General: Greece

Off the beaten tracks, on the northern mainland of Greece, let me take you on a journey from antiquity to the modern age. Discover the beauty of nature, the joy of Greek lifeystle and the witnesses of history in the beautiful region of Greek Macedonia. You may be wondering about the term "Macedonia", as I have just written an opinion about a country which bears the same name. Macedonia in fact refers to the ancient kingdom of Philip and Alexander ...
...the 4th Century BC. Nowadays, as nation states rediscover historical symbols for the purpose of stirring nationalism, the "Macedonian Question" has led to some political and diplomatic turmoil: Greece only refers to the country Macedonia as "FYROM", which stands for "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" - just as they do with Turkey, still calling Istanbul by its Byzantine name Constantinople. I won't get into this any further - I like Greece, ...

From_The_Continent 25.02.2001 (26.02.2001) · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

“I’m Ashamed Of My Tan” These were the first words on the lips of myself and my esteemed friend, Mester Craig Sumner, as we strode onto the sandy beach at Karavi in Greece! We were surrounded by around 100 incredibly tanned Greeks all glistening under the brilliant sunshine of a hot Greek day in August, and I have never felt so white! But that was the first day... within a week we sort of blended in a little (apart from both of ...
...lack of Greek fluency!). So why is this place such a Mecca for the tanned, beautiful and hip? Because the beach is sponsored by surf/skate/ski clothing giants Quiksilver!!! Situated about 8km from Marathonas, 42km from Athens and just down the road from the large lake that will be used for the rowing events of the Olympic Games in 2004, the 100m stretch of sand, Karavi (or KapaBi as it reads in Greek) has been running as a watersports beach club ...

wease 21.10.2001 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

I have been on 2 holidays in Greece, I have visited Kavos in Corfu and Malia in Crete, about 4 years ago now. My first ever holiday that involved a plane was to Kavos, I loved flying and when I got there I loved the place. It is a fairly small resort, basically just one long road full of pubs, restaurants and hotels. The beach runs parallel to this road and is very clean and dotted with yet more bars. The natives are very friendly, they welcome ...
...cheap alcohol, If you are ever up early enough, there are street cleaners out every day ensuring the resort is clean and I never felt unsafe throughout the duration of my stay. One year later and I would have happily gone back to Corfu but that seemed a bit unadventurous, so I went to Malia. Malia is very different to Kavos, it is much bigger and the natives just don't seem quite as friendly. Again it is based around one road, this time it is a ...

stuwt 09.06.2001 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

Greece and its many islands is THE perfect place for a fabulous holiday. I speak from experience as I have visited corfu(twice),rhodes,zante(twice)and the peloponees although I have been to many other european destinations Greece always draws me back. I suppose it depends on what you are looking for from your week or two in the sun.I personally like to unwind put my feet up and forget about the world for a couple of weeks every year. You dont ...
...each is all youll need to pay on a late deal leaving you loads of money over for eating and drinking well while you are in paradise Choose one of the many small specialist tour operators who deal just with greece as they always seem to have the best villas and apartments and are the most reasonable on price. I always choose somewhere on the quiet side with a few tavernas and local bars well away from 24 hour "british john bull pubs" and the sort ...

philmuss 31.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

I've recently completed an Ancient History degree and as part of this course we had to spend a fortnight in a foreign country researching an aspect of our course. Immediately, me and a few friends chose Greece, hoping for a great experience. Our focus was Greek mythology in the built environment (ie-how myth was shown on buildings). The two weeks spent here saw us travelling across the country on a hectic schedule, absorbing the culture and spending ...
...itinerary saw us visiting Athens, Corinth, Olympia, Delphi, Tiryns, Mycenae and Eleusis. This review concerns Greece in general however, so I will not focus much on specifics. One of the first things you notice about Greece is how beautiful it is. Olympia and Delphi in particular had lush green landscapes and heart-stopping views. You could comfortably spend a whole day per site just sitting down and taking it all in. The blazing sun acted as the ...

Pompeii1986 10.06.2007 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

Greece is such a marvelous country, infact my favourite country in europe. This has been a favourite holiday destination of mine sine childhood. I have visited numerous islands, Athens and Northern greece. Firstly i must mention the greek people they are very friendly when you get outside the main resorts, not that they are not friendly there but out in the sticks they are even more friendly. Especially if you are fortunate to have blone hair they ...
...I have been brought many drinks by the locals because of this. Most of the countryside in greece and the islands is dedicated to olive groves and makes for a nice drive in the country for a picknick or afternoon stroll. The beaches are very clean in all areas i have been and are generally very sandy. the water is clean and you do not see the poluition you see in other countrys. Greek food is absolutely gorgeous I reccomend a few dishes especially ...

richardjmeek 02.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

The pelion region of Greece is a few hours north of Athens and a short hop away from the island of Skiathos. It's served by a military airport called Volos and this has it's disadvantages because it closes early which means that if a commercial flight is late it may have to be postponed till the next day! This nearly happened to me and my companion but luckily we weren't that late so we didn't miss our window. The journey from Volos airport to ...
...being 'Katiogoris' which is on the south west of that pennisula, the journey there however is spectacular and takes you over wooded moutains and through traditional villages. The resort itself is very small and very quiet (three tavernas and no bank etc) it has good walks and great views out to Skiathos, on the second day we managed to get one of the local fishermen to take us to Skiathos in his speed boat, it cost about 15 pounds and took about ...

robbostew 09.01.2003 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

I have just returned from a two week holiday in Greece at Easter. If you live in a big city, Greece is the perfect antidote. I spent most of my time doing one of three things: eating out, swimming or sleeping... After the first night in Athens we hired a car and drove to Delphi, where I had the best moussaka I've ever tasted, as well as taking in all the local history, of course. Then we went further north to the Ionian Coast, which was incredible, ...
...Greece seems really special because it is still fairly untouched and there aren't many tourists.... Greece is one of the best countries in the world for vegetarians. I could easily give up meat if carefully prepared and slow-cooked classics such as papoutsakia ( aubergines stuffed with leeks and tomatoes ) and gigantes ( large butter beans in spicy tomato sauce ) didn't take so long to make and were available all the time. Moussaka is much better ...

campagnolo 16.05.2001 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

Having visited Parga myself with my family, we found it to be perfect in every sense. We stayed in a family owned and run apartment close to Valtos Beach, a lovely sandy beach and not too over populated. Situated on mainland Greece, we flew to Preveza from where we had a short ferry trip before contiuing our journey by coach, the transfer time from airport to destination being about 1 hour 45 minutes. Our apartment owner was so friendly as to be ...
...of the hill which separated valtos beach area of Parga from the main town area. Although quite steep it was still an enjoyable walk up to it and down again after a superb, extremely reasonably priced meal. On one occasion, he actually came across us walking towards the hill on his way to his taverna and gave us a lift to the top of the hill. The main town area is busy and vibrant but without the nightclub scene making it a perfect destination for ...

plod591 21.09.2007 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

Greek Orthodox Easter is the main event in their religious calendar and as such the whole week leading up to Easter Sunday is called "Megali Evdomada" - Big Week. Most events are obviously centred around the church and on Megali Paraskevi (Good Friday) last year, I was lucky enough to be in Nafplion in the Peloponnese to witness their candlelit procession to the church. My friend and I were sitting in a cafe around 9pm, when the sound of choral voices ...
...large procession, led by the priests, which was making its way through the town to the church. Young and old carried candles, the church choir leading the singing as they all proceeded solemnly through the small back roads of the old town towards the central church. Despite having no religious convictions myself, it was rather moving to watch. Next morning, we travelled by bus to Athens, where we witnessed the culmination of Easter week - Midnight ...

Sandroulla 18.04.2006 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

Island hopping round the Greek Islands is much easier than you might think. So many tourists do it each year that it has become a cheap and well proven way to enjoy so much of Greece. Try to plan your trip somewhat in advance, but because you don’t need to buy tickets in advance (tickets can be bought at the dockside), your route can be changed at short notice. Athens is the easiest airport to fly into, and from Pireaus you can get a ferry to virtually ...
...Naxos – Patmos – Rhodes – Kos – Kalymnos – Athens. This took in some beautifully quiet islands (Patmos), some beautiful but busy islands (Naxos), and some tourist resorts (Kos). I would go island hopping again. It is very cheap to do, especially in the remote islands where bed and breakfast can cost as little as £4 a night. Give it a go – you’ll love every minute of it. ...

Bluecat 02.08.2000 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

In late october this year i escaped the torrential rain and flooding, to spend a week sailing round the Greek islands in a 49 foot yacht. I went with three of my friends a various family. I haven't done much sailing before, but as the mediterranean is non-tidal, and we were only sailing during the day between easy harbours, we had a pretty easy time, except for a nasty little time with a fishing boat, which is best not talked about. This doesn't ...
...sunshine with only the sound of the wind in the sails is truly idyllic, and beats the hell out of being crammed into a ferry in my opinion. We set off from a rather nasty part of Athens, known as Kalamaki, it was noisy, under the flightpath of the airport, busy with traffic and absolutely dead at night, on the sunday. We sailed into Aegina quickly stopping for lunch, then on to Poros where we spent two nights. This was a really nice waterfront town, ...

rmallinson 27.11.2000 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

The first time I went to Kavos at the southern tip of Corfu it was a beautiful resort with just the right mix of superb nightlife and quieter areas. The more northern resort of Benitzes was well known as the more tacky part of the island with a strip of garish neon-lighted bars and very little else- that was 7 years ago. When I retured a couple of years ago there had been a complete change, and one for the worse. Benitzes was now virtually non-existant, ...
...beautiful golden sand of the 5km beach in Kavos had turned into a filthy dirge of discarded fag butts and burger cartons. There were building sites popping up everywhere in a desperate bid to keep up with the constant demand from the herd of Brits who descend upon the island every year. Kavos had become a shadow of its former self thanks, in part, to the hugely successful Sky TV series Greece Uncovered which featured Kavos heavily. As a result of ...

Beowulf 20.07.2000 · Read full review
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Naxos is a great holiday destination for both families and couples. We arrived at Athens airport and got a bus to Rathina port to catch a high speed ferry over to Naxos. The ferry takes 2 and a half hours and is extremely comfortable and fast. The ferry costs approx 50 pounds for a return trip. I would recommend flying into Athens as there are more frequent cheaper flights than to Naxos. Naxos is a large Greek island and is an extremely friendly ...
...is a holiday destination for the Swedish, Dutch and Germans. The main port has many Tavernier and restaurants but hidden away behind the old castle walls are an abundance of family run restaurants which tend to be cheaper. The sea food is speciality of the island and is very reasonably priced. The beaches to the east of the island are said to be the nicest however the beach nearest to the port are clean and are very family friendly. Naxos is a very ...

bostonianbeer 11.08.2007 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece

I have family that live in Greece and every year I travel back to my roots to spend the Summer there! I've visited many areas of Greece but my best times were spent on the islands of Rhodes and Corfu. Rhodes is a mixture of contemporary and new with the beautiful old Rhodes town a few minutes away from the pumping Faliraki nightlife. Corfu is a little different with the Ibiza-like nightlife situated at the bottom of the island, in Kavos. This way ...

LouiseIngleby 13.07.2000 · Read full review
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Review of General: Greece