With well over a hundred inhabited
islands and a territory that
stretches from the south Aegean to
the Balkan countries, Greece offers
enough to fill months of travel. The
historic sites span four millennia,
encompassing both the legendary and
the obscure, where a visit can still
seem like a personal discovery.
Beaches are parcelled out along a
convoluted coastline equal to
France's in length, and islands
range from backwaters where the boat
calls twice a week to resorts as
cosmopolitan as any in the
Mediterranean.
Modern Greece is the result of
extraordinarily diverse influences
. Romans, Arabs, Latin Crusaders,
Venetians, Slavs, Albanians, Turks,
Italians, not to mention the
Byzantine Empire, have been and gone
since the time of Alexander the
Great. All have left their mark: the
Byzantines in countless churches and
monasteries; the Venetians in
impregnable fortifications in the
Peloponnese; and other Latin powers,
such as the Knights of Saint John
and the Genoese, in imposing castles
across the northeastern Aegean. Most
obvious is the heritage of four
centuries of Ottoman Turkish rule
which, while universally derided,
contributed substantially to Greek
music, cuisine, language and way of
life. Significant, and
still-existing, minorities - Vlachs,
Muslims, Catholics, Jews, Gypsies -
have also helped to forge the
hard-to-define but resilient Hellenic
identity , which has kept alive
the people's sense of themselves
throughout their turbulent history.
With no local ruling class or formal
Renaissance period to impose
superior models of taste or
patronize the arts, medieval Greek
peasants, fishermen and shepherds
created a vigorous and truly popular
culture, which found expression in
the songs and dances, costumes,
embroidery, carved furniture and the
white Cubist houses of popular
imagination. During the last few
decades much of this has disappeared
under the impact of Western consumer
values, relegated to museums at
best, but recently the country's
architectural and musical heritage
in particular have undergone a
renaissance, with buildings rescued
from dereliction and performers
reviving, to varying degrees,
half-forgotten musical traditions.
Of course there are formal
cultural activities as well: museums
that shouldn't be missed,
magnificent medieval mansions and castles
, as well as the great ancient
sites dating from the Neolithic,
Bronze Age, Minoan, Classical,
Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine
eras. Greece hosts some excellent
summer festivals too,
bringing international theatre,
dance and musical groups to perform
in ancient theatres, as well as
castle courtyards and more
contemporary venues in coastal and
island resorts.
But the call to cultural duty
will never be too overwhelming on a
Greek holiday. The hedonistic
pleasures of languor and warmth
- going lightly dressed, swimming in
balmy seas at dusk, talking and
drinking under the stars - are just
as appealing. And despite recent
improvements to the tourism
"product", Greece is still
essentially a land for adaptable
sybarites, not for those who crave
orthopedic mattresses, faultless
plumbing, Cordon-Bleu cuisine and
attentive service. Except at the
growing number of luxury facilities
in new or restored buildings, hotel
and pension rooms can be box-like,
campsites offer the minimum of
facilities, and the food at its best
is fresh and uncomplicated.
