Greece : The Complete Guide with Athens and the Best Aegean Islands, and Classical Sites

This volume describes the points of interest in each region of the country, recommends restaurants and hotels, and includes information on shopping and entertainment.

Destination Greece

Visitors to Greece, conditioned by museums, textbooks, and college Greek, are astonished to find that the country is populated at all. Travelers who were nurtured on the truth and beauty of Keats' Grecian Urn find it surprising to see the natives roaring around in sport cars and talking about the latest nouvelle restaurant. But, in the end, although their countryside may be bleached and stony, the Greeks themselves provide the vibrant color that has long since vanished from classic monuments once saturated with pigment, blue, gold, and vermilion, under the eye-searing Aegean sun.
What's Where:
Athens

Voyagers touch down in Athens, both the stronghold of ancient Greece and the beating aorta of modern Greece. The greatest sight of the glory that was Greece is here: the Parthenon and the other legendary buildings of the Acropolis. Also, other ancient must-dos beckon: the Agora, Monument of Lysikrates, the Odeon of Herod Atticus, and that treasure trove of great art, the National Archaeological Museum. After exploring evocative ancient Athens, you may climb Pnyx hill and view a postsunset sound-and-light spectacle cast upon the sacred vestiges.
Excursions from Athens

Athens lies in a basin defined by three mountain masses: Mt. Hymettos to the east, Mt. Parnis and Mt. Aigaleo to the west, and Mt. Pendeli to the north. East of Mt. Hymettos unfold the gently undulating hills of the Mesogeion. Scattered among and beyond these ranges are engaging sites and villages. Due west is Delphi, where the priestesses of antiquity uttered their enigmatic prophecies. Athenians, Europeans, and far-flung travelers alike are drawn to the quirky Saronic Gulf Islands of Aegina, Poros, Hydra, and Spetses.
Northern Sporades and Evia

Strung from Mt. Pelion to the center of the Aegean, the Northern Sporades are distinct in character: tourist-addled Skiathos is closest to the mainland; due east is Skopelos, marked with dense pines, scenic villages, and lovely beaches. Farther east is rugged Alonnisos, the least progressed, and a jumping-off point for the uninhabited islands. Wild-nature lovers behold Skyros as the jewel of the isles for its remoteness, myth, and stark beauty. Evia almost touches the mainland, its vast coastline dotted with fishing villages, beaches, and occasional sites.
Epirus and Thessaly

The region consists of two areas: the mountainous province of Epirus, bordered by Albania and the Ionian Sea, with the capital Ioannina to the west. Marking the threshold between Epirus and Thessaly is Metsovo, just beyond the lofty Katara Pass, which threads through the breathtaking Mt. Pindos range. At the western edge is the agricultural Thessalian plain, where the monasteries of Meteora seemingly float in midair, built atop dizzying pinnacles that tower over the town of Kalambaka.
Northern Greece

The region we call northern Greece, comprising Macedonia to the west and Thrace to the east, covers the Balkan frontier from Albania to Bulgaria and also touches Turkey. It is both a meeting point and a crossroads between Europe, the Mediterranean, and Asia -- imbued with sights, sounds, and colors of a range of different cultures, their interaction telling of successful commingling and fierce discord.
Corfu

Northwesterly Corfu is an island unto itself with a distinct European feel, its outline aptly mimicking a miniature Italy. Corfu's strategic presence in the northern Ionian Sea at the entrance to the Adriatic shaped its ancient history. Today isolated beaches, stylish restaurants, and tony resorts dot its landscape of serendipitous beauty.
Northern Peloponnese

Greece blessed the Northern Peloponnese -- among its jewels Mycenae, Nauplion, and Olympia -- with natural beauty and the mysteries of forgotten civilizations. Separated from the north by a narrow isthmus, the Northern Peloponnese comprises the Argive peninsula, jutting into the Aegean, and runs westward past the isthmus and along the Gulf of Corinth to the Adriatic coast.
Southern Peloponnese

The Southern Peloponnese is divided into regions established by the ancients -- Messinia in the southwest, Laconia in the southeast, and Arcadia to the north. Massive mountain ranges sweep down the fingers of the peninsula. The beaches are some of the finest and least developed in Greece, some giving way to limestone caves. Tower houses jutting from the craggy landscape are spooky reminders of the clan feuds of centuries past.
The Cyclades

The Cyclades compose a quintessential, pristine Mediterranean archipelago, with ancient sites, droves of vineyards and olive trees, and stark whitewashed cubist houses, all seemingly crystallized in a backdrop of lapis lazuli. The six major stars in this constellation of islands in the central Aegean Sea -- Andros, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Tinos, and Santorini -- are well visited but still cast a magnificent fusion of sunlight, stone, and sparkling aqua sea. Plus, they promise culture and flaunt hedonism: ancient sites, Byzantine castles and museums, lively nightlife, shops, restaurants, and beaches plain and fancy.
Crete

To Greeks, Crete is the Megalonissi, the Great Island, where a sophisticated culture flourished 5,000 years ago. In all of Crete, you'll find the most development on the north shore, and for the most part the southern coast remains blessedly unspoiled. Western Crete is especially rugged, with inland mountains and the rough southern shoreline; Hania and Rethymnon, mysterious old cities that trace their roots to the Arab and Venetian worlds, are found here.
Rhodes and the Dodecanese

The Dodecanese (Twelve Islands) are the easternmost holdings of Greece, wrapped around the shores of Turkey and Asia Minor. Romans, Crusaders, Turks, and Venetians have left their architectural mark here, but most likely to hypnotize the visitor are the landscape -- from the rugged mountains of Patmos to the verdant fields of Kos and lush hillsides of Rhodes -- and a way of life that, despite invasions of armies and sunseekers -- remains essentially and delightfully Greek.
The Northern Islands

Each of these far-flung Aegean islands bordering Asia Minor is distinct: Chios is extraordinary for its architecture; Lesbos, to the north, is dappled with mineral springs and a petrified forest; northernmost is volcanic Limnos; and Samos, land of wine and honey, is farthest south.