Greece Travel Advice

General travel information for Greece

Continent: Europe

Geographical location: Southern Balkans, central northern Mediterranean coast

Highest elevation: Olympus (4167 m above sea level)

Longest river: Haliacmon (297 km) Form of

Government: Parliamentary republic System of

Government: Parliamentary democracy

Languages: Greek

Neighboring countries: Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey

Capital: Athens

Area: Approx. 132,000 km²

Residents: Approx. 11 million people (2018)

Population density: 84 residents per km²

Religions: About 97% followers of Orthodox Christianity, minorities of Muslims, Roman Catholic Christians, and Jews

Currency: Euro; Travel

Climate: Mediteranes Travel climate

Time zone: UTC +2, UTC +3

Area code: +30

Country code: GR

Electricity: In Greece, sockets of type C, F and rarely L are used. The mains voltage is 230V with a 50Hz change interval.

Check a2zdirectory for old history of Greece and agooddir for modern history of Greece.

Travel climate in Greece

In Greece there is a predominant Mediterranean travel climate with mild, humid winters and hot, dry summers. In winter there is frequent precipitation on the coast, which is seldom formed as snow due to the very mild temperatures. The summers, on the other hand, are relatively hot with occasional heat records and few summer thunderstorms.

In the interior of the country, it is significantly cooler, especially in winter, with frequent night frosts and sometimes heavy snowfalls. In the higher mountain regions of the travel country, winter sports are quite possible, there are around 19 winter sports areas in Greece. After a short spring, summer is as hot and dry as on the coast. The annual rainfall varies between 400 and 1000 mm. In the north-west of Greece on the border with Albania and Macedonia, the climate is more moderate.

National parks and nature conservation in Greece

The need to designate special protected areas to preserve the unique landscape and nature of Greece was recognized as early as 1938 and implemented with the 40 km² Olympos National Park, the first national park in Greece. The native flora and fauna are now under protection in 12 national parks and two marine national parks, which adventurers and nature lovers should definitely visit on a trip to Greece.

The largest of these, at 195 km², is the Prespes National Park around the lake of the same name in the triangle between Normacedonia, Albania and Greece. This is followed by the Vikos-Aoos National Park (126 km²), the Iti National Park (72 km²), the Pindos National Park (70 km²), the Samaria National Park (50 km²), Parnitha National Park (38 km²), Parnassos National Park (35 km²), Sounio National Park (35 km²) and Enos National Park (28 km²). In addition, the two marine national parks Alonnisos around the Northern Sporades (2100 km²) and the national park around the island of Zakynthos (130 km²) should be mentioned, which are certainly interesting when traveling with a maritime focus.

Culture and sights in Greece

Although Greece was populated by people from the most diverse cultures, the architecture, but above all the sculpture of ancient Greece, is the ultimate cultural characteristic of Greece, which is why most of the cultural trips to Greece are undertaken. Works of art such as the early classical charioteer of Delphi, the Nike of Samothrace, but even more so the Hellenistic Venus of Milo, the Laocoon group and the group of Aphrodite, Pan and Eros have generally acquired a formative symbolic character for sculpture. The ancient art was replaced by the Byzantine, the painter El Greco (1541-1614) came from the sacred art of the Cretan School. Famous Greek sculptors of the 20th century include Jannis Kounellis, Joannis Avramidis, Aris Kalaizis and Christos Kapralos.

Folkloric music is typical of modern Greece. The regional styles differ greatly in terms of melody and use of instruments, but at the same time have clear similarities in terms of rhythm and textual content. The mainland-motherland music differs from the music of Asia Minor, which contains some oriental elements. The music of the Aegean, in turn, has its own style, which, depending on the proximity to the mother country or to Asia Minor, may have been influenced by the respective elements.

The remains and monuments of ancient Greek and Roman architecture can be found in many places in Greece, which are definitely worth seeing on a trip to Greece. These include the Acropolis, the Theater of Dionysus and the Ancient Agora of Athens, the Acropolis of Rhodes, the archaeological sites in Eretria on Evia, the Asklepieion in Dodecanese on Kos, the sanctuary of Athena with gymnasium and stadium in Delphi, the ruins of Aulis at Thebes, the theater of Epidaurus or the ruins of Knossos on Crete, which belong to the Minoan culture. In addition, a large number of interesting structures from the modern era can be visited, such as the Corinth Canal, which impresses with its vertical, canyon-like rock walls and modern bridge structures. For more than a decade the canal was worked on and ton by ton of the rock was removed. A boat trip through the canal gives an impressive picture of the highly developed engineering art of the 19th century.

Greece also has a number of special travel destinations for nature lovers. On the north side of the 2,355 m high Chelmos massif, a 200 m high waterfall plunges into the depths, where the legendary Styx River rises. On the southern slope of the up to 2,457 m high Parnassus Mountains on the Gulf of Corinth is a sacrificial site for Apollo, which is shaped like a natural amphitheater by the impressive rocky landscape. Also worth seeing is the stalactite cave near Petralona on the Chaldiki peninsula or the 900 meter deep Vikos gorge formed by the Voidomatis, a tributary of the Aoos. An important place of worship from ancient times, the Diktean Cave is located in the Dikti Mountains, in the east of Crete. Of course, the scenic national parks of Greece,

Public holidays with a fixed date in Greece

Jan 1st New Year Jan

6th Epiphany

March 11th Clean Monday

March 25th National Holiday March

25th Annunciation of the Lord

May 1st Labor Day

Aug 15th. Dormition of Our Lady

Oct 28th Anniversary of the “No”

Dec 25th. Christmas

Dec. 26 meeting in honor of Our Lady

Medical information for Greece

For legal reasons, we as a tour operator are not allowed to communicate any binding medical information for Greece and therefore refer to the information provided by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Robert Koch Institute and the German Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health

Travel advice for Greece

You can obtain current travel and safety information, information on entering and leaving the country, as well as special criminal information and recommendations for your stay in Greece from the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Foreign mission in Greece

Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Athens (There is another consulate general in Thessaloniki, as well as a number of other honorary consulates in Patras, Igoumenitsa, Komotini, Chania and Heraklion in Crete, Corfu, Rhodes, Samos, Syros and Volos

District / Consular District: Attica, Ionian Islands, Crete, Central Greece, North Aegean, Peloponnese, South Aegean, West Greece

Place: Athens

Street address: Karoli & Dimitriou 3, 106 75 Athens-Kolonaki

Postal address: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, PO Box 1175, 101 10 Athens, Greece

Telephone: + 30 210 728 51 11

Fax: +30 210 728 53 35

E-Mail: [email protected]

Website: http://www.athen.diplo.de

authorities languages in the host country: Greek, (English in exceptional cases)

Embassy of the Hellenic Republic Greece in Berlin

(There are other honorary consulates in Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich)

City: Berlin