Greece was the birthplace of European civilization. The period from 700BC saw the rise of the great city states of Athens, Corinth and Sparta, frequently engaged in long struggles for supremacy, and uniting only when faced with the common threat of invasion by the Persian Empire. The zenith was reached in the fifth century BC when Athens became the cultural and artistic center of the Mediterranean, producing magnificent works of architecture, sculpture, drama and literature.

Greece today offers the traveller the comforts of modern Europe in close proximity to the stark beauty of the ancient world. There is no denying that the historical and cultural heritage of Greece continues to resonate throughout the modern Western world - in its literature, art, philosophy and politics. Reminders of the country’s glory are all over Greece - from Athens’ Parthenon and Delphi’s Temple of Apollo, to the ruins on Crete of the Minóan city of Knossós, a civilization reaching even further back into history.

Scattered throughout the calm blue waters of the Aegean are Greece’s 1,400 islands, the largest of which is Crete, each with its own special story. The serenity of islands like Skópelos contrasts with the hedonistic party islands such as Mykonos and Páros where the worship of Dionysus, the god of revelry, continues to the beat of garage and house music. Athens’s previous glory in sports was restored when the Olympic Games returned home in 2004.

Since Greece won her independence in 1830 from the Turkish Ottoman Empire, there have been problems in the relationship between the two neighbors. Achieving a political settlement in Cyprus remains a key concern of Greece’s foreign policy. The situation seems to have improved following the accession of Greek-controlled Cyprus to the EU in 2004. Greece has now explicitly backed Turkey’s own EU application.

Geography
Greece is situated in southeast Europe on the Mediterranean. The mainland consists of the following regions: Central Greece, Peloponnese, Thessaly (east/central), Epirus (west), Macedonia (north/northwest) and Thrace (northeast). Euboea (Evvia) the second-largest of the Greek islands, lying to the east of the central region and connected to it by a bridge, is also considered to be part of the mainland region. The Peloponnese peninsula is separated from the northern mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth. The northern mainland is dissected by high mountains (such as the Pindus) that extend southwards towards a landscape of fertile plains, pine-forested uplands and craggy, scrub-covered foothills. The islands account for one-fifth of the land area of the country. The majority are thickly clustered in the Aegean between the Greek and Turkish coasts. The Ionian Islands are the exception; they are scattered along the west coast in the Ionian Sea. The Aegean archipelago includes the Dodecanese, lying off the Turkish coast, of which Rhodes is the best known; the Northeast Aegean group, including Chios, Ikaria, Lemnos, Lesvos and Samos; the Sporades, off the central mainland; and the Cyclades, comprising 39 islands (of which only 24 are inhabited). Crete, the largest island, is not included in any formal grouping.