála village on the southeast coast has beaches and a major pilgrimage monastery.

Sýros

Sýros 9 [map] remains the Cyclades’ capital, but when Piraeus (Pireás) overtook it as a trade centre in the late 1800s, its port went into decline. However, it retains excellent inter-island transport links and useful facilities. The capital, Ermoúpoli, has been “discovered”, with the renovation of grand buildings, public and private, and multiplication of tourist facilities. The area called Vapória (“the ships”), uphill from the shopping streets, is where you’ll find many 19th-century neoclassical mansions (a few doubling as hotels). The elegant, marble-paved main square, Platía Miaoúli, is flanked by an imposing Town Hall, just behind which the restored Apollon Theatre was originally modelled on La Scala in Milan. The entire Belle Epoque townscape is under UNESCO protection. Like Tínos, Sýros is about half Catholic, with most of them residing in the hill village of Áno Sýros above Ermoúpoli.

Fínikas, a beachside town in the southwest, is possibly named after the Phoenicians, probably Sýros’s first inhabitants – or more likely after a palm tree (fínikas in Greek). The island’s south is rounder and greener than the rugged, thinly populated north and has good beaches at Possidonía and Vári as well as Fínikas. Up the west coast, Galissás and Kíni ) [map] , with the best beaches (and sunsets), are popular resorts. During Roman times, and again from 1948 until 1974, political prisoners were interned on Gyáros, the exceedingly bleak desert island just northwest, now home to monk seals.

Galissás beach, Sýros.

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Mýkonos

Mýkonos ! [map] has become glamorous and prosperous by turning its rocky, treeless ruggedness into a tourist-pleasing package that works – making it more expensive than any other Greek island except Santoríni. Summer draws thousands of tourists to Mýkonos Town to sample its celebrated bars, August–September gay scene, cozy restaurants, and clothes and jewellery shops. Despite the glitz, the portside Hóra is among the most solicitously preserved in the Cyclades, with its flower-laden wooden balconies, multicoloured domed chapels and whitewashed surfaces. The odd-shaped Paraportianí (Panagía of the Postern Gate; closed to the public) is probably Greece’s most photographed church.

Little Venice, a row of buildings hanging over the sea on the west, is the least frenetic part of town, with atmospheric café-bars thronged at sunset. The Folklore Museum (Tue–Sun 10am–4pm; free) and the archaeological museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), at different ends of Mýkonos’s quay, are full of interesting objects. Caïques also depart from the west quay for Delos @ [map] , the sacred island that is the centre of the Cyclades (in myth, Mýkonos was Delian Apollo’s grandson). Or you can strike inland to Áno Merá, 7km (4 miles) east, the only other village, and visit the red-domed Tourlianí monastery (9am–1pm, 3.30–7pm), which has a carved-marble courtyard fountain.

Mýkonos port at night.

Dreamstime

Among Mýkonos beaches, Paradise is half straight nude, Super Paradise half gay nude, and both are stunning; below Áno Merá, Kalafátis is popular with windsurfers, and Eliá exclusively gay; Platýs Gialós and Psaroú in the west are popular with families.

Sérifos

A long easterly promontory encloses Livádi £ [map] , Sérifos’s harbour. With a half-dozen each of tavernas, hotels and café-bars, this is a pleasant place to stay, with good beaches on either side at Livadákia (where there’s more prime accommodation) and Ágios Sóstis. Sérifos Hóra spills precipitously from a crag above; regular buses make the ascent, but the old stair-path (a 40-minute climb) makes for a more authentic approach.

Hóra has two parts, a somewhat neglected lower neighbourhood and the architecturally protected Kástro, with a scenic church at its east end. Kástro’s central plaza with its trendy cafés, gaily coloured town hall and church of Ágios Athanásios provides a focus. The view from the edge of Hóra east over the gleaming bay and other islands is spectacular.

From Hóra, numbered trails head north to either Kállitsos village, or Panagía plus Galaní villages, the latter two accessible also by road and very occasional seasonal bus. Between Kállitsos and Galaní stands the fortified medieval Taxiarhón Monastery $ [map] , only open when the local parish priest is inside.

Sérifos abounds in little bays, many still unspoiled and very quiet outside of summer. Beyond Livadákia, Karávi is scenic and usually naturist; in the far southwest, Megálo Livádi and Gánema coves once hosted mines, whereas today there are handy tavernas.

Fact

Mýkonos is famous, indeed notorious, for its all-night clubs and all-day beach-bars. For nightlife, you must enquire – the scene changes all the time, though there are always tasteful, low-key contenders in Little Venice.

Sífnos

Sífnos % [map] was, and to a reduced extent still is, a potter’s isle. In the narrow, pretty harbour, Kamáres, and at Platýs Gialós and isolated Hersónisos, potters still set out racks of earthenware to dry in the sun. Weaving and jewellery-making were the other crafts; there are fine examples of these in the Folklore Museum (Apr–Oct only daily 9.30am–2pm, 6–10pm) of the capital, Apollonía. Contiguous to Apollonía, Artemónas is Sífnos’s wealthiest town, with mansions and old churches.

The oldest community, however, is Kástro ^ [map] , the medieval capital, perched 100 metres (330ft) above the sea and 3km (2 miles) to the east of Apollonía. Catalans and Venetians once ruled the island; the walls they built are still in evidence, as are some remains of an ancient acropolis. Most of the buildings date from the 14th century. The big Venetian building in the centre of Kástro houses the archaeological museum (mid-Apr–Oct Mon, Thu, Fri & Sat 8.30am–3.30pm; winter, Fri–Mon only, same hours).

View of the harbour and Sifnos in the distance from the Hóra on Serifos.

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The Cycladic Bronze Age

Early Cycladic peoples left behind beautiful artefacts arising out of an organised and flourishing culture, most famously the mysterious, stylised marble sculptures which have been found in tombs.

Bronze Age settlements and cemeteries excavated on a number of islands are generally considered to be the first complex, organised, settled communities in Europe. The Early Cycladic Bronze Age began about 3200 BC and is thought to have lasted until around 2500 BC. The local later Bronze Age (2500–2000 BC) is divided by scholars into Middle and Late Cycladic. These latter periods increasingly display the influence of the Minoan culture of Crete, and show a move towards urban settlement. In general, the term Cycladic Culture refers to the Early Cycladic, and it is during this period that the individuality of the culture of the Cycladic islands is most evident.

Cycladic figurine.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

The settlements of the Early Cycladic were small, of around 50 people, comprising densely packed stone-built housing, usually only of one storey. Accompanying the settlements, outside the residential area, were cemeteries of small cist graves (rectangular graves lined with stone) and chamber tombs, clustered in family groups. The dead were inhumed in a contracted (foetal) position along with everyday objects. Much of the evidence we have of how Early Cycladic society functioned comes from these cemeteries.

The often stark difference in grave goods between tombs provides evidence of a stratified society. While some graves contain a very rich variety of artefacts, including gold and silver jewellery, others have very little, often only a single marble figure. How these differences between rich and poor played out is a matter of conjecture, but many artefacts display a high degree of skill in their manufacture, indicating a class of skilled craft workers. Hunting, fishing, animal husbandry and agriculture provided food. The islanders were practised traders, pointing to the existence of a merchant class, presumably, among the wealthier members of society. Skilled sailors, they had contact with the Greek mainland, Crete, Turkey and even the distant Danube Basin.

White marble figurines

Of all the items left by these peoples, the marble figurines are perhaps both the most beautiful and enigmatic. Their different typologies are used by scholars to differentiate the various Cycladic eras. The predominately female figures are generally around 20cm (8ins) in length (but a few near life-sized sculptures have been discovered) and are made of white marble. Almost two-dimensional in their execution, they have flattened oval heads, schematic breasts and folded arms; many features would have been painted on the marble (on the face, only the nose is rendered in relief). It is conjectured from the awkwardly proportioned feet that they were intended to lie horizontally, but there is no conclusive evidence for this, just as there is no evidence for their function. Explanations from scholars range from their being apotropaic (warding off evil), to divinities, symbolic after-death companions or ancestors.

Sífnos’s southerly coastal settlements make tranquil bases. A marked footpath leads from Katavatí just south of Apollonía to Vathý, a hamlet on a deep inlet also linked by road to Platýs Gialós. Vathý’s most visually stunning feature is the Taxiárhis (Archangel) Monastery (open only for service on the feast day), poised on the sands as though ready to set sail. But Sífnos’s most famous postcard/poster subject is Hrysopigís (Golden Wellspring) Monastery (open only on the feast day), built in 1653 on an islet now reached by a small footbridge.

Andíparos

Until the end of the last glacial period 10,000 years ago, the small, pretty island of Andíparos was joined to Páros. A narrow channel now separates them, plied by short-hop ferries from Poúnda bringing visitors to its famous Spílio & [map] (cavern). Although only the topmost levels are accessible, and the impact is reduced somewhat by concrete steps down and a constant bilingual narration soundtrack, stalactite/stalagmite formations – 45 million years in the making – still impress. Arhilohos of ancient Páros was the first recorded visitor, the Marquis de Nointel (see box) the most flamboyant one.

Andíparos Hóra itself is engaging, first put on people’s radar by serving as location for the 1960 film Mantalena, which boosted Greek starlet Aliki Vougiouklaki’s career; subsequently the little island became an obligatory stop for alternative types transiting between Ibiza and India. The now barely inhabited kástro (medieval Venetian town plan where the houses are arranged in a defensive compound), complete with central cistern and chapel, is of a type seen elsewhere in the Cyclades only at Síkinos, Folégandros and Kímolos. The island measures just 11km by 5km (7 miles by 3 miles), so there are no impossible distances, especially if you bring a scooter over from Páros. Lively nightlife and good sand have lured much trade to Andíparos from its larger neighbour. Tamarisk-shaded Psaralíki, within walking distance of town, is decent enough, but with your own transport (or the seasonal bus), Sorós 9km (5.5 miles) away on the southeast coast is Andíparos’ best beach, with two tavernas just behind.

Páros church.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Underground Tourism

The Cave of the Stalactites (Apr–Oct daily 10am–4pm), the principal sight on Andíparos, was discovered during the reign of Alexander the Great, around 330 BC, and has been attracting visitors ever since. Despite the depredations of souvenir-hunters, who have broken and removed stalactites and stalagmites for centuries, it is still a fantastically spooky chamber, full of weird shapes and shadows.

Almost as impressive as the formations are the inscriptions left by past visitors, including King Otto of Greece and Lord Byron. The oldest piece of graffiti has sadly been lost – a note from several individuals stating that they were hiding in the cave from Alexander the Great, who suspected them of plotting his assassination. Another inscription (in Latin) records the Christmas Mass celebrated here by the French Marquis de Nointel in 1673, for an audience of 500, with a flat rock as an altar.

In summer, buses and boats run to the cave from Andíparos Town, or else it’s a two-hour walk. Then you descend more than 70 metres (230ft) from the cave entrance to the vaulted main chamber. There are concrete steps now, and electric lighting, making the descent easier, but the effect is still breathtaking. The entire cave is actually twice as deep as the part to which you are allowed access, but the rest has been closed for safety reasons.

Páros

The capital and main port of Parikiá (Páros) * [map] resembles Mýkonos in appearance and in nightlife, but is gentler in spirit. The main sights here are the beautiful 4th-to-6th-century Ekatondapylianí church (Our Lady of a Hundred Doors; daily 7am–noon), the archaeological museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) just behind, and the Venetian kástro overlooking the southwest waterfront, built largely of ancient masonry. Páros is famous for the world’s most translucent marble; you can still approach the ancient quarries at Maráthi and pick up a chip, though the underground tunnels themselves are off-limits. Finally, Parikiá has one of the better town beaches in the Cyclades just northeast at Livádia, where tiny children confidently learn to sail at the Nautical Club.

Lévkes, the medieval capital, is the largest inland village. There are several 17th-century churches, and a lovely lower platía (square) flanked by cafés. Beyond Lévkes, best of the east coast beaches are Logarás and Hrysí Aktí, both with plenty of facilities and the latter a mecca for windsurfers. At the beautiful northerly port-resort of Náousa, the old harbour’s colourful boats seem to nudge up right against the fishermen’s houses, and the old quarter forms a quasi-kástro. With upmarket boutiques and restaurants, it proves more exclusive (and expensive) than Parikiá. Nearby beaches, some served by caïque, tend to be crowded; best head northeast to sandy Lángeri or Sánta María, or northwest to the lighthouse peninsula and monastery of Ágios Ioánnis Détis (always locked), giving its name to the natural reserve just behind, car-free and criss-crossed with marked hiking trails, the best ones converging on the lighthouse.

The unfinished Temple of Delian Apollo on Náxos.

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Southern Páros is comparatively little frequented; the standouts here are the workaday fishing port (with beaches and tavernas) of Alykí, and the so-called Valley of the Butterflies (Petaloúdes; daily June–Sept 8am–6pm), a walled oasis of huge trees. The black and yellow butterflies – actually Jersey Tiger moths – abound during summer.

Náxos

Náxos ( [map] is the largest, loftiest and most magnificent of the Cyclades, replete with high, windswept ridges, long beaches, remote villages, ancient ruins, medieval monasteries or towers and a fascinating history. Central Hóra (Náxos Town) ‚ [map] forms a labyrinth of Venetian-era mansions and fortifications, post-Byzantine churches, arcaded lanes and secluded restaurants. Hóra is divided into sections whose Latinate place names reflect the island’s long Venetian occupation. The former French School, built into the ramparts, now houses the archaeological museum (late Apr–Oct Wed–Mon 9am–2pm, Nov–Mar Sat–Sun 9am–2pm). On Palátia islet (accessible by causeway) north of Hóra’s ferry dock, the colossal free-standing marble doorframe called Portára is all that remains vertical of a never-completed Apollo Temple dating to 530 BC.

Fact

When the original Venus de Milo was unearthed on the island in 1820, both arms were still intact. They were “amputated” during her clumsy removal from the island by the French. She’s now in the Louvre.

Near the northern tip of Náxos is the small resort of Apóllonas ⁄ [map] , with two beaches. A huge 6th-century BC kouros (statue of an idealised youth) lies on the hillside above the settlement, abandoned in the quarry when the marble cracked. There are two other small, but better defined kouroi near Mélanes in the centre of the island.

Náxos is famed for its baby potatoes, while vegetable gardens and fruit trees grow densely around the many inland settlements, next to Byzantine churches and crumbling Venetian manors. Three villages on the road from Hóra to Apóllonas are particularly worthy of attention: Koronída, Apíranthos and Halkí.

The snug little harbour of Náousa.

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Koronída (alias Komiakí), the highest village on the island, is extremely attractive, has wonderful views over the surrounding vineyards, and is the original home of the local kitrón liqueur. Apíranthos ¤ [map] (aka Aperáthou) was originally settled by Cretan refugees in the 17th and 18th centuries. The town, whose streets are paved in marble, even looks like it’s on Crete. There are three small summer-only museums – Folklore, Natural History and Geology, all with identical daily hours (July 10.30am–7.30pm, Aug 10.30am–9pm) – in the maze of lanes, plus cafés and tavernas from which to enjoy the view.

At the foot of Mount Zás – the highest (1001m/3284ft) mountain in the Cyclades – sprawls the Trageá, a vast plateau covered mostly in olive trees. Halkí, the Trageá’s main town, has several fine churches, the best (on the road north to Moní) being Panagía Drosianí (The Dewy Virgin; daily 11am–6pm), built in stages between the 4th and 12th centuries and retaining some of the oldest, albeit battered, frescoes in Greece.

Náxos harbour, with Kástro at right.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

From Áno Sangrí just southwest of the Trageá, a paved road descends 5km (3 miles) through a beautiful valley to the well-reconstructed Temple of Demeter (grounds always unlocked; c.530 BC).

Some of the Cyclades’ best beaches line the southwest coast, facing Páros. Agíos Prokópios and Agía Ánna are the most popular; Pláka, Glyfáda and Alykó are less developed and more scenic, with naturist areas.

Mílos and Kímolos

Lying to the southeast, volcanic Mílos ‹ [map] is a geologist’s paradise. Snaking streams of lava formed much of the island’s coastline, thrusting up weirdly shaped rock formations. The island has lived off its mineral wealth since ancient times.

Mílos has graciously adapted to its growing stream of tourism, concentrated in Adámas, the port, and Pollónia, a fishing village in the northeast. Inside Agía Triáda church (daily 11am–1.30pm, 6.30–8pm; free) in Adamás, Cretan-style icons dominate; Cretan refugees founded the town in 1853. The island’s capital, Pláka (alias Mílos), has both an archaeological museum (Mar–Oct Mon 8.30am–3.30pm, Nov–Mar Mon,Wed & Fri–Sun 8.30am–3.30pm, Apr-Oct Mon, Wed & Sat 8.30pm–3.30pm & Sun 9am–10pm) and a Folklore Museum (temporarily closed). A sunset hike to the Panagía Thalassítra (Mariner All Holy), the chapel above Pláka, and the old Kástro walls gives splendid views of Mílos and, on a clear day, as far as Páros.

Minerals and Mining

Mílos is, in reality, a far older, cooled-down version of Santoríni – at some point in the distant past a volcano collapsed, leaving a caldera, which became today’s huge central bay. Its volcanic mineral wealth has always been extensively mined: in prehistory for obsidian, nowadays for bentonite, perlite, pozzolana, gypsum, sulphur, kaolin and china clay. Gaping quarries disfigure the landscape, especially in the east, and the local mining companies still provide employment for a quarter of the islanders. Kímolos has quarries from which Fuller’s earth and, to a lesser extent, bentonite, are extracted. The latter has a number of uses (it even turns up as an ingredient in Nivea cream). Ironically, the chalk which gave the island its name (kimoliá in Greek) is no longer extracted locally.

Southwest of Pláka lies the Vale of Klíma, on whose seaside slope the ancient Melians built their city. Excavations undertaken in the late 19th century uncovered a Dionysian altar, and remains of an ancient gymnasium. The theatre is very well preserved, probably because of its Roman renovation. Nearby, a marble plaque marks the spot where a farmer unearthed the Aphrodite of Mílos (Venus de Milo) in 1820. Below the theatre lies one of the island’s prettiest villages, Klíma, with brightly painted boathouses lining the shore, as well as the only Christian catacombs (www.catacombs.gr; Wed–Mon 9am–6.45pm; group tours only) in Greece. Carved into the hillside, they are the earliest evidence of Christian worship in the country. A 200-metre corridor is lined by tombs (all looted) which held around 5,000 bodies.

The island’s best beaches lie along the southern limb of Mílos, at Paleohóri (with volcanic steam vents on the shore), Agía Kyriakí, Firipláka and Provatás. You’ll need your own vehicle to reach them.

Ten km (6 miles) northeast from Adamás lies the rubble of the ancient city of Phylakope (late Apr–early Dec Tue, Fri & Sat 8.30am–3.30pm), whose script and art resemble the Minoan. It flourished for a thousand years after 2600 BC. Pollónia is a popular resort with a tamarisk-fringed if windy beach – making it a major windsurfing centre.

The tiny island of Kímolos › [map] – 36 sq km (14 sq miles), with a population of under 700 – is an irresistible presence for anyone who is staying in Pollónia. The small ferry takes just 20 minutes to cross the narrow channel to Kímolos’s only landing, Psathí. Kímolos, once a pirates’ hide-out, today provides refuge from the more crowded islands. Although it is seriously undeveloped, it has several reasonable south-coast beaches, like Skála and Kalamítsi, within feasible walking distance of the port. Hóra, the single town, is a 20-minute walk up from Psathí port. The core of Hóra is the gated, 16th-century Venetian Kástro, its perimeter houses still inhabited.

Folégandros and Síkinos

Despite its tiny size – 32 sq km (12 sq miles) populated by under 700 people – Folégandros ﬁ [map] has played a not insignificant role in recent history: many Greeks were exiled here during both the Metaxas dictatorship and then the colonels’ junta, following a precedent set by the Romans. Today, it is increasingly trendy for Greeks, French and Italians in particular, with a predictable effect on prices and retail-therapy opportunities.

Koronida village on Naxos.

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Hóra is a magnificently sited medieval town with an inner kástro high above the sea. Hryssospiliá (Golden Cave), near Hóra, gapes in the cliff behind; a place of ancient worship and medieval refuge, it is closed for archaeological investigations. The island’s “trunk road” continues beyond Hóra, threading the scattered ridge-line houses of Áno Meriá; paths and tracks lead southwest down to sheltered sandy beaches, the best of these being Angáli.

Although on the same ferry services as neighbouring Folégandros, rocky Síkinos ﬂ [map] (population 240) so far seems to have shrugged off most tourism – unsurprisingly, as it’s an austere island with few obvious diversions – and also escapes mention in the history books for long periods. The main rural monument, the Iroön at Episkopí, once identified as a temple to Apollo, is more likely to have been an elaborate Roman tomb, incorporated into a church during medieval times.

The three southeasterly beaches, Aloprónia (also the port and main resort), Ágios Nikólaos and Ágios Geórgios, face Íos. From Aloprónia harbour, it is an hour’s hike (or regular bus ride) to Hóra, comprising the double village of Horió and Kástro, with its wonderful medieval defensive square. The uninhabited convent of Zoödóhou Pigí looms above.

Íos

A tiny island with limited historic attractions, Íos ‡ [map] is not devoid of natural beauty or charm. The harbour of Gialós is one of the Aegean’s prettiest, while the hilltop Hóra (aka Íos), capped by a windmill, blazes with the blue domes of two medieval churches. Its layout and flanking palm trees look almost Levantine. But ever since the 1960s, Íos has drawn the young and footloose, and despite local efforts to diversify into family tourism, in summer at least this remains its defining characteristic. Íos nightlife resembles a down-market, younger Mýkonos, with the crowds returning by bus from the beach or Gialós and filling clubs of all sizes until the small hours. Once ensconced inside a bar, they could be anywhere in the Western world, with few older Greeks in sight.

Traditional taverna in Tholária, Amorgós.

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However, Íos also has many good swimming beaches, especially on the southwest coast, where the main developed resort is Mylopótas. Occasional buses run to superior Manganári bay in the far south, or Agía Theodóti on the east coast. For (relative) seclusion, head under your own steam beyond the latter to Psáthi beach.

On the way to Psáthi are the remains of Paleokástro, a Venetian fortress containing the marble ruins of what was the medieval capital. At a lonely spot toward the northern cape, behind the cove of Plakotós, is a series of tombs, probably Roman, yet one of these the islanders believe belongs to Homer, supposedly buried here while en route from Sámos to Athens.

Amorgós

A spine of mountains on Amorgós ° [map] – the tallest being Kríkellos in the northeast, at 822 metres (2,697ft) – precludes expansive views here unless you’re on top of them. The southwesterly port-resort of Katápola occupies a small coastal plain, while the elevated Hóra, accessible by a regular bus service or a fine old trail, centres on a crumbled 13th-century Venetian castle. Hóra has no fewer than 40 churches and chapels – including one that holds only two people, the smallest church in Greece – as well as stepped plazas where cafés set out their tables.

The island’s two most famous churches are outside Hóra. Ágios Geórgios Valsamítis (rarely open), 4km (2 miles) southwest, is built over a sacred spring; this church’s pagan oracle was only cemented over after World War II by indignant clergy, but you can still hear it trickling below while fine frescoes stare at you from above. Half an hour east of Hóra, clinging limpet-like to tawny cliffs, the 11th-century Byzantine monastery of the Hozoviótissa (daily 9am–1pm, 5–7pm) – one of the most beautiful in Greece – is home to a revered icon of the Panagía from Palestine, three friendly monks, and a treasury-museum (same opening times).

The brightly painted boathouses of Klíma, Milos.

Dreamstime

Beaches in the northeast of Amorgós, around the second port-resort of Egiáli, are most alluring, especially the trio reached by the trail that runs northwest from the main beach. Langáda and Tholária are exquisite villages up the hillside, reached by well-marked paths, with tavernas and lodging. Indeed, hiking is the main reason to come to Amorgós – the premier trail (a 5-hour hike) goes from Potamós, above Egiáli, to Hozoviótissa and then Hóra.

Santoríni (Thíra)

Entering the bay of Santoríni · [map] on a boat is one of Greece’s great experiences. Broken pieces of a volcano’s rim – Santoríni and its attendant islets – form a multicoloured circle around a seemingly bottomless lagoon that, before the volcano’s eruption (c.1625 BC), was a hummocky volcanic plateau. Thíra, or Thera, are the island’s official modern and ancient names respectively. Foreigners and most Greeks, however, prefer its medieval name, Santoríni, possibly after St Irene, one of three sisters martyred by Diocletian in 304. Firá, the capital, sits high on the rim along with its northern suburbs Firostefáni and Imerovígli, their white houses (many anti-seismically barrel-vaulted) much rebuilt after a catastrophic 1956 earthquake. East of Firá, the land drops more gradually, with fertile fields leading to the east coast and its dark-sand beaches. A few bare cliffs rise again in the southeast. On one of them sits 9th century BC Ancient Thera (daily 8.30am–3.30pm), a most evocative setting even if little remains standing. Akrotiri in the far south, a large Minoan town preserved in volcanic ash like Pompeii, is fully excavated and visitable (daily 8.30am–3.30pm). But many of its best artefacts – pots and original frescoes – are in Firá’s Museum of Prehistoric Thera (Apr–Aug daily 8am–2pm).

Food with a view, Santoríni.

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Though Firá, Firostefáni and Imerovígli are highly developed, many other places offer plentiful accommodation, with less density and/or tackiness. Cliffside houses at Ía (Oia), on the island’s northernmost peninsula, are perhaps Greece’s most photographed. As at Imerovígli, skaftá (“dug-out”, houses in the volcanic cliffs converted into highly sought-after accommodation), are a local speciality. More conventional accommodation beckons at Kamári and Périssa, busy resorts on the east coast. Both have roasting hot black pebble beaches; either make a good starting point from which to climb up to Ancient Thera, then down the other side, with boats available to shuttle you back.

Cruise ships put in below Firá at Skála Firás, from where you ascend by donkey, by funicular, or by foot up the stone stairway. Big ferries anchor at Athiniós, 10km (6 miles) further south. The most popular boat excursions offered are to Thirasiá, Santoríni’s sleepy and beachless satellite islet opposite Ía; and to the volcanic islets of Paleá and Néa Kaméni in the middle of the submerged caldera, where passengers have the opportunity to bathe in marine hot springs or clamber over a still-steaming cinder cone.

Tip

The Little Cyclades have two to three weekly main-line summer ferry services from Piraeus, plus a regular small local boat (the Express Skopelitis) that calls daily from Amorgós and Náxos.

Anáfi

About 250 people live on Anáfi º [map] in winter, surviving mainly by fishing and subsistence farming. Summer tourism has boosted the economy, but development is slow despite the island figuring on a summer ferry line between Mílos,Crete and the Dodecanese.

The south-facing harbour, Ágios Nikólaos, has few amenities – best walk briefly east to palm-tree-tufted Klisídi beach, with rooms and tavernas. A short bus ride or half-hour walk up, the Hóra offers a wider choice of both, and life in the streets is still fairly untouristy. Both a road (seasonal bus) and maintained path head east via the south coast to Zoödóhou Pigís Monastery (daily 10am–1pm, 6–8pm), erected over the ancient shrine to Apollo. Extensive courses of marble masonry in its walls are believed to be remnants of the old temple. Above the monastery soars the massive pinnacle, supposedly larger than Gibraltar, which is Anáfi’s most distinctive feature. Under an hour’s climb from the lower monastery brings you to smaller, blindingly white Panagía Kalamiótissa on the summit, a popular sunrise vantage for those prepared to sleep out here. The church is not open, but you can get water from the cistern outside. Between the pinnacle and Klisídi are various outstanding beaches worth the detour, best of these Katsoúni and Roúkounas.

Firá, Santoríni.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

The Back Islands (Little Cyclades)

The so-called “Back Islands” or Little Cyclades beyond Náxos – Donoússa, Irakliá, Skhinoússa and Koufonísi – have permanent populations of 100 to 200 each. They’re hardly secret (or cheap) destinations now, with ample tourist facilities including bank ATMs on some.

Hilly Donoússa ¡ [map] has lovely south-coast beaches popular with campers, and some walking opportunities; views southwest from the port village take in the barren Makáres islets and the grand profile of Náxos. Koufonísi ™ [map] (technically Áno Koufonísi) is the flattest of the quartet, and the busiest with a Páros-Mýkonos-type clientele, thanks to excellent beaches and a charming main village. The entire south coast looks across to Káto Koufonísi (day-trip accessible, with another beach and taverna) and hulking Kéros (off-limits), which was a third-millennium BC burial site and source of much of the Cycladic material in Greek museums. Skhinoússa # [map] has no less than 16 beaches, few with facilities, fringing the coast, while its hilltop Hóra has an adjacent medieval fortress. Irakliá ¢ [map] has two settlements: the harbour, Ágios Geórgios, and Hóra, just over an hour’s hike above, plus a visitable cave, but the fewest beaches of the group.

Fishermen still play their part in the economy of the Cyclades.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Ancient Delos

Extensive Greco-Roman ruins occupying much of minuscule Delos (Dílos), southwest of Mýkonos, make the four-square-kilometre (1.5-sq-mile) islet the near-equal of Delphi and Olympia.

If you suffer from seasickness, be forewarned: the island occupies one of the most turbulent reaches in the Aegean. The boat trip takes 25–40 minutes in windy conditions (the norm); breakfast should be a dry bread-roll or two, nothing more. Site hours Apr–Oct daily 8am–8pm; Nov 8am–3.30pm; shut Dec–Mar.

Delos became a shrine because Leto, a nymph pregnant by Zeus, gave birth there first to Artemis and then, clutching a palm tree, to Apollo. A floating rock, Delos was rewarded for braving Hera’s jealous wrath by four diamond pillars that anchored it to the seabed.

Most of the ruins occupy a broad area on the island’s west coast. To the south is the theatre quarter, with various domestic buildings. On the north of the site are the sanctuaries to which pilgrims from all over the Mediterranean came with votive offerings and sacrificial animals.

For nearly a thousand years, Delos was the political and religious centre of the Aegean, and host to the Delian Festival, held every four years and, until the 4th century BC, Greece’s greatest religious gathering. The Romans turned it into a grand trade fair, and made Delos a free port. It also became Greece’s main slave market, where as many as 10,000 slaves (as against 25,000 local residents) were said to be sold daily. In 88 BC, Mithridates, king of Pontus, sacked Delos, followed by the pirate Athenodoros in 69 BC; it never recovered, and fell into disuse.

The Sanctuaries of Apollo and Dionysos

Follow the pilgrim route from the Sacred Harbour to a ruined, monumental gateway leading into the Sanctuary of Apollo. Within are three temples dedicated to Apollo and one to Artemis, and the remains of a colossal marble statue of the god. Close by is the Sanctuary of Dionysus, with several Dionysic friezes and outsized phalli standing on pedestals – including a marble phallic bird, symbolising the body’s immortality. Continue to the stunning Lion Terrace, where five Archaic lions squat. (These are copies; the weathered originals, carved from Naxian marble, crouch in the museum.) Below this is the Sacred Lake, and a palm tree which marks the spot of Apollo’s birth.

Most visitors delight in the residential portion of Delos, occupied by merchants rather than gods. Their houses, close to the commercial port, form a warren separated by narrow lanes equipped with Roman drains and niches for oil-burning streetlamps. The main street leads to the modest theatre, which seated 5,500, with superb views from the uppermost of its 43 rows. Either side of the theatre are grander mansions named for the subjects of their still-exquisite courtyard mosaics: Dionysos, Trident, Dolphin, Masks. A panther mosaic is found in the woeful site museum (same hours as site), set for a state-of-the-art replacement in the mid-2020s.

From the theatre quarter, a gentle stroll leads to the summit of Mount Kýnthos (110 metres/360ft), offering memorable views of the ruins and the Cyclades. Finish off your tour by descending first past the Hellenistic grotto of Hercules, and then stopping at the terrace of shrines to the Foreign Gods. During the town’s prime, practically the entire Levant traded here, all erecting shrines to their own divinities.

One of the lions of Delos, carved in the 7th century BC, which guard the island’s Sacred Lake.

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CRETE

Greece’s largest and southernmost island is characterised by soaring mountains, Venetian townscapes, a proudly independent people and unique remains of Europe’s first great civilisation.

Main Attractions

Iráklio Archaeological Museum

Hrysí islet excursion

Phaistos Palace

Arkádi Monastery

Réthymno old town

Haniá old town

Falásarna beach

Samariá Gorge hike

Megalónisos (Great Island) is what Cretans call their home, and “great” refers to far more than size. It certainly applies to the Minoan civilisation, the first in Europe and the core of Cretan history. Visitors by the thousands pour into the ruins of Knossos, Phaistos, Malia and Agía Triáda, before heading towards one of the scores of excellent beaches. With three major international airports, Crete cannot be classified as undiscovered, but through its sheer scale it manages to contain the crowds and to please visitors with widely divergent tastes. While a car is essential for discovering the best of the island, car hire is, unfortunately, expensive unless you book well in advance on-line.

The aquamarine waters of the Gulf of Mirabello.

Dreamstime

For four months of the year, snow lies on the highest peaks which provide a dramatic backdrop to verdant spring meadows ablaze with flowers. This, as botanists and ornithologists know well, is by far the best time to visit. The former arrive to view more than 150 species which are unique to the island, while the latter are thrilled by more than 250 types of migratory bird heading north. In spring, the island is redolent with sage, savory, thyme, oregano – and dittany, the endemic Cretan herb. It has long been reputed to be aphrodisiac – the dialect name for the plant is érondas, as in erotic.

Crete, much more than other Greek islands, is a place both for sightseeing and for being on the beach. Minoan ruins are the major magnets, but there are also Roman, Ottoman and Venetian remains, and a score of great museums. There are hundreds of Byzantine churches, many with rare and precious frescoes. If the church is locked, enquire at the nearest café. Even if you don’t track down the key, you will enjoy the encounter with local people and they will likely have an interesting local fact or tip.

Minoan bull, Iráklio Archaeological Museum.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Drink

Rakí (or its variant tsikoudiá), a spirit made from already-pressed wine grapes, is ubiquitous in Crete – often left in accommodation as a welcome treat – and is cheaper than bottled water when dining out.

Iráklio (Heráklion)

Crete’s capital since 1971, Iráklio 1 [map] has nearly a third of the island’s population and is Greece’s fifth-largest city. Once among the wealthiest Greek towns, it – like most of the country – has fallen on hard times since 2008, with unemployment above the national average. Extensive World War II damage was compounded by poor (or rather, no) urban planning choices thereafter. Despite this, attempts are ongoing to remedy a scruffy civic infrastructure, with the old quarter and Venetian monuments getting as much conservationist attention as scarce funds allow.

Most tourists head first for the Minoan site of Knossos 2 [map] (daily Apr–Aug 8am–8pm, Sept 8am–7pm, Oct 8am–6pm, Nov–Mar 8.30am–5pm). To fully appreciate the site, this should be combined (joint ticket sold) with a visit to Iráklio’s outstanding archaeological museum A [map] (Jan–Mar daily 8am–5pm, Apr–Jun daily 8am-8pm, Jul-Sep daily 8am-7.30pm, Oct–Dec daily 8am-6.30pm). The museum reopened in 2014 after extensive renovations, and now includes video installations and interactive exhibitions, with 23 rooms displaying the “greatest hits” from a collection of more than 5,000 objects, which include the famous Phaistos Disc, a rock-crystal rhyton and painted sarcophagi. The tourist office is just opposite, and both are moments from the cafés of Platía Eleftherías B [map] (Liberty Square).

Iráklio’s other major attractions date from the Venetian era, Crete’s most prosperous period in historical times. Head seawards towards the old harbour, guarded by the Koúles fortress C [map] (Wed–Mon 8am–7.30pm), whose three external reliefs of the Lion of St Mark confirm its provenance. From here, stroll westwards along shorefront Sofokéous Venizélou to the excellent Historical Museum D [map] (www.historical-museum.gr; Apr–Oct Mon–Sun 9am–5pm, Nov–Mar Mon–Fri 9am–3.30pm & Sat 10am–4pm), which covers Cretan history and ethnography from the Byzantine Empire to the present. Inside are fine icons and fresco fragments, stone relief carvings, documentation of the local Jewish, Muslim and Armenian communities, folk textiles and a recreation of a traditional Cretan home. Models and prints across the centuries show how Iráklio has developed, as does an interactive model of the medieval city. Due prominence is given to the struggle for Cretan independence and World War II resistance.

Return to the city centre at Platía Venizélou (aka Lion or Fountain Square), which takes its popular names from the stylish 17th-century Morosíni fountain E [map] and guardian marble lions 300 years older. Overlooking the square is the handsome Venetian loggia F [map] (now the city hall), flanked by the churches of Ágios Márkos G [map] (today the municipal art gallery; Mon–Fri 9am–2pm, 5–9pm, Sat 9am–2pm) and Ágios Títos H [map] (irregular opening). Since 1966, when it was returned from Venice, the skull of St Titus, St Paul’s apostle to Crete and its first bishop, has been housed in Ágios Títos.

Walk south along noisy Odós 1866, “market street”, redolent with tantalising smells, jammed with people but now very touristy. Admire the Venetian Bembo Fountain I [map] and the adjacent Ottoman pumphouse (now a café) at the far end before turning west towards the Icon and Sacred Art Museum (daily Mon–Sat 9am–3pm), inside 15th-century Agía Ekateríni J [map] church. Stars of the collection are six icons by 16th-century master Mihaïl Damaskinos.

Fact

Walk Iráklio’s Venetian walls and you will reach the tomb of local author Nikos Kazantzakis, of Zorba the Greek fame. His epitaph translates as: “I hope for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free”.

Finally, walk along the 15th-century city walls, in their day the most formidable in the Mediterranean, once besieged for 22 years. They stretch for nearly 4km (2.5 miles) and in parts are 29 metres (95ft) thick. En route, pause a moment at the tomb of the great Cretan author and iconoclast Nikos Kazantzakis and enjoy the spectacular views.

Around Iráklio

In and around the village of Arhánes 3 [map] , 12km (8 miles) south of Knossos, are two churches with interesting frescoes, a good archaeological museum and three Minoan sites: the Anemospilia sanctuary, the Gioúkhtas peak sanctuary and the caves. Evidence suggests that when the Anemospiliá temple was destroyed by an earthquake, a priest was in the ritual act of sacrificing a youth. This conjecture has outraged some scholars as much as Nikos Kazantzakis’s books outraged the established Orthodox Church.

The Venetian church of Ágios Títos.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Fact

The island of Spinalónga was immortalised in Victoria Hislop’s novel Island, and the successful Greek TV series based on it – Greek tourists appear here in droves now.

A drivable track from Arhánes leads up Mount Gioúkhtas (811 metres/2,660ft), from where you can admire the panorama while griffin vultures soar overhead. Resembling a recumbent figure, said to be Zeus, the mountain top has a Minoan peak sanctuary and inaccessible caves in which Zeus is supposedly buried. Perhaps this proves the truth of the aphorism that “all Cretans are liars” because to most ancient Greeks, Zeus was, after all, immortal.

Týlisos 4 [map] , 13km (8 miles) southwest of Iráklio, one of the few modern villages to retain its original pre-Hellenic name, offers three well-preserved Minoan manor houses (Jan–Mar daily 8am-5pm, Apr–Oct daily 8am-8pm, Jul–Sep daily 8am-7.30pm, Oct–Dec daily 8am–6.30pm). 20 km (13 miles) further along the same road, Anógia 5 [map] is a weaving and embroidery centre. Many locals wear native dress but this is not touristic folklore: Anógia has a long tradition of resistance – the village was razed and the menfolk massacred in 1944 – and its people are among the proudest and most musical in Crete.

From Anógia, another road climbs to the magnificent Nída plateau, from where it is a 20-minute uphill stroll to the Ideon Cave, which was the nursery, if not the birthplace, of Zeus. Here, the infant god was hidden by the Kouretes, who clashed their weapons to drown the sound of his cries, while the nymph Amalthea fed him goat’s milk. Strong walkers might wish to push on along the marked E4 path to the summit of Mount Psilorítis, at 2,456 metres (8,060ft) the highest point on Crete – allow 8.5hr out and back.

Return to Iráklio and continue eastwards along the coastal highway for 24km (15 miles) to the so-called Cretan Riviera – reminiscent of Blackpool or Coney Island – and its resorts of Hersónisos, Stalída (Stalís) and Mália. These are neither elegant nor ethnic: bars, loud music, and fast-food outlets abound. Beaches are not always brilliant, and development is best explained by proximity to Iráklio airport (set to move inland to Arkalohóri soon).

Váï’s palm-fringed beach.

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The palace at ancient Mália 6 [map] (summer Wed–Mon 8am–6pm, winter Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), traditionally associated with King Sarpedon, brother of Minos, is contemporary with Knossos. The ruins are not as extensive as Knossos or Phaistos, but even without reconstruction, they are more comprehensible. Early (1921) excavations unearthed the Hrysólakkos (Golden Pit) from the proto-Palatial period (2000–1700 BC), an enormous necropolis with numerous gold artefacts, including the famous bee pendant now in the Iráklio Archaeological Museum.

Lasíthi province

From the “Riviera”, a twisting mountain road leads up to the Lasíthi Plain, 840 metres (2,756ft) above sea level and 57km (36 miles) from Iráklio. This fertile upland used to produce abundant crops of potatoes, grain, apples and pears, but depopulation and freak rains hampering spring planting have meant agricultural decline. The fabled 10,000 windmills here, now derelict, no longer pump up water from the limestone below, having been replaced by diesel pumps. Psyhró 7 [map] village is closest to the giant Díkteo Ándro (Diktian Cave), another birthplace of Zeus (summer daily 8am–7pm, winter daily 8am–3pm).

Back on the coast (reached by the scenic Lasíthi–Neápoli road), Ágios Nikólaos 8 [map] , 69km (43 miles) from Iráklio, is invariably abbreviated by tourists to “Ag Nik”. Magnificently situated on the Gulf of Mirabello and overlooked by mountains to the east, this is also the capital of Lasíthi district. Between here and Eloúnda (10km/6 miles away) are some of the island’s best and most expensive hotels, despite Ag Nik lacking a decent beach, though adequate ones lie a short distance southeast. Tourist facilities cluster around Ag Nik’s little harbour and adjacent Lake Voulisméni, 64 metres (210ft) deep but once believed to be bottomless. Eloúnda’s Spinalónga island 9 [map] (Apr–Oct daily 9–5.45pm, Nov–Mar closed), an isolated leper colony until 1957 (the last in Europe), with a massive Venetian fortress and poignant memories, is readily reached from Eloúnda or much closer Pláka by boat.

The mountainous interior.

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Clinging to the hillside 12km (7 miles) south of Ag Nik, Kritsá ) [map] is claimed to be the home of Crete’s best weavers. Their brilliantly coloured work hangs everywhere – for sale – complementing the flowers and contrasting with the whitewashed homes that line the narrow village alleyways. Below stands the 13th–14th-century church of Panagía Kerá (Nov–Mar Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm, Apr–Oct Wed–Mon 8.30pm–3.30pm), Crete’s greatest Byzantine treasure. Although many frescoes are damaged, the Presentation of Christ, Torments of the Damned in Hell, and a complete cycle of the Panagía’s Life appear in full glory.

Some 19km (12 miles) southeast of Ag Nik, is Gournia ! [map] (Tue–Sun 8am–3pm), a Minoan town rather than a palace, complete with streets and houses, spread over a ridge that overlooks the sea. In spring, when the site is covered with a riot of wildflowers, even those bored with old stones will appreciate it.

Sitía @ [map] , 70km (44 miles) from Ag Nik, promises to bestir itself more since the adjacent airport began accepting flights from Scandinavia and Germany in 2017. Mostly a place to just hang out behind the sandy beach, its specific attractions are few – chiefly the archaeological museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), full of finds from Minoan Zákros. After 16km (10 miles), you reach fortified Toploú Monastery (Mon–Sun 9am–1pm & 2pm–6pm), with its famously intricate icon Lord Thou Art Great, though most of the premises are off-limits. About 8km (5 miles) further along, you arrive at Váï £ [map] , renowned for its myriad palm trees, large sandy beach and tropical ambience. The palms are native to Crete, the beach is usually crowded, and identical trees thrive at beaches south of Réthymno.

Zakros $ [map] (Wed–Mon Apr–Oct 8am–6pm, Nov–Mar 8.30am–3.30pm), 43km (27 miles) from Sitía, is another great Minoan site, situated below the spectacular Gorge of the Dead, where caves were used for Minoan burials; the best approach is via the marked path down through the gorge, starting at inland Zakros village. The palace-town has the customary central courtyard with royal, religious and domestic buildings and workshops radiating outwards; most date from 1900–1600 BC, the apogee of Minoan civilisation. You may then dine, swim or even stay at adjacent Káto Zákros beach hamlet.

Another road from Sitía leads initially south to the low-key resort of Makrý Gialós % [map] , with a long, gently shelving sand beach. Some 29km (18 miles) west, past sheltered coves like Agía Fotiá and Ahliá, lies Ierápetra ^ [map] , the south coast’s only real town, and Crete’s fourth largest. With little to offer besides a tiny but exquisitely restored Venetian fort (daily summer 8.30am–3pm) and a small but interesting archaeological “collection” (Wed–Sat 8am–3pm) inside a former Koranic school, Ierápetra has mostly devoted itself to greenhouse agriculture. The prime local targets are offshore Hrysí (Gaïdouronísi), graced by idyllic beaches, or the village resort of Mýrtos, 15km (9 miles) west, with an enduring “alternative” ambience and more excellent sand.

South from Iráklio

Head south from Iráklio over the island’s spine and you reach a breathtaking view of the Plain of Mesará, whose rich soil and benign climate make it an agricultural cornucopia. At the edge of the plain, the main enclosed site of Gortys & [map] (modern Górtyna; daily Apr–Aug daily 8am–8pm, Nov–Mar daily 8.30am–3.30pm) is 41km (26 miles) from Iráklio. This was the capital of the Romans, who came to Crete in 67 BC to settle feuds but who stayed and annexed the island. Outstanding are the Roman odeon and a triple-naved basilica of Ágios Títos, the latter by far the best-preserved early church in Crete. But the most renowned artefacts are some stone blocks incorporated into the odeon. About 2,500 years ago, a 17,000-character text, the Law Code of Gortys, was incised on these. The script is written in the so-called ‘ox-plough’ manner – reading left to right along one line, then right to left along the next.

It’s a brief drive south to the long beach at Léndas * [map] (72km/45 miles from Iráklio); nearby ancient Lebena was the port for Gortys, and its therapeutic springs made it a renowned sanctuary with a temple to Asklepios, the god of healing. Only traces of this, notably a Hellenistic mosaic, can be seen.

Phaistos ( [map] (modern Festós; daily Apr–Aug 8am–8pm, Sept 8am–7pm, Oct 8am–6pm; Nov–Mar 8.30am–3.30pm), Crete’s second great Minoan palace, occupies a magnificent location 16km (10 miles) west of Gortys. State-rooms, religious quarters, workshops, storerooms and functional plumbing can all be identified; those purists who bristle at Knossos’s reconstruction will find this site more satisfying, as they will Agía Triáda 3km (2 miles) west (daily summer 8.30am–3.30pm, winter same hours), a combination of Minoan summer villa and later Dorian town.

Icons and El Greco

The artist El Greco (1541–1614), a Cretan native who studied under Titian, is best known for his portraits and religious pictures painted in Rome and Toledo. His highly distinctive style anticipated modern impressionism by his use of cold white, blue and grey colour schemes, and by his sacrifice of realism to emotional effect. His work also strikingly fuses Byzantine and Renaissance influences, a legacy of his early training as an icon-painter in Iráklio.

These icons were not objects of idolatrous worship, but this was precisely the indictment of the so-called Iconoclasts during the 7th and 8th centuries. In an effort to purify the religion, they proceeded to literally deface thousands of icons, frescoes and mosaics across Byzantium. Intact pre-9th-century icons are consequently very rare. Iráklio’s church of Agía Ekateríni has a fine collection of icons, including six by Mihaïl Damaskinos, a contemporary of El Greco. Both artists are thought to have studied at the church, all that remains of the Mount Sinai Monastery School, founded by exiles from Constantinople after the fall of “the City”.

Two works by El Greco can be viewed on Crete – View of Mount Sinai and the Monastery of St Catherine and Baptism of Christ, in Iráklio’s Historical Museum.

The closest beaches are at Mátala ‚ [map] , 70km (44 miles) from Iráklio. The resort first gained renown when the caves in the sandstone cliffs flanking the small sandy beach became home to 1960s hippies.

The scenic 30-minute walk south to Red Beach is highly recommended, though Kómmos beach to the north is much larger and has a Minoan site, the old port of Phaistos, still being excavated. The larger south-coast resort of Agía Galíni ⁄ [map] also lies on the Gulf of Mesará, though a little further west. The harbour, with a short wide quay and a tiny main street jammed with tavernas and bars, is enclosed within a crescent of steep hills covered with modest hotels.

Réthymno and around

From Iráklio, the coastal road runs west towards Réthymno. Leave the expressway 25km (16 miles) from the capital for Fódele, a small village rich in orange trees and locally made embroidery. A restored house (www.psfodele.gr; Apr–Oct daily 9am–7pm) here is said to be the 1541 birthplace of Domenikos Theotokopoulos, better known as El Greco. Fódele’s fame may be fleeting, for the latest word is that El Greco was probably born in Iráklio.

Haniá’s Venetian-built waterfront.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

At Stavroménos, turn southeast for the beautifully situated Arkádi Monastery ¤ [map] (80km/50 miles from Iráklio; www.arkadimonastery.gr/museum.html; daily Apr–Sept 9am–7pm, Oct daily 9am–6pm, Nov 9am–5pm, Dec–Mar erratic hours, Sun closed during church service;), Crete’s most sacred shrine to its suicidal 1866 resistance to the Ottomans. The elaborate 16th-century western facade of the church figured on the retired 100-drachma note.

Réthymno ‹ [map] (Réthimno), which prides itself on being Crete’s intellectual capital (reflected in an internationally respected university), has a well-preserved old town with a small, picturesque Venetian harbour; the quayside – choc-a-bloc with cafés and bars – is guarded by an elegant lighthouse.

On the west, the immense ruined Fortétsa of 1573–80 (daily mid-March–mid-Nov 8am–7.15pm) is claimed to be the largest extant Venetian castle, with excellent views. Inside, almost the only intact structure is the 1647-built, acoustically marvellous Ibrahim Han Mosque, the largest domed structure in Greece.

The town’s other main attractions – the Rimóndi Fountain, the archaeological museum (Apr–Oct Wed–Mon 10am–6pm, Nov–Mar Wed-Mon 8.30am–3.30pm temporarily relocated to the old church of Ágios Frangískos) with a fine collection of painted clay sarcophagi, the Historical and Folklore Museum (Mon–Sat 10am–2.30pm), with a wealth of rural impedimenta, and the Nerantzés Mosque (a converted Venetian church) – all lie between the fortress and the long town beach which starts just past the old port. Venetian and Ottoman houses with unexpected architectural features line the narrow streets linking these sights, while minarets and wall fountains with ornate calligraphy recall the long Ottoman tenure (and an urban population almost half Muslim before 1898).

Fact

Joni Mitchell stayed some months at Mátala and wrote a song (Carey) all about it (“The wind is in from Africa, Last night I couldn’t sleep…”).

Due south from Réthymno, the main road towards Agía Galíni first passes the turnings for Píso Préveli Monastery › [map] (daily 9am–sunset), famously active in helping to evacuate stranded Allied servicemen after the fall of Crete in 1941, and Plakiás, with its five distinct beaches and spectacular mountain backdrop, 43km (27 miles) from Réthymno.

The busy E75 coastal expressway continues west from Réthymno towards Haniá, crossing the provincial boundary just before Georgioúpoli ﬁ [map] at the mouth of the River Armyrós, which meets the sea at one end of a good long beach. Some, however, may prefer the novelty of nearby Lake Kourná, the only freshwater lake in Crete, with tavernas, idyllic swimming and pedaloes or kayaks to rent.

Lunch in Réthymno.

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Haniá and around

Haniá ﬂ [map] (Chaniá), 59km (37 miles) from Réthymno, is Crete’s second city and claims to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world. Among the most vibrant towns in Greece, it has drawn a large population of foreigners and Greeks from elsewhere to live here. At its heart is a delightful old town arrayed around the two Venetian harbours, replete with exquisite Venetian and Ottoman buildings, many of them home to museums. The best two are the archaeological museum (currently shut prior to the move to new premises), inside a former Venetian monastery, with a collection strongest on painted Minoan larnakes (sarcophagi), Cretan coins with local motifs, Roman statuettes, and Hellenistic mosaics, and the well-designed Byzantine Museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) inside former San Salvatore church, with icons, jewellery, coins, a floor mosaic and fresco fragments rescued from country chapels. A surviving synagogue, Etz Hayyim (www.etz-hayyim-hania.org; Mon–Thu 10am–4pm, Fri 10am–3pm), has been restored for visits, although 99 percent of Haniá’s Jews were deported by the Germans in 1944. Just south of the old-town walls, the Agorá, or covered market, was opened in 1913, a copy of Marseille’s halles. One of Crete’s shopping highlights, its cross-shaped arcades offer shade, a few tavernas and a variety of edible souvenirs.

Agía Rouméli.

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The closest escape is to the Akrotíri Peninsula just east, with several small villages and beaches, plus three important monasteries. Seventeenth-century Agías Triádas (alias Zangarolón; daily summer 8.30am–5.30pm) is now essentially a museum, with an imposing Venetian facade. Gouvernétou Monastery 4km north is a functioning monastery not open to non-Orthodox, but marks the start of a strenuous, two-hour (round trip) hike down to the evocative remains of 11th-century Katholikó, Crete’s oldest monastery.

The road west from Haniá hugs the coast, passing several busy small, contiguous resorts, before arriving at Kolymvári ‡ [map] , gateway to Goniá Monastery (daily 9am–7pm) with Ottoman cannonballs stuck in its walls. Beyond, there are memorable views of the plain of Kastélli and the Bay of Kíssámos bracketed by the peninsulas of Rodopoú and Gramvoúsa. The pleasant but rather characterless town of Kastélli-Kissámou ° [map] (42 km/26 miles from Haniá) has an outstanding museum (Apr–Oct Wed–Mon 8am–8pm, Nov–Mar Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) displaying Crete’s best Roman mosaics. Excursions can be made from here to the “Blue Lagoon” and Venetian island fortress at Bállos, at the tip of Gramvoúsa, or to spectacular Falásarna beach · [map] at the base of the peninsula, complete with ancient city.

From Plátanos village above Falásarna, a twisting corniche road leads to Váthi and the turning southwest for 10km (6 miles) more to the Hrysoskalítissa Convent (daily 9am–6.30pm). The name, meaning “Golden Step”, reflects the legend that one of the 90 steps that lead up to the convent is made of solid gold, invisible to sinners. From here, the road continues 5km more to the excellent beaches – hence very busy in season – of shallow Elafonísi lagoon. Wade across to the island of the same name, and you are at Crete’s westernmost point.

Eat

Réthymno’s quayside still has a few fish restaurants, but the best dining is now in the warren of inland lanes.

Different roads from Haniá or Kastélli, both via Kándanos with several frescoed churches on its outskirts, lead to the southwesterly resort of Paleóhora º [map] (76 km/48 miles from Hanía), relatively low-key with a choice of sand and shingle beaches, or to ex-hippie-haven Soúgia, with a huge pebble beach and an enjoyable trail-walk to ancient Lissos. Both are linked by daily ferry to Hóra Sfakíon (Sfakiá) ¡ [map] , 75km (47 miles) from Haniá, a small, picturesque coastal town with a heroic past. Its main raison d’être today – but don’t tell this to the macho Sfakians – is as a transfer point for exhausted tourists returning by ferry from their Samariá Gorge excursion. All three resorts have boat services to the remote islet of Gávdos ™ [map] , the southernmost point in Europe (or the northernmost in Africa, as some wags put it).

The Samariá Gorge

Crete offers an exciting and spectacular walk through the gorge of Samariá # [map] , claimed to be the longest (16km/10 miles) in Europe. The walk starts by descending a steep stair-path at Xylóskalo, 1,200 metres (3937ft) above the sea, at the southern end of the vast Omalós plain, itself a 45km (28-mile) tortuous drive from Haniá.

After about 6km (3.5 miles), with most of the steeper descent over, the abandoned hamlet of Samariá and its church of Osía María come into view. Stop and admire the church’s lovely 14th-century frescoes – an opportunity to regain your breath without loss of face. The going now gets tougher and involves criss-crossing the river-bed (be warned: flash floods can occur and wardens’ warnings should be heeded). There is a lot of scree on the way, so you should wear sturdy walking shoes and take great care. As the gorge narrows, the walls soar straight upwards for 300–600 metres (984–1,968ft). Soon after passing the church of Aféndis Hristós, the Sideróportes (Iron Gates) are reached: here the gorge – scarcely penetrated by sunlight – is little more than 3.5 metres (11ft) wide.

The park is under the strict aegis of the Haniá Forest Service, which specifically forbids certain activities, including singing. While you are walking, the elusive Cretan wild goat, the agrími, will probably be nearby, though it is unlikely that you will see any. On the other hand, you may spot bearded vultures overhead.

There is a further 3km (2 miles) of hot and anticlimactic walking before celebrating with a longed-for swim or cold drink at modern, coastal Agía Rouméli with its tavernas and pensions. In ancient times, this is where Cretan cypress wood, much coveted in the ancient world, was exported to Egypt. Once refreshed, the only practical exit from the gorge – other than more tough hiking east or west along the coast – is by boat eastwards to Hóra Sfakíon or westwards to Soúgia and Paleóhora. There are no coastal roads.

The gorge is open from about May 1 until October 31, exact dates depending on weather and stream conditions (daily dawn–sunset; entrance fee). Allow four-and-a-half to six hours for the walk.

INSIGHT: THE PALACE OF KNOSSOS

Until 1894, Crete’s Minoan civilisation was little more than a myth. Now its capital is one of the largest and most thoroughly restored sites in Greece.

Knossos (pronounced Knosós in modern Greek) can be a baffling place, difficult to grasp. Some visitors find that the concrete reconstructions and repainted frescoes (often extrapolated from very small existing fragments) aid comprehension. But for many, used to other, more recent ruins that are clearly defensive or overtly religious, the site is mysterious. Can we hope to look back at fragments of a culture from over 3,500 years ago and understand its imperatives and subtleties?

In legend, Knossos was the labyrinth of King Minos, where he imprisoned the minotaur, the human-taurine child of his wife Pasiphae. In reality, the place was probably not in the modern sense a palace, but rather an administrative and economic centre, unified by spiritual leadership. The 1,300 rooms of the main complex were used for both sacred and commercial purposes: lustral baths for holy ceremonies; store rooms for agricultural produce; workshops for metallurgy and stone-cutting. Nearby are the Royal Villa and the Little Palace.

Try to visit earlier or later in the day (better yet, visit out of season), to avoid the heat and the worst of the crowds. Look for subtle architectural delights – light wells to illuminate the larger rooms; hydraulic controls providing water for drinking, bathing and flushing away sewage; drains with parabolic curves at the bends to prevent overflow. It is well worth hiring a certified guide to take you around – available ones congregate near the ticket booth.

Combine Knossos with an afternoon visit to the archaeological museum.

A replica fresco depicting the capture of a wild bull decorates the ramparts of the north entrance.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Controversial restorations

In 1878, a local merchant, Minos Kalokairinos, uncovered part of Knossos, but the owners of the land prevented further excavation and even the wealthy German Heinrich Schliemann got entangled in unproductive negotiations for purchase of the site.

However, once Crete gained autonomy in 1898, the way was open for the English archaeologist Arthur Evans (later knighted) to buy the land and begin excavating. He worked here from 1900 until 1931, though by 1903 most of the ruins had been uncovered.

Evans’ use of reinforced concrete to reconstruct long-vanished timber columns, and his completely speculative upper-storey reconstructions, have received considerable criticism. Moreover, the Minoan frescoes are not only arbitrarily placed, but (those in the Iráklio Museum as well) almost completely modern, painted from scratch by his assistants Piet de Jong and the two Émile Gilliérons, father and son. It’s also clear that both the restoration and fresco-retouching was heavily influenced by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles prevalent at the time. Others have charged that Evans, a fairly typical Victorian chauvinist, manipulated evidence to fit his theory of the thalassocratic Minoans as prehistoric proto-British imperialists.

Excavation continues to this day, under subtler management.

RHODES

According to the ancient Greeks, Rhodes was “more beautiful than the sun”. Even today’s brash resorts cannot dim the appeal of its benign climate, entrancing countryside and unique history.

Main Attractions

Palace Of Grand Masters, Rhodes Old Town

Synagogue-Museum, Rhodes Old Town

Líndos Acropolis

Thárri Monastery Frescoes

Pigés Kallithéas Restored Spa

Tsambíka Monastery & Beach

Paralía Kaláthou Beach

Windsurfing at Prasonísi

The largest and best-known of the Dodecanese islands, Rhodes (Ródos; www.rhodesguide.com) is endowed with a balmy climate and a wealth of monuments from many eras. Ancient Rhodes originally consisted of three city-states: Kameiros, Ialysos and Lindos. Following Athenian attacks, they decided to unite, founding the city of Rodos at the island’s northeast tip, separated from Asia Minor by a strait just seven nautical miles wide. Fortifications were completed by 408 BC, and the town laid out in the popular grid plan of that era, championed by Hippodamos of Miletos.

Sunbathing near Kallithéa.

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Well defended by its fleet and strategically positioned, Rhodes prospered as a trading station and led a charmed life despite fickle alliances, as the moment suited, with Athens, Sparta, Alexander the Great, or the Persians. For more on the Rhodes’ colourful past, for more information, click here.

The Old City

Despite still-visible damage from Allied bombing in early 1945, the Old City of Rhodes 1 [map] is one of the architectural treasures of the Mediterranean, a remarkably complete walled medieval town. The ramparts themselves (entrance from gate beside Palace of the Grand Masters, Mon–Fri 12–3pm) give a good perspective over the palm-and-minaret-studded lanes. At the northwest summit stands the Palace of the Grand Masters A [map] (May–Oct daily 8am–8pm, Nov–Apr Wed–Mon 8am–3pm), destroyed in 1856 by an ammunition explosion and hastily reconstructed by the Italians during the 1930s. On the ground floor are two excellent galleries (closing 5pm) detailing medieval and ancient Rhodes, with exemplary layout and labelling.

From outside, the better-restored Street of the Knights (Odós Ippotón) B [map] , where the chivalric order once housed its members according to their native language, leads downhill to the badly labelled Archaeological Museum C [map] (May–Oct daily 8am–8pm, Nov–Apr Wed–Mon 8am–3pm), with its sea-eroded “Marine Venus”, the title of Lawrence Durrell’s travel memoir on his two years in Rhodes; don’t miss the original Crusader Villaragut mansion and its garden at the rear of the museum. Nearby, the long-closed ethnographic Decorative Arts Collection D [map] finally re-opened in 2018 (May–Sep Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm, Oct–Apr Wed–Mon 8.30am–3pm), displayed traditional Rhodian painted pottery and carved wooden furniture.

Street of the Knights (Odós Ippotón) in Rhodes Old Town.

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Rhodes through the Ages

Rhodes has always played, but never directed, on the world stage – too large for outsiders to ignore, too small to be a power in its own right.

Under Alexander the Great, Rhodes forged links with the Ptolemies; consequently, the Rhodians refused to fight the Egyptians alongside Macedonian King Antigonos. After Alexander’s death, Antigonos sent his son, Demetrios Polyorketes, along with 40,000 men to attack the city in 305 BC; he failed after a year-long siege. The leftover bronze military hardware was melted down to make the island’s most famous landmark, the Colossus of Rhodes, a representation of sun-god Helios. A beacon to passing ships, it stood over 30 metres (100ft) tall, somewhere near the harbour entrance, for nearly 70 years before it collapsed during an earthquake in 226 BC.

The city emerged from the siege with prestige and prosperity enhanced, eclipsing Athens as the cultural beacon of the east Mediterranean. However, it got ideas above its station when it unwisely tried to reconcile the warring Romans and Macedonians. Rome retaliated in 168 BC by effectively making Rhodes a Roman vassal; involvement in Rome’s civil wars a century later saw Rhodes sacked by Cassius and its fleet destroyed. After Octavius’s victory in 42 BC and the establishment of imperial Rome, Rhodes regained some autonomy, and again served as a finishing school and sybaritic posting for officialdom. But its glory days were over. In late Roman and Byzantine times, the island endured second-rate status, and was prone to barbarian raids.

Marine Gate, Rhodes Old Town.

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Early in the 14th century, the Knights Hospitaller– expelled from Palestine and Cyprus – settled on Rhodes, ejecting the Genoese who had been holding the island on sufferance of the Byzantines. They proceeded to occupy and fortify virtually all of the Dodecanese, rebuilding Rhodes Town’s rickety Byzantine city walls and acting as a major irritant to the sultan with their depredations on Ottoman shipping. Finally, in mid-1522, Süleyman the Magnificent landed an army of 200,000 on Rhodes to end the problem; Rhodes’s second siege was shorter and more conclusive than the first, but only just. The Knights resisted valiantly, but finally were forced to surrender. On New Year’s Day 1523, 180 survivors concluded honourable terms of surrender and sailed off to exile on Malta.

The Ottomans suitably appreciated their hard-won possession, at least initially, and instituted the regime common to fortified cities in their empire: Christians were forbidden from staying overnight within the walled old town, although Jews were tolerated in their small quarter to the east. This exclusionary edict gave rise to the marásia or Orthodox suburb villages which hem Rhodes Town on three sides, often bearing the names of their main parish churches. The Ottomans built four grand mosques from scratch within the walls, but more usually appropriated small Byzantine and Crusader churches as mescids (the Muslim equivalent of a chapel). Even at the zenith of Ottoman power, the Muslim population of the entire island never much exceeded 15 percent. Ottoman rule became increasingly desultory and inefficient until the Italians effectively annexed Rhodes in spring 1912 during a wider war.

Despite an enduring resident Turkish minority, Ottoman monuments are not much highlighted except for the Ottoman Library (Mon–Sat 9.30am–4pm) and a wonderful Turkish Bath E [map] (closed permanently) on Platía Aríonos. The arcaded synagogue of Kal Kadosh Shalom F [map] (www.rhodesjewishmuseum.org; Apr–Oct Sun–Fri 10am–3pm; donations welcome), in the former Jewish quarter, can also be visited, as can its adjacent museum (same hours) on the Rhodian Jewish community. The synagogue serves largely as a memorial to the more than 1,800 Jews of Rhodes and Kós who were deported to Nazi death camps in June 1944.

The New Town

Established by the Orthodox Greeks who were banished from the Old City by the Ottomans, and developed by the Italians when they took control in the early 20th century, the New Town (Neohóri) is the commercial centre of Rhodes and the administrative capital of the Dodecanese. Here, designer shops abound, peddling Lacoste, Benetton and Trussardi. Watch the world go by and the yachts bobbing from one of the pricey, touristy pavement cafés at Mandráki port. Marginally cheaper are the cafés inside the Néa Agorá G [map] (covered market), though it’s largely a tourist-trap of bad restaurants redeemed in part by the Art Deco fishmongers’gazebo at the centre.

Mandráki’s quay buzzes night and day with caricature artists, popcorn vendors, sponge-sellers and touts hawking boat trips. Excursion boats leave by 9am for the island of Sými, calling first at Panormítis Monastery, or down the east coast to Líndos. Catamarans depart from Kolóna harbour, a 15-minute walk east, while full-sized ferries leave inconveniently from remote Akandiá harbour, 1km southeast.

The Palace of the Grand Masters, from the port.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Fact

Legend has it that the Colossus stood with one foot on either side of Mandráki harbour entrance. But to do so, it would have had to have been over 10 times its probable size – an impossible feat of engineering.

Mandráki, guarded by the round bastion-lighthouse of Ágios Nikólaos H [map] (St Nicholas’ Fort), is also an established port of call for the international yachting circuit, with local charters, too. By the harbour entrance stands a cluster of Italian monuments: the Governor’s House with its Gothic arches, the cathedral of St John the Evangelist I [map] (Evangelismós) next door (with fine Photis Kontoglou frescoes inside; you should be able to visit before or after a service) and, across the way, the post office, Town Hall and Municipal Theatre. Opposite the theatre, the Mosque of Murad Reis J [map] stands beside one of the island’s larger Muslim graveyards. Beyond this is the Villa Kleovoulos (not open to the public), where Lawrence Durrell lived from 1945 to 1947.

West, on Ekatón Hourmadiés (100 Date-Palms) Plaza, the Modern Greek Art Museum K [map] (www.mgamuseum.gr; Tue–Sat 10am–9pm) has the richest collection of 20th-century Greek painting outside of Athens. All the big names – semi-abstract Níkos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, Spyros Vassiliou, Yiannis Tsarouhis with his trademark portraits of young men, surrealist Nikos Engonopoulos, naïve artist Theophilos, neo-Byzantinist Photis Kontoglou – are well represented. Annexes around the corner and in the old town on Platía Sýmis host temporary exhibits.

Three ancient city-states

One of the original Dorian city-states, Líndos 2 [map] , 44km (27 miles) south along the east coast, is the island’s other big tourist magnet. Settled early thanks to its fine natural harbour – the island’s only one aside from Mandráki at Rhodes Town – its strong acropolis supports a restored Hellenistic Athena temple and another Knights’ castle (May–Oct daily 8am–8pm, winter Wed–Mon 8am–3pm). Clustered below is the late-medieval village of imposing mansions built by local sea-captains; with its barren surroundings, the place has always lived from the sea. Italian, German, American and British bohemians first rediscovered Líndos in the 1960s, attracted by the pellucid light. But it has long since morphed from being an artists’ colony to become a package-tour dormitory: midsummer visits, when you can hardly move down the narrow, cobbled streets, are not recommended.

Ancient Kameiros.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

The second of the original city-states, Kameiros 3 [map] , 33km (20 miles) down the windswept west coast from Rhodes Town, merits a visit for presenting a perfectly preserved Classical townscape (May–Oct Mon–Fri 9am–9pm & Sat 9am-3.30pm. Nov–Apr Mon–Fri & Sat 9am-3pm), without the usual later accretions. Unlike old Líndos, it was abandoned shortly after 408 BC. At ancient Ialysos 4 [map] 12km (7.5 miles) southwest of Rhodes Town, only a Doric fountain and some Hellenistic temple foundations are evident from the ancient city-state. Today, the site is best known for its appealing medieval monastery of Filérimos (open all day, but closes before sunset), well restored after World War II damage.

Local preserves for sale at a street market.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Knights’ Castle at Kritinía.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Tip

Although bus frequencies have actually improved in recent years, Rhodes is most easily explored by hire car.

Island sights

Superbly sited Knights’ castles at Kritinía 5 [map] and Monólithos 6 [map] , both beyond Kameiros, make suitable targets to visit, along with the villages of Siánna and Monólithos in between, well equipped for visitors, with several tavernas. The best Byzantine monuments in the interior are the late Byzantine church of Ágios Nikólaos Foundouklí (always open) with smudged frescoes, just below 798-metre (2,618-ft) Profítis Ilías, and the monastery of Thárri 7 [map] (daily, all day) with its glorious, cleaned 14th-century frescoes, hidden amid partly burned pine forest between Líndos and Monólithos.

The best beaches cluster on the more sheltered east coast. The first resort travelling south from Rhodes Town is Kallithéa, which sprang up around the Pigés Kallithéas spa 8 [map] (www.kallitheasprings.gr; May–Oct 8am–8pm, Nov–Apr 8am–4pm), established there by the Italians. Round the headland is Kallithéa Bay, one of the best beaches on the island and the most energetically exploited for tourism. On the south side of the bay is Faliráki 9 [map] , once one of Greece’s more notorious resorts. By day, every form of water sport is available; by night, just a few surviving clubs compete with loud music and improbably alcoholic cocktails.

Pebbly Traganoú, at the north end of broad Afándou bay, has caves and overhangs, and is mostly patronised by Rhodians. Tsambíka beach ) [map] huddles beneath a giant promontory on which stands a tiny, eponymous monastery of the Virgin in her avatar of fertility goddess – hundreds of ex-votos testify to her successful intervention for childless couples. Paralía Kaláthou ! [map] is the best undeveloped beach on this coast.

Inland from Tsambíka, Eptá Pigés @ [map] is an enduringly popular oasis, its reservoir an Italian legacy. Northwest of there, the Petaloúdes (Butterfly Valley) is the summer-only home of millions of Jersey tiger moths, attracted by the Liquidambar orientalis trees in this secluded stream canyon.

Beyond the Líndos promontory, there are few specific sights aside from the wonderfully frescoed 11th-century church (daily 9am–5pm) at Asklipió £ [map] village, just inland from the burgeoning resort of Kiotári. There are more, usually empty beaches at Gennádi; further south, the ravine-hidden, well-watered village of Lahaniá $ [map] for some decades attracted a second generation of drop-outs after the original Líndos scene, who renovated traditional houses here under now-expired lease agreements. Land’s End for Rhodes is the sandspit-tethered islet of Prasonísi % [map] , reached from Kattaviá village. Topography and winds combine to make the broad, flat beach here one of the premier venues for windsurfing and kiteboarding in Greece, with at least two schools operating every season.

Tsambíka monastery is a magnet for childless women. If a woman conceives after praying there, the child is named Tsambíkos or Tsambíka.

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Italian Architecture in the Dodecanese

The Italians, who occupied the Dodecanese from 1912 until 1943, adorned the historic centres of Rhodes, Kálymnos and Kós towns with grandiose public buildings, constructed a huge naval base and the planned town of Porto Lago (Lakkí) on Léros, and did much to reconstruct Kós Town after it was levelled by the 1933 earthquake. Because of its associations with Fascism, any buildings linked to this period, whatever their quality, were until recently disparaged if not deliberately neglected; since the millennium, Italian monuments on all of the islands cited have benefited from consolidation works.

In Rhodes, a new administrative centre – the Foro Italica – was created, comprising all public services, centred on Piazza del’Impero and its all-important Fascist Party Headquarters with its tower and speaker’s balcony. Beyond lay the city’s purpose-built tourist area, which included La Ronda Sea Baths (today a popular bar-restaurant), the Albergo delle Rose (now the casino) and the aquarium at the northerly cape.

Art Deco style featured in the Fascist Youth Building and the football stadium; other buildings, such as the nautical club, the aquarium and the Customs House mixed elements of Art Deco with abstract Ottoman motifs. Out in the countryside, the Pigés Kallithéas spa is the best example of orientalised Art Deco, stylishly blending with its surroundings.

The later phase of Fascist rule, from 1936, coinciding with the harsh tenure of Governor Cesare Maria de Vecchi, stressed the perceived continuity between the Knights Hospitallers and the Italians. Many monuments of the Knights were restored, and new buildings in a “neo-Crusader” style, such as the Bank of Rome, were erected. At the same time, buildings such as the Albergo delle Rose and the Courthouse were “purified” by removing the allegedly superfluous, orientalising features of Art Deco, and replacing these with a cladding of poros (porópetra in Greek) stone. In this final stage, Italian architecture in the Dodecanese conformed to Rationalist-Internationalist canons of the decade, with more monumental and rigidly symmetrical structures. The Puccini Theatre (now the Municipal Theatre) on the Piazza del’Impero was the best example of many such around this square.

THE DODECANESE

Closer to Turkey than Greece, the archipelago has enormous variety, from holy Pátmos to busy Kós, from wild Kárpathos to tranquil Lipsí, from fertile Tílos to the volcano that is Nísyros.

Main Attractions

East Coast Beaches, Kárpathos

Ólymbos Village, Kárpathos

Sými

Volcanic Caldera, Nísyros

Knights’ Castle, Kós

Southeastern Beaches, Kós

Archaeological Museum, Kálymnos

Hóra, Astypálea

Hóra And Its Monastery, Pátmos

Greek place names often reveal history, and “Dodecanese” (Dodekánisos), a new name by Greek standards, is no exception. Through four centuries of Ottoman rule, these islands were known as the Southern Sporades, a name still appearing on older maps. During this period, smaller, more barren islands here were granted considerable privileges – in effect, being invited to look after themselves – while larger, more fertile Rhodes and Kós were more strictly governed and colonised by Muslims.

A fisherman lays out his nets in Livádia harbour, Tílos.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

After the establishment of an independent Greece in 1830, and periodic armed hostilities between it and the Ottoman Empire, such privileges were gradually withdrawn. The 12 larger islands (dódeka nisiá in Greek) submitted a joint objection against these infringements in 1908; it failed, but the new name stuck, despite there being – depending on how one counts – 18 or even 21 inhabited isles in this chain, extending from northwest to southeast in an arc along the Turkish coast.

In 1912, the Italians, as part of a larger war, took this group of islands to cut the Ottoman supply lines to Libya. Despite initial promises to relinquish the archipelago once the Turks left Tripoli, the Italian annexation was consolidated by World War I (in which Italy was part of the victorious Entente) and the subsequent rise of the Fascist regime after 1923, when the group was officially renamed the “Italian Islands of the Aegean”. The Fascists were busy colonialists, erecting numerous distinctive edifices, planting eucalyptus to drain swamps, building roads and imposing their language, religion and political culture on public life. Repression was stepped up considerably in 1936 when governor Mario Lago was replaced by Cesare Maria de Vecchi, an ardent monarcho-fascist who helped depose Mussolini and was condemned to death by the Salo Republic (though he escaped to Argentina). In a series of bloody actions against now pro-Allied Italian forces, the Germans assumed control of the Dodecanese in late 1943, but in turn surrendered the islands to the British less than two years later.

Attractive Mandráki, Nísyros.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Finally, in March 1948, after a 10-month interlude of Greek military rule imposed to weed out Communists and local collaborators with the Italians, the Dodecanese were united with Greece to become the country’s southeasternmost, and most recent, territorial acquisition. Massive emigration to Australia, South Africa and North America ensued, as in chaotic post-war Greece, union with the “mother” country initially brought little other than freedom of movement. Today, the islanders live – as they always have – largely off the sea, which has brought them a catch of vital importance to the local economy: tourists.

Kárpathos

The most dramatic way to arrive at Kárpathos is by ship from Rhodes, invariably departing at or before dawn. After several hours’ journey, the island appears with its imposing, often cloud-flecked summit-ridge. Boats stop at Diafáni 1 [map] (www.diafani.com), the northerly port given a jetty only in 1996. By the mid-morning light, onward passengers have an hour to get acquainted with Kárpathos. Its eastern shore drops steeply to the sea, baby pines sprouting from slopes denuded during the fierce blazes of the 1980s; occasionally, the cliffs stop at large, white, empty beaches.

After these first impressions, the main port of Pigádia 2 [map] in the east is inevitably a disappointment, with little to recommend it other than its fine setting; it dates only from the 19th century, but the islanders themselves – not invading forces – effectively wrecked it with concrete constructions from the 1960s onwards. This lack of distinction also has something to do with Kárpathos’s status as a backwater since ancient times; neither the Knights of St John nor the Ottomans bothered much with it, leaving it to the Genoese and Venetians, who called it Scarpanto.

Emborió, Hálki.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Getting to a beach is going to be a top priority. An excellent one stretches immediately north for 3km (1.2 miles) along Vróndi Bay. More secluded ones, visible on the ferry ride in, prove close-up to have aquamarine water and white-sand or pebble shores, guarded by half-submerged rock formations. The best of these are Ápella, Aháta and Kyrá Panagiá, accessible either on small-boat excursions or overland – although some Kárpathiot roads are appalling and hire cars are expensive. The west coast is served by good roads but far more exposed, though at remote Levkós, a series of three bays tucked in between headlands, there are excellent beaches and a busy resort.

Most villages are well inland and high up, the standard medieval strategy against pirates, of whom Kárpathos had more than its fair share. The wealthiest settlements are a trio – Apéri 3 [map] , Óthos and Voláda – just south of cloud-capped Mount Kalilímni, 1,215 metres (3,985ft) high, plus Menetés near Pigádia, all studded with a variety of traditional and contemporary villas.

Ólymbos, draped over a windswept ridge in the northwest of the island, has long been something of a honeypot for anthropologists, academic and amateur, owing to its relict Dorian dialect, its colourful costumes (Easter and Dormition Day are celebrated with special verve here), music and communal ovens.

But conventional tourism here has been as distorting – and rescuing – as subsidies from abroad have been elsewhere on Kárpathos; the last of several ridgeline windmills stopped working as a real accessory to life late in the 1970s, but one was restored as a (briefly) functioning museum-piece a few years later. It now just makes for a good photo.

If you stay in either Diafáni or (less comfortably) Ólymbos, much the best way to spend time is to go for walks on the path network across the north of the island; Avlóna farm hamlet, the beach and ruins at Vrykoúnda, more ambitiously to Trístomo inlet, or simply down the canyons to Diafáni are popular targets. Diafáni – something of a beach resort, busy in August – is more geared up for overnight tourism, with a wide selection of facilities.

Karpathiot Architecture and Dress

The source of wealth in Kárpathos seems mysterious at first, since there is little fertile lowland, no industry, and mass tourism began only in the late 1980s. In fact, Kárpathos lives largely off remittances from seamen and emigrants (mostly in the US); this economy has profoundly affected local culture, architecture and attitudes. It has deliberately slowed the development of tourism and, paradoxically, also enhanced the position of women who stayed behind. Overseas values have left their mark on house-building, although even the most vulgar modern pile may sport a date of construction, the owner’s initials and a traditional emblem, perhaps a mermaid or double-headed Byzantine eagle.

In its original form, the vernacular Karpathiot house consists of a single, mud-floored space appropriately divided; to one side a raised wooden platform or dórva, where the bride’s dowry linen, festival clothing and mattresses are kept, the latter rolled out at night. In the centre, a wooden pole – the “pillar of the house” – upholds the ceiling, and to complete the symbolism, a painting or photograph of the couple is pinned to the pole under their wedding-wreath – a custom perhaps developed to acquaint children with chronically absent fathers. The walls are decked with shelves and plate-racks, containing hundreds of kitsch and near-kitsch ornaments: not local handicrafts, but ethnic dolls, gaudy pottery and other baubles collected by wandering Karpathiot sailors. Even modern, multi-room villas still model their salóni (sitting room) on this pattern.

Many Dodecanese islands are matrilineal (as opposed to matriarchal). On Kárpathos, it’s merely more evident, at least in the northernmost villages of Ólymbos 4 [map] and Diafáni, where some women still wear traditional dress; the well-travelled men have worn approximations of Western garb for as long as anyone can remember. The women’s waistcoats, blouses, aprons, headscarves and boots are still locally made, but this everyday costume is completed by Irish wool scarves and imported sequins and embroidery, much of it Chinese and Bulgarian. Festival dress is rather more colourful and includes a gold-coin collar, the number of coins signalling a girl’s wealth to prospective suitors.

Kásos and Hálki

Just southwest of Kárpathos, Kásos 5 [map] is its bleak satellite, devastated by an Ottoman massacre in 1824 and totally dependent ever since on seafaring. Effectively protected from conventional tourism by its lack of beaches, it consequently has limited tourist facilities – especially off-season – and is thus frequented mostly by overseas-based Kasiots during the summer festival period.

Hálki 6 [map] , just off the west coast of Rhodes, is another bare speck of limestone enlivened by the colourful port of Emborió. Formerly home to sponge-divers, most of it was restored during the 1980s and it is now packed from April to October with upmarket tourists. Here, too, beaches are few, mostly pebbly and usually difficult to access.

Sými

Sými lies northeast of Rhodes, between the outstretched “claws” of Turkey’s Datcá Peninsula. Although still retaining some conifer forest, it is waterless and dependent on cisterns or tanker-boats, which means limited tourism. Most visitors come for the day to the photogenic harbour, which at the end of the 19th century supported a greater population (25,000) than Rhodes Town. Prosperity rested on sponge-diving, for which the island long held the Ottoman monopoly, and the related caïque-building industry. Although the Italian takeover of both the Dodecanese and the Libyan coast (where the sponges were harvested) failed to break the Greek hold on the sponge industry, World War II and the rise of synthetic sponges brought down the curtain on an era. War-related privations scattered the population to Rhodes, Athens and overseas, and today fewer than 3,000 call Gialós 7 [map] (the quayside settlement) and Horió (the hillside village) home. Some caïques are still fashioned in the Haráni boatyards, but the sponges sold from Gialós’s souvenir-stalls are mostly imported from Florida and the Philippines.

Approaching the port of Gialós.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Tip

If you decide to buy a natural sponge as a souvenir of Sými, ask for one that has not been bleached. Bleach is used to make the sponge look more inviting, but it also weakens the fibres.

Pédi, the valley south of Horió ridge, is the only arable patch of land on the island. There is a small waterside hamlet, too, and some scraps of sand beach, flanked on the north by a badly designed yacht marina. Emborió bay, north of Gialós, offers a pebble beach, a Byzantine mosaic floor under a protective shelter, and a small catacomb complex. Indeed, most of the island’s beaches are pebbly, and accessible only by arduous hikes or boat excursions; the favourites are Ágios Vassílios, Marathoúnda (with a taverna) and Nanoú (also with a taverna, this one unreliably open). Among rural monasteries, the most artistically distinguished are Mihaïl Roukouniótis, due west of town, with its vivid 18th-century frescoes, and (even better) Agía Marína Nerás chapel (always open), and Kokkimídis monastery (always open), south along (or just off) the paved road to the gargantuan monastery of Panormítis 8 [map] (daily; 7am–7,30pm; free). Being on the sea-lane in from Rhodes, this gets the most visitors, irrespective of merit – a small museum, a large pebble courtyard and a sombre memorial to resistance fighters executed here in 1944 are the main sights.

Bringing in the catch in Livádia harbour, Tílos.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Kastellórizo (Megísti)

Kastellórizo 9 [map] , some 70 nautical miles east of Rhodes in the shadow of Anatolia, has like Sými come down in the world. At the turn of the 19th century, this limestone dot on the map had a population of over 10,000 thanks to the best natural harbour between Piraeus and Beirut, and a schooner fleet based here. But the fleet was sold rather than motorised; the island was heavily shelled during World War I while occupied by the French, then rocked by a 1926 earthquake and a 1944 munitions blast, which together destroyed three-quarters of the houses.

Most “Kassies” emigrated after the war to Rhodes and Western Australia, leaving a virtual ghost town barely clinging to life. The US Government even tried to convince Greece to cede the island to Turkey in 1964, in return for limited hegemony in Cyprus. Geopolitical realities still prevail: the islanders are obliged to get almost everything, from haircuts to fresh vegetables, across the way in Turkish Kaş, where a number of townspeople are of part-Kassie ancestry.

In the end, it was pleasure-yachting and an Oscar-winning film (Mediterraneo, filmed here in 1989–90) that probably saved Kastellórizo from desolation. A steady stream of (initially Italian) tourists has revived its fortunes, along with an airport and other government subsidies. There are no beaches and little to see other than rural monasteries, an ancient acropolis, a sea-cave entered only by boat and a tiny red-stone Crusader castle that gives the island its Italianate name. But the social scale of Kastellórizo Town is cosy and the nightlife lively, including a late August film festival.

Tílos and Nísyros

Seahorse-shaped Tílos, north of Hálki and west of Rhodes, is the least maritime of these islands. With fertile volcanic soil and sufficient ground water, the islanders instead made Tílos the granary of the Dodecanese. Since 2018, it is the only Mediterranean island powered solely by wind turbines and solar panels.

Discerning tourists are attracted by the tranquillity, a choice of fine beaches and good hiking opportunities. Historically, there were just two villages, imaginatively named Mikró Horió ) [map] (Little Village, in the centre) and Megálo Horió ! [map] (Big Village, in the west), continually at odds with each other. Mikró was abandoned after World War II for Livádia @ [map] , the port and main resort. The rivalry supposedly ended with the election in 1998 of a single municipal council – the only sensible solution for a registered population of 500.

Crags above the plains hide seven small castles of the Knights of St John, plus several medieval chapels (all closed). Éristos in the west is the largest and (arguably) best beach; inland extends a great kámbos (fertile plain) planted with citrus, the whole surveyed by Megálo Horió. In the far west, Agíou Pandelímona (daily) is the main monastery, and venue for the principal festival (25–27 July, annually).

Fact

Nísyros volcano last showed signs of life in 1933, so is dormant not extinct; the island is subject to strong earthquakes, the most recent one in 1997.

Circular Nísyros, between Tílos and Kós, is not merely “volcanic”, as often described, but actually is a volcano – a dormant one that last erupted in 1933. Accordingly, what water exists here is sulphur-tainted, but the island is paradoxically green with oak, almond and other plants that thrive on volcanic soil. Once you’re away from the harbour, the capital Mandráki £ [map] is attractive with its close-packed houses overawed by Panagí Spilianí monastery, installed in the inevitable Knights’ castle, and the even more imposing remains of the 7th-century BC Doric citadel of Paleókastro just south. Pálli $ [map] , settled during the 1950s, is the alternative port for fishermen and yachties, just east of the mineral-water spa. You don’t come to Nísyros for beach life, but on the east coast, sandy Liés and Pahiá Ámmos are more than decent.

Nísyros’s dormant volcano; the Steefanos crater.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

There are two inland villages: Emborió, essentially abandoned and being bought up by outsiders, and the more thriving Nikiá % [map] in the southwest, at the edge of the volcanic caldera created in 1422 when the (originally much taller) island blew its top. Coachloads of tourists based in Kós descend periodically, but otherwise the lifeless crater-floor, with its hissing steam-vents and sulphurous smell, is deserted.

Kós

The second-largest Dodecanese island by population, Kós is also tied for second in size with Kárpathos. It follows the lead of Rhodes in most things: a shared history, give or take a few years; a similar Knights’ castle guarding the harbour, plus a skyline of palms and minarets; and an agricultural economy displaced by tourism. However, Kós is much smaller than Rhodes, and much flatter – amazingly so – with only one mountain, Díkeos. The margin of the island is fringed by excellent beaches, many easily reached by motorbike or even pushbike.

Kós harbour.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

A 1933 earthquake devastated most of Kós Town ^ [map] in the north of the island, but gave Italian archaeologists a perfect excuse to comprehensively excavate the ancient city. Hence much of the town centre is an archaeological park, with the ruins of the Roman agora (the eastern excavation) extending up to the 18th-century Loggia Mosque and the millennial Plane Tree of Hippocrates, not really quite old enough to be contemporary with the great ancient healer. The western digs offer covered mosaics and the colonnade of an indoor running-track; just south stand an odeon (always open) and the Casa Romana (Wed–Mon mid-May–Oct 8am–7.30pm, winter earlier closure), a restored Roman villa with floor mosaics and displayed everyday objects.

The Italian-founded, refurbished archaeological museum (Wed–Mon mid-May–Oct 8am–8pm, earlier closure in winter), has a predictable Latin bias in exhibits, although the highlighted statue, purportedly of Hippocrates the father of medicine, is in fact Hellenistic. Hippocrates himself (c.460–370 BC) was born and practised here, but probably died just before the Asklepeion & [map] , an ancient medical school 4km (2.5 miles) southwest of town, was established. The site (mid-May–Oct Tue–Sun 8am–8pm, winter Tue–Sun 8am–3pm) impresses more for its position overlooking the straits with Turkey than any structures, for the masonry was thoroughly pilfered by the Knights to build their enormous Castle in town (daily 8am–8pm), which – unlike the one at Rhodes – was strictly military.

Between the Asklepeion and Kós Town, pause at Platáni, roughly halfway, to dine at one of three excellent Turkish-run tavernas – although as on Rhodes, most local Muslims have chosen to emigrate to Turkey since the 1960s. There was a small Jewish community here too, wiped out with the Rhodian one in 1944 when all local Jews were taken to concentration camps, leaving behind only the marvellous Art Deco synagogue by the town agora.

Diving for sponges

In the old days, divers used to submerge themselves by tying heavy stones to their waists. Holding their breath, they could usually get two or three sponges before they had to resurface. Then the “machine” was introduced, a rubber suit with a bronze helmet connected to a rubber hose and a hand-powered air pump. The diver was given enough air-hose for his final depth, where he could stay a long time owing to the constant air supply. Too long, as it soon turned out – compressed air delivered to divers at the new, greater depths bubbled out of solution in their bloodstream as they rose too rapidly. The results of this nitrogen embolism – “the bends” – included deafness, incontinence, paralysis and often death. By the 1950s, this had been understood and the carnage halted, but it was too late for hundreds of crewmen.

Fact

So many Kalymniots emigrated to Darwin, Australia, in the 1950s and 1960s that the Australian-Greek taxi drivers there now simply call the city “Kálymnos”.

The road east of town dead-ends at Brós Thermá, enjoyable hot springs which run directly into the sea. West of town are the package resorts of Tingáki and Marmári, with long white beaches, and the less frenetic Mastihári, with a broader beach and a useful commuter boat to Kálymnos. In the far southeast, facing Nísyros, are the most scenic and sheltered beaches, with names like “Sunny” and “Magic”; at nearby Ágios Stéfanos * [map] , twin 6th-century basilicas (unenclosed), opposite Kastrí islet, are the best of several early Christian monuments on the island. The Kéfalos headland beyond saw the earliest habitation of Kós: Asprí Pétra cave, home to Neolithic man, and Classical Astypalia, birthplace of Hippocrates, with its remaining little theatre.

On the western flank of Mount Díkeos, the Byzantines had their island capital at Paleó Pýli ( [map] , today a jumble of ruins below a castle at the head of a spring-fed canyon. Closer to the 846-metre (2,776-ft) peak cluster the appealing villages collectively known as Asfendioú, on the forested north-facing slopes looking to Anatolia. At Ziá, tavernas are more numerous than permanent inhabitants. Asómati’s vernacular houses are slowly being bought up and restored by foreigners.

A quiet backstreet in Mandráki.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Kálymnos

First impressions of Kálymnos, north of Kós, are of an arid, mountainous landmass, and a decidedly masculine energy to the main port town of Póthia ‚ [map] , whose biggest attraction is a 2009-opened archaeological museum (May–Oct Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), with excellent Roman-era finds, including a life-size female bronze statue. The now almost-vanished sponge industry has left many reminders: Kálymniot salónia crowded with huge sponges and shell-encrusted amphoras, souvenir shops overflowing with smaller sponges, and, more ominously, elderly men with disabilities.

Plátanos and its Knights’ castle, Léros.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

To the northwest loom two castles: Hrysoherías (unenclosed), the Knight’s stronghold, and the originally Byzantine fort of Péra Kástro (daily dawn–dusk; free), above the medieval capital of Horió ⁄ [map] , still the island’s second town. Most visitors stay at the beach resorts on the gentler west coast between Kandoúni and Massoúri, with Myrtiés the most developed of these, or near the port for the idyllic, car-free islet of Télendos ¤ [map] . The east coast is harsh and uninhabited except for the green, citrus-planted Vathýs valley extending inland from Rína fjord and port.

Astypálea

Lonely, butterfly-shaped Astypálea, stuck out on a subsidised ferry line between the Dodecanese and the Cyclades, would be probably more at home among the latter archipelago. The Knights did not make it this far; a Venetian clan is responsible for the fine castle at the summit of Hóra ‹ [map] , the most dazzling Dodecanese hill-village aside from the Hóra of Pátmos. Houses with colourful wooden poúndia (balconies with privies) adorn the steep streets, and until the 1950s there was also a separate hamlet inside the upper castle. Hóra aside, however, Astypálea is rather bleak, with only a few good beaches to the southwest (Tzanáki, Ágios Konstandínos and Vátses) plus a few more like those at Marmári and Stenó along the island’s narrow middle. Most travellers stay at the uninspiring port of Skála, at more congenial Livádi beach west of Hóra, at boutique Hóra lodgings, or at Análipsi (Maltezána) by the airport.

Léros

Léros, with its half-dozen deeply indented bays, looks like a jigsaw-puzzle piece gone astray. The deepest inlet, Lakkí, sheltered an important Italian naval base from 1935 onward, and from here was launched the submarine that torpedoed the Greek battleship Elli in Tínos harbour on 15 August 1940.

Today, the main ferry port, Lakkí › [map] seems incongruous, an Internationalist-Rationalist-style planned town far too grand for the present token population. Its institutional buildings, long neglected as reminders of colonial subjugation, have mostly been restored. The local atmosphere was for years dampened by the presence of three hospitals for handicapped children and mentally ill adults. Substandard conditions in all of these prompted uproar when exposed by the international press; all but one of the institutions has since closed, with a nursing school now operating in their stead.

The rest of Léros is more inviting, particularly Pandéli with its waterfront tavernas, just downhill from the capital of Plátanos ﬁ [map] , draped over a saddle culminating in a well-preserved Knights’ castle. South of both, Vromólithos has the best, easily accessible car-free beach on an island not known for soft sand. Ágia Marína, beyond Plátanos, is the excursion-caique and south-bound catamaran harbour; like Pandéli, it offers bars and tavernas. Álinda ﬂ [map] , to the north around the same bay, is the oldest established resort and has a long coarse-sand and gravel beach – plus a poignant Commonwealth cemetery for casualties of the 1943 Battle of Léros.

Taking in the view at the Asklepeion.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Fact

The Monastery of St John was built as a fortress to protect its treasures from pirates; there are even slits in the walls for pouring boiling oil over attackers.

Lipsí and baby islets

Lipsí ‡ [map] , the small island just north of Léros, has like Tílos awakened to tourism since the early 1990s. It also awoke to unwanted notoriety as the “Island of Terrorism” when Alexandros Giotopoulos, supremo of the notorious November 17 group, was arrested here in 2002 prior to conviction on terrorism charges. The island’s fertile appearance is deceptive – there is only one spring, and up to four times the current local community have emigrated (mostly to Tasmania) since the 1950s. All facilities are in the single port town, built around the best natural harbour; smaller bays, with beaches, are at Katsadiá in the south, Platýs Gialós in the northwest and Monodéndri on the east coast.

Beyond Lipsí, other tiny islets see few visitors outside of high summer. Arkí ° [map] (pop. 35) clings gamely to life, its scattered houses dependent on solar panels and visits from yachts to sheltered Port Augusta, with all tourist facilities at the main harbour. Across the way sprawls Maráthi, with a long sandy beach and two taverna-rooms. Agathonísi, halfway to Sámos, is a metropolis in comparison, with 90 year-round inhabitants scattered in three hamlets. Goats graze the mastic-and-carob-covered hills sloping down to pebble beaches.

Monks in Agíou Ioánnou Theológou.

Alamy

Pátmos

Pátmos (http://patmos-island.com) has been indelibly linked to the Bible’s Book of Revelations (Apocalypse) ever since tradition placed its authorship here, in AD 95, by John the Evangelist. The volcanic landscape, with its eerie rock formations and sweeping views, seems suitably apocalyptic. Skála · [map] is the port and largest village, best appreciated late at night when crickets serenade and yacht-masts glimmer against a dark sky. By day, Skála sacrifices any charm to stampeding cruise-ship patrons; all island commerce, whether shops, banks or travel agencies, is here. Buses leave regularly from the quay for the hilltop Hóra º [map] , but on a cool day the 40-minute walk along a cobbled path – a short-cut avoiding the road – is preferable.

Just over halfway stands the Monastery of the Apocalypse (summer daily 8am–1.30pm, Tue, Thu & Sat 4–6pm; winter 8am–1pm), built on the grotto where John had his Revelation. A silver band on the wall marks the spot where John laid his head to sleep; in the ceiling yawns a great cleft through which the divine voice spoke.

Hóra’s core, protected by a huge, pirate-proof fortress and visible from a great distance, is the Monastery of Agíou Ioánnou Theológou (same hours as Apocalypse), founded in 1088 by the monk Hristodoulos. A photogenic maze of interlinked courtyards, stairways, chapels and passageways, it occupies the site of an ancient temple to Artemis. The Treasury (entrance fee) houses Greece’s most impressive monastic collection outside of Mount Áthos: priceless icons and jewellery are on display, although the prize exhibit is the edict of Emperor Alexios Komnenos granting the island to Hristodoulos. The library, open only to ecclesiastical scholars, contains over 4,000 books and manuscripts.

Away from the tourist-beaten track, Hóra is filled with an eery, pregnant silence, its thick-walled mansions with their pebble courtyards and arcades the preserve of wealthy foreigners. From Platía Lótzia on the north side, one of the finest views in the Aegean takes in at least six islands on clear days.

The rest of the island is inevitably anticlimactic, but the beaches are good. The biggest sandy one is Psilí Ámmos in the far south, accessible by boat trip or a 20-minute walk from the road’s end, and favoured by naturists. Beaches north of Skála include Melóï and Agriolivádi, both with tavernas; Kámbos, popular with Greek families; isolated Livádi Geranoú, with another taverna, and islet to swim to; and finally Lámbi, graced by colourful volcanic pebbles, and a final taverna.

The monastery of Agíou Ioánnou, Pátmos.

iStock

THE NORTHEAST AEGEAN

While the cosmopolitan eastern islands of Sámos, Híos and Lésvos once played a leading role on the world’s stage, these scattered isles (except Thásos) are still relatively untouched by tourism.

Main Attractions

Panagía, Thasos

Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothráki

Evgátis, Límnos

Skála Eressoú, Lésvos

Hot springs, Thermá

Mastihohoriá, Híos

Néa Moní, Híos

Armenistís, Ikaría

Archaeological Museums, Sámos

Seïtáni Beaches, Sámos

The islands of the northeast Aegean have little in common other than a history of medieval Genoese rule. The northerly group, comprising Thásos, Samothráki and Límnos, has few connections with the south Aegean; indeed Thásos belongs to the Macedonian province of Kavála, and Samothráki to Thracian Évros. These islands, so conveniently close to the mainland, with a short summer season, inevitably attract Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian vacationers more than tourists from further overseas, although Germans are plentiful.

A statue of the famous mathematician Pythagoras, Samos.

Shutterstock

Lésvos, Híos and Sámos to the southeast once played leading roles in antiquity, establishing colonies across the Mediterranean and promoting the arts and sciences, though little tangible evidence of ancient glory remains. All three islands served as bridges between Asia Minor and the rest of the Hellenic world and were, in fact, once joined to the coast of Asia Minor until late Ice Age cataclysms isolated them. Turkey is still omnipresent on the horizon, a mere nautical mile across the Mykale straits at Sámos. Historically, relations between the countries have been strained and hostile, although recent rapprochement has led to better, cheaper boat connections and more visits by upwardly mobile Turks.

Thásos

Just seven nautical miles from mainland Macedonia, mountainous and almost circular Thásos is essentially a giant lump of marble, mixed with granite and schist, crumbling into white beach sand at the island’s margins. Along with numerous illegal ones scarring the landscape, Greece’s largest legal marble quarry provides employment; the cut slabs, lying stacked or being trucked about, are a common sight. In antiquity, gold, silver and precious stones were also mined here.

The turquoise waters of a bay bay on Thassos.

Shutterstock

Ferries and catamarans for Thásos leave regularly from Kavála; there are more RO-RO services for drivers from Keramotí further east. Bus services around the coastal ring road are adequate, though most visitors hire motorbikes – Thásos is small enough for a long day tour – or cars. The east and south coasts have the better beaches; the west coast has access to most inland villages. Honey, preserved walnuts and tsípouro, the northern Greek firewater, are favourite souvenirs.

Thásos’s past glory as a wealthy mining island and regional seafaring power is most evident at the harbour capital of Liménas (or Thásos Town) 1 [map] , where substantial remnants of the ancient town have been excavated by the French School; choice bits of the ancient acropolis overhead are nocturnally illuminated. The biggest area, behind the picturesque fishing harbour, is the agora; the nearby archaeological museum (Apr–Oct daily 8am–7pm, Nov–Dec daily 8.30–3.30pm) displays a 4-metre (13-ft) kouros (standing statue of an idealised youth) carrying a ram.

Beginning at the Temple of Dionysos, a good path allows you to explore the ancient acropolis. First stop is the Hellenistic theatre (closed indefinitely); continue to the medieval fortress, built by a succession of occupiers from the masonry of an Apollo temple. Tracing the course of massive 5th-century BC walls brings you next to the foundations of an Athena temple, beyond which a rock outcrop bears a shrine of Pan, visible in badly eroded relief. From here, a vertiginous “secret” stairway plunges to the Gate of Parmenon – the only ancient entry still intact – at the southern extreme of town.

The first village south from Liménas, slate-roofed Panagía 2 [map] is a busy place whose life revolves around the plane-tree-filled square with its four-spouted fountain. Potamiá, further down the valley, is less architecturally distinguished. Visitors come mainly for the Polygnotos Vagis Museum (May–Sept Tue–Sat 10am–1pm, 6–8pm, Sun 10am–1pm), featuring the work of this locally born sculptor. Beyond, the road plunges to the coast at Potamiá Bay. Skála Potamiás, at its south end, is purely lodging and tavernas, with more of that just north at Hryssí Ammoudiá; in between stretches a fine, blonde-sand beach. There are even better strands at Kínyra, 24km (15 miles) from Liménas, but most one-day tourists schedule a lunch stop at the several beach front tavernas in the hamlet of Alykí 3 [map] , architecturally preserved thanks to adjacent ruins: an ancient temple and two atmospheric Byzantine basilicas.

Stunning cove near Alykí, Thásos.

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Rounding the southern tip of Thásos, you pass three beach resorts at Astrída, Potós and Pefkári. Only Astrída remains attractive, Potós in particular being an overbuilt package dormitory. At Limenária 4 [map] , now the island’s second town, mansions of the departed German mining executives who used to work here survive. More intriguingly perhaps, it’s the starting point for a safari up to hilltop Kástro, the most naturally pirate-proof of the inland villages. Beyond Limenária, there’s little to compel a stop on the coast.

Theológos 5 [map] , actually reached from Potós, was the island’s Ottoman capital, a linear place where most houses have walled gardens. Mariés sits piled up at the top of a wooded valley, just glimpsing the sea. By contrast, Sotíros enjoys phenomenal sunsets, best enjoyed from its central taverna shaded by enormous plane trees. Of all the inland settlements, Megálo Kazavíti 6 [map] (officially Megálo Prínos) has the grandest platía and the most numerous traditional houses, snapped up and restored in variable taste by outsiders.

Fact

Due to frequent forest fires during the 1980s and early 1990s, Thásos is now three-quarters denuded of its original pine forest, which survives only in the northeast. It takes forests like these about 50 or 60 years to grow back.

Samothráki (Samothrace)

Samothráki raises forbidding granite heights above stony shores and storm-lashed waters, both offering poor natural anchorage. Homer had Poseidon perched on top of 1,611-metre (5,285-ft) Mount Fengári, the Aegean’s highest summit, to watch the action of the Trojan War to the east. Over time, the forest cover has receded from the now-barren peak, where modern climbers – on rare occasions – still have the same view, extending from northwestern Turkey to Mount Áthos.

The Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothráki.

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Fengári (‘Mount Moon’) and its foothills occupy much of the island, with little level terrain except in the far west. Tourism is barely developed, and the remaining islanders prefer it that way; in its absence, the permanent population has dipped below 3,000, as farming can support only so many. Certainly an overpriced car-ferry from Alexandroúpoli on the Thracian mainland does not help matters; there are also summer services to and from Límnos. Boats dock at Kamariótissa, the functional port where hire vehicles are in short supply, and although most roads are now paved, only the west of the island has a rudimentary bus service. Samothráki (Hóra) 7 [map] , 5km (3 miles) east, is more rewarding, nestled almost invisibly in a circular hollow. A cobbled commercial street serpentines past sturdy, basalt-built houses. From outdoor tables at the tavernas on Hóra’s large platía, you glimpse the sea beyond a crumbled Byzantine-Genoese fort at the edge of town.

Samothráki’s other great sight is the Sanctuary of the Great Gods 8 [map] , tucked into a ravine some 6km (4 miles) from Kamariótissa along the north-coast road. From the late Bronze Age until the coming of Christianity, this was the major religious centre of the Aegean. Local deities of the original Thracian settlers were easily syncretised with the Olympian gods of the later Aeolian colonists, in particular the Kabiri, or divine twins Castor and Pollux, patrons of seafarers – who needed all the help they could get in the rough seas hereabouts.

The sanctuary ruins (daily Apr–Oct 8.30am–3.30pm) visible today are mostly late Hellenistic, and still eerily impressive if overgrown. Obvious monuments include a partly re-erected temple of the second initiation; the odd, round Arsinoeion, used for sacrifices; a round theatre area for performances during the summer festival; and the fountain niche where the celebrated Winged Victory of Samothrace (now in the Louvre) was discovered.

About 6km (4 miles) further east, hot springs, cool cascades and a dense canopy of plane trees make the spa hamlet of Thermá 9 [map] , the most popular base on the island, patronised by an unlikely mix of the elderly infirm and young bohemian types from several nations. Hot baths come in three temperatures and styles – including outdoor pools under a wooden shelter – while cold-plunge fanatics make for Gría Váthra canyon to the east. Thermá is also the base camp for the climb of Mount Fengári, a six-hour round trip.

Fact

The 3rd-century BC statue of Victory (Athena Nike) was discovered on Samothráki in 1863 by a French diplomat, Charles Champoiseau, who immediately sent it to Paris. The Greek government has long demanded its return, but so far has had to settle for a plaster copy.

Villages south of Hóra see few visitors, though they lie astride the route to Pahiá Ámmos ) [map] , the island’s only sandy beach. From Lákoma or Profítis Ilías villages, it’s about 8km (5 miles) by paved road to the beach, where a seasonal taverna operates. Beyond Pahiá Ámmos, you can walk to smaller Vátos nudist beach, but you’ll need a boat – or to drive clockwise around Samothráki – to reach the gravel beach of Kípos in the far southeast.

Límnos

Nowhere in the Aegean does legend match landscape so closely as here. In mythology, Zeus cast hapless Hephaistos from Mount Ólympos (Ólymbos) onto Límnos with such force that the fall lamed him permanently. The islanders rescued the god, revering him as a fire deity and patron of metallurgy, an understandable allegiance given the overtly volcanic terrain of Límnos. Hephaistos re-established his forge here; now-solidified lava crags in the west oozed forth as late as the Classical period, reassuring Limnians that Hephaistos was at work.

View of Mýrina from the ruined kastró.

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Fact

The ancient city-state of Eressos in western Lésvos is thought to be the birthplace of the poet Sappho; it has subsequently become a popular place of pilgrimage for gay women from all over the world.

Dominating the sea approaches to the Dardanelles, Límnos has been occupied since Neolithic times, and has always prospered as a trading station and military outpost, rather than a major political power. The Greek military still controls much of the island’s extent, including half of the huge airport, belying an otherwise peaceful atmosphere. The volcanic soil crumbles to form superb sandy beaches, and produces excellent wine and a variety of other farm products; the surrounding seas yield plenty of fish, thanks to periodic migrations through the Dardanelles.

Most things of interest are found in the port-capital, Mýrina ! [map] , or a short distance to either side – luckily, since the bus service is appalling. Volcanic stone has been put to good use in the older houses and street cobbles of Mýrina, while elaborate Ottoman mansions face the northerly town beach of Romeïkós Gialós with its cafés; the southerly beach of Néa Máditos abuts the fishing port and seafood tavernas. Public evidence of the Ottoman period is limited to an inscribed fountain and a dilapidated octagonal structure – probably a dervish tekke (lodge) – behind a supermarket, both near the harbour end of the long market street. Festooned engagingly over the headland above town, the ruined kástro (always open) is worth the climb for sunset views. Mýrina’s admirably presented archaeological museum (closed due to works) holds finds from the island’s major ancient sites: Kabeirio (Kavírio), Hephaistia (Ifestía) and Polyokhni (Polyóhni). These are all a long trip away in the far east of Límnos, and of essentially specialist interest.

The Garden of the Aegean

Early inhabitants of Lésvos were related to the Trojans; in Homer’s The Iliad, the Achaeans punished ancient Lesbos for siding with Troy. Natives were later supplemented by Aeolian colonists, who – in a convoluted topography created by two penetrating gulfs – founded six city-states, the most important being Eressos, Mithymna, Antissa and Mytilene. Although they vied for political supremacy, Lesbos developed a uniform culture, nurturing such bards as Terpander and Arion well before Alkeos and Sappho in the 6th century pushed lyric poetry to new heights, while their contemporary Pittakos (no friend of aristocrats like Alkeos or Sappho) initiated democratic reforms.

With its thick southern forests and idyllic orchards, Lésvos was a preferred Roman holiday spot; the Byzantines considered it a humane exile for deposed nobility, while the Genoese Gattilusi clan kept a thriving court here for a century. To the Ottomans it was “The Garden of the Aegean”, their most productive, strictly governed and heavily colonised Aegean island. Following 18th-century reforms within the empire, a Christian land-owning aristocracy developed, served by a large population of labouring peasants. This quasi-feudal system made Lésvos fertile ground for post-1912 Leftist movements, and its habit of returning left-wing MPs since the junta fell has earned it the epithet of “Red Island”.

Sadder relics of more recent history flank the drab port town of Moúdros @ [map] – two Allied cemeteries maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. During World War I, Moúdros was the principal base for the disastrous Gallipoli campaign; hundreds of war casualties are interred outside Moúdros on the way to Roussopoúli, and behind the village church at Portianoú, across the bay.

Potter working on Lésvos.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

The road north from Mýrina soon reaches good beaches at Avlónas and Ágios Ioánnis. Further north lie the spectacular dunes of Gomáti, a protected natural environment beyond a bird-rich marshy area.

In the opposite direction lie even better ones at Platý and Thános, with tiered namesake villages on the hillsides just above; continuing southeast from Thános brings you to Evgátis, justifiably acclaimed as the island’s best beach.

Ágios Evstrátios
(Aï Strátis)

A tiny wedge of land south of Límnos, Ágios Evstrátios (Aï Strátis; off map) £ [map] is doubtless the most desolate spot in the northeast Aegean – all the more so since a 1968 earthquake devastated the single village. Thanks to junta-era corruption, reparable dwellings were bulldozed and the surviving inhabitants (22 were killed) provided with ugly, pre-fab replacement housing laid out on a grid plan. This, plus two dozen surviving older buildings, is all you see as you disembark the regular ferries stopping here on the Lávrio–Límnos–Kavála route, or (in summer) the small Límnos-based ferry. Despite all this, the island has grown in popularity as a summer retreat, and you may just have company at the several beaches; the remotest are a tough 90 minutes’ walk north or south of “town”.

Lésvos (Mytilíni)

Greece’s third-largest island, measuring 70 by 40km (44 by 24 miles) at its extremities, distant, fertile Lésvos is the antithesis of the nisáki, or quaint little islet. Between its far-flung villages lie 11 million olive trees producing 45,000 liquid tonnes of oil in a good year. Shipbuilding, carpentry, oúzo-distilling and pottery remain important, but none rivals the olive, especially since it complements the second industry, tourism. Nets to catch the “black gold” are spread in autumn, once most of the tourists have packed up and left.

The harbour at Mytilíni.

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Lésvos has a rich and fascinating history, with familiar names like Homer and Sappho featuring. More recently, the years after 1912 also saw a vital local intelligentsia emerge, among them novelists Stratis Myrivilis and Argyris Eftaliotis. Since World War II, however, Lésvos’s socioeconomic fabric has shrunk considerably with emigration to Athens, Australia and America. However, the operation here since 1987 of the University of the Aegean has stabilised cultural matters.

Mytilíni 1 [map] , the capital (its name is a popular alias for the entire island), has a revved-up, slightly gritty atmosphere, as befits a port town of 30,000 – interesting to stroll around, though few outsiders stay. Behind the waterfront, assorted church domes and spires enliven the skyline, while Odós Ermoú, one street inland, threads the entire bazaar, passing a mosque (ruined) and Turkish baths (well restored) en route. Behind the ferry dock and then uphill stands the newer archaeological museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), featuring superb mosaics rescued from local Roman villas; the old wing has closed indefinitely. On the far side of the port, near landmark Ágios Therápon church, the Byzantine Museum (Mon–Sat 9am–1pm) features rare icons and ecclesiastical vestments.

Also noteworthy are a pair of museums in Variá, 5km (3 miles) south of town. The Theophilos Museum (Mon–Fri 8.30am–2.30pm) contains over 60 paintings by locally born Theophilos Hatzimihaïl, Greece’s most celebrated naive painter. The nearby Tériade Museum (Tue–Sun 9am–3pm) was founded by another native son who, while an avant-garde art publisher in Paris, assembled this collection, with work by Chagall, Picasso, Rouault, Giacometti, Matisse and Léger.

The road running northwest from Mytilíni follows the coast facing Turkey. Mandamádos 2 [map] , 37km (23 miles) from Mytilíni, has on its outskirts the enormous Taxiárhis Monastery (daily, all day) with its much-revered black icon. At Kápi, the road divides; the northerly fork is wider, better paved and more scenic as it curls across the flanks of Mount Lepétymnos, passing by the handsome village of Sykaminiá 3 [map] and its photogenic, taverna-studded fishing port of Skála Sykaminiás.

You descend to sea level at Mólyvos 4 [map] , linchpin of Lésvos tourism and understandably so: the ranks of sturdy tiled houses climbing to the medieval castle are an appealing sight, as is the stone-paved fishing harbour. Its days as a colony for bohemian artists and alternative types are over, however, with package tourism now dominant.

Pétra, 5km (3 miles) south, accommodates the overflow on its long beach, while inland at the village centre looms a rock plug crowned with the Panagía Glykofiloússa church. At its foot, the 18th-century Vareltzídena Mansion (Mon, Wed & Sun 8.30am–4pm) is worth a look, as is the 16th-century frescoed church of Ágios Nikólaos.

Apothika Village, Lésvos.

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From Pétra, head 17km (10 miles) south to the turning for Límonos Monastery, home to an ecclesiastical museum (daily 8am–8pm), before continuing west towards the more rugged half of the island, with its lunar volcanic terrain. Stream valleys foster little oases, such as the one around Perivolís Monastery (daily 10am–1pm, 5–6pm; donation welcome), 30km (19 miles) from Limónos, decorated with wonderful frescoes. Some 10km (6 miles) beyond, atop an extinct volcano, the Monastery of Ypsiloú (museum inside open Mon–Fri 8am–2pm) contemplates the abomination of desolation – complete with scattered trunks of the “petrified forest”, a few prehistoric sequoias mineralised by volcanic ash.

Sígri 5 [map] (90km/56 miles from Mytilíni), a sleepy place flanked by good beaches, is very much the end of the line, guarded by a Turkish-built fort. Most prefer Skála Eresoú 6 [map] , 14km (9 miles) south of Ypsiloú, for its beach; in particular, numerous lesbians come to honour Sappho, who was born here.

A Sticky Business

The mastic bushes of southern Híos are the unique source of gum mastic, the basis for many products before petroleum was refined. It was popular in Constantinople as chewing-gum, allegedly freshening the breath of the sultan’s concubines. The Romans made mastic toothpicks to keep their teeth white and prevent cavities; Hippocrates praised its therapeutic value for coughs and colds; and lately practitioners of alternative medicine make even more ambitious claims on its behalf.

During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Genoese set up a monopoly in the substance. At its peak, the trade generated enough wealth to support a score of mastihohoriá (mastic villages). However, the coming of the Industrial Revolution and the demise of the Ottoman Empire was the end of large-scale mastic production.

Today, smaller amounts are generated in a process which has not really changed since ancient times. In late summer, incisions made in the bark weep resin “tears”, which are scraped off and cleaned. Finally, the raw gum is sent to a central processing-plant where it is washed, baked and formed into lozenges of gum. Some 150 tons can be produced annually. However, several severe fires since 2012 have destroyed nearly 40 percent of the mature mastic bushes, which take 30 years to reach a productive age.

Southern Lésvos, between the two gulfs, is home to olive groves rolling up to 968-metre (3,175-ft) Mount Ólympos. Plomári 7 [map] on the coast is Lésvos’s second town, famous for its oúzo industry; most tourists stay at pebble-beach Ágios Isídoros 3km (2 miles) east, though Melínda, 6km (4 miles) to the west, is more scenic. Vaterá 8 [map] , whose 7-km (4-mile) sand beach is reckoned the best on the island, lies still further west; en route, you can stop for a soak at restored medieval spas outside Lisvóri and Polyhnítos, 45km (28 miles) from Mytilíni.

Inland from Plomári, the remarkable hill village of Agiásos 9 [map] nestles in a wooded valley under Ólympos. Its heart is the major pilgrimage church which comes alive for the 15 August festival, Lésvos’s biggest, honouring the icon of Panagía Vrefokratoússa.

Psará

Scarcely 450 inhabitants remain on melancholy Psará ) [map] , its bleakness relieved only by occasional fig trees and the odd cultivated field. Besides the lone port village, there’s just one deserted monastery in the far north. Six beaches lie northeast of the port, each better than the preceding, though all catch tide-wrack on this exposed coast. Indeed, the island’s main claims to fame are as the site of a massive 1824 massacre by the Ottomans, and being the birthplace of Ioannis Varvakis, hero of the 2012 film God Loves Caviar. A few tourists trickle over from Híos, on regular small ferries from Híos Town or bigger ones from Limáni Mestón.

Plomári elders at a barber shop.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Híos (Chíos)

Although the island had been important and prosperous since antiquity, the Middle Ages made the Híos (https://chios.gr) of today. The Genoese seized control here in 1346; the Giustiniani clan established a cartel, the maona, which controlled the highly profitable trade in gum mastic. During their rule, which also saw the introduction of mandarin fruit, Híos became one of the wealthiest and most cultured islands in the Mediterranean. Local prowess in navigation was exploited by 150 ships calling here annually and Christopher Columbus apocryphally came to study with Hiot captains prior to his voyages.

In 1566, the Ottomans expelled the Genoese, but granted the islanders numerous privileges, so that Híos continued to flourish until March 1822, when poorly armed agitators from Sámos convinced the reluctant Hiots to participate in the independence uprising. Sultan Mahmut II, enraged at this ingratitude, exacted a terrible revenge: a two-month rampage commanded by Admiral Kara Ali killed 30,000 islanders, enslaved 45,000 more, and saw all settlements except the mastic-producing villages razed. Híos had only partly recovered when a strong earthquake in March 1881 destroyed much of what remained and killed 4,000. Today, Híos and its satellite islet Inoússes are home to some of Greece’s wealthiest shipping families.

Its catastrophic 19th-century history ensures that Híos Town or Hóra ! [map] (pop. 25,000) seems at first offputtingly modern. Scratch the ferro-concrete surface, however, and you’ll find traces of the Genoese and Ottoman years. The most obvious medieval feature is the kástro. Moated on the landward side, it lacks a seaward rampart, destroyed after the 1881 quake. Just inside the imposing Porta Maggiora stands the outstanding Giustiniani Museum (June–Oct Tue–Sun 8am–7pm, Nov–May Tue–Sun 8.30am–3pm), a continually changing collection of religious art rescued from rural churches.

Off a small nearby square is a Muslim cemetery with the tomb of Kara Ali – he of the massacres, blown up along with his flagship by one of Admiral Kanaris’s fireboats in June 1822. The square itself is lively with the tables of a popular, trendy bar-ouzerí. Further in lies the old Muslim and Jewish quarter with its derelict mosque and overhanging houses; Christians had to settle outside the walls. A hammam at the far end has been carefully restored for use as an exhibition venue.

Mytilíni Town mansion.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

South of Hóra you pass through Kámbos @ [map] , a broad plain of high-walled citrus groves dotted with the imposing sandstone mansions of the medieval aristocracy, standing along narrow, unmarked lanes. Many were destroyed by the earthquake, while a few have been restored as accommodation or restaurants. Irrigation water was originally drawn up by manganós or waterwheel; a few survive in ornately paved courtyards.

The onward road heads southwest towards southern Híos, with its 20 mastihohoriá, built as pirate-proof strongholds by the Genoese during the 14th and 15th centuries. Laid out on a dense, rectangular plan, their narrow passages are overarched by earthquake buttresses, with the backs of the outer houses doubling as the perimeter wall. Sadly, fires since 2012 devastated both the local pines and mastic bushes, plus many beehives.

Mólyvos surmounted by its medieval castle.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Pyrgí £ [map] , 21km (13 miles) from Hóra, is one of the best-preserved mastihohoriá, most of its facades adorned with incised black-and-white geometric patterns called xystá. A passageway off the central square leads to the Byzantine Ágii Apóstoli church (rarely open) decorated with later frescoes. In the back alleys, tomatoes are laboriously strung for drying in September by local women.

Some 11km (7 miles) west, Mestá $ [map] forms a more sombre, monochrome labyrinth, which retains defensive towers at its corners – several three-storeyed houses have been restored as accommodation. Such quarters are typically claustrophobic, so guests will appreciate the nearby beach resorts of Kómi (sand) and Emboriós (volcanic pebbles).

With your own car, the beautiful, deserted west coast with its many coves is accessible via attractive Véssa and Sidiroúnda, the paved road eventually taking you to castle-crowned Volissós % [map] in the far northwest. Around this half-empty village are the island’s finest beaches – and scars from a series of 1990s and post-millennium fires which burnt two-thirds of Híos’s forests. The best excursion north of Volissós is to Ágion Gála village, with its mysterious cave-church (May–Sept 11am–7pm; escorted tour only) at the outskirts.

Between Kastélla and Elínda bays, a good road snakes east uphill to Avgónyma, a clustered village well restored by returned Greek-Americans. Just 4km (2.5 miles) north perches almost-deserted, crumbling Anávatos, well camouflaged against its cliff; from here in 1822, 400 Hiots leapt to their deaths rather than be captured.

Some 5km (3 miles) east, the monastery of Néa Moní ^ [map] (daily sunrise–1pm, 4pm–sunset)forms one of the finest surviving examples of mid-Byzantine architecture, founded in 1049 by Emperor Constantine Monomahos IX on a spot where a miraculous icon of the Virgin had appeared. It suffered heavily in 1822 and 1881, first with the murder of its monks and the pillage of its treasures, and then with the collapse of its dome. Despite the damage, its mosaics of scenes from the life of Christ are outstanding and numerous.

Fact

Composer and former Communist Mikis Theodorakis, best known for his 1964 film score for Zorba the Greek, was placed under house arrest on Ikaría during the Greek civil war. He adored the place.

Ikaría and Foúrni

The narrow, wing-shaped island of Ikaría is named after mythical Icarus, who supposedly fell into the sea nearby when his wax wings melted (the Greek Air Force has adopted him as patron, apparently impervious to the irony). One of the least developed large islands in the Aegean, Ikaría has little to offer anyone intent on ticking off four-star sights, but appeals to those disposed to a decidedly eccentric environment. For three brief months after 17 July 1912, when a certain Dr Malahias declared the island liberated, it was an independent republic, with its own money and stamps. In later decades, Ikaría served as a place of exile for hundreds of Communists; the locals with whom they were billeted thought they were the most noble, humanitarian folk they’d ever met and still vote Communist in droves – not quite what Athens intended.

An exquisite example of xystá decoration in Pyrgí.

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Ágios Kírykos & [map] is the capital and main southerly port, its tourist facilities geared to the clientele at the neighbouring spa of Thermá. Taxis are more reliable than the bus for the 41-km (25-mile) drive over the 1,000-metre (3,280-ft) Atherás ridge to Évdilos, the north-facing second port. Another 16km (10 miles) takes you past Kámbos, with its sandy beach and ruined Byzantine palace, to the tiny resort of Armenistís. Here only do foreigners congregate, for the sake of excellent beaches – Livádi and Mesakhtí – just east, though the surf can be deadly. Nás, 4km (2.5 miles) west, is named for the naos or temple of Artemis Tavropolio on the banks of the river draining to a popular pebble cove. Gialiskári, a fishing port 4km (2.5 miles) east, is distinguished by its photogenic jetty chapel.

There are few bona fide inland villages, as the proud Ikarians hate to live on top of each other, keeping plenty of room for orchards between their houses. Above Armenistís are four hamlets lost in pine forest, collectively known as Ráhes; at Hristós, the largest, people cram the café-bars all night, sleep until noon and carry belongings (or store potent wine) in hairy goatskin bags. The surrounding countryside completes the hobbit-like image, with vertical natural monoliths and troglodytic cottages for livestock made entirely of gigantic granite slabs. One of these, 4km (2.5 miles) above Kámbos, gives dramatic shelter to Theoskepastí chapel below which stands Theóktisti monastery (usually open) with engaging 17th-century frescoes.

Fishing on Ikaría.

Dreamstime

Foúrni * [map] , one of several islets southeast of Ikaría, lives from its thriving fishing fleet and boatyards; (expensive) seafood dinners figure high in the ambitions of arriving tourists, who mostly stay in the surprisingly large port town. A road links this with Ágios Ioánnis Hrysóstomos in the south and remote Hrysomiliá in the far north, the only other villages, but path-walking (where possible) and boat-riding are more relaxing ways of getting around – there’s no bus, and only seasonal scooter hire. Best of many beaches are at Kambí, one ridge south of port, or at naturist Áspa, a tough trail walk beyond.

Sámos

Almost subtropical Sámos, with vine terraces, cypress and olive groves, surviving black and Calabrian pines, hillside villages and beaches of every size and consistency, appeals to numerous package tourists. Forest fires – the worst of these in July 2000 and July 2021 – and development have blighted much of the island, and a severe October 2020 earthquake caused intense damage, but impassable gorges, the Aegean’s second-highest mountain, and beaches accessible only on foot or by boat hold sway in the far west.

From the immense harbour mole at heavily commercialised Pythagório ( [map] , constructed by ancient slaves and scarcely changed, you can watch majestic Mount Mykale in Turkey change colour at dusk. The port’s shape suggested a frying-pan, hence Tigáni, the town’s former name – perhaps too prophetic of what it’s become: a casserole of lobster-red tourists fried in suntan-oil. The authorities officially changed the name in 1955 in honour of native son Pythagoras. The main attraction in town is the 2010-opened archaeological museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), where highlights include a huge hoard of Byzantine gold coins found in 1984, and monumental Roman statuary.

The 1,040-metre (3,412-ft) Evpalínio Órygma (Eupalinos’s Tunnel; Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm; must reserve on 22730 62813), an aqueduct built during the rule of the brilliant but unscrupulous tyrant Polykrates (538–522 BC), cuts through the hillside northwest of town. It is one of the technological marvels of the ancient world: surveying was so good that two work crews beginning from each end met with no vertical error, and a horizontal one of less than 1 percent. Only escorted tours are offered along the catwalk used to remove spoil from the water channel far below: a brief peek 185m (607 ft) in, to the point where the crews met (424m/ 1,391 ft), or all the way through. One re-erected column and sundry foundations – the ruins of what was once a vast Sanctuary of Hera (ancient Heraion, Iréon in modern Greek; summer daily 8am–8pm; winter Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) – lie 8km (5 miles) to the west of Pythagório, past coastal Roman baths (no access) and the airport.

Tsamadoú beach, Sámos.

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Vathý or Sámos Town ‚ [map] , built along an inlet on the north coast, is the main port, founded in 1832. Tourism is less pervasive here; the principal attraction is the excellent, two-wing archaeological museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm), with a rich trove of finds from the Sanctuary of Hera. Star exhibit is a 5-metre (16-ft) high, nearly intact kouros, the largest ever found. The small-objects collection confirms the temple’s Middle Eastern slant of worship and clientele: orientalised ivories and locally cast griffin’s heads.

Áno Vathý, the large hillside village 1.5km (1 mile) southeast, existed for almost two centuries before the harbour settlement; a stroll will take you through steep cobbled streets separating 200-year-old houses, their overhanging second stories and plaster-lath construction akin to those of northern Greece and Anatolia, though many are senselessly destroyed annually (with further damage from the 2020 tremor).

Fishing boats in Pythagório harbour.

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First stop of note on the north-coast road (12km/7 miles) is Kokkári, a former fishing village now devoted to tourism. The original centre is cradled between twin headlands, while windsurfers launch themselves from a school one cove west of town, the first of several pebble beaches on this coast. Overhead loom the scorched crags of Mount Ámbelos (1,150 metres/3,773 ft), while just past Avlákia a road climbs to the attractive and thriving little village of Vourliótes, named after its first inhabitants (who came from Vourla in Asia Minor), and justly famous for its wine production.

The coastal highway continues west, sometimes as a sea-level corniche route, to Karlóvasi ⁄ [map] , 29km (18 miles) from Vathý. It’s a sprawling, somewhat dishevelled place, little visited and lumped into five neighbourhoods. Néo, the biggest, houses post-1923 refugees and the university; cavernous, derelict warehouses dominate waterside Ríva district, vestiges of a leather-tanning trade which thrived here before 1970. In one such former warehouse, the excellent Mousío Vyrsodepsías/Tanning Museum (Mon–Fri 9am-2pm; free) gives a fascinating overview of the vanished industry, including massive machinery in situ. Meséo is more village-y, as is Paleó, lining a green valley behind the sentinel church of Ágia Triáda. Limín, below Áno, has most local tourist facilities, including the ferry port. The shore west of here has some of Sámos’s best beaches, including sand-and-pebble Potámi, visited by most of Karlóvasi at weekends. Beyond here, you must walk to a pair of remote, scenic beaches at Seïtáni, now a nature reserve to protect its resident monk seals.

Karlóvasi lies roughly halfway around an anticlockwise loop of the island; head south, then east through an interior dotted with small villages of tiled, shuttered houses and stripey-domed churches. At Ágii Theodóri junction, choose southwest or east.

Going southwest takes you past Marathókambos and its sleepy, atmospheric port, Órmos, to Votsalákia, Sámos’s biggest beach resort. Less busy beaches like Psilí Ámmos and Limniónas can be found further west along the road curling around the base of Mount Kérkis (1,437 metres/4,715ft), which forms the west end of the island. The mountain is usually climbed from the uninhabited Evangelístria convent on the south or Kosmadéï on the north – either way it is a full day’s outing. Returning to Pythagório, schedule stops at the roadside stalls before Pýrgos for a jar of local honey, and just below Koumaradéï, at the monastery of Megális Panagías (phone warden on 22730 41249 to guarantee admission), with smudged frescoes dating from after 1586 (there are older, better ones at Kímisis Theotókou Petaloúda church – always open – beyond Kondakéïka village, near Karlovási).

Olive grove in Sámos.

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INSIGHT: NATURAL WONDERS

The Greek landscape is at its most bountiful in spring and early summer, when every hillside and valley is decorated with glorious colour.

Greece in spring is a botanist’s dream. Some 6,000 species of wild plant grow in Greece and the islands, and in the spring (March to May), visitors may enjoy a magnificent cornucopia of flowers and fragrances.

Hillsides resemble giant rock gardens, while brilliant patches of untended waste-ground outdo Northern Europe’s carefully tended herbaceous borders with ease. Winter rains, followed by a bright, warm, frost-free spring, produce a season’s blooming compressed into a few, spectacular weeks before the summer’s heat and drought become too much. By late May or early June, the flowers are finished, the seeds for next year’s show are ripening, and greens are fading to brown to match the tourists on the beaches.

Summer survival

Except in the cooler, higher mountains, most plants go into semi-dormancy to survive the arid summer. The first rains of autumn, which can arrive any time between mid-September and late October, spur a few autumn bulbs – especially pink cyclamens and purple crocuses – into flower, but also initiate the germination of seeds for plants that will grow and build up strength during the winter in preparation for the following spring.

The diversity of the flora is due in part to the islands’ location between three continents, partly to the Ice Age survival in southern Greece of pre-glacial species, and partly to the variety of habitats. Limestone, the foundation of much of Greece, is a favourite home for plants, providing the stability, warmth, minerals, water supply and protection they need.

A field of chamomile in Santorini.

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Beetles, bees and butterflies

The profusion of flowers and plants provides food for an equal profusion of insects. Butterflies are conspicuous from spring to autumn, including the lovely swallowtail whose colourful caterpillars feed on the leaves of common fennel. Its larger, paler and more angular relative, the scarce swallowtail, despite its name, is actually more abundant.

Look for clouded yellows and paler cleopatras, reddish-brown painted ladies and southern commas, white admirals, and a myriad of smaller blue butterflies.

Butterflies, bees and day-flying hawk moths tend to go for flowers with nectar, while beetles and flies go for the pollen. Some insects even use the heat accumulated in the solar cup of many flowers in order to warm up their sex lives.

The leaves of plants feed armies of insect herbivores, which themselves are eaten by more aggressive insects. Some of the omnivorous Greek grasshoppers and crickets are as happy munching through a caterpillar, or even another grasshopper, as the grass it was sitting upon.

THE SPORADES AND ÉVVIA

The four “scattered islands” (Sporádes) are all different – Skiáthos lively and busy, Skópelos quieter and beautiful, Alónnisos the least developed, and Skýros with its own unique culture.

Main Attractions

Kástro, Skiáthos

Skiáthos Beaches

Skópelos Town

Velanió Beach, Skópelos

Hóra, Skýros

Faltaïts Museum, Skýros

Stení “Hill Station”, Évvia

Dimosári Gorge Hike, Évvia

Límni, Évvia

The three northernmost Sporades, set in one of the more blue-green reaches of the Aegean, are, with their lush vegetation and excellent beaches, a quintessential holiday destination; there’s little trace of the ancient past here, so ruin-spotters may be disappointed. Culturally and administratively, Skýros and Évvia off to the southeast have had little to do with their neighbours; Évvia in particular often feels like part of the mainland.

A lick of fresh paint, Skiáthos Town.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Skiáthos

The sandy scythe of Koukounariés 1 [map] on Skiáthos is used as evidence on thousands of postcards that the Aegean can produce the kind of beach normally associated with the Caribbean. Propriety would prevent as many postcards from featuring Mikrós Krassás (colloquially “Little Banana Beach”), because it caters for gay nudists. The fact that no one cares whether bathers at Banana Beach strip off or not is typical of the easy-going nature of the people of Skiáthos as a whole. The island has beaches for all occasions: some among the supposed 60 will always be sheltered whichever direction the wind is coming from.

Koukounariés plus Banana Big (straight patronage) and Little are near-neighbours at the end of the twisting, busy 18-km (11-mile) road that runs along the south coast of Skiáthos. There are dozens of beaches along it, many with a taverna or at least a kiosk selling drinks and sandwiches, and many even with luxury hotels – Vromólimnos has the best daytime bar scene. North-coast beaches like Mandráki and Eliá are more pristine. Round-the-island boat trips pass the rocky and otherwise inaccessible northern shoreline where the only human construction is the Kástro 2 [map] , the abandoned 16th-century capital once connected to the rest of the island by a single drawbridge. For 300 years, the islanders huddled on this wind-buffeted crag, hoping the pirates would pass them by. During World War II, Allied soldiers hid out here, waiting for evacuation to Turkey, then Egypt. Today, it is an obligatory stop for the excursion caïques after they have dipped into technicolour grottoes and dropped anchor at Lalária, a cove famous for its rock arch, and before proceeding to a beach taverna (usually at Megálos Asélinos) for lunch.

Kástro beach, Skiáthos, with excursion boat.

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The bluff above under-used Xánemos beach at the end of the very busy airport runway has produced fragments suggesting a prehistoric settlement, but neither it nor the rest of the island have ever been properly excavated. German bombing of an Italian ammunition dump in September 1943 severely damaged much of the pretty pre-war town, burned again in August 1944 in reprisal for resistance. But Skiáthos Town 3 [map] makes up in liveliness what it may lack in architectural merit. In fact, its nightlife is probably the most important consideration after the beaches for the type of visitor that Skiáthos attracts in intimidating numbers during the summer.

The preferences of the fast-living set change constantly, but it is not difficult to spot which places are in vogue, whether one’s preference is for beer and blues, wine and Vivaldi, or tequila and trance. The lights are brightest but also the tackiest along Papadiamándis, the paved pedestrian street which bisects the two hills on which the town stands, and along the old harbour. The atmosphere is more Greek-oriented at the designer clubs on the water past the yacht marina, somewhat more international at the old-port bars. Expect restaurants, with international flavours as well as Greek, rather than tavernas, and be prepared to pay accordingly, especially along the seafront.

A scooter or hired car is useful to follow the roads, mostly paved, looping through the mountains. They provide stunning views, as well as the chance to pop into monasteries which, with Kástro, are more or less the only buildings of historic interest. Of these, the grandest and closest to town is Evangelistrías, with frescoed Panagías Kehreás and Panagías Kounístras (all three open daily) also pilgrimage-worthy if the beaches should pall.

Skópelos

Skópelos (www.skopelos.gr) has a distinguished past, which is not so much demonstrated by prominent historical sites as by the exceptionally fine houses in Skópelos Town 4 [map] ; they form a handsome amphitheatre around a harbour lined with cafés and tavernas under mulberry trees.

The island has escaped earthquakes and Nazi vindictiveness and is therefore the most “authentic” and traditional of the three northern Sporádes (Skýros being in a class by itself). Slate roofs, wooden balconies, hand-painted shop signs and flagstone streets give it a serenity and dignity rarely found in Skiáthos in season. On the other hand, beaches – mostly on the south-facing coast – are not as sandy or as numerous as on Skiáthos, though north-facing Glystéri is the closest to Hóra. Nudists are welcomed at long, fine-pebble Velanió just beyond the family beach of Stáfylos (where a gold crown and ornate weapons dating from Minoan times were found; they are now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens). Local beaches were, in any case, good enough to serve as locations for the 2007 shooting of the film version of Mamma Mia!, a fact the islanders have not been slow to exploit.

Further along the southwest coast, Agnóndas serves as an alternative harbour when Skópelos Town is storm-shut; there are good tavernas but not much of a beach. For more of those, carry on down the island “trunk road” to Pánormos, the biggest resort after Hóra and environs, with a long gravel beach and yacht shelter at Blo inlet. Better, pine-backed beaches lie just around the corner at Miliá and Kastáni. The road passes the quake-damaged hamlet of Paleó Klíma – now bought up and renovated by outsiders – before ending in the northwest at Glóssa 5 [map] , Skópelos’ second village whose architecture (like Paleó Klíma’s) betrays the strong Thessalian influence tangible on all the northern Sporades. Far below Glóssa to the south lies Loutráki, another nondescript ferry port; some of the very few north-facing Skópelos beaches lie in the other direction, at Perivolioú and Hondrogiórgis.

Fact

The hugely successful movie Mamma Mia!, starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan, was filmed largely on Skópelos’ Kastáni beach. Boat tours are just one of the ways locals are cashing in on this.

Inland and north from the main road, Skópelos has denser forest than Skiáthos, still mostly unburnt and crisscrossed by a mix of dirt tracks and paved lanes. These pass by a reputed 40 monasteries and hundreds of churches (of these, 123 are scattered around Hóra alone). On the side of the island’s summit – Mt Délfi – are three ancient cyst-type tombs: the Sendoúkia, with their lids ajar. The 15-minute walk there is prominently signposted.

Alónnisos

On a hill above Patitíri 6 [map] , the last port on the Vólos/Ágios Konstandínos-based ferry, catamaran and hydrofoil routes, is Hóra, the former capital of Alónnisos, battered by an earthquake in 1965. This quake compounded the blow the islanders had already suffered when all their grapevines died from phylloxera just a decade earlier. Alónnisos seems to have been ever thus: the previous capital, Ikos, also the Classical name for the island, literally disappeared when the ground on which it stood sunk into the sea. The submerged remains of Ikos, off Kokkinókastro beach, may be explored with a snorkel but not with scuba tanks (a general rule in the Aegean to prevent pilfering and damage).

Card-players, Skópelos Town.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Alónnisos has adjusted to its unrealised potential and bad luck with considerable good grace, attracting a loyal repeat clientele amongst both Greeks and foreigners. Yet it remains the least architecturally distinguished and least developed of the Sporádes, a quiet island surrounded by an interesting collection of islets. Some of them are off-limits to tourists and fishermen alike, protected areas within the National Marine Park reserved for the endangered monk seal and other rare fauna. Gioúra, for example, is home to a unique breed of wild goat and also has a cave that in legend sheltered Homer’s Cyclops. It and Pipéri may not be visited but caïques leave Patitíri on calm days for excursions to the closer islets of Peristéra 7 [map] and Kyrá Panagiá 8 [map] , where ancient pot-shards can be seen by snorkellers on the sea bed and the eponymous medieval monastery on the latter island still has one monk. Passenger numbers and daylight allowing, trips extend to remote Psathoúra, with its huge lighthouse and long sandy beach.

Rupert Brooke’s Grave

It was quite by chance that Skýros became the burial place of the poet Rupert Brooke. When war broke out in 1914, Brooke first thought of becoming a war correspondent, but soon changed his mind and enlisted as a second lieutenant in the newly formed Royal Naval Division, briefly seeing action at the fall of Antwerp. In the spring of 1915, he arrived on the island of Límnos, where ships and men had begun massing in preparation for the ill-fated assault on Gallipoli.

Moúdros Bay became so crowded that Brooke’s detachment was ordered to wait instead off the bay of Trís Boúkes, in the far south of Skýros. Between manoeuvres, he and some fellow officers rested on shore in a small olive grove above the bay which, the others remembered, the poet particularly liked. Several days later, on 23 April, he died on a French hospital ship of blood-poisoning caused by a septic mosquito bite, aged 27; his fellow officers buried him in that olive grove.

Brooke was subsequently beatified in the eyes of a nation mourning its youthful heroes, even though he never lived to see the horrors of trench warfare. Today, the site can be reached by caïque, a long walk from Kolybáda, or by vehicle. There is also a memorial to Brooke in Skýros Town – a highly romanticised bronze statue of “Immortal Poetry”.

Back on Alónnisos, a paved but twisty road links the south and north of the island, including a detour to the little yacht anchorage of Stení Vála, with its scuba centre and summer-only information post on the monk seal (the main, all-year information centre is in Patitíri). Otherwise, high-season taxi-boats at Patitíri take bathers to the beach of their choice – the best east-coast ones are Leftós Gialós, with two good tavernas, and Ágios Dimítrios, with a naturist zone.

Feline residents, Skópelos town.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Walkers are well catered for with a network of 14 routes, waymarked and maintained with EU funding. One of them leads up pleasantly, in 45 minutes, to the earthquake-shattered Hóra 9 [map] , also known as Paleá Alónnisos. Thanks largely to foreigners who spied a bargain and bought damaged houses to fix up, it is now largely inhabited – though overly manicured and not particularly Greek except for one tiny shop selling local dairy products.

Skýros

Skýros (www.greektravel.com/greekislands/skyros) was possibly two islands originally, the halves joining near where there is now a road linking Linariá ) [map] , the port, with the little village of Aspoús on the way to Skýros Town. The southern part of the island (Vounó) is mountainous and largely barren, and visitors are unlikely to venture below Kolymbáda beach unless they are heading for Rénes beach or the poet Rupert Brooke’s grave in an olive grove at Trís Boúkes ! [map] . Trís Boúkes is about a 30-minute drive from Kolymbáda, and it’s another 15 minutes more to the trailhead for Rénes.

The real appeal of Vounó is from the sea, for cliffs along most of the coast from Rénes cove all the way around to Ahílli Bay near Aspoús fall straight down into the sea. These cliffs are inhabited by a few wild goats and seemingly innumerable Eleanora’s falcons, which can be seen darting around the heights all the way over to Skýros Town. Boat excursions can be arranged at Linariá.

Hóra (Skýros Town) @ [map] is on the northern half of the island (Merói) on the east coast, high above the long sandy beach (better at the south end) that fringes the now-contiguous settlements of Magaziá to the south and Mólos at the north end. Town life plays out all along the meandering main street, which runs from the main lower square with its nocturnal bars to the elevated plaza at the northern edge of Hóra. Here, the nude statue of Rupert Brooke, which caused a scandal when erected in April 1931, commands the view beside the excellent, private Faltaïts Museum (www.faltaits.gr; daily summer 10am–2pm, in winter by appointment only) of ethnographic displays, including a tobacco press, a mocked-up Skyrian house interior, antique metalware and local pottery. Traditional costume has more or less disappeared with the 1920s-born generation, but the carving of mulberry furniture and screens is still practised.

Eat

In Paleá Alónnisos, stylish boutiques line the main street, while cafés and restaurants serve up stunning views along with stunningly priced food and drink.

Nearby, the worthwhile archaeological museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) has choice island finds like a Geometric rhyton (ornate drinking vessel) in the form of a Skyrian pony and an even older faience necklace. A series of small side streets meander up to the kástro, the old Byzantine/Venetian castle on the heights, enclosing Agíou Georgíou monastery,re-opened in 2015 after its 2001 closure due to earthquake.

Besides the contiguous Magaziá-Mólos beaches, there are better if more exposed beaches at Gyrísmata, Karefloú and Ágios Pétros further along the north coast. At Palamári, an important Bronze Age town (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm; free) is being excavated. Beyond Palamári, and the turning to scenic Ágios Pétros, pine forest appears, compensating for the mediocrity of west-coast beaches either side of Atsítsa and Ágios Fokás (each with tavernas). The road loops back all the way to Linariá from Atsítsa, via the stunning viewpoint of Ágios Pandelímon and the turn-off for the much better sandy beach of Pévkos.

The stunning beach of Chrisi Milia in the Sporades.

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Évvia (Euboea)

Évvia, Greece’s second-largest island (after Crete) lies just off the coast of mainland Greece, looking on the map like a large jigsaw-puzzle piece just slightly out of position. The capital, Halkída 1 [map] , is close enough to the mainland for a small drawbridge and a newer, far larger suspension bridge to make easy connection. Aristotle is supposed to have been so frustrated in trying to understand the swift tides here in the narrow Évripos channel, which reverse direction regularly, that he jumped into the waters and drowned.

Halkída is a brash industrial town, but the kástro with its mosque and church of Agía Paraskeví are worth visiting, as is the 2015-opened Arethousa archaeological museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm, later opening summer) in the new town, housed in a converted winery. There is also a synagogue, rebuilt after an 1854 fire and still used by the small (90-member) but active Romaniote Jewish community. Erétria 2 [map] to the south is a crowded, grid-plan resort town where the ferries land from Skála Oropoú on the mainland. Like Halkída, Erétria is a town to pass through, but the small archaeological museum (Wed–Monn 8.30am–3.30pm) is very good, as are the adjacent remains of excavated ancient Erétria (always open).

In general, southern Évvia is drier and less green, though northern Évvia was devastated by an August 2021 firestorm. The coastal road from Erétria is dotted with villages and summer homes until just before Alivéri where it turns inland. At Lépoura, turn south for the prosperous seaside town of Kárystos 3 [map] , with another small museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm),beaches to either side, and Mount Óhi – with its eminently scenic and hikable Dimosári Gorge – overhead. An old cobbled trail traverses the gorge in about three hours from a start-point on the flank of Óhi, finishing at Kallianós beach hamlet. Other excellent beaches closer to Kárystos include Alykés and Potámi.

From Lépoura, the main road forges eastwards through Háni Avlonaríou, with the large, unusual 14th-century church of Ágios Dimítrios, before continuing through beautiful hilly farmland to drop down on the east coast at Stómio where a small river reaches the sea. The way then hugs the shore through Platána to Paralía Kýmis 4 [map] port and the boat to Skýros.

North of Halkída – or west from Kými on a very scenic road – the small village of Stení 5 [map] on the slopes of Mount Dírfys is a favourite goal for Athenians seeking clean air and grill restaurants. Límni 6 [map] on the west coast is the most atmospheric and historic port on the island, its neoclassical houses funded by 19th-century shipping wealth. Just south, in the fire-scorched forest of Mt Kandíli, Galatáki convent (8am–noon, 5–8pm) is home to several nuns, one of whom will show you 16th-century frescoes in the narthex.

Good pebble beaches begin just north of Límni, appearing intermittently en route to Loutrá Edipsoú 7 [map] , with its stunningly refurbished spa-hotel. Beyond, the main road curls around Évvia’s northerly Cape Artemísio – where the famous bronze of spear-throwing Poseidon was fished from the sea in 1928. The east coast is mostly mountainous, with rocky shoulders dropping sharply down to the sea, but the road does pass a series of beaches: Elliniká, Psaropoúli, Paralía Kotsikiás, Angáli. The first is the smallest and most scenic, the last the most developed. This area, however, was the hardest hit by the summer 2021 forest fires. Agía Ánna 8 [map] , the hill village inland from Angáli, has an exceptionally well done Folklore Museum (Tue, Wed, Thu & Sun 9am–3pm, Fri–Sat 9am–12pm & 6–9pm).

The newer bridge to Halkída, Évvia.

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CORFU

Few places have been as exploited and developed for tourism as Corfu. Yet, away from the package-tour resorts, there is much to savour on this beautiful green island.

Main Attractions

Museum Of Asian Art, Kérkyra Town

Byzantine Museum, Kérkyra Town

The Two Forts, Kérkyra Town

National Gallery Annexe, Káto Korakiána

Paleá Períthia Village

Daytrip To Diapóndia Islets

View Of Paleokastrítsa

Íssos Beach

Strategically poised between the Ionian and Adriatic seas, just off the Greek mainland, Corfu (Kérkyra) has an unsurprisingly turbulent history and a long catalogue of invaders. The Venetians in particular left a rich legacy of olive groves, which still form much of the local vegetation. Despite over a million visitors a year, tourism has not entirely steam-rollered the entire island: 10km (6 miles) from the most crowd-heaving areas, you can drive along a one-lane potholed road through sleepy villages whose inhabitants rarely witness tourists rolling through.

Lunch with a view at Boukari Beach restaurant.

Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications

Corfu Town

Corfu Town, also known as Kérkyra 1 [map] , occupies a central east-coast location. “Corfu” is a corruption of koryfí, “peak”, of which there are two on a Byzantine-fortified outcrop transformed into the Paleó Froúrio (Old Fort) A [map] (daily Apr–Oct 8am–8pm, Nov–Mar 8.30am–3.30) by the Venetians during the 15th and 16th centuries, when they cut a canal to make the citadel an island. The Old Fort overlooks Mandráki Harbour, originally a Venetian galley port but now a pleasure-craft marina. The more complete Néo Froúrio (New Fort) B [map] to the west (Apr–Oct 8.30am–3.30pm, free) is strictly Venetian and offers wonderful views.

With its tottering, multi-storeyed apartments and maze-like lanes ending in quiet plazas, the Old Town constitutes a flâneur’s paradise, now listed by UNESCO. Vacant bomb sites still yawn near the Néo Froúrio, and many main thoroughfares are brashly commercialised, but the backstreets are surprisingly unspoilt, festooned with washing lines and echoing to pigeon coos. An elegant counterpoint is the Listón C [map] , to the east, built by the French as a replica of the Parisian Rue de Rivoli. The name refers to local aristocrats listed in the Venetian Libro d’Oro, who were the only citizens entitled to walk beneath the arcades.

The Catholic Cathedral in Corfu Town.

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Fact

The Spianáda is the focus for Corfu’s famous Orthodox Easter celebrations. On Good Friday, each parish parades its Epitáfios (Bier of Christ) to the accompaniment of brass bands, playing dirges that can make grown men weep. On Saturday morning, the relics of local saint Spyrídon go walkabout, and the tunes gets jollier as people shower special pottery (the bótides) from their balconies to banish misfortune.

The Listón faces the Spianáda D [map] (Esplanade), a large and grassy open space cleared by the Venetians to deprive attackers of cover. On the southern half of the Esplanade is the plain Ionian Monument, which celebrates the island’s union with Greece in 1864. It is surrounded by marble reliefs displaying the symbols of the seven Ionian Islands (the Eptánisa). Nearby is the Victorian bandstand, where Sunday concerts are held in summer, and the Maitland Rotunda, dedicated to the first, albeit unloved, British High Commissioner. At the far end is the statue of Greece’s first president (1827–31) and Corfu’s greatest son, Ioannis Kapodistrias. Until the 2008 move to a purpose-built stadium at Gouviá, the Spianáda hosted idiosyncratic cricket matches, an enduring British legacy, as is the enormous Victorian cemetery outside town, and the ginger beer that is still available at some of the Listón’s cafés.

Both music and Saint Spyrídon are integral parts of Corfiot life. Until it was destroyed by Nazi bombs, Kérkyra had the world’s largest opera house after Milan’s La Scala; there are still regular classical or brass-band performances and thriving conservatories. A few blocks back in the streets behind the Listón is the 16th-century Church of Ágios Spyrídon E [map] (usually open), with sumptuous ceiling murals by local master Panagiotis Doxaras. Spyrídon, after whom seemingly half the male population is named “Spýros”. Spyridon was a 4th-century Cypriot bishop whose remains were taken to Constantinople in the 7th century and then, in 1456, smuggled to Corfu, where he is credited with miraculously saving the island from several disasters. His casket, prominently displayed in the church, is processed around town four times a year.

Across the north side of the Spianáda stands the imposing Palace of St Michael and St George F [map] , erected in 1819–24 as the residence for the British High Commissioners. When the British left, Greek royalty used it as a summer residence. The bronze toga-clad figure who stands above a lily pond in front of the palace is Sir Frederick Adam, Britain’s second High Commissioner. The pool and its water spouts are there to remind people that Adam was the first to ensure Kérkyra Town a reliable water supply, with an aqueduct system still in use today. The palace’s state rooms now house the Museum of Asian Art (www.matk.gr; daily 8am–8pm). Its collection of almost 11,000 Asian artefacts is one of the most comprehensive collections of its kind in the world, encompassing Buddhist devotional art, Gandhara relief work, Hindu deities and Japanese scrolls.

Corfu Town’s Listón buzzes at night.

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West of here, the church of Andivouniótissa accommodates the Byzantine Museum G [map] (www.antivouniotissamuseum.gr; Wed-Mon 8.30am-3.30pm). The exonarthex (vestibule) surrounding the single-aisle church on three sides exhibits an impressive array of icons from the 15th to 19th centuries, many of the so-called ‘Cretan School’; after the fall of Crete to the Ottomans, many skilled artists came as refugees to Venetian-held Corfu.

Paleó Froúrio, one of Kérkyra’s two Venetian fortresses.

Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications

Fact

The Greeks call these west-coast islands the Eptánisa – the seven isles. But as Kýthira, the seventh isle, lies off the southern tip of the Peloponnese, it remains quite isolated from the others, and is governed from Piraeus.

The archaeological museum H [map] , with its superb late Archaic artefacts, has finally re-opened (www.archaeologicalmuseums.gr; Wed–Mon Apr–Oct 8am–8pm; winter 8.30am–3.30pm); its star exhibit is an Archaic Gorgon Pediment from the local Artemis Temple. Most displays came from excavations in Mon Repos estate, 1km (0.6 miles) to the south, the birthplace of Britain’s late Prince Philip, which has a more modest museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) with good temporary exhibits.

Just south of Mon Repos at Kanóni are the photogenic islets of Vlahérna, with a little whitewashed monastery (erratic opening times) and causeway to it, and Pondikonísi, said to be a local ship petrified by Poseidon in revenge for the ancient Phaekians helping Odysseus.

The north of the island

The coast northwest of town supports busy resorts such as Kondókali, Komméno, Dassiá and Ýpsos. Beyond Barbáti, the mountains plunge more sharply to the sea and the landscape becomes more stereotypically Mediterranean, mingling cypress with olive trees. To escape the bustle of the resorts, wander inland on an uphill journey past quiet villas and olive groves to Káto Korakiána. Here, installed in an old, three-storey villa, is the National Gallery Annexe of Corfu 2 [map] (www.corfu.nationalgallery.gr; Wed noon–8pm, Thu–Mon 10am–6pm), displaying 150 works of prominent Greek painters from all eras since 1830, on permanent loan from the Athens parent collection.

Corfu’s Colonisers

Habitation dates back 50,000 years, although Corfu enters history as “Korkyra” in the 8th century BC, when it was colonised by ancient Corinth. By the 5th century BC, Korkyra had become a major naval power, siding with Athens against Sparta in the Peloponnesian Wars.

Nearly eight centuries of Byzantine tenure from AD 395 brought a measure of stability and prosperity; but latter years saw incursions by the Norman-Angevin Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Despotate of Epirus, and the Venetians. Weary of misrule and piracy, in 1386 the Corfiots submitted voluntarily to Venetian rule, which endured for 411 years despite four Ottoman sieges. Napoleon dissolved what remained of the Venetian Empire in 1797, and the French held the island until 1814 (except for the brief reign of the Ottoman-Russian-controlled “Septinsular Republic). The British were occupiers between 1814 and 1864, when all the Ionian Islands were ceded as a condition of George I’s ascent of the Greek throne.

During World War I, Corfu was the final destination of the retreating Serbian army, and memorials from that era remain. World War II saw Kérkyra Town suffer extensive damage under a German bombardment to displace the Italian occupiers. During a brief but brutal occupation, the Nazis deported Corfu’s significant Jewish community.

The mini-Riviera between Kalámi 3 [map] and Ágios Stéfanos Sinión basks in the nickname of “Kensington-on-Sea” after a posh clientele who stay in villas – there are almost no hotels – and enjoy secluded pebble coves. The adjacent villages of Kalámi and Kouloúra were beloved of the Durrell family.

Mass tourism resumes at Kassiópi 4 [map] , once a small fishing village and now a busy resort. The Romans Cicero, Cato and Nero stopped by, but only the crumbled Angevin castle recalls past prominence.

Alternatively, head up the north slopes of 914-metre (2,950-ft) Mt Pandokrátor to Paleá Períthia, a well-preserved Venetian-era village with several tavernas. Back on the coast, Aharávi, Róda and Sidári 5 [map] are three over-developed resorts. From Sidári ply the most reliable boats to two of the small inhabited Diapóndia islets, Eríkousa and Othoní (the westernmost point of Greece), popular with Italians. Sidári’s finest feature is the series of striking rock formations that rise out of the sea at the western end of the resort.

The west-coast beaches beyond Sidári are calmer, beginning below Perouládes 6 [map] , with its superlative sunsets, continuing through Ágios Stéfanos Avliotón, Arílas and Ágios Geórgios Págon. From Ágios Stéfanos Avliotón, boats go to Othoní and the third Diapóndia islet, Mathráki, with its lovely long, uncrowded white-sand beaches.

The 13th-century Angelókastro.

iStock

Beyond Makrádes and Kríni looms the shattered but still impressive Byzantine-Angevin Angelókastro (daily 10am–5.30pm, gate may be open at other times) guarding the approach to the beautiful double bay of Paleokastrítsa 7 [map] , once idyllic but now swamped. The best view of Paleokastrítsa is from the village of Lákones above it. Sandy beaches resume at diminuitive Myrtiótissa 8 [map] – beloved of naturists – or much bigger Glyfáda, while Ágios Górdis is both backpackers’ paradise and family resort. Inland, Pélekas offers island panoramas from the “Kaiser’s Throne”, a modified rock formation from which Kaiser Wilhelm II used to watch the sunset.

The south of the island

Inland and south of Kérkyra stands the monstrously kitsch Achilleion Palace 9 [map] (www.achillion-corfu.gr; daily 8am–8pm; winter earlier closure all days), built in 1890 for Empress Elisabeth of Austria, then acquired after her 1898 assassination by Kaiser Wilhelm II. It has variously served as a military hospital, casino, film location and conference venue, but the ground floor is now a museum, mostly of Elisabeth and Wilhelm’s home furnishings.

Benítses is slowly reinventing itself from downmarket party resort to serious yachtie haven, thanks to its new marina, the largest on Corfu. The main street in Moraïtika is an uninterrupted line of restaurants/bars/shops, but the beach is good. The older, inland part of Moraïtika has no tourist development, just an attractive taverna or two as antidotes to the hectic resort below. Mesongí ) [map] is marginally more pleasant, although the long but very narrow pebble beaches are closely hemmed in. Inland, Mesongí has some of Corfu’s oldest olive groves, planted by the Venetians more than 500 years ago.

The main road turns inland here and reaches a crossroads at Áno Mesongí. Continue straight on to excellent Halikoúna beach at the northwest end of the Korissíon lagoon ! [map] , a protected nature reserve. From the village of Ágios Matthéos, you can access long, sandy, scarcely developed Paramónas beach.

Fact

Lawrence Durrell wrote Prospero’s Cell while living in the White House in Kalámi (now a taverna), while Kouloúra gave rise to his brother Gerald’s My Family and Other Animals.

Turning left instead at Áno Mesongí, then leaving the main road at Argyrádes takes you to the sleepily quiet coastal hamlet of Boúkari, spared exploitation by an utter lack of beaches. On the opposite shore lies Ágios Geórgios Argyrádon, a straggling, nondescript resort with only a splendid beach to recommend it to visitors. The northernmost part of the beach is windsurf-friendly Íssos, which borders the southeast end of the Korissíon Lagoon. The Corfiots have quarantined the loud, boozing-and-bonking youth element at the far southeast tip of the island, at Kávos @ [map] , now fallen on hard times. Levkímmi, the underrated second-largest town on Corfu, has an extremely picturesque river and goes about its business just inland, seemingly oblivious to its raucous neighbour.

The crystal-clear water at Barbáti beach.

Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications

THE IONIAN ISLANDS

Lushest of all the Greek island chains, the Ionians offer superb beaches, great natural beauty and a distinct culture – including a graceful Venetian influence in the local architecture.

Main Attractions

Andípaxi, Paxí

Levkáda Town, Levkáda

Pórto Kátsíki, Levkáda

Vathý, Itháki

Petaní, Kefaloniá

Melissáni Cave, Kefaloniá

Ássos, Kefaloniá

Gérakas, Zákynthos

Navágio Bay, Zákynthos

Blue Caves, Zákynthos

Throughout the Ionian archipelago, as on Corfu, the long Venetian domination (1386–1797) left an indelible mark. Culturally, these islands look west to Europe rather than north to the Balkans or east to Anatolia; only Levkáda had a brief period of Ottoman rule.

A hundred shades of blue, off the west coast of Kefaloniá.

Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications

A heavy rainfall makes the Ionians among the greenest of Greek island chains. Olive groves and vineyards are reminders that agriculture, rather than tourism, still claim a part in the economy. However, this same unsettled weather has dampened many a traveller’s holiday: from mid-September until mid-May, rains can wash out any beach visit quite without warning. The rest of the year, the northwest wind or máïstros substitutes for the meltémi blowing elsewhere in Greece.

Paxí (Páxos)

Small, hilly and green, Paxí (or Páxos) 1 [map] has a rugged west coast with cliffs and sea caves, and various pebble beaches on the gentler east shore. Paxí figures little in ancient history and mythology, and was systematically populated only during the 15th century. Here too the Venetians left a legacy of olive trees, and Paxiot oil ranks among the best in Greece.

All boats dock at the small capital, Gáïos, arrayed around its main square and sheltered by the two islets of Ágios Nikólaos (castle) and Panagía (small monastery). Gáïos offers narrow streets and a few 19th-century buildings with Venetian-style balconies and shutters, plus most island shops.

Paxí’s single main road meanders northwest through olive groves and tiny hamlets consisting of a few houses and perhaps a kafenío at lane junctions. Walking is still the best way to explore the maze of old walled paths, dirt tracks and paved lanes criss-crossing the island. Longós on the northwest coast is the most exclusive resort, flanked by the popular beaches of Levréhio and Monodéndri. The “motorway” ends at Lákka, favoured by yachts and the majority of landbound tourists, with small beaches like Orkós lying nearby.

Bar sign in Sámi.

Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications

The satellite islet of Andípaxi (Andípaxos) 2 [map] shelters two excellent beaches mobbed by day-trippers in season, when four tavernas operate. Andípaxi’s vineyards produce a heavy red wine favoured for local festivals, and a lighter tawny white.

Levkáda/Levkás

Levkáda is barely an island, joined to the mainland by a floating drawbridge over a canal dredged in ancient times. Yet it feels like one of the Ionians, with predictable Venetian influences on speech and cuisine, plus the imposing fort of Agía Mávra (Santa Maura) by the bridge. Levkáda’s rugged landscape has preserved rural lifestyles in the hill villages: older women still wear traditional dress, while local crafts and foodstuffs are avidly promoted.

Levkáda Town 3 [map] faces the canal and the lagoon enclosed by Gýra sandspit, with safe mooring for numerous yachts on the southeast quay. Much of downtown is off-limits to cars.

There are several ornate Italianate churches dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, their Baroque relief facades sitting oddly beside antiseismic belfries modelled on oil derricks. The churches (usually open) contain some admirable artwork from the Ionian School painters such as Panagiotis Doxaras, and beautiful altar screens. Secular architectural responses to the 1953 earthquake could be termed “Caribbean-Tudor”; stone-built ground floors are often preserved, supporting lighter, half-timbered upper stories sheathed in corrugated tin.

Heading down Levkáda’s east coast, the little port-resorts of Lygiá and Nikiána, with pebble coves and fish tavernas, are calmer than Nydrí 4 [map] , 20km (12 miles) south of Levkáda, opposite a mini-archipelago of four islets. Until the 1970s, it was a tiny fishing village, where Aristotle Onassis used to pop over for dinner from Skorpiós, his private island. Now, Nydrí is a busy package resort despite poor beaches. Some 3km (15 miles) inland, the Roniés Waterfalls prove surprisingly impressive, revealing abundant water at the heart of Levkáda. Beyond this stretches a fertile upland, studded by churches with Venetian belfries. The main village here is Karyá 5 [map] , its vast central platía shaded by several giant plane trees.

Beyond Nydrí, Wilhelm Dörpfeld, the German archaeologist, excavated at Stenó and is buried on the far side of sumpy Vlyhó bay. The island ring road curls past Mikrós Gialós and Sývota bays before descending to Vassilikí 6 [map] , 40km (25 miles) from town, one of Europe’s premier windsurfing resorts. Beyond Cape Levkátas (Ákra Doukáto) – from where Sappho legendarily leaped to her death – lie spectacular west-coast beaches, accessible by roads of varying steepness. Pórto Kátsíki 7 [map] stars on every third postcard of Levkáda; Egremní and Gialós are less frequented but nearly as good, while panoramic Atháni village has the closest tourist facilities. Further on, Drymónas has the best rural architecture, while Kalamítsi has an eponymous beach and “shares” Káthisma, Levkáda’s longest, with Ágios Nikítas (Aï Nikítas) 8 [map] . The only port actually on the west coast has become its main resort, worth avoiding in peak season.

Itháki (Ithaca)

Most boats dock at the main town, Vathý 9 [map] , at the end of a deeply inset bay. The town was badly damaged by an earthquake in 1953, but much has been restored. The attractive harbour front is known for its huge number of tavernas. To the south of the town are a number of sites supposedly associated with events in Homer’s Odyssey. These include the Arethoúsa Spring, the Cave of the Nymphs and, near the port of Píso Aetós, ancient Alalkomenes. Above Píso Aetós is the island’s deserted medieval capital of Perahóri (only a few derelict buildings to see now). The route across the isthmus and along the west coast to the villages of Léfki and Stavrós in the northern half of the island is particularly beautiful.

Fact

Part of the main walkway in Levkáda Town is named after Wilhelm Dörpfeld, the early 20th-century German archaeologist whose quixotic life’s work attempted to prove that Levkáda was in fact Homeric Ithaca.

Stavrós ) [map] is a pleasant but undistinguished town above the west-coast beach and port at Pólis. Remains of the island’s oldest settlement are on Pelikáta hill here. A road winds up past the little hill-village of Exogí to a chapel, from where there are spectacular views over the bay of Afáles. Another road from Stavrós leads to Platrithiás, which also has Mycenean remains. The two lovely port villages of Fríkes and Kióni are lovely places to stay, but very popular.

Kefaloniá (Cephalonia)

Kefaloniá is the largest and second most mountainous of the Ionian Islands. It holds the highest peak in the island chain, Mount Énos ! [map] (1,628 metres/5,340ft), whose summit is set aside as a national park to preserve the native Cephalonian fir.

Italianate church in Levkáda Town.

Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications

Fact

In 1939, Itháki had a population of around 15,000; now it is nearer 3,000, thanks to mass emigration – particularly to Australia and South Africa – following the 1953 earthquake.

Argostóli @ [map] , the island’s capital, is on the east coast on the large Argostóli Gulf. Almost completely destroyed in the huge 1953 earthquake, it has now been rebuilt and is a convenient base from which to explore. The town itself has a few attractions – a small but well-laid-out archaeological museum (closed for extended renovation) and the fascinating Korgialenios Museum (Mon–Sat 9am–2pm), with its exhibits of bourgeois island life.

Just south of Argostóli is Votanókypos Kefaloniás (Cephalonia Botanica; www.focas-cosmetatos.gr; May–Oct Mon–Sat 9am–2pm), a botanical garden set in an old olive grove which aims to preserve rare species from the island’s flora. Further south, across the Livathó plain, are the ruins of the island’s Venetian capital, Ágios Geórgios (Wed–Mon 10am–3pm, free but often closed), perched on a hill above the village of Peratáta. The views from the citadel’s ramparts are fabulous.

The underground lake of Melissáni.

Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications

To the north of Argostóli are the katavóthres (“sea mills”), where seawater runs down holes and under the whole island to Melissáni Cave. Although now just a trickle, before the 1953 earthquake, the flow was strong enough to power flour mills. Heading south from Argostóli, there are more fine beaches, beginning with Makrýs and Platýs Gialós at Lássi £ [map] , Kefaloniá’s largest resort, then round the south coast via Trapezáki and Lourdáta all the way to Kateliós and Skála $ [map] . Here, some impressive mosaics lie within the foundations of a Roman villa (summer Wed–Mon 10.15am–3.15pm; free).

Lixoúri % [map] on the Pallíki Peninsula on the western side of the Argostóli Gulf, can be reached by a frequent car ferry from Argostóli. The town itself is rather sleepy, but the Iakovatos Library (closed since 2015 owing to quake damage) is worth a look should it re-open. South of Lixoúri, across the earthquake-ruptured plain of Katogís, are the wonderful red sand beaches of Mégas Lákkos and Xí. Beyond Xí is Kounopétra, the huge boulder that used to rock on its base until the 1953 earthquake set it still. The beautiful fine-pebble beach at Petaní is in the northwest of the peninsula.

Novel connections

Set on Kefaloniá during World War II and after, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin quickly acquired word-of-mouth bestseller status, but was never popular with the islanders themselves. Greek Left intellectuals and surviving Italian partisans were unimpressed by its anti-Communist stance and disparaging portrayal of ELAS (the Greek Popular Liberation Army). It also seems the novel was closely based on the published experiences of Amos Pampaloni, an Italian artillery captain on Kefaloniá in 1942–44 who later joined ELAS, who accused de Bernières of distorting the roles of both Italians and ELAS on the island. The Greek translation was abridged to avoid causing offence, and the big-flop movie was watered down to a pallid love story as a condition for filming locally.

The spectacular road that crosses the island north of Mount Énos brings you to the monastery of Agíou Gerásimou ^ [map] (daily 8am–1pm, 3.30–8pm; free), which has an impressive main sanctuary and underground cave where the island’s patron saint meditated. Next door is the Robola winery, and the road then leads to the port of Sámi. The harbour and the wonderful nearby beach of Andísami were used as locations in the filming of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, the book of which was set on the island.

Close by Sámi are the caves of Melissáni and Drogaráti. The Melissáni Cave & [map] (May–Oct daily 9am–7pm, Nov–Apr Thur, Sat, Sun 10am–4pm) is an underground lake with part of the roof open to the sky; when the sun shines down on the water, it becomes a bright translucent blue. The large chamber of Drogaráti (summer only daily 8am–8pm) is decorated with hundreds of stalactites and stalagmites. The main road south from Sámi leads to the faded resort of Póros and the excavated Mycenean tholos tomb at Tzanáta.

The northern part of Kefaloniá comprises sheer mountains whose cliffs fall precipitously to the sea, as well as pretty villages that largely escaped the 1953 earthquake. The west-coast road is a spectacular, if rather worrying, ride. The famous beach at Mýrtos looks impressive from above but consists of coarse pebbles and has a dangerous undertow. Further north is the perfect horseshoe harbour of Ássos * [map] . On the isthmus leading to a large hill rising sharply out of the sea is a large 16th-century Venetian fort. However, the island’s most upmarket resort is the small port of Fiskárdo ( [map] , slightly too pretty and popular as a yachting harbour for its own good. There are some wonderful small pebble beaches, many of them backed by cypress trees, all around this northern part of the island.

Zákynthos (Zante)

Dubbed “Zante, Fior di Levante” by the Venetians, the central plain and eastern hills of Zákynthos still support luxuriant vegetation. The south and east coasts shelter excellent beaches, some almost undeveloped, others home to rampant and unsavoury tourism. The once-elegant harbour town of Zákynthos ‚ [map] was rebuilt after the 1953 earthquake in the same style, and though not quite convincingly Venetian, the atmosphere is still pleasant. At the southern end of the harbour is the church of Ágios Dionýsios (daily 7am–1pm, 5–10pm), the island’s patron saint, rebuilt after an earthquake in 1893 and again in 1948. It well worth the detour with a very opulent interior with lots of gold and superb colourful murals.

Popular Andísami beach.

Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications

Fact

Kefaloniá is noted for its honey (thyme-scented), quince jelly, rabbit stew and a local speciality called riganáta – féta cheese mixed with bread, oil and oregano.

At the harbour’s northern end is Platía Solomoú, surrounding which are the town’s other main attractions: the church of Ágios Nikólaos tou Mólou (no fixed hours), the huge Byzantine Museum (Wed–Mon 8.30am–3.30pm) with its glorious 17th- and 18th-century paintings, rescued frescoes, relief work and icons; plus, tucked behind on Platía Márkou, the Museum of Eminent Zakynthians (daily 9am–2pm), chiefly dedicated to the poets Dionysios Solomos and Andreas Kalvos. Above the town looms the Venetian fort at Bóhali (daily 8.30am–3.30pm) with a very attractive pine-filled interior and wonderful views.

Navágio beach, Zákynthos - the most photographed in the Ionians.

Glyn Genin/Apa Publications

At the southeastern tip of the island is the beautiful Vasilikós Peninsula, location of some of the better beaches on the island. The best of these is Gérakas on its eastern side. However, the beaches on Laganás Bay are some of the last few nesting sites of the Mediterranean loggerhead turtle. As the majority of visitors to the island are flown into the brash and raucous resort of Laganás, there is an agglomeration of hotels, restaurants and bars, fast-food joints and clubs along this coast, severely endangering the survival of the turtles. In response, the National Marine Park of Zákynthos has been set up, encompassing the whole gulf between capes Gérakas to Kerí. All affected beaches have wardens to protect the nests, dusk-to-dawn curfews, and restrictions on boating and land access.

The broad central plain is the most fertile region in the Ionians and is given over to intensive agriculture. In the village of Maherádo to the west is the pilgrimage church of Agías Mávras (flexible opening), with its ornate gilded Baroque interior. Over on the east coast are the popular, if slightly tacky, resorts of Tsiliví and Alykés.

The mountainous west coast is much wilder, and sees far fewer tourists. From the cliffs at Kerí ⁄ [map] , on the southwest peninsula, there are incomparable views of the sea. A string of pretty hill villages runs along the western side of the mountains. The most attractive is Loúha, one of the highest settlements on the island, and like its neighbours undamaged by the 1953 tremor. From Kilioméno, the road runs north past Kambí where a huge cross on a headland commemorates a wartime massacre. Before Kambí, down by the sea is a beautifully situated taverna at Limniónas where you can swim off the rocks. Further north, past the monasteries of Anafonítria and Ágios Geórgios ton Krimnón, is perhaps the Ionians’ most iconic tourist sight: the shipwreck at Navágio Bay ¤ [map] , surrounded by towering white cliffs. Further on is the mountain village of Volímes, noted for its honey and textiles. At the very northern tip of the island (Cape Skinári) are the Blue Caves ‹ [map] ; sun on the clear water here reflects an iridescent blue on the cave walls (excursions run from the small port of Ágios Nikólaos and from Alykés).

Kýthira

The island of Kýthira sees at least one ferry boat daily from Gýthion and/or Neápoli, plus occasional sailings from Pireás and Kastélli Kissámou (Crete). Essentially a bleak plateau slashed by well-watered ravines, the island forms part of a sunken land-bridge between the Peloponnese and Crete. It shares a history of Venetian and British rule like the other Ionian isles to which it theoretically belongs, although it is now lumped administratively with the Argo-Saronics under Pireás. Architecturally, it’s a hybrid of Cycladic and Venetian styles with an Australian accent, courtesy of remittances from the 60,000-odd locals who headed Down Under during the 1950s.

The island does not put itself out for visitors: accommodation is expensive and oversubscribed so booking well in advance is an absolute must, the season short, and good tavernas are unfortuntaely thin on the ground. Yet Kýthira has become fairly popular thanks to regular flights from Athens. Kýthira Town is also one of the finest island capitals of the Aegean, with medieval mansions and Venetian fortifications.

Far below, Kapsáli is the yacht berth, though there are better beaches on the east coast, as far as the fishing anchorage of Avlémonas. More castles are to be found there and at Venetian Káto Hóra, just above Agía Sofía cavern, the principal west-coast attraction. In the northeast, the ravine-edge ghost village of Paleohóra was the capital from 1248 until 1537, when it failed the pirate-proof test.

Glitzy Fiskárdo port at dusk.

Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications

Dinner on the steps of Pláka, Athens.

Shutterstock

TRANSPORT

Getting There

By Air

Greece has good air connections with the rest of the world and is serviced by numerous international airlines. Charter flights generally operate from early May to the end of October, even into November to Rhodes and Crete. Nowadays, unless you’re on a multi-stop or round-the-world ticket, e-tickets bought online are the norm. The airlines’ own websites can be a good source of discount tickets, matching (or nearly so) the prices offered by general websites like Expedia, Momondo and Skyscanner.

The majority of scheduled airline passengers travelling to Greece make Athens’ Eleftherios Venizelos Airport their point of entry, though a number of services (from the rest of Europe only) arrive at Thessaloníki, Kalamáta, Skiáthos, Rhodes, Kos, Corfu, Kefaloniá, Zákynthos, Préveza (for Lefkáda), Santoríni, Mýkonos, Lésvos, Sámos and Iráklio/Haniá/Sitía, Crete.

Getting from Athens airport to central Athens and Piraeus

Between Eleftherios Venizelos Airport at Spáta, central Athens and Piraeus, there are various connecting services. Line 3 of the metro takes you – surprisingly slowly, from 6.30am to 11.30pm – into town for €9. Alternatively, take the X95 express bus all the way to central Sýndagma Square (every 15–20 minutes), or the X96 express bus to Pireás port (every 30 minutes). The Piraeus terminus for the X96 bus is all the way anticlockwise around the port, at Aktí Vassiliádi, near gates E1 and E2, however, it does make stops all along the quay in each direction. Tickets for both the X95 and the X96 cost €6 for a single journey (at the airport, buy them from the dedicated booth before boarding); the express buses run around the clock, though with long gaps between midnight and 6am.

A taxi from Venizelos Airport into Athens will cost €40–50 depending on the time of day/night and your final destination, but includes airport supplement and per-bag fee. Even using the Attikí Odós, the toll highway into Athens, the journey time can still amount to over an hour; the same is true for trips to Piraeus via the coastal suburbs.

Getting to Thessaloníki from Macedonia Airport

Macedonia Airport is 15km (9 miles) southeast of Thessaloníki. Regular buses go to the city centre (€2, coin-machine-sold tickets, no change given) and take around 40 minutes. Taxis take around 25–30 minutes and cost €25–30.

From Rhodes airport to Rhodes Town

From 6.30am to 11.15pm in season, there is a local bus connection (€2.50) into town. The bus stop is outside between the two terminals (turn left out of arrivals). Otherwise, a taxi into town will cost €25–30 depending on number of bags and exact destination.

From Corfu airport to Kérkyra Town

Urban blue bus no. 15 plies between the airport and Sarokko Square in Kérkyra Town from 7.30am–11pm for €1.20. Consult www.astikoktelkerkyras.gr for precise current schedules. Taxis charge a set, inflated €15 for the short run into town. Pre-booked car rental is so advantageously priced that you should forego their blandishments.

From Crete’s main airport to Iráklio

A bus service runs the 5km to and from the main KTEL (long-distance bus) terminal, on the ferry quay just below the old town until late at night. This information applies only until the new inland airport opens in 2027.

By Sea

Most visitors entering Greece by sea do so from the west, from Italy. You can catch a boat to Greece from Venice, Ancona and Bari, but the most regular service is from Brindisi. Daily ferry lines (less frequent in the low-season) connect Brindisi with the three main western Greek ports: Corfu, Igoumenítsa and Pátra. Corfu is a 6.5-hour trip; Igoumenítsa 8 hours; and Pátra 11–14 hours, depending on whether you take a direct boat or one that makes stops in Corfu and Igoumenítsa. “Superfast” ferries between Ancona and Pátras offer an efficient 22-hour crossing.

Igoumenítsa is the ideal port of call for those setting off to see central-western Greece. Pátra is best if you want to head directly to Athens or into the Peloponnese. Regular buses connect Pátra and Athens (4 hours maximum journey time), while OSE rail-coaches take you to Kiáto train station and its suburban rail service on to Athens. If you plan to take your car with you on the boat, you should make reservations well in advance. Otherwise, arriving a few hours before the departure time should suffice, except during peak seasons when booking in advance is essential for seats or berths. There is summer-only service from Italy to Kefaloniá and sometimes Zákynthos.

Italy–Greece Ferry Companies

ANEK – www.anek.gr

European Seaways – www.europeanseaways.com Currently the main line offering service between Brindisi and Kefaloniá/Zákynthos

Minoan Lines (Grimaldi in Italy) – www.minoan.gr From Ancona or Brindisi to Igoumenítsa/Pátra

Superfast– www.superfast.gr To Igoumenítsa and Pátra

Ventouris – www.ventouris.gr From Bari to Corfu/Igoumenítsa, seasonally to Kefaloniá

www.ferries-greece.com, www.go-ferry.com or www.greekferries.gr – good consolidator/overview sites

Useful Airlines Serving Greece from Anglophone Countries

At the moment, there are only guaranteed direct services to Greece from Great Britain, Eire, Canada and the US. There has not been non-stop service from Australia or South Africa in many years.

Air Canada (www.aircanada.com) Between Athens and several points in Canada.

Air Transat (www.airtransat.com) Between Athens and several points in Canada; budget airline.

Aegean Airlines (www.aegeanair.com). Between Athens and London (Heathrow), Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin.

American Airlines (www.aa.com) Between Athens and Philadelphia or Chicago (seasonal).

British Airways (www.ba.com). Between Athens–Heathrow and Thessaloníki–Gatwick; also between Kalamáta, Haniá, Rhodes, Skiathos, Corfu, Kefaloniá, Zákynthos, Santoríni and Mýkonos to various UK airports direct, including London City, Heathrow and Gatwick.

Delta Airlines (www.delta.com). Between New York JFK or Atlanta and Athens (seasonal).

easyJet (www.easyjet.com). Between various UK airports and Athens, Thessaloníki, Préveza, Rhodes, Corfu, Kos, Zákynthos, Kefaloniá, Haniá, Iráklio.

Emirates (www.emirates.com). From several cities in the USA, plus Toronto, to Athens; routes may be seasonal and/or indirect.

Jet2 (www.jet2.com) Between London Stansted, Belfast, Scotland and various points in northern England to various airports in Greece; most routes seasonal.

Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) Between numerous UK airports and Dublin to Athens, Thessaloníki, Kalamáta and eleven island airports.

United Airlines (www.united.com) Frequent service all year from Newark, USA to Athens.

Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com) From seven UK airports to Athens, Thessaloníki and ten island airports.

By Land

From Europe It is no longer possible to buy a through train ticket from the UK to Greece, and economically it never made much sense. If, as a railpass holder, you’re intent on the journey, consult the ultra-useful rail-travel planning website www.seat61.com.

From Asia via Turkey If you are travelling strictly overland to Greece from Asia you will pass through Istanbul and cross into Greece at the Évros River. The best way to do this is by car or bus. The road is good and the journey from Istanbul to Thessaloníki takes approximately 15 hours; several bus companies serve the route.

The train has the appeal of following the route of the old Orient Express, with better scenery than the road. But, unless you’re a great rail fan, the travel time can be off-putting: 17 hours by the timetables, up to 19 hours in practice, including long halts at the border. However, Greek trains provide international service from/to neighbouring countries on a sporadic, unpredictable basis. You will likely have to get from Turkey to Kastaniés or Kípi, the first stations on the Greek side of the frontier that still have domestic service towards Thessaloníki, though usually with long layovers at Alexandroúpoli. There is no longer a through service from İstanbul into Greece.

Another popular option is to take one of the small boats between western Turkish ports and select Greek islands just opposite. Fares are overpriced for the distance involved but it is undeniably convenient. The most reliable links are from Çesme to Híos (may run all year), Bodrum to Kos (the cheapest crossing) and Kuşadası to Sámos (no cars carried).

Getting Around

Public Transport

By air

Flying is considerably more expensive than travelling by boat, bus or train, though still reasonable when compared to the price of domestic flights in other countries. For example, the 50-minute propeller-plane flight between Athens and Sámos costs anywhere from €50 to €140 one way; budget €15–25 more per leg if you wish to bring checked baggage.

The Greek skies are too limited to allow for many competitors and there have been several domestic airline failures in recent years, leaving only three reliable players. In 2013 Olympic Air became a subsidiary of Aegean Airlines. The best, most current sources of discount tickets on extant Greek airlines is the travel site https://gr.skyscanner.com. Foreign credit or debit cards may be viewed with some suspicion, so keep your mobile switched on when booking in case somebody wants to ring or text you to confirm your identity. Leave plenty of leeway in your domestic flight arrangements if you have to be back in Athens for an international flight. Island flights are often fully booked over the summer, so book these at least a month in advance. Seats bought from a travel agency or over the phone with any of the airlines listed below attract extra charges.

By bus

A vast network of bus routes spreads across Greece: the KTEL is a syndicate of bus companies whose buses are cheap and generally punctual, though rural depopulation has meant that schedules on many routes have been thinned or axed completely. KTEL buses on the more idiosyncratic rural routes often have a distinct personal touch, their drivers decorating and treating the bus with great respect. Bus tickets should be secured in advance at the stations for major routes, where seats often sell out. On minor village routes, tickets are dispensed on the bus by the conductor. 

In the larger cities, there may be different KTEL stations for different destinations. Travelling from Thessaloníki to Halkidikí, for example, you will leave from a remote eastern station, though all other destinations are served by the more modern unitary terminal. Athens, Iráklio and Corfu have two terminals, while Lamía has three.

City buses

Most of the regular Athens blue-and-white buses are now modern, air-conditioned vehicles, and using them is much less of an ordeal than it used to be. They are still usually overcrowded, and the routes are a mystery even to residents. Trolley buses, with an overhead pantograph, are marginally faster and more frequent. Both are run by OASA (www.oasa.gr). Most services run until nearly midnight, and upcoming stops are announced both on a visual display and aurally in Greek and English. Ticketing can be a trap for the unwary. Plain clothes ticket inspectors will levy fines of 60 times the basic fare for travelling with the wrong ticket, a ticket that hasn’t been validated, or no ticket.

In Athens, a system of multi-journey, reloadable tickets – ATH.ENA CARD – valid for all urban transport methods prevails, with the basic fare falling the more journeys are purchased. Options are a single fare ticket (€1.20) allowing transfers and 90 minutes of travel time; a five-journey card costing €5.70; for a ten-journey package (€12), you get an eleventh journey free and the ticket remains valid indefinitely. A day pass currently costs €4.10, valid 24hr from validation, while a five-day pass will set you back €8.20. Tickets are only obtainable from a dwindling network of newsagent kiosks – most no longer sell them – in metro stations, or at booths run by the bus company.

The most useful suburban services for tourists are the orange-and-white KTEL Attica (http://ktelattikis.gr) buses going from 14 Mavromatéon Street, Pédio tou Áreos Park, to Rafína (the ferry port for the Cyclades and northeast Aegean), Lávrio (the port for Kéa and Kýthnos) and Soúnio (for the famous Poseidon temple there).

Rural buses

In the countryside and on islands, buses can be converted school buses, modern coaches, or even pick-up trucks with seats installed in the payload space to transport tourists. Some drivers ricochet through mountain roads at death-defying speeds; bus accidents, however, appear to be rare. Just stow your luggage carefully to be on the safe side.

On islands, a bus of some description will usually meet arriving ferries (even if a boat is delayed) to transport passengers up the hill to the island’s hóra, or capital. Bus stops are usually in main squares or by the waterfront in harbours, and vehicles may or may not run to schedule.

A conductor dispenses tickets on the bus itself; often the fare required and the ticket will not show the same price, with the lower old price over-stamped. This isn’t a con, but merely a practice – bus companies use pre-printed tickets until the supply is gone, which may take several years.

By metro, tram and suburban trains

The Athens metro system has halved travel times around the city and made a visible reduction in surface traffic. It runs from 5.30am to 12.30am Sun–Thu, 5.30am–2.30am Fri–Sat, subject to strikes and staff availability. Consult http://stasy.gr for information. The stations themselves are palatial and squeaky-clean, with advertising placards kept to a minimum. The old ISAP electric line, in existence since 1869, has been refurbished and designated Line 1 (green on maps); it links Piraeus with Kifisiá via the city centre. Line 2 (red) links Ellinikó in the south with Peristéri in the northwest of town, with extensions works underway. Line 3 (blue) joins Níkea with the airport at Spáta, via Monastiráki. The main junction stations are Omónia, Sýndagma and Monastiráki. Especially if luggage-laden, it is worth avoiding getting on or off at the Monastiráki Line 1 station – gangs of highly skilled pickpockets work crowded cars and the platforms, targeting Athenians and seasoned travellers alike.

Fare rules and prices are the same as for buses, since Athens transport is now unitary. There are just a few attended ticket windows in metro stations – you’re encouraged to use the coin-op machines for simple tickets. As on the buses, plain clothes inspectors do a roaring trade in fines levied against fare dodgers.

There are also three tram routes: Sýndagma to the SEF stadium in Néo Fáliro, SEF to Voúla and Sýndagma to Voúla. Travellers coming from Piraeus are strongly recommended to leave metro Line 1 at Néo Fáliro and cross over to the tram terminus to avoid the risky Monastiráki station and have a pleasant journey to central Athens.

Thessaloníki has been proceeding with construction of its own metro/light rail system at a snail’s pace. It was confirmed, however, that the inauguration of the main line would take place on November 30, 2024.

Around Athens, there is a network of suburban or proastyakó trains which, most usefully, gets you from the town centre to Kiáto in the Peloponnese, from where frequent rail coaches take you on to Pátra.

By train

Grossly overstaffed and technically antiquated, the state railway organisation – OSE in Greek – has been awash in red ink for years and complete closure of operations was a threat until TrenItalia (FS) took over its management in 2018. Even so, most Peloponnesian lines (except for Athens–Kiáto, and the rack-and-pinion railway between Diakoftó and Kalávryta) have been axed, as have most mainland peripheral services. However, services from/to Thessaloníki and Skopje, Beograd, Sofia and Bucharest are once again running. Main domestic lines currently operating, and likely to survive albeit at reduced frequencies, are those between Athens and Kalambáka (for the Metéora), Athens and Halkída, Athens and Thessaloníki (high-speed line with new rolling stock), plus Thessaloníki and Alexandroúpoli.

Train travel is cheaper than the bus, and more comfortable, especially if you get a justifiably popular overnight sleeper to/from Thessaloníki. Trains are usually slower than the equivalent bus route. However, you can speed things up by taking an Intercity express train if you’re willing to pay a considerable surcharge. Students and people under 26 are usually eligible for discounts. All the common railpasses are honoured in Greece, though you may still have to pay certain supplements and queue for seat reservations.

Greek Domestic Airlines

Olympic tel: 210 62 61 000, www.olympicair.com Still possesses the largest route network, including services to obscure islands. Checked bags up to 23kg separate fee.

Aegean tel: 210 62 61 000 https://en.aegeanair.com Cherry-picks the more profitable domestic routes. Checked bags up to 23kg separate fee.

Sky Express tel: 215 21 56 510 www.skyexpress.gr Usually the least expensive choice on routes with competition, and a range of fares with different baggage allowances of 13–20kg.

Ferry/Catamaran/Hydrofoil Timetables

The best schedule resources are the websites of the GTP (Greek Travel Pages), www.gtp.gr, which is fairly accurate, with updates at least every few weeks, or www.ferries-greece.com.

Alternatively, major tourist information offices (Rhodes, Iráklio, etc) supply a weekly schedule, and most offices hang a timetable in a conspicuous place so you can look up times even if the branch is closed. This should, however, not be relied on implicitly – data can be obsolete. In general, for the most complete and up-to-date information on each port’s sailings the best source is the Port Police (in Piraeus and most other ports), known as the limenarhío.

Be aware that when you enquire about ferries at a travel agent, they will sometimes inform you only of the lines for which they sell tickets. Nowadays, though, most agents sell all tickets.

OSE has a schedule and purchase website (www.tickets.hellenictrain.gr), though it’s fiddly to work. You may be best off heading down to the station to buy in person.

By sea

Ferries

Piraeus is the nerve centre of the Greek ferry network, and chances are you will pass through it at least once; in roughly diminishing order of importance, Rafína, Lávrio, Vólos, Ágios Konstandínos, Igoumenítsa, Pátra, Kyllíni, Kavála, Gýthio, Thessaloníki are also mainland ferry ports. In high season, routes vary from “milk runs” stopping at five islands en route to your destination, to “express” (semi-)direct ones, so it is worth shopping around before purchasing your ticket. It is also advisable not to purchase your ticket too far in advance: very rarely do tickets for the boat ride actually sell out – this does, however, happen around Easter, from mid-August to early September, and around election times – but there are frequent changes to schedules which may leave you trying to get a refund.

Personalised ticketing for all boats has long been the rule; it is no longer possible to purchase tickets on board, though you can upgrade your class of travel. The only exceptions are a few of the RO-RO short-haul ferries (e.g. Igoumenítsa-Levkímmi, Páros–Andíparos, Keramotí–Thásos).

When you buy your ticket, get detailed instructions on how to find your boat’s gate – the Piraeus quays are long and convoluted. The staff who take your ticket should make sure you are on the right boat. A shuttle bus serves remote gates.

Above all, be flexible when travelling the Greek seas. Apart from schedule changes, a bad stretch of weather can keep you island-bound for as long as the wind blows. Strikes, too, are often called during the summer, and usually last for a few days. Out on the islands in particular, the best way to secure accurate, up-to-the-minute information on the erratic ways of ferries is to contact the Port Authority (limenarhío), which monitors the movements of individual boats. Port Authority offices are usually located on the waterfront of each island’s principal harbour, away from the cafés. Boats are often very late arriving – to avoid wasting time around the dock, track the real-time progress of your ferry or catamaran on the live (and very addictive) shipping map at www.marinetraffic.com.

If you are travelling by car, especially during the high season, you will have to plan much further ahead because during the peak season, car space is sometimes booked many weeks in advance. The same applies to booking a cabin for an overnight trip during summer.

Gamma class – also known as deck, tourist or third – is the classic, cheap way to voyage the Greek seas. There is usually a seat of one sort or another – though in the newer generations of boats, very limited deck space. If the weather turns bad, you can always go inside to the “low-class” lounge or the snack bar.

Catamarans/“high speeds”

Fleets of sleek new “high speed” ferries or true catamarans, made in France or Scandanavia, are steadily edging out most ordinary craft (as a stroll around the quays at Piraeus will confirm). They have some advantages over hydrofoils – they can be even faster, most of them carry lots of cars, and they’re permitted to sail in wind conditions of up to Force 7, whereas hydrofoils are confined to port at 6.

The bad news: there are usually no cabins (because they mostly finish their runs before midnight), food service is even worse than on the old ferries and there are no exterior decks. The aeroplane-seating salons are ruthlessly air-conditioned and subject to a steady, unavoidable barrage of banal Greek TV on overhead monitors (even in diakikriméni or “distinguished” class). Cars cost roughly the same to convey as on the old-style boats, but seats are double priced. Fuel consumption on such craft is horrendous; they only turn a profit when at least three-quarters full, and seem to spend much of their time at half-throttle.

Catamarans come in all shapes and sizes, from the 300-car-carrying behemoths of Blue Star in the northeast Aegean, Cyclades and central Dodecanese, to the tiny, speed-boat-like Agistri Express in the Argo-Saronic. The medium-sized Dodekanisos Express and Dodekanisos Pride serve most of the Dodecanese, and can take five cars each.

Hydrofoils

Like catamarans, hydrofoils are twice as fast as conventional ferries and about twice as expensive but, as ex-Polish or ex-Russian river craft, are not really designed for the Aegean, with spares difficult to get, and are thus disappearing.

Hydrofoils (ydroptéryga in Greek) connect Piraeus with most of the Argo-Saronic region (Égina, Méthana, Póros, Ýdra and Spétses), Corfu with Paxí, as well as Vólos and the three northerly Sporades (Alónisos, Skiáthos, Skópelos). Phone numbers for the very few surviving hydrofoil companies are constantly engaged, or spew out only pre-recorded information in rapid-fire Greek, so the best strategy is to approach the embarkation/ticket booths in person. In Piraeus, these are on Aktí Miaoúli quay; at Vólos, apply to the gatehouse for the harbour precinct.

Private Transport

Cars

Having a car in rural Greece enables you to reach a lot of otherwise inaccessible corners of the country; however, driving a car in Athens or Thessaloníki is unpleasant and confusing. Tempers run short, while road signs, or warnings of mandatory turning lanes, are practically non-existent or obscured by trees.

How to Get a Taxi in Greece

Taxis in Greece, especially in Athens, merit a guidebook to themselves. There are three stages to the experience.

First: getting a taxi. It’s almost impossible at certain times of the day in Athens, and probably worst before the early afternoon meal. When you hail a taxi, try to get in before stating your destination. The drivers are very picky and often won’t let you in unless you’re going in their direction. If you see an empty taxi, run for it, and be aggressive – otherwise you’ll find that some quick Athenian has beaten you to it. Alternatively, you can ask your hotel to book a cab for you.

Second: the ride. Make sure the taxi meter is on “1” when you start out, and not on “2” – that’s the double fare, which is only permitted from midnight to 5am, or outside designated city limits. Once inside, you may find yourself with company. Don’t be alarmed. It is traditional practice for drivers to pick up two, three, even four individual riders, provided they’re going roughly in the same direction. In these cases, make a note of the meter count when you get in. In fact, because taxis are relatively affordable, they can end up functioning as minibus services.

Third: paying up. If you’ve travelled with other passengers, make sure you aren’t paying for the part of the trip that happened before you got in. You should pay the difference in meter reading between embarking and alighting, subject to a minimum fare of €4. Otherwise, the meter will run from €1.80 (not zero) and tell you the straight price, which may be adjusted according to the tariff that should be on a laminated placard clipped to the dashboard. There are extra charges for each piece of luggage in the boot, for leaving or entering an airport or seaport, plus bonuses around Christmas and Easter.

Most drivers will quote you the correct price, but a few will try to rip you off, especially if it seems that you’re a novice. If the fare you’re charged is clearly above the correct price, don’t hesitate to argue your way, in whichever language, back down to a normal price. Coming out of an airport or seaport waving 50- or 100-euro notes is asking for trouble – always keep small bills and coins handy. Drivers are obliged to give receipts; many have small machines for the purpose.

These rules apply more to Athens than to the islands, although it’s still necessary to be pretty assertive in Thessaloníki or on Crete and Rhodes.

Various radio taxi services exist in Athens and most other larger towns. They can pick you up within a short time of your call to a central booking number, though there are chunky surcharges for this (at least €3).

EU-registered cars are no longer stamped into your passport on entry to the country, can circulate freely for up to six months, and are exempt from road tax as long as this has been paid in the home country – however, you are not allowed to sell the vehicle. Non-EU/EEA nationals will find that a bizarre litany of rules apply to importing cars, chief among them that you must re-export the car when you depart, or have it sealed by Customs in an off-road facility of your choosing.

Car Hire (Rental)

Hiring a car in Greece is not cheap owing to high insurance premiums and import duties. Prices vary with the type of car, season and length of rental and should include CDW (collision damage waiver) and VAT at 24 percent. Payment can, and often must, be made with a major credit card, though you can pay with a debit card provided that you have a credit card for the damages deposit. You must be at least 21 years old and have a full driving licence (EU/EEA residents) or an international driving permit (all others).

From overseas, you can book a car in advance through websites such as www.comparecarrentals.co.uk, www.autoeurope.com and www.auto-europe.co.uk. Only if you’re a member of some corporate or other affinity group are you likely to get as good a deal (or better) directly through the websites of major rental chains like Hertz, Avis, Sixt or Budget.

For a walk-in rental in Athens, many small local agencies are along or near Syngroú Avenue in the Makrygiánni district. We’ve had good luck with these two:

Avance Syngroú 40–42, tel: 210 92 00 100, www.avance.gr

Kosmos Syngroú 5, tel: 210 92 34 695, www.kosmos-carrental.com

Driving in Greece

All EU/EEA licences, and licences held by returning diaspora Greeks irrespective of issuing country, are honoured in Greece. Conversely, all other licences – this includes North American, UK and Australian ones – are invalid, as many tourists from those nations attempting to hire cars have discovered to their cost. These motorists must obtain an international driving permit before departure (issued by the AAA or CAA in North America on the spot for a nominal cost); the Greek Automobile and Touring Club (ELPA) no longer issues them to foreign nationals in Greece. Similarly, with the advent of the single European market, insurance Green Cards are no longer required, though you should check with your home insurer about the need for any supplementary premiums – many policies now include pan-European cover anyway.

Greek traffic control and signals are basically the same as in the rest of continental Europe, though roundabouts are handled bizarrely by French or English standards – in many cases, the traffic entering from the slip road, not that already in the circle, has the right of way – watch for “stop” or “yield” signs or invariably faded pavement markings.

Motorways speeds are routinely in excess of the nominal 100–120 kph (62–75 mph) limits, and drivers overtake with abandon. A red light is often considered not so much an obligation as a suggestion, and oncoming drivers flashing lights at you on one-lane roads means the opposite of what it does in the UK. Here, it means: “I’m coming through” (although just as often it can mean “Beware! Police checkpoint ahead”). Greece has one of the highest accident rates in the EU, so drive defensively.

Athens’ Rush Hour

Drive at your peril in Athens during its multiple rush hours (7–9.30am, 2–3pm, 4.30–5.30pm, 8–10pm).

Breakdowns

The Greek Automobile Association (ELPA) offers a breakdown service for motorists, which is free to AA/RAC members (on production of their membership cards).

Phone 10400 for assistance nationwide. Some car-hire companies have agreements instead with competitors Hellas Service (tel: 1057), Interamerican (tel: 1168) or Express Service (tel: 1154), but these national call centres can be very slow to dispatch aid. Always ring a local garage number if this is what the hire company instructs you to do.

Greece has a mandatory seatbelt law (stiff fine for violators), and children under 10 are not allowed to sit in the front seat. It is an offence to drive without your licence on your person (this incurs a stiff fine). Every car must also carry a first-aid kit in the boot (though hire companies tend to skimp on this). Police checkpoints at major (and minor) junctions are frequent, especially on popular drinking nights, and in addition to the above offences, you can be done for not having evidence of insurance, paid road tax or registration papers in/on the vehicle. If it’s clear you’ve no fixed residence in Greece, your licence may be confiscated and held to ransom at the nearest police station pending payment of the fine (at the post office).

Super and normal unleaded petrol, as well as diesel, are readily available throughout Greece, though filling up after dark can be difficult off the main intercity highways. Most filling stations close around 8–9 pm and, although a rota system operates in larger towns, it is often difficult to determine which station is open. Credit/debit cards – even contactless – are widely accepted, but always ask first – card-swiping machines can be mysteriously “broken”.

Road maps

Gone are the days when visitors had to suffer with mendacious or comical maps which seemed based more on wishful thinking (especially projected but unbuilt roads) than facts on the ground. There are now two commercial Greek companies producing largely accurate maps to the Greek mainland, mountain areas and islands: Terrain (www.terrainmaps.gr), and Anavasi (www.anavasi.gr). They can be found country-wide, in tourist-shop racks and better bookshop chains like Public. Anavasi has its own convenient shop in central Athens at Voulís 32, selling some Terrain products as well. By contrast, ubiquitous but widely inaccurate maps published by Orama should be avoided.

Motorcycles, quadbikes and bicycles

On most Greek islands and in many mainland tourist areas, you’ll find agencies that hire small motorcycles, various types of scooters of 50cc to 100cc displacement, and even mountain bikes. These give you the freedom to wander where you will, and weekly rates are reasonable.

For any scooter, even just 50cc, helmets and a motorcycle driving licence are both theoretically required, and increasingly these rules are enforced – on a UK license, the AM entitlement should let you ride the smallest scooters. The ill-fitting helmets offered are a bit of a joke, but if you refuse them you may have to sign a waiver absolving the dealer of criminal/civil liability – and police checkpoints can be zealous, levying stiff fines (up to €400) on locals and visitors alike. Having only a car licence while driving a scooter will get you another, steeper fine. Most rental agencies now refuse to give out scooters to folk without the requisite licence, steering them to quad bikes instead – which accounts for their sudden popularity. They are unstable on turns (thus helmets are handed out for riding them too) and arguably the stupidest looking road conveyance ever devised – they’re basically modified tractors – but given the two-wheeler licence law, you may not have another choice.

Before you set off, make sure the bike of whichever sort works by taking it for a test spin down the street. Brakes in particular are sometimes badly set (too loose), lights may need new fuses or bulbs, and spark-plugs get fouled. Otherwise, you may get stuck with a lemon, with the added insult of being held responsible for its malfunctioning when you return it.

Reputable agencies now often furnish you with a phone number for a breakdown pick-up service, or will come and fetch you themselves.

Above all, don’t take unnecessary chances, like riding two on a bike designed for one. More than one holiday in Greece has been ruined by a serious scooter accident – hospital casualty wards are wearily familiar with “road rash”. It is strongly suggested that, where possible, you stick with the traditional, manual-transmission Honda/Yamaha/Suzuki scooters of 50–100cc, with skinny, large-radius, well-treaded tyres. The new generation of automatic, button-start mihanákia/papákia (as they’re called in Greek slang), with their sexy fairings and tiny, fat, no-tread tyres, look the business but are unstable and unsafe once off level asphalt. In particular, if you hit a gravel-strewn curve on one of these, you will go for a spill, and at the very least lose most of the skin on your hands and knees.

Balloon-tire pedal-bike hire is widely practised on flat Kos, with its extensive network of cycle paths. It’s also known around Rhodes Town, but not especially recommendable anywhere else except bike-friendly Tríkala and Édessa. On the more mountainous islands and parts of the mainland, mountain bikes are often hired as part of organised ‘safaris’. On many islands, you also see locals and visitors alike on touring bikes during the cooler months.

Cruises

Apparently, one in six of all visitors to Greece embarks on an Aegean cruise. These cruises can range from simple one-day trips to the Saronic Gulf islands close to Athens and Piraeus, to luxury multi-day journeys taking in part of the Turkish coast, Rhodes and Crete. Many people opt for a seven-day excursion, which offers an opportunity to see a couple of islands in the Cyclades, a few of the Dodecanese islands, and perhaps a port on Crete.

One company that offers a fine alternative to the mega-gin-palaces that ply the Aegean is Seafarer (www.seafarercruises.co.uk, UK tel: 020 8324 3117), whose ‘Classical Greece’ itinerary departs each Friday from late April to late October. Another excellent company, specialising in expert-guided one- or two-week small-schooner cruises of the Cyclades or Dodecanese, is Peter Sommer Travels (www.petersommer.com, UK tel: 01600 888220, US tel: 1-855 443-3027).

A - Z

A

Accessible travel

Despite nudging from the EU, Greece has some way to go before becoming fully compliant with regulations on facilities for people with disabilities.

Athens, with lifts in the metro, “kneeling” buses on many routes, recorded announcements of upcoming stops on the metro plus most buses, and ramps (when not blocked by illegally parked cars) at kerbside, is furthest ahead.

Elsewhere, amenities can be poor – there are few or no sound pips for the sight-impaired at pedestrian crossings, and it is common to see the wheelchair or mobility-scooter users tooling down the middle of the asphalt rather than risk the obstacle course of a pedestrian pavement.

Few hotels in the provinces are disability-friendly, though things are improving slowly, and some are setting aside a few rooms with wide doors and safety handles in the bath – ask when booking. As of 2018, all hotels must by law have at least one disability-compatible room.

Accommodation

There is a broad range of accommodation in Greece, from deluxe hotels to backpacker hostels. Listed are a sample of different categories across the country.

On the islands and in many parts of the mainland, the main type of affordable lodging is private rented rooms (enikiazómena domátia) and, increasingly common these days, self-catering studios or apartments (diamerísmata). These are classified separately from hotels, but also subject to official regulation.

In general, when looking for any kind of accommodation, local tourist offices or the Tourist Police can be of help if you’re in a fix – most obviously if no rooms are on offer when you disembark at the dock. “Tourist offices”, however, are rarely official and rarely disinterested. The best system, really, is booking a room yourself a few days (or weeks, or months) in advance on the internet.

In popular mass-market resorts like the north coast of Crete, Kos, Corfu, Skiáthos and Zákynthos, many beach side hotels have commitment contracts with overseas package-holiday operators and are barely (if at all) interested in walk-in custom. However, with the demise of many northern European travel companies and the rise of no-frills airlines, smart accommodation proprietors are going back to courting on-spec or at least direct web individual bookings.

Hotel Categories

The Greek authorities have six categories for hotels; this is currently expressed through a star system (no star = basic; five-star = deluxe). Although the number of stars is supposed to reflect a hotel’s quality, a conference hall, swimming pool or tennis court could place an establishment in the three-star or four-star bracket even though in every other respect – specifically room appointments – it has indifferent facilities. Also, the number of rooms can limit the maximum rating, so you commonly encounter 20-room three-star hotels which are superior in every respect to a nearby 50-room four-star hotel.

Monastery Stays

Monasteries and convents can occasionally provide lodging for travellers of the appropriate gender, though their xenónes (guest lodges) are multi-bedded rooms intended primarily for Orthodox pilgrims. Mt Áthos, of course, has a long tradition of this hospitality – for men only; for more information, click here for details on how to obtain a permit to go there. You will have to dress and behave appropriately. The doors may close as early as sunset and some kind of donation may be expected.

Youth Hostels

Greece has a very limited number of official, YHA-affiliated youth hostels for which you theoretically need a youth hostel card. However, you can often buy a YHA card on the spot or just pay an additional charge for the night. There are surviving hostels in Athens, Olymbía and Thessaloníki, and on Santoríni plus Crete at Iráklio, Réthymno, and Plakiás. There is also private, unaffiliated backpacker accommodation of varying quality and repute in Athens, Pátra and on Corfu. Find them all at www.hostelworld.com.

Traditional Settlements

Traditional settlements (paradosiakí ikismí) are villages that have been recognised by the Greek government as forming an important part of the national heritage and have been protected from modern intrusions and constructions by law. Restoration inns there are all now in private hands.

Camping

Those who want to stay at organised campsites will find them all over Greece; these are all privately owned. The most beautiful campsites in Greece, however, are usually ones you find on your own. While in most places it is officially illegal just to lay out your sleeping bag or pitch a tent, if you’re discreet you will rarely be bothered. That always means asking permission from the owners if you seem to be on private property, patronising nearby businesses and leaving the place looking better than it did when you arrived.

In the mountains, camping is the rule as few alpine refuges are staffed, but even here you should get the local shepherds’ consent if they’re around.

Admission Charges

Most archaeological sites and museums, public or private, have admission charges varying from €2 for minor affairs up to €20 for stellar attractions. Occasionally (as in Athens and Rhodes) you can get a joint ticket covering several sites and museums at an advantageous price. From November to March, most state-run sites give free admission to EU nationals on Sunday; Monday or (more often) Tuesday are the typical days of closure. Students with valid ID get one-third to one-half off entry fees, as do certified teachers, archaeology students and persons 60 or over. On August full moon evenings, major archaeological sites like the Parthenon, Mystrás, Lindos or Olympia have free admission for all until about 1am – magical. Ask locally, as not all sites have the staff funding to participate in this programme.

B

Budgeting for Your Trip

Since the advent of the euro, Greece is no longer by any stretch of the imagination an inexpensive country. Travelling as one of a couple, allow a minimum of €35 for a share of accommodation (budget €45–60 each minimum in Athens or Thessaloníki), €15–25 for your half of a sit-down meal, €6–15 each daily for site admissions, and €15–25 for your share of the cheapest small rental car – before petrol costs, which have risen steeply in recent years owing to excise taxes and scarce oil.

Business Travellers

Business travellers are well catered for; most good-standard hotels now have some sort of “business person’s corner” with a computer terminal and printer, as well as wi-fi signal for laptops (in the common areas if not in all the rooms). The same hotels tend to have multiple conference/event rooms as well as lounges suitable for semi-formal meetings.

C

Children

Children are adored in Greece, and many families are still highly superstitious about their welfare – don’t be surprised to see toddlers with amulets pinned to their clothes to ward off the evil eye, or adults miming spitting (‘phtoo, phtoo’) when admiring or praising other people’s kids; expect your own to be the centre of attention. Children are given quite a bit of leeway in Greece and treated very indulgently. They are allowed to stay up late and are routinely taken out to eat in tavernas. There are water parks on several resort islands (Corfu, Rhodes, Crete) but nothing akin to France’s Disney World.

Climate

The Greece seen in tourist posters is a perennially warm and sunny place – and it is, by European standards. But this picture does not reflect the considerable climatic variety, nor the effects of global climate change which are disrupting long-established patterns. The north and inland regions have a modified continental climate, so winters are quite cold and summers extremely hot. In Ioánnina, Trípoli, the Metéora, and Kastoriá, for example, snow and freezing temperatures are not uncommon. In mountainous regions, winters are even more inclement.

The southern islands, the coastal Peloponnese and the Attic Peninsula conform more to the traditional Mediterranean image: a long, warm season of rainless, sunny days extending roughly from late May to mid-October. But here too, the winters can be cool, with rain falling in unpredictable bouts between December and April.

In general, late spring (late April–end June) and autumn (September–October) are the best times to visit. During these periods, you will find mild to warm temperatures, sunny days and fewer tourists. Throughout July and August, Greece is at its most hot and sticky, and most crowded. June is becoming increasingly hot too. Still, millions of tourists seem to prefer the heat and the company, choosing this busiest period for their holiday.

Crime and Safety

Sadly, Greece is no longer the crime-free haven of yesteryear. Locking cars and houses is now the norm everywhere, even in the deep countryside where people until recently used to leave a set of keys dangling outside the front door.

Central Athens in particular has become hazardous at times. Cars with valuables exposed (or even not) are routinely broken into in such neighbourhoods as Exárhia, Gázi and Keramikós; the thieves, often apparently drug addicts, will steal almost anything irrespective of value, even old CDs or raggedy items of clothing.

Organised gangs of pickpockets and bag-snatchers frequent the metro lines and stations most popular with tourists, in particular Line 3 from the airport, Line 1 from Piraeus, Monastiráki plus Sýndagma stations, and the X95 bus-stop area at Sýndagma. They usually work in teams, and may be plausibly well dressed. If you are surrounded and pushed up against the carriage wall, or forced to squeeze past them to retrieve your luggage from the rack in the airport-route cars, your wallet, camera or other valuables are about to be (or have just been) lifted. Anything in the outside pocket of trousers, a daypack or backpack is essentially forfeit. Your cards may be used to obtain cash advances within minutes at exchange booths who are in cahoots with the thieves. Nothing substantive is being done about the problem other than recorded announcements in the metro cars telling you to be aware. If you are new in town, and heavily laden, it’s well worth getting off the metro one station before (Evangelismós) or after (Akrópoli) the central ones and walking back to the centre, or getting an onwards taxi.

Young single females should be alert to the possibility of drugged drinks as a prelude to rape attempts in popular, rowdy beach resorts. Be suspicious of men who offer to bring you cocktails, whose preparation you cannot witness. The perpetrators, it must be said, are as (or more) likely to be other foreigners as Greeks. Use common sense when arranging rides afterwards back to your accommodation.

Customs Regulations

There are no official restrictions on the movement of goods within the European Union, provided the goods were purchased VAT-paid within the EU. In theory, there are no limitations to the amount of duty-paid goods that can be moved between EU states. However, cigarettes and most spirits are still cheaper in Greece than in Britain and Ireland, so waiting until you reach your destination to buy these goods will save you money.

Duty-paid goods

If you buy goods in Greece for which you pay tax, there are no restrictions on the amounts you can take home. EU law has set “guidance levels”, however, on the following:

Tobacco 3,200 cigarettes, or 400 cigarillos, or 200 cigars or 3kg of tobacco.

Spirits 10 litres

Fortified wine/wine 90 litres

Beer 110 litres

If you exceed these amounts, you must be able to prove the goods are for personal use.

Duty-free goods

For travellers arriving from non-EU countries (which now includes the UK), allowances for duty-free goods brought into Greece are:

Tobacco 200 cigarettes, or 100 cigarillos, or 50 cigars or 250g of tobacco.

Alcohol 1 litre of spirits or liqueurs over 22 percent volume, or 2 litres of fortified, sparkling or still wine.

Perfume 60cc of perfume, plus 250cc of eau de toilette.

Non-EU residents can claim back Value Added Tax (currently between 6 and 24 percent) on any items costing over €120, provided they export the item within 90 days of purchase. Tax-free forms are available at tourist shops and a very few department stores. Keep the receipt and form. Make your claim at the customs area of the airport when departing.

Currency restrictions

There are no limits on the amount of euros visitors can import or export. Cash sums of more than €10,000 or its equivalent should be declared on entry.

Importing cars

Visitors arriving with their own car are allowed to circulate for up to six months without formality; after that the bureaucratic fun begins, and people intending to establish residence will find that it’s usually cheaper and easier to buy a Greek-registered car than try to import their overseas motor. Cars detected circulating after the initial six-month period without valid road tax are liable to seizure by customs/tax undercover agents, and are auctioned off if an enormous import duty is not paid.

E

Embassies and Consulates

Foreign Embassies in Athens

All embassies are open from Monday to Friday only, usually from 8am until 2pm, except for their own national holidays (as well as Greek ones).

Australia Hatziyianni Mexi 5, Level 2, by the Hilton Hotel, 1152 28 Athens; tel: 210 87 04 000; https://greece.embassy.gov.au

Canada Ethnikis Antistaseos 48, Halandri; tel: 210 72 73 400; www.international.gc.ca/country-pays/greece-grece/athens-athenes.aspx?lang=eng

Ireland Vassiléos Konstandínou 7 (by National Gardens); tel: 21072 32 771; www.dfa.ie/embassies/irish-embassies-abroad/europe/greece

South Africa Kifissiás 60, Maroússi; tel: 21061 78 020

UK Ploutárhou 1, Kolonáki (Evangelismós metro); tel: 210 72 72 600, www.gov.uk/world/greece

USA Vasilísis Sofías 91, Ambelókipi (Mégaro Mousikís metro); tel: 210 721 2951.

Entry Requirements

Citizens of EU nations and Switzerland have unlimited visitation rights to Greece; your passport will not be stamped on entry or exit. With a valid passport, citizens of the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand can stay in the country for up to three months (cumulative) within any six-month period, with no visa necessary. As of November 2024, non-EU residents are required to have their fingerprints and photo taken when entering the Schengen area (including Greece). Over-stayers are fined very heavily on exit, to the tune of several hundred euros; it may in fact be cost-effective to have the offending passport “disappear” and be replaced at your embassy. To stay longer, you must obtain a permit from the nearest Aliens’ Bureau; however, this is lately proving nearly impossible (and very expensive) to do. Citizens of all non-EU countries should contact the nearest Greek embassy or consulate about visa and permitted length-of-stay requirements, which are liable to change again in future.

Etiquette

The Greeks are at heart a very traditional nation, protective of their families and their customs. So to avoid giving offence, it is essential to follow their codes of conduct.

Locals rarely drink to excess, so drunken and/or lewd behaviour is treated with at best bewilderment, at worse severe distaste (or criminal prosecution, as many young louts on Rhodes, Zákynthos, Corfu and Crete have learned to their cost).

Nude bathing is legal at only a few beaches (such as some on the islands of Corfu, Sámos, Skiáthos and Mýkonos), but it is deeply offensive to most Greeks. Even topless sunbathing is sometimes frowned upon, so watch for signs forbidding it. The main rule of thumb is this: if it is a secluded beach and/or a beach that has become a commonly accepted locale for nude bathing, you probably won’t offend anyone. The next rule is don’t go bare within line of sight of a church, a taverna terrace, or around children.

Electricity

220–240 volts from double, thick round-pin Schuko plugs of CEE 7/3 and 7/4 standard. Schuko power points also accept older, narrow-pin, unearthed Europlug CEE 7/16 or 7/17, but loosely.

On Mýkonos, for example, tourists will shock no one by wearing shorts or a swimsuit in most public places. But this same apparel would be severely alienating in a mountain village in Crete. Observe what other people are wearing and dress accordingly.

To enter a church, men must wear long trousers, and women sleeved dresses. Often dresses or wraps will be provided at the church entrance. Not complying with this code will be taken as insulting irreverence.

Despite assorted scandals and embarrassing espousal of retrograde issues in recent years, the Greek Orthodox Church still commands considerable respect in Greece, so keep any unfavourable comments about the clergy or even Greek civil servants to yourself.

H

Health and Medical Care

Greece has few serious diseases apart from those that you can contract in the US or the rest of Europe. As with the rest of the world, there are no longer any Covid-19 restrictions in Greece. Incidence of mosquito-borne West Nile virus had been on the rise, rising to 157 recorded cases in 2023, but there was a dramatic decline during 2024.

Drugs and Medicines

Greek pharmacies stock most over-the-counter drugs. The Greeks themselves are enthusiastic hypochondriacs and potion-poppers, and all manner of homeopathic and herbal remedies and premium-ingredient dietary supplements are available – at a price. Many formulas that would be obtainable only on prescription elsewhere, if at all, are freely obtainable in Greece. So you should have no problem obtaining most medicines (except in remote areas and islands).

Essential drugs, made locally under licence, are price-controlled for the moment, with near-uniform rates all over the country – eg a tube of 1 percent hydrocortisone cream costs about €4 – but discretional sundries and anything imported can be pricey (eg a packet of four water-resistant French-made bandages for €3.50). If you want to be absolutely sure, pack a supply of your favourite remedies to last out the trip.

Greek authorities take the use of recreational drugs very seriously indeed, although medicinal cannabis (CBD) oil is now legal and locally produced.

Medical Treatment

For minor ailments, your best port of call is a pharmacy. Greek chemists usually speak good English and are well-trained and helpful, and pharmacies stock a good range of medicines (including contraceptives) as well as bandages and dressings for minor wounds. However, they are not infallible and misdiagnoses and mis-prescriptions do occur.

Certain pharmacies are open outside of normal shop hours and at weekends, on a rotating basis. You can find out which are open by looking at the bilingual (Greek/English) card posted in pharmacy windows. In big cities, and major tourist resorts such as Crete or Rhodes, one or two pharmacies will be open 24 hours a day.

There are English-speaking GPs in all the bigger towns and resorts, whose rates are usually reasonable – €40–80 for a consultation. Ask your hotel or the tourist office for details.

Treatment for broken bones and similar mishaps is given free of charge in the state-run Greek hospitals – go straight to the casualty/emergency ward (epígonda peristatiká). Have on you your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or a Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC); the former is being replaced by the latter, but if you still have an EHIC, it will remain valid until the expiry date on the card. GHIC cards are obtainable in the UK online at www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/apply-for-a-free-uk-global-health-insurance-card-ghic/. Be aware that holders of such cards are only entitled to free treatment in the casualty ward, and at the very few still-functioning agrotiká iatría (remote rural clinics). If you make the mistake of attending a hospital’s outpatient clinic, you’ll pay full whack for everything at private rates, and charges are eye-watering: eg €150 for a full battery of blood tests.

For more serious problems and unimpeded use of outpatient clinics on a private basis, you should have private medical insurance. If you have a serious injury or illness, you are better off travelling home for treatment if you can. Greek public hospitals lag behind northern Europe and the US in both their hygiene and standard of care; the Greeks bring food and bedding when visiting sick relatives, and must bribe nurses and doctors for anything beyond the bare minimum in care. The economic crisis of 2010–17 hit health-care provision very hard, although things have improved since then.

Emergency Numbers

The following numbers work country-wide:

EU-wide general number 112

Police 100

Ambulance 166

Fire brigade, urban 199

Forest fire reporting 191

Tourist police 171 (Athens only; in other parts of Greece, ring 210 171)

Elsewhere, hotel staff will give you details of the nearest hospital or English-speaking doctor.

Drinking Water

People carrying a large plastic bottle of mineral water is a common sight in Greece, but it is not the best way of keeping hydrated, as sunlight releases toxic chemicals from the plastic into the water, and the spent bottles contribute enormously to Greece’s litter problem. Buy a sturdy, porcelain-lined canteen and fill it from the cool-water supply of bars and restaurants you’ve patronised; nobody will begrudge you this. Although unfiltered tap water is generally safe to drink, it may be brackish, and having a private water supply is much handier. On the mainland and larger islands, certain springs are particularly esteemed by the locals – queues of cars, and people with jerry-cans, tip you off. If you do want bottled water, it can be bought almost anywhere that sells food, even in beach cafés and tavernas, though more conventionally at kiosks and minimarkets. A large bottle should not cost more than about 80 euro-cents, often less; a small one 50 euro-cents.

Animal Hazards

Nearly half the stray dogs in rural areas carry echinococcosis (treatable by surgery only) or kala-azar disease (leishmaniasis), a potentially fatal protozoan blood disease spread by sandflies. So, beware of befriending importunate pooches.

Mosquitoes can be a nuisance in many areas of Greece, but topical repellents are readily available in pharmacies. For safeguarding rooms, accommodation proprietors often supply a plug-in electric pad, which vapourises smokeless, odourless rectangular tablets. If you see them by the bed, it’s a good bet they’ll be needed; refills can be found in any supermarket.

On the islands, poisonous baby pit vipers and scorpions are a problem in spring and summer. They will not strike you unless disturbed, but do not put your hands or feet in places (such as drystone walls) that you haven’t checked first. If you swim in the sea, beware jellyfish whose sting is usually harmless but which can swell and hurt for days. A good over-the-counter remedy for this is called Fenistil. This is also useful if you get stung by a wasp.

On beaches, it is worth wearing plastic or trekking sandals to avoid sea urchins (those little black pincushions on rocks that can embed their very sharp and tiny spines into unwary feet). A local Greek remedy is to douse the wound with olive oil and then gently massage the foot until the spines pop out, but this rarely works unless you’re willing to perform minor surgery with pen-knife and sewing needle – which should be done, as spine fragments tend to go septic.

I

Insurance

The benefits of medical insurance coverage for private treatment are noted above. You will have to pay for private treatment up front, so you must keep receipts for any bills or medicines you pay for to make a claim. If you plan to hire a motor scooter in Greece, or engage in any adventure sport, make sure your policy covers such activities.

Internet

Greece has become thoroughly “wired” since the Olympic Games, with bars, cafés, hotels (sometimes only the common areas) and many tavernas offering a Wi-Fi signal. Much of the time it is free, or free for the price of a coffee, drink or meal, but usually password protected. Speeds are apt to be moderate (11–15 mbps) rather than blistering – especially in rural areas. With the prevalence of Wi-Fi zones, tablet devices and full-sized laptops, internet cafés are all but extinct. Hotel-owned computer charges can be ruinous – we’ve heard tales of nearly €20 a day – and should be avoided.

L

LGBTQI+ Travellers

Overt gay behaviour is not a feature of Greek society. Homosexuality is legal at the age of 17, and bisexual activity fairly common among younger men, but few couples (male or female) are openly gay. Mýkonos is famous as a gay Mecca – Rhodes, Santoríni and Sámos to a lesser degree – while Skála Eressoú on Lésvos (where the poetess Sappho was born) attracts many lesbians. But elsewhere in Greece, single-sex couples are liable to be regarded as odd, although usually as welcome as any other tourists. If discreet, you will attract no attention asking for a double room and will find most people tolerant.

M

Media

Print

Many kiosks throughout Athens and other major resorts receive British newspapers, plus the International Herald Tribune, either late the same afternoon or, more usually, the next day. The English online edition (www.ekathimerini.com) of centre-right Greek newspaper Kathimerini is the best source of Greek news, albeit heavily abridged from the parent publication. Other useful online-only publications include Greek Reporter Greece (https://greece.greekreporter.com/category/greek-news/) and Greece Is (www.greece-is.com).

Radio and TV

Ellinikí Radiofonía is the Greek state-owned radio, divided into three different “programmes”. The First and (much better) Second (FM 103.70 near Athens, other frequencies regionally) both have abundant Greek popular music, news and talk shows, some foreign pop and occasional jazz and blues. The Third programme (FM 90.9 or 95.6) features classical music. Private station Kanali 1, out of Piraeus (FM 90.4), is also excellent. Additionally, a plethora of private stations broadcast locally from just about every island or provincial town, no matter how tiny.

The BBC World Service no longer beams directly on short-wave to Greece, but has agreements for rebroadcast of select programmes with the following local stations: Skaï (100.3 FM, www.skairadio.gr) and Antenna (www.antennaradio.gr).

There are three state-owned and operated television channels (ET1 and ET2, out of Athens, ET3 from Thessaloniki) and a half-dozen private television channels (Antenna, Net, Mega, Star, Skaï (no relation to Rupert Murdoch’s Sky) and Alpha). Often they transmit foreign movies and programmes with Greek subtitles rather than being dubbed. Several cable and satellite channels, including CNN, are also available in the better hotels.

Money

The Greek currency is the euro (evró in Greek, singular and plural), which comes in coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents (leptá), plus 1 and 2 euro, as well as notes of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euro (the latter two denominations rarely seen and viewed with extreme suspicion as likely counterfeits – avoid accepting them at banks).

Left Luggage

Airport At the far south end, arrivals concourse, Eleftherios Venizelos airport, Care4Bag (www.care4bag.gr) provides service. They are, however, hideously expensive for anything more than 12 hours.

Hotels Most hotels in Greece are willing to store locked suitcases for a week or two if you want to take any short excursions. This is usually a free service, provided you’ve stayed a night or two, but the hotel will accept no responsibility in the highly unlikely event of theft.

Commercial offices On the islands, there are left-luggage offices in many harbour towns. For a small charge, space can be hired by the hour, day, week, or longer. Although the contents will probably be safe, take small valuables with you.

Following the imposition of currency controls in 2015, very few exchange bureaus exist, and travel agencies are no longer allowed to change foreign money. The best solution for exchanging lots of paper notes is to find a branch of the Bank of Greece (NB: not the same as the National Bank of Greece) where you can get euro at a fair rate, and without commission. Large islands like Sámos and Rhodes, and mainland provincial capitals, will have a branch.

Credit/debit cards

The better-established hotels, restaurants and shops accept major credit cards, as do all airline and ferry-company websites, plus our recommended domestic Greek travel websites. The average low-star hotel or taverna does not, however, take cards, or only accepts details as a booking deposit, so enquire before ordering if that is how you intend to pay. The magic words are Ypárhi mihánima POS? (Is there a Point of Sale device?). You will find that most brands of card are accepted by the numerous auto-teller machines, upon entry of your pin number. However, use debit rather than credit cards in ATMs, as the latter tend to have ruinous surcharges, often amounting to over five percent of the transaction value. This caveat aside, you will find that this is the most convenient and least expensive way of getting funds, and most machines operate around the clock. Prepaid cash cards can be an effective way to push down commission charges.

O

Opening Hours

All banks are open 8am–2pm Monday to Friday. ATMs are now everywhere and this is how most travellers obtain cash nowadays, rarely if ever seeing the inside of a bank.

The schedule for business and shop hours is more complicated, varying according to the type of business and the day of the week. The main thing to remember is that businesses generally open at 8.30 or 9am and close on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 2.30pm. On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, most businesses close at 2pm and reopen in the afternoon from 5pm to 8.30pm (winter), 5.30 or 6pm to 9pm (summer).

‘Greek Time’

Beware Greek schedules. Although shops and businesses generally operate the hours indicated under Opening Hours, there is no guarantee that when you want to book a ferry or buy a gift, the office or shop will actually be open.

Siesta (mikró ýpno in Greek) is observed throughout Greece, and even in Athens the majority of people retire behind closed doors between the hours of 3pm and 6pm. Shops and businesses also close, and it is usually impossible to get anything more done until late-afternoon or early evening. To avoid frustration and disappointment, shop and book things between 9.30am and 1.30pm Monday to Friday.

Since 1994, Athens has experimented with “straight” hours during the winter to bring the country more in line with the EU, but this seems to be discretionary rather than obligatory, with some stores observing the hours and others adhering to traditional schedules – which can be rather confusing. So far it has not caught on across the rest of the country.

During summer, the shops in Athens’ Pláka district remain open until 10pm or longer to take advantage of browsers, and tourist shops throughout the country usually trade well into the evening. But butchers and fishmongers are not allowed to open on summer evenings (although a few disregard the law), and pharmacies (except for those on rota duty) are never open in the evenings or on Saturday mornings.

Supermarkets, both large and small, are the only shops guaranteed to be open all day (Mon–Fri 8.30am–9pm, Sat 8.30am–8pm). Especially on resort islands, there will be at least one open short hours on Sunday too (typically 10am–4pm).

You’ll soon learn that schedules are very flexible in Greece (both in business and personal affairs). To avoid disappointment, allow ample time when shopping and doing business. That way, you may also enter into the Greek spirit of negotiation, in which a good chat can be as important as the matter of business itself.

P

Photography

Although Greece is a photographer’s paradise, taking photographs at will is not recommended. Cameras are permitted in museums, but to be used without tripod or flash. You may have to pay a fee to use your camcorder at archaeological sites. Watch out for signs showing a bellows camera with a red “X” through it, and do not point your camera at anything in or near airports – most of which double as air-force bases.

Small (but not SLR size) SD memory chips for digital cameras are widely available; photo shops will also happily print from chips, or empty their contents onto a CD for a nominal fee (assume €5).

Postal Services

Most local post offices are open weekdays from 7.30am until 2pm. However, the main post office in central Athens (on Sýndagma Square at the corner of Mitropóleos Street) is open longer hours on weekdays, as well as for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday.

Currently a postcard or light letter costs €1.20 to any overseas destination; check for changes on www.elta.gr. Stamps are available from the post office or from many kiosks (períptera) and hotels, which may charge a 10–15 percent commission. But many kiosk owners tend not to be up to date with latest international postal rates. Outbound speeds are reasonable – as little as three days to northern Europe, a week or so to North America.

If you want to send a parcel from Greece, do not to wrap it until a post office clerk has inspected it, unless it’s going to another EU country, in which case you can present it sealed. Major post offices stock various sizes of cardboard boxes for sale in which you can pack your material, as well as twine, but you had best bring your own tape and scissors.

Letters from abroad can be sent post restante to any major town post office. Take your passport or other ID when you go to pick up mail.

R

Religious Services

Most major towns and resort areas with significant foreign patronage or a large expat community – most obviously Corfu, Rhodes, Crete, Sámos, Santoríni, Athens and Thessaloníki – have at least one church dedicated to the Catholic, Anglican or other Protestant (eg Swedish Lutheran) rites, or an agreement for part-time use of an Orthodox premises. There are functioning Catholic parishes for locals on Rhodes, Crete, Corfu, Sýros and Tínos, where foreigners are welcome. Placards posted on the churches themselves, or handouts at the nearest tourist office, give current info on schedules (anything from two Sundays a month to two or three times weekly). There are functioning synagogues in Athens and Thessaloníki.

S

Student Travellers

Other than the museum and archaeological site discounts, students and under-26s are eligible for discounted fares and youth passes on some shipping lines, including those operating to and from Italy.

T

Telecoms

Since the abolition of mobile roaming charges within the EU, it makes very little sense for visitors to wrestle with the dwindling network of noisy street-corner phone booths. If you have a laptop, bring a headset along to take advantage of Wi-fi zones for calling abroad on Skype, Vonage or other VOIP programmes.

Greece has one of the highest per-capita mobile-phone usage rates in the world, and a mobile is an essential fashion accessory for any self-respecting Greek. Foreign mobile owners will find themselves well catered for, with thorough coverage and reciprocal agreements for most UK-based services. North American users will have to bring a tri-band apparatus to get any joy. If you’re staying for any amount of time, you may wish to buy a pay-as-you-go SIM card from one of the three Greek providers (Vodaphone, Cosmote, Wind). As an anti-terrorism strategy to keep you from using your phone to set off bombs remotely, you will have to register your identity (and the handset) upon purchase.

Tipping

Menu prices at most cafés, restaurants and tavernas include a service charge, but it is still customary to leave an extra 5–10 percent on the table for the waiters. Taxi drivers are not tipped per se but may “round up” fares to the nearest half-euro. Hotel porters should be given a euro or so per bag.

Toilets

Public conveniences, often subterranean in parks or plazas, or perched on a harbour jetty, are of variable cleanliness and rarely have paper. Most people just buy a drink at a café and use their facilities. In busy tourist areas, put-upon cafés post signs saying “toilets for customers only”. Elsewhere, establishments are more lenient about those caught short just popping in – but do always ask permission.

Tourist Information

Tourist offices

If you would like tourist information about Greece during your trip, visit the nearest Greek National Tourist Organisation – GNTO, or EOT in Greek. They provide information on public transport, as well as leaflets and details about sites and museums. There are over a dozen regional GNTO offices across the country. The information booth in Athens can be found at the base of Dionysíou Areopagítou, at the edge of the Pláka district. The EOT information office in Athens is conveniently sited in a purpose-built cabana at Dionysíou Areopagítou 18–20 (Mon–Sat 8am–9pm, Sun & holidays 9am–6pm; earlier winter closure; Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 10am–4pm; tel: 210 33 10 529), conveniently near Pláka district.

Time Zone

Greece is two hours ahead of GMT and, like the rest of Europe, observes Daylight Savings from 4am on the last Sunday in March until 4am on the last Sunday in October. However, the EU intends to end Daylight Savings Time in the next few years, so watch this space.

In some tourist areas, especially on many islands, there are municipal tourist information centres open from June to September. These are usually prominently sited near the centre of the main town, and provide all the local information you might need. Some can even help with finding accommodation.

Tourist Police

The Greek Tourist Police are a branch of the local police, found in most large towns; sometimes, as on Rhodes, they have separate premises. Each tourist policeman should speak at least one foreign language well. They should be your first port of call in the event of a serious incident involving rogue hoteliers or restauranteurs, and should also be consulted if you are the victim of a serious crime such as assault or robbery, if the regular police seem to be dragging their feet.

Greek National Tourist Organisation Offices

Greek National Tourism Organisation, worldwide (www.visitgreece.gr):

UK and Ireland: 4 Great Portland Street, London W1W 8QJ; tel: 020 7495 9300.

US & Canada: 800 3rd Avenue, 23rd Floor, New York, NY 10022; tel: 212 421 5777.

W

Websites

Greek weather forecasts are available at:

http://meteo.gr/index-en.cfm

Windsurfers in particular should consult the Greece page of:

www.windguru.cz

For local journalism in English, try:

www.ekathimerini.com

Reviews and sales of books on all aspects of Greece can be found at:

www.hellenicbookservice.com

Everything about Athens buses is at:

www.oasa.gr

Everything about the Athens metro and tram is at:

http://stasy.gr

For general tourist information and links have a look at:

www.greecetravel.com

The Ministry of Culture site has impressive coverage of most of the country’s museums, archaeological sites and remote monuments on:

http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/gh10.jsp

Who’s on strike in Greece this week/month? Find out at:

www.apergia.gr (no English version)

Want to buy CDs of Greek music? Go to:

www.xilouris.gr

All the Greek reptiles and amphibians are at:

www.herpetofauna.gr

All the naturist beaches – which usually happen to be the best ones – are on:

www.barefoot.info/index.html

Weights and Measures

Greece is completely metric, though land is measured and sold in strémmata (1,000 sq metres/ 10,764 sq ft).

What to Bring

Clothes

Summer visits entail only lightweight, casual clothing. Add a pullover or thin jacket and you will be prepared for the occasional cool night breeze or ferry ride. Lightweight shoes and sandals are ideal in the summer, but you will also need a pair of comfortable walking shoes. If you plan to do any hiking in the mountains or on the islands, bring sturdy, broken-in, over-the-ankle boots with a good tread; leather will be more comfortable in the summer heat than synthetic materials.

Tour Operators

Mass-market bucket-and-spade holidays are easy to find on the web. Otherwise, here are a few suggestions for something unusual:

Quality packages and bespoke itineraries on mainland & islands:

Sunvil, UK; tel: 020 8568 4499, www.sunvil.co.uk

Hidden Greece, UK; tel: 020 8004 9095 or 020 8150 9717, www.hidden-greece.co.uk

Bicycle tours on Crete, Zákynthos, Peloponnese:

Classic Adventures, USA; tel: 1-800 777-8090, www.classicadventures.com

Wildlife tours on Crete and the mainland:

Naturetrek, UK; tel: 01962 733051, www.naturetrek.co.uk

The Travelling Naturalist, UK; tel: 01305 267994, www.naturalist.co.uk

Sail-and-walk mixed tours:

Explore!, UK; tel: 01252 240599, www.explore.co.uk

Peter Sommer Travels, UK; tel: 01600 888220, www.petersommer.com

Walking and cycling, various parts of Greece:

Exodus Travel, UK; tel: 020 3811 6417, www.exodus.co.uk

Ramblers Holidays, UK; tel: 01707 524295, www.ramblersholidays.co.uk

Writing workshops/holistic holidays:

Astra, US; tel: (303) 321-5403, www.astragreece.com

Skyros Centre, UK; tel: 01983 865566, www.skyros.com

In general, both Greeks and tourists dine in casual dress but even in the hottest weather, Athenian men won’t wear shorts. Scuffed shoes, ripped jeans, shirt-tails being out or visibly out-of-date clothing are all considered offensive. You will only need formal dress if you plan to go to fancy establishments, casinos or formal affairs. If you visit Greece during the winter, which can be surprisingly cold, bring the kind of clothes you would wear during spring in the northern US or Central Europe.

Sun protection

A hat, sun cream and sunglasses are highly recommended for protection from the intense midday sun (sophisticated sun creams of up to SPF50 are widely available, especially the organic Korres or ApiVita labels).

Electrical Adaptation

220v AC is the standard electric current throughout Greece. Non-dual-voltage shavers and hair dryers from North America should be left at home in favour of versatile travel models – they can be bought on the spot in Greece. Greek power points are the grounded Schuko type, taking two thick round pins, different from those in North America and the UK; plug adaptors for American appliances are easy to find, three-to-two-pin adaptors for UK appliances very slightly less so. Both are inexpensive in Greece.

Universal plug

Greek basins often aren’t equipped with plugs, so if you want water in your sink, a universal plug is essential.

Torch/Flashlight

If you’re planning a trip to the islands, pack one, as walking home from the taverna can be tricky if there’s no moon, especially if you’ve had a few drinks.

Women Travellers

Lone female visitors may still attract unwanted attention, especially around beach bars and after-hours clubs, but, in general, machismo is no more a problem here than anywhere else in Southern Europe. Greek women have much more sexual freedom than previously, especially in the cities. There is now little controversy in their spending time with their male counterparts, up to and including cohabiting before (or instead of) marriage.

In remote areas, many Greeks are still highly traditional and may find it hard to understand why you are travelling alone.

Both men and women should cover up when visiting churches and monasteries.

LANGUAGE

The Greek Language

Modern Greek is the outcome of gradual evolution undergone by the Greek language since the Classical period (5th–4th centuries BC). The language is still relatively close to Ancient Greek: it uses the same alphabet and much of the same vocabulary, though the grammar – other than the retention of the three genders – is considerably streamlined. Many people speak English, some very well, but even attempting a few words in Greek will always be appreciated.

Pronunciation tips

Most of the sounds of Greek aren’t difficult to pronounce for English speakers. There are only six vowel sounds: a, e, i, o, u, and y are consistently pronounced as shown in the table opposite. The letter s is usually pronounced “s”, but “z” before an m or g. The sound represented here as th is always pronounced as in “thin”, not “that”; the first sound in “that” is represented by d. Note that “x” is always pronounced as “ks” at the start of a word, not as “z”. The “r” is slightly rolled, as in Scottish.

The only difficult sounds are h, which is pronounced like the “ch” in Scottish “loch” (we render this as kh after “s” so that you don’t generate “sh”), and g before e or i, which has no equivalent in English – it’s somewhere between the “y” in “yet” and the “g” in “get”.

The position of the stress in words is of critical importance, as homonyms abound, and Greeks will often fail to understand you if you don’t stress the right syllable (compare psýllos, “flea” with psilós, “tall”). In this guide, stress is marked by a simple accent mark (´), except for single-syllable words, which are, however, still stressed.

Greek word order is flexible, so you may often hear phrases in a different order from the one in which they are given here. Like the French, the Greeks use the plural of the second person when addressing someone politely. We have used the polite (formal) form throughout this language section, except where an expression is specified as “informal”.

Communication

Good morning kaliméra

Good evening kalispéra

Good night kaliníhta

Hello/Goodbye yiásas (informal: yiásou)

Pleased to meet you hárika

Yes ne

No óhi

Thank you efharistó

You’re welcome parakaló

Please parakaló

Okay/All right endáxi

Excuse me (to get attention) me synhoríte

Excuse me (to get past) syngnómi

Please write it down for me Na mou to grápste parakaló?

How are you? Ti kánete? (informal: Ti kánis?)

Our Transliteration System

In Greece, all town and village names on road signs, as well as most street names, are written in Greek and the Roman alphabets. There’s no universally accepted system of transliteration into Roman, and in any case, the Greek authorities are gradually replacing old signs with new ones that use a slightly different system. This means you will have to get used to seeing different spellings of the same place on maps and signs and in this book.

Below is the transliteration scheme we have used in this book: beside each Greek letter or pair of letters is the Roman letter(s) we have used. Next to that is a rough approximation of the sound in an English word.

Emergencies

Help! Voíthia!

Stop! Stamatíste!

I’ve had an accident Íha éna atýhima

Call a doctor Fonáxte éna yiatró

Call an ambulance Fonáxte éna asthenofóro

Call the police Fonáxte tin astynomía

Call the fire brigade Fonáxte tous pyrosvéstes

Where’s the telephone? Pou íne to tiléfono?

Where’s the nearest hospital? Pou íne to kondinótero nosokomío?

There’s been a theft Égine mía klopí

Fine, and you? Kalá, keh esís? (informal: Kalá, keh esí?)

Cheers/Our health! (when drinking) Yiámas!

Could you help me? Boríte na me voithísete?

Can you show me Boríte na mou díxete…

I want… Thélo…

I don’t know Den xéro

I don’t understand Den katálava

Do you speak English? Miláte angliká?

Can you please speak more slowly? Parakaló, boríte na milíste pió sigá?

Please say that again Parakaló, xanapésteto

Here edó

There ekí

What? ti?

When? póte?

Why? yiatí?

Where? pou?

How? pos?

In the Hotel

Do you have a vacant room? Éhete domátio?

I’ve booked a room Ého kratísi éna domátio

I’d like… Tha íthela…

a single/double room éna monóklino/díklino

double bed dipló kreváti

a room with a bathtub/shower éna domátio me baniéra/dous

One night éna vrádi

Two nights dýo vradiá

How much is it? Póso káni?

Do you have a room with a sea-view? Éhete domátio me théa pros ti thálassa?

Is there a balcony/terrace? Éhi balkóni/terátsa?

It’s too noisy Éhi polý thóryvo

Is the room heated/air-conditioned? To domátio éhi thérmansi/klimatismó?

Is breakfast included? Mazí me to proinó?

Can I see the room please? Boró na do to domátio, parakaló?

I’ll take it Tha to páro

Can I have the bill, please? Na mou kánete to logariazmó, parakaló?

key klidí

towel petséta

sheet sendóni

blanket kouvérta

pillow maxilári

toilet paper hartí toualéttas

At a Bar or Café

bar/café baráki/kafenío (or kafetéria)

patisserie zaharoplastío

I’d like… Tha íthela…

a (Greek) coffee éna (ellinikó) kafé

filter coffee gallikó kafé/kafé fíltro

instant coffee neskafé (or nes)

cappuccino kapoutsíno

white (with milk) me gála

black (without milk) horís gála

with sugar me záhari

without sugar horís záhari

a cup of tea éna tsáï

tea with lemon éna tsái me lemóni

orange/lemon soda mía portokaláda/lemonáda

fresh orange juice éna frésko hymó portokáli

a glass/bottle of water éna potíri/boukáli neró

with ice me pagáki

an ouzo/brandy éna oúzo/koniák

a beer (draught) mía býra (varelísia)

an ice-cream éna pagotó

a pastry, cake mía pásta

oriental pastries baklavá/kataïfi

In a Restaurant

Have you got a table for… Éhete trapézi yiá…

There are (four) of us ímaste (tésseres)

I’m a vegetarian/vegan íme hortofágos/vígan

Can we see the menu? Boroúme na doúme ton katálogo?

We want to order Théloume na parangíloume

Have you got wine by the carafe? Éhete krasí hýma?

a litre/half-litre éna kiló/misó kilo

of white/red/rosé wine áspro/kókkino/rozé krasí

Would you like anything else? Thélete típot’ állo?

No, thank you óhi, efharistó

glass potíri

knife/fork/spoon mahéri/piroúni/koutáli

plate piáto

napkin hartopetséta

Where is the toilet? Pou íne i toualétta?

The bill, please to logariazmó, parakaló

Food

Mezédes/Orektiká

taramosaláta fish-roe dip

tzatzíki yoghurt-garlic-cucumber dip

melitzanosaláta aubergine purée

kolokythákia courgettes

loukánika sausages

tyrokafterí soft cheese seasoned with hot peppers

tyropitákia small cheese pies

antsoúgies anchovies

eliés olives

piperiés florínis red sweet pickled peppers

dolmádes rice-stuffed vine leaves

saganáki fried cheese

Meat Dishes

kréas any meat

arní lamb

hirinó pork

gourounópoulo suckling pig

kotópoulo chicken

Ordering Drinks

býra beer

krasí wine

áspro white wine

rosé or kokkinélli rosé wine

kókkino red wine

me to kiló wine by the kilo

hýma bulk, from the barrel

neró water

retsína resin-flavoured white wine

oúzo aniseed-flavoured grape-pressing distillate

rakí Cretan distilled spirit from vintage crushings

tsípouro north-mainland version of rakí

tsikoudiá Cretan variation of rakí

portokaláda orangeade

lemonáda lemonade

moskhári veal, beef

psitó roast or grilled

sto foúrno roast

sta kárvouna grilled

soúvlas on the spit

souvláki meat cubes on skewers

kokinistó stewed in tomato sauce

avgolémono egg-lemon sauce

tiganitó fried

kapnistó smoked

brizóla pork chop

spalobrizóla veal chop

païdákia lamb chops

pantsétta pork belly

sykóti liver, beef or lamb

sykotákia chicken livers

kymás mince

biftéki burger (without bun)

keftédes meat-balls

kokorétsi grilled sheep’s entrails

soutzoukákia rissoles baked in red sauce

giouvarlákia mince-and-rice balls in egg lemon sauce

makarónia spaghetti

mousakás lamb-mince, bechamel and aubergine bake

piláfi rice

me kymá with minced meat

me sáltsa with tomato sauce

kléftiko baked lamb, Cypriot style

pastitsáda braised beef (or cockerel) in spiced tomato sauce

pastítsio macaroni pie with minced meat

sofríto veal (or rabbit) in white wine

spétzofäi sausage, aubergine and pepper dish

stifádo beef (or rabbit) stewed with small onions

gýros me pítta doner kebab

domátes yemistés stuffed tomatoes

piperiés yemistés stuffed peppers

Seafood

frésko fresh

katapsygméno frozen

psári fish

ostrakoidí shellfish

xifías swordfish

koliós mackerel

sardélles sardines

gávros fresh large anchovy

marídes picarel

mýdia mussels

strídia oysters

kalamarákia small squid

thrápsalo giant squid

soupiés cuttlefish

htapódi octopus

garídes prawns

astakós lobster

gónos baby squid or small fish

achinós sea urchin

Vegetables

ambelofásola green (runner) beans

angináres artichokes

arakádes, pizélia peas

domátes tomatoes

fakés brown lentils

fasólia/fasoláda stewed white beans

yígandes stewed butter-beans

hórta misc. boiled greens, wild or cultivated

hortópita greens pie

karóto carrot

kolokythákia small courgettes

kounoupídi cauliflower

koukiá broad beans

kremmýdi onion

frésko kremmýdi spring onion

láhano cabbage

maroúli lettuce

pantzária beetroots

patátes (tiganités/sto foúrno) potatoes (chips/roast)

revýthia chickpeas, garbanzos

skórdo garlic

spanáki spinach

spanakópita spinach pie

vlíta notchweed, amaranth greens

saláta salad

domatosaláta tomato salad

angourodomáta tomato and cucumber salad

horiátiki Greek ‘peasant’ salad

Fruit

míla apples

verýkoka apricots

banánes bananas

kerásia cherries

sýka figs

stafýlia grapes

lemónia lemons

pepónia melons

portokália oranges

rodákina peaches

ahládia pears

fráoules strawberries

karpoúzi watermelon

Basic Foods/Desserts

psomí bread

aláti salt

pipéri pepper

ládi (olive) oil

xýdi vinegar

moustárda mustard

voútyro butter

tyrí cheese

avgá (tiganitá) (fried) eggs

omelétta omelette

marmeláda jam, marmalade

rýzi rice

yiaoúrti yoghurt

méli honey

simigdalísio halvás semolina-based sweetmeat

galaktoboúreko custard pastry

karydópita walnut cake

ravaní syrupy cake

Sightseeing

information pliroforíes

open/closed anihtó/klistó

Can we see the church/archaeological site? Boroúme na doúme tin eklisía/ta arhéa?

Where can I find the custodian/key? Pou boró na vro to fílaka/klidí?

At the Shops

Shop/store magazí/katástima

What time do you open/close? ti óra aníyete/klínete?

What would you like? Oríste/ti thélete?

I’m just looking Aplós kitázo

How much is it? Póso kostízi?

Numbers

1 énas/mía/éna (masc/fem/neut)

2 dýo

3 tris/tría

4 tésseres/téssera

5 pénde

6 éxi

7 eftá

8 októ

9 ennéa

10 déka

11 éndeka

12 dódeka

13 dekatrís/dekatría

14 dekatésseres/dekatéssera

15 dekapénde

16 dekaéxi

17 dekaeftá

18 dekaoktó

19 dekaennéa

20 íkosi

30 triánda

40 saránda

50 penínda

60 exínda

70 evdomínda

80 ogdónda

90 enenínda

100 ekató

200 dyakósia

300 trakósies/trakósia

400 tetrakósies/tetrakósia

500 pendakósia

1,000 hílies/hília

2,000 dýo hiliádes

1 million éna ekatomýrio

Do you take cards?Éhete mihánima POS?

Have you got...? éhete...?

size (for clothes) noúmero

Can I try it on? Boró na to dokimáso?

This is faulty. Can I change it? Aftó éhi éna elátoma. Boró na to aláxo?

a kilo éna kiló

half a kilo misókilo

a quarter éna tétarto

two kilos dýo kilá

100 grams ekató grammária

200 grams dyakósia grammária

more perisótero

less ligótero

a little/very little lígo/polý lígo

with/without mazí me/horís

That’s enough ftáni

That’s all tipot’állo

Travelling

airport aerodrómio

boarding card kárta epivívasis

boat plío/karávi

bus leoforío

bus station stathmós leoforíon, to KTEL

bus stop stási leoforíou

coach poúlman

ferry feribót

first/second class próti/défteri thési

flight ptísi

hydrofoil ydroptéryga

catamaran katamarán

main highway ethnikí odós

port limáni

return ticket isitírio me epistrofí

single ticket apló isitírio

station stathmós

taxi taxí

train tréno

Public Transport

Can you help me, please? Boríte na me voithísete, parakaló?

Where can I buy tickets? Pou na kópso isitírio?

At the issuing booth Sto ekdotírio

Does it stop at... Káni stási sto...

You need to change at... Tha prépi n’aláxete sto...

When is the next train/bus/ferry to... Póte févyi to epómeno tréno/leoforío/feribót gia...

How long does the journey take? Pósi óra káni to taxídi?

What time will we arrive? Ti óra tha ftásoume?

How much is the fare? Póso káni to isitírio?

Next stop please Epómeni stási parakaló

Can you tell me where to get off? Na mou píte pou na katévo?

Should I get off here? Edó na katévo?

Delay Kathystérisi

Directions

right/left dexiá/aristerá

Take the first/second right Párte ton próto/déftero drómo dexiá

Turn right/left strípste dexiá/ aristerá

Go straight on Tha páte ísia/efthía

after the traffic lights metá ta fanária/fóta

Is it near/far away? Íne kondá/makriá?

How far is it? Póso makriá íne?

It’s five minutes’ walk Íne pénde leptá me ta pódia

It’s ten minutes by car Íne déka leptá me to avtokínito

100 metres ekató métra

opposite/next to apénandi/dípla

junction diastávrosi

forking dihála

Where is/are... Pou íne...

Where can I find… Pou boró na vro…

a petrol station éna venzinádiko

a bank mia trápeza

a bus stop mia stási

a hotel? éna xenodohío?

How do I get there? Pos na páo ekí?

Can you show me where I am on the map? Boríte na mou díhete sto hárti pou íme?

Am I on the right road for... Yia... kalá páo?

No, you’re on the wrong road Óhi, pírate láthos drómo

On the Road

Where can I hire a car? Pou boró na nikiázo avtokínito?

What is it insured for? Ti asfália éhi?

By what time must I return it? Méhri ti óra prépi na to epistrépso?

driving licence díploma

petrol venzíni

diesel petréleo, dízel

oil ládi

Fill it up Yemíste to, óso párei

My car has broken down Hálase to avtokinitó mou

Times and Dates

(in the) morning/afternoon/evening to proí/to apógevma/to vrádi

(at) night (ti) níhta

today símera

tomorrow ávrio

day after tomorrow metávrio

now tóra

early norís

Notices

TOYAΛETEΣ toilets

AN∆PΩN gentlemen

ΓYNAIKΩN ladies

ANOIKTO open

KΛEIΣTO closed

EIΣO∆OΣ entrance

EΞO∆OΣ exit

AΠAΓOPEYTAI EIΣO∆OΣ no entry

EIΣITHPIA tickets

AΠAΓOPEYTAI TO KAΠNIΣMA no smoking

ΠΛHPOΦOPIEΣ information

ΠPOΣOXH caution

KIN∆YNOΣ danger

APΓA slow

∆HMOΣIA EPΓA road works

ΠAPKINΓ parking

XΩPOΣ ΣTAΘMEYΣEΩΣ car park

AΠAΓOPEYTAI H ΣIΣOΛOΣ no parking

TAΞI taxi

TPAΠEZA bank

THΛEΦΩNO telephone

EKTOΣ ΛEITOYPΓIAΣ out of order

late argá

five/ten pénde/déka

minutes leptá

an hour mia óra

half an hour misí óra

a quarter of an hour éna tétarto

at one/two (o’clock) stis mia/dýo (i óra)

(on) Monday (ti) deftéra

(on) Tuesday (tin) tríti

(on) Wednesday (tin) tetárti

(on) Thursday (tin) pémpti

(on) Friday (tin) paraskeví

(on) Saturday (to) sávato

(on) Sunday (tin) kyriakí

Health

Is there a chemist’s/pharmacy nearby? Ypárhi éna farmakío edó kondá?

Which is the after-hours chemist? Pió farmakío efimerévi?

I don’t feel well Den esthánome kalá

I’m ill Íme árostos (feminine árosti)

He/she’s ill Íne árostos/árosti

It hurts here Ponái edó

I suffer from... Páskho apo...

I have a... Éxo...

headache ponokéfalo

stomach ache kiliópono

Have you got something for travel sickness? Éhete típota giá ti navtía?

It bit me (of an animal) Me dángose

It stung me Me kéndrise

diarrhoea pills hápia gia ti diária

FURTHER READING

Books go in and out of print, or change imprints, with such rapidity of late that we’ve elected not to list the publishers, except for obscure Greek publishers with no internet presence, or one-off presses with only internet presence. For most titles, conducting a web search with the author and title should suffice to dredge up its current iteration (which these days may be a Kindle or print-on-demand edition only, or a used copy for a few pennies).

Ancient History and Culture

Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical, by Walter Burkert. Excellent overview of the gods and goddesses, their attributes, worship and the meaning of major festivals.

The Penguin History of Greece, by A.R Burn. A good, single-volume introduction to ancient Greece.

The Greeks and Greek Love, by James Davidson. This “radical reappraisal of homosexuality in ancient Greece” tries to put queerness back at the centre of the ancient social equation and, despite too many bouts of special pleading, gets some way there.

The World of Odysseus, by M.I. Finley. Reissued 1954 standard on just how well (or not) the Homeric sagas are borne out by archaeological facts.

Alexander the Great, by Robin Lane Fox. A psychobiography wedded to a conventional history.

Dictionary of Classical Mythology, by Pierre Grimal. Still considered to be tops among a handful of available alphabetical gazetteers.

The Greek World, 479–323 BC, by Simon Hornblower. The eventful period from the end of the Persian Wars to Alexander’s demise; the standard university text.

Byzantine History and Culture

The Early Centuries, The Apogee and The Decline (3 vols), by John Julius Byzantium Norwich. The most readable and masterful popular history, by the noted Byzantinologist; also available as one massive volume, A Short History of Byantium.

Fourteen Byzantine Rulers, by Michael Psellus. That many changes of rule in a single century (10th–11th), as told by a near-contemporary historian.

Art of the Byzantine Era, by David Talbot Rice. Shows how Byzantine sacred craftsmanship extended from the Caucasus into northern Italy, in a variety of media.

The Fall of Constantinople, 1453, by Steven Runciman. Still the definitive study of an event which continues to exercise modern Greek minds. His Byzantine Style and Civilization covers art, culture and monuments.

The Orthodox Church, by Archbishop Kallistos Ware. Good introduction to what was, until recently, the de facto established religion of modern Greece.

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Anthropology and Culture

Honor, family and patronage: A study of institutions and moral values in a Greek mountain community, by John Campbell. Classic study of Sarakatsáni shepherds in the Zagorian Píndos, with much wider application to Greece in general, which got the author banned from the area by touchy officialdom.

The Death Rituals of Rural Greece, by Loring H. Danforth and Alexander Tsiaras. Riveting, annotated photo essay on Greek funeral customs.

Portrait of a Greek Mountain Village, by Juliet Du Boulay. Ambéli, a mountain village in Évvia, as it was in the mid-1960s. Her Cosmos, Life and Liturgy in a Greek Orthodox Village studies the same place from a religious angle.

The Modern Greek Language, by Peter Mackridge. In-depth analysis by one of the foremost scholars of the tongue’s evolution. His more recent Language and National Identity in Greece, 1766–1976 is a masterful yet easily readable study of the language controversy in all its ramifications, especially the mutually reinforcing dynamic of Greek self-perception and how elites and masses chose to express themselves.

Festive Greece: A Calendar of Tradition, by John L. Tomkinson. Copiously photographed calendar of all the extant rites of the Orthodox Church, their pagan substrata erupting frequently and vividly at popular panigýria.

Cuisine

Siren Feasts, by Andrew Dalby. Analysis of Classical and Byzantine texts shows just how little Greek food has changed in three millennia.

Mediterranean Seafood, by Alan Davidson. 1972 classic, redone in 2012, that’s still the standard reference, guaranteed to end every argument as to just what that fish is on your taverna plate. Complete with recipes.

The Food and Wine of Greece, by Diane Kochilas. A classic, with over 300 traditional and modern recipes from across mainland Greece and the islands.

The Wines of Greece, by Konstantinos Lazarakis. An overview, current to 2018, of what’s happening in Greece’s eleven recognized wine-producing regions.

Modern History

Greece, The Hidden Centuries: Turkish Rule from the Fall of Constantinople to Greek Independence, by David Brewer. Refreshingly revisionist work on the “Turkokratia”, uniformly dismissed in standard (and nationalist) narratives as a new dark ages but here put in proper perspective.

Twice a Stranger: How Mass Expulsion Forged Modern Greece and Turkey, by Bruce Clark. A century after the compulsory population exchanges, both nations are still digesting the episode – with many on both sides recognising it as a mistake. More thorough on the experience of Orthodox refugees coming to Greece, but still invaluable.

A Concise History of Greece, by Richard Clogg. Clear and lively account of Greece from Byzantine times to 2012, with helpful maps and well-captioned artwork. The best single-volume summary.

Greece: A Jewish History, by K. E. Fleming. The title is carefully chosen; one of the main points here is that local Jews only identified primarily as Greeks after the Nazi deportations – before that, they tended to identify with their hometown and its often idiosyncratic customs.

Greece, the Modern Sequel: From 1831 to the Present, by John Koliopoulos and Thanos Veremis. Thematic and psycho-history of the independent nation, tracing trends, first principles and setbacks.

Salonica: City of Ghosts, by Mark Mazower. A lucid account of this extraordinary city from 1430 to 1950, as Christians, Muslims and Jews settled and prospered; only flaw is scant coverage of Slavophones.

Inside Hitler’s Greece: The Experience of Occupation 1941–44 is his earlier, masterful study of that period, including in gruesome detail all of the atrocities perpetrated in response to the activities of resistance groups, themselves thoroughly covered. Searing photographs.

I Was Born Greek, by Melina Mercouri. The tumultuous life and times of Greece’s most famous actress, written in 1971 while she lived in exile from the junta.

The Greeks: The Land and People Since the War, by James Pettifer. Useful general introduction to politics, family life, food, tourism and other contemporary topics, though showing its age (2000).

Modern Greece: A Short History, by C.M. Woodhouse. Spans the period from early Byzantium to the early 1980s. His classic The Struggle for Greece, 1941–1949, reissued by C. Hurst (London), is perhaps the best overview of that turbulent decade.

Modern Greek Literature

An Introduction to Modern Greek Literature, by Roderick Beaton. Readable survey of Greek literature from independence to 1990.

An Anthology of Modern Greek Poetry, by Nanos Valaoritis and Thanasis Maskaleris. English-only stanzas, but excellent biographical info on the poets and good renditions by two native Greek speakers.

Collected Poems, by C.P. Cavafy, trans. by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard or The Complete Poems of Cavafy, trans. by Rae Dalven. The two “standard” versions available in English; newer 2007 translations by Evangelos Sachperoglou and Stratis Haviaris will also be of interest but don’t break radically new ground.

The Axion Esti, Selected Poems and The Sovereign Sun, by Odysseus Elytis. Pretty much the complete works of this Nobel laureate, in translation.

Loxandra, by Maria Iordanidou. This paen to pre-1920 Constantinople, a special woman and her cooking, one of the most beloved Greek novels, has been deftly translated into English by Norma Aynsley Sourmeli.

Little Infamles, by Panos Karnezis. This collection of short stories is set in his native Peloponnese during the late 1950s and early 1960s; The Maze is a darker, more successful novel concerning the Asia Minor Catastrophe. Both display a penchant for old-fashioned plot twists – or excessive whimsical magical realism, depending on point of view. His The Birthday Party is based on the life of Aristotle Onassis and daughter Christina. Karnezis grew up in Greece, but lives in London, writing in English; however, his concerns remain resolutely Greek.

Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis. This is a surprisingly bleak, nihilistic work, worlds away from the crudely two-dimensional character of the film; The Last Temptation of Christ provoked riots by Orthodox fanatics in Athens in 1989; Report to Greco explores his Cretanness/Greekness; while Christ Recrucified (published in the US as The Greek Passion) encompasses the Easter drama within Christian-Muslim dynamics on Crete. Nobel laureate, woolly Marxist fellow-traveller and self-imposed exile, Kazantzakis embodies the old maxim that classics are books praised but generally unread. Whether in intricate, untranslatable Greek or wooden English, Kazantzakis can be hard going.

Che Committed Suicide, Deadline in Athens, The Late-Night News, Zone Defence, by Petros Markaris. Thrillers featuring the low-key but implacable Inspector Costas Haritos, set in and around Athens, that tell you more about contemporary Greece than superficial newspaper reports.

Red Dyed Hair, by Kostas Mourselas. Politically incorrect picaresque saga of urban life from the 1950s to the 1970s among a particularly feckless paréa; the Greek original still sells well, and formed the basis of a popular TV series.

The Murderess, by Alexandros Papadiamantis; trans. Peter Levi. Landmark novel, set on Skiáthos at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries. His Tales from a Greek Island, translated by Elizabeth Constandinides, are just that, collecting the best of nearly 200 short stories that he wrote.

Father Dancing (published as A Crowded Heart in the US), by Nick Papandreou. Thinly disguised, page-turning roman-à-clef by the late prime minister’s younger son; Papandreou père comes across as an egotistical monster.

Exile and Return, Selected Poems 1967–74, by Yannis Ritsos. The outcome of junta-era internal exile on Sámos for Greece’s foremost Communist poet.

Collected Poems 1924–55; Complete Poems, by George Seferis; trans. Edmund Keeley. The former has Greek-English texts on facing pages and is preferable to the so-called “complete” works of Greece’s first Nobel literary laureate.

Farewell Anatolia, by Dido Sotiriou. A best-selling classic since its appearance in 1962, this traces the last days of the Greeks in Asia Minor from 1914 to 1922, using a character based on the author’s father.

Drifting Cities, by Stratis Tsirkas; trans. Kay Cicellis. Epic novel on wartime Leftist intrigue in Alexandria, Cairo and Jerusalem.

Z, by Vassilis Vassilikos. Based closely enough on the assassination of Leftist MP Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963 by royalist thugs to get the book – and author – banned by the colonels’ junta.

Foreign Writers in/on Greece

The Flight of Ikaros, by Kevin Andrews. An educated, sensitive, Anglo-American archaeologist wanders the back-country in surprising freedom as the civil war winds down. Despite the massive changes since, still one of the best books on the country.

A Foreign Wife, A Fair Exchange and Aphrodite and the Others, by Gillian Bouras. Scottish-Australian marries Greek-Australian, then consents to return to the “mother” country; the resulting trilogy is about the best among many chronicles of the acculturation experience.

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis De Bernières. Heart-rending tragicomedy set on occupied Kefaloniá during World War II which has acquired cult status and long-term best-seller-list tenancy since its appearance in 1994.

The Magus, by John Fowles. Best-seller, inspired by author’s spell teaching on Spétses during the 1950s, of post-adolescent manipulation, conspiracy and sexual temptation (ie, the usual Fowles obsessions).

North of Ithaka, by Eleni Gage. Eleni is the namesake and granddaughter of the Eleni, whose murder her son Nicholas set out to avenge (see below). A New York journalist, she “took leave” for most of 2002 in her grandmother’s village in Epirus, rebuilding the family house and more.

Falconera, by Alexis Ladas. Ripping good yarn, with plenty of Boy’s Own action (but some convincingly well-written un-Boy’s Own sex), telling in part of a daring raid to interfere with Germany resupply of Crete by the British-supported Greek Raiding Schooner Flotilla, in which the author served. Get it through http://lycabettus.com.

Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece and Mani, by Patrick Leigh Fermor. Written during the late 1950s and early 1960s, before the advent of mass tourism, these remain some of the best compendia of the then already-vanishing customs and relict communities of the mainland.

This Way to Paradise: Dancing on the Tables, by Willard Manus. An American expatriate’s affectionate summing-up of 40-plus years living in Líndos, from its innocence to its corruption. Wonderful anecdotes of the hippie days, and walk-on parts for the famous and infamous.

The Colossus of Maroussi, by Henry Miller. Miller takes to Corfu, the Argolid, Athens and Crete of 1939 with the enthusiasm of a first-timer in Greece who’s found his element; deserted archaeological sites and larger-than-life personalities.

The Unwritten Places, by Tim Salmon. Veteran Hellenophile describes his love affair with the Greek mountains, and the Vlach pastoral communities of Epirus in particular.

The Summer of my Greek Taverna, by Tom Stone. Set in a thinly disguised Kámbos of early-1980s Pátmos, this is a poignant cautionary tale for all who’ve ever fantasised about leasing a taverna (or buying a property) in the islands.

Dinner with Persephone, by Patricia Storace. New York poet resident a year in Athens successfully takes the pulse of modern Greece, with all its shibboleths, foundation myths, carefully nurtured self-image and rampant misogyny. Very funny, and spot-on.

Eurydice Street, by Sofka Zinovieff. An anthropologist and journalist by training, Zinovieff first came to Greece in the early 1980s (contributing to the first Insight Guide Greece), then returned in 2001 with her Greek husband and two daughters to live in Athens. With sharp insights on nationalism, Orthodoxy, politics, 17 November and leisure (among various topics), this is the best single account of life in contemporary urban Greece – tellingly, translated into Greek. Her more recent debut novel, The House on Paradise Street, is a gripping exploration of the lingering effects of the civil war and its aftermath in contemporary Greece, and a good family drama.

Regional and Archaeological Guides

The Living Past of Greece, by A.R. and Mary Burn. Worth toting its oversized format around for the sake of lively text and clear plans; covers most major sites from Minoan to medieval.

Byzantine and Medieval Greece, by Paul Hetherington. Erudite and authoritative dissection of the castles and churches of the mainland; his The Greek Islands: Byzantine and Medieval Buildings is also invaluable, but has some strange omissions.

The Mountains of Greece: Trekking in the Pindhos Mountains, by Tim Salmon. The best routes on the northern mainland (including Zagóri, and isolated Mt Ólymbos), with schematic maps and some GPS data.

The High Mountains of Crete: White Mountains, Psiloritis & Lassithi Ranges, by Lorraine Wilson. The best of several walking guides to the island, with nearly 100 hikes of all levels, described by the most experienced foreign trek leader.

Botanical Field Guides

Greek Wildflowers and Plant Lore in Ancient Greece, by Helmut Baumann. As the title says; lots of interesting ethnobotanical trivia, useful photos.

Flowers of Greece and the Aegean, by Anthony Huxley and William Taylor. The only volume dedicated to both islands and mainland, with good photos, though taxonomy is now a bit obsolete.

Flowers of Greece and the Balkans, by Oleg Polunin et al. This book is also showing its age, but again has lots of useful colour photos to aid identification.

Other Insight Guides

Insight Guides cover nearly 200 destinations, providing information on culture and all the top sights, as well as superb photography and detailed maps. Other Insight Guides to destinations in the region include Greek Islands and Turkey.