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Greece located in southern Europe in
the south of the
Balkan Peninsula, Greece has an area of 131957 sq
km and is mostly a mountainous country with many islands
To the north Greece borders with Albania, FYROM, Bulgaria and Turkey
to the north east.
Greece has more than 3000 islands and islets, of which only 130 are
inhabited. Most of the islands are located in the Aegean, the sea
that separates Greece and Europe from Asia Minor. The other islands
are located on the other side of the Greek mainland in the Ionian
Sea. At the southernmost the Aegean archipelago is Crete, the
largest island in Greece.
The mainland of Greece has a large mountainous territory with
highest mountain the Mount Olympus 2917 meters high. According
to the mythology the Mount of Olympus was the house of the Greek
Gods. The
Greek mountains are in fact a continuation of the Alps to the
south east over the Balkan peninsula.
The continental Greece is divided into different regions. As we can
see in the
map of Greece to the further south is the
Peloponnesus peninsula with the beautiful sea resorts and towns like
Patras, Nafplio, Corinth, the historical sites of
Mycenae, Epidaurus and
Olympia, Greece connected with Peloponnese with the
channel of Corinth (Isthmus of Corinth). Central Greece is divided
into three regions: Epirus, Thessaly and Sterea Ellada
Northern Greece is divided into two regions: Thrace and Macedonia.
The islands of Greece are very different, some are word known as
major tourist destinations, others unknown, some small, others
large, some inhabited, other uninhabited, some with a
magnificent lush vegetation, others are rocky and arid. One
thing in common, however, they all have the blue sea and the sun
The Greek islands divided as follows. The islands of the Saronic
gulf the Argosaronic islands are very close to Athens and is the
place where many Athenians have their holiday house due to the
vicinity from the Greek Capital. The islands of the Saronic are
Salamina, Aegina, Agistri, Poros, Hydra and Spetses.
In the Ionian Sea, are the Ionian islands
Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Paxi,
Lefkada. The Ionian islands are among the most popular holiday
destinations for British and Italians. Due to their vicinity
with many Italian ports every summer thousands of holiday makers
visiting those beautiful islands, many of them by car from
Ancona and other ports in Italy.
In the Aegean are the islands of the
Cyclades with the famous
Santorini ,
Mykonos, Naxos and other less touristy islands. The
Dodecanese islands like Patmos,
Leros,
Kalymnos, Kos,
Rhodes and many other smaller islands ,scattered along the coast
of Asia minor the Northern Aegean Islands and finally Evia and
the
Sporades islands with the green islands of
Skiathos, Alonissos ,
Skopelos and Skyros located to the east of the Sterea Ellas.
Further south in the Aegean at the Crete sea is the island of
Crete, which with its 8305 sq km, dominates the entire Greek
archipelago.
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