Greece Attractions |
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Destinations > Greece > Greece Travel Guide > Greece Attractions |
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About Greece |
Greece Cities |
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Greece Travel Guide |
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Greece has an abundance of resources that tourists with ecological and cultural interests will find attractive. The wealth of cultural as well as ecological resources, both biotic and abiotic, constitute a special comparative advantage of the country for those interested in the conservation of cultural diversity, bio-diversity and eco-systems. These resources are marked by their wide variety, rareness and distinctiveness and are found in areas many of which have already been placed under special protection. |
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Olympia |
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Greece the birth place of the famous Olympic Games has the Olympia city located in the West Peloponnesus, which is the must visited attractions in Greece. It is the site of the first Olympic Games. Every four years athletic competitions were organized at Olympia in honor of Zeus. The Games started off in the year of 776 B.C and carried on until 5th century B.C. With a lot to see here, there are some sites not to be missed like the most important monuments of the site including the temple of Zeus, The Temple of Hera, the Stadium, the Bouleuterion. The Archaeological Museum at Olympia contains some fascinating exhibits. |
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Delphi |
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One of the cultural treasures of the country it is a must for admiring the country’s heritage and culture. It is located about one hundred miles northwest of Athens, Delphi is an archeologist’s delight. The complex includes the Temple of Apollo, the sacred Corycian Cave and the Castalian Spring. As the mythology goes, the place was regarded as the centre of the world or the "Navel of the Earth". According to the legends the shrine was originally watched over by the she-dragon Pytho who was eventually assassinated by Apollo. |
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Ancient Agora |
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Clustered below the Acropolis is the remains of the Agora, ancient Athens' commercial and civic center, where once walked and talked the great philosophers Socrates and Plato. In fact the disgraced and despairing Socrates committed suicide in a prison in the southwest corner of the Agora, by drinking poison. The area is littered with the ruins of numerous ancient buildings, including the Dionysos Theater (the world's oldest theater where great plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were first performed). |
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The Palace of Knossos |
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The Minoan palace at Knossos, covering an area of 215,278 square feet, is one of the world's greatest sightseeing experiences. It consists of four wings, arranged around a rectangular central court. The palace originally had many stories, was built of ashlar blocks and had walls decorated with splendid frescoes. The remains now visible are actually not those of the original palace, which was built around 2,000 BC and destroyed by an earthquake about 1,700 BC. A subsequent more complex palace was then constructed. |
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Mycenae |
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Mycenae was the legendary home of the Atreides - victors in the Trojan War. Situated on a small hill-top on the lower slopes of Euboea Mountain north of Corinth, Mycenae has been inhabited since around 4000 BC and civilization flourished there until about 1350-1200 BC. The ruins of ancient Mycenae are situated near the centre of modern day Mycenae. The town has a citadel housing the ruins of an Acropolis, a palace, Royal Tombs, Cyclopean Walls and the tomb of the Greek hero Agamemnon. The views from this ancient city are simply stunning. |
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Meteora, Kalambaka, Thessaly |
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The Meteora are a series of monastic buildings perched on a cluster of detached precipitous rocks. One of the most striking sites in the world, the monasteries were set up during the late Byzantine period when persecuted monks settled here. At its peak, there were 24 inhabited monasteries on top of these rocks. |
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Dion |
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Lying at the foot of Mount Olympus in northern Greece, the ancient and sacred city of Dion was completely destroyed by an earthquake in the 5th century AD. The site was first excavated in 1928 and the digs uncovered a fascinating network of flagstone streets, public buildings, shops, workshops, statues, houses, an orchestra and a large theatre. Wander these ancient streets and allow yourself to be transported back in time. |
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Samaria Gorge |
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Located in western Crete, the Samaria Gorge is the longest gorge in Europe measuring some 18 kilometers. The area is well known for its outstanding beauty and for its challenging hiking routes. Hiking is only permitted in summer and is dependant on the weather as the gorge is cut by a stream, which flows between the highest peak of the White Mountains and the Volikas Mountains. |
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The Corinth Canal & Ancient Corinth |
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The idea for a canal linking the Ionian and Aegean Seas was first considered in the 7th century BC when the Emperor Nero started the work with a golden pickaxe. Today’s canal was built between 1882 and 1893 and the 6 km dramatic canal is one of the most significant and remarkable stretches of water in the world. |
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The Temple of Apollo, Andritsaina |
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This famous temple to the god of the sun and healing was built towards the middle of the 5th century B.C. in the lonely heights of the Arcadian mountains. It is the only nearly complete temple that survives and combines the Doric, Ionian and Corinthian architectural styles. |
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Knossos Royal Palace, Crete |
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Knossos was the court of the legendary King Minos, whose wife Pasiphae gave birth to the Minotaur – half-bull, half-man. Excavations were begun by the English archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in 1893 and lasted 35 years. Entering the Great Palace through the West Court you can easily understand why the legend of the labyrinth started here. It takes nearly two hours to walk around the site and explore the entire Palace. During this walking tour, you’ll see the superb Royal Quarters, the Throne Room with an antechamber and main throne and the Queen’s Quarters. The wall above the entrance door of the Queen’s Quarters is decorated with a copy of the famous dolphin frescoes. |
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Acropolis of Rhodes |
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The ancient Hellenic acropolis of Rhodes sits on a hill in the western part of the city, and once consisted of a monumental zone full of sanctuaries, large temples, public buildings and underground vaults. The buildings were set on stepped terraces interspersed with gardens. The remains of the buildings on the Acropolis date back to the 2nd century BC, but all has not yet been excavated at the site. The Stadium, however, has been fully excavated and restored. Also still to be seen are the ruins of the Temple of Athena Polias on the northern edge of the site; the Nymphaia, which is made up of four cave-like constructions cut into the rock, used for recreation and worship; a small restored marble Odeon thought to have been used for musical events or lectures; the Temple of Pythian Apollo; and the remains of the Gymnasium. |
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