‘From
Eurydice to the Euro’
Greece may be the home of Zeus
and his fellow Olympians, but at first glimpse its bustling,
traffic-ridden capital, Athens,
is anything but heavenly. Yet here, as all over
Greece, are reminders of the country’s glory – from
Athens’ Parthenon and Delphi’s
Temple of Apollo, to the ruins on Crete of the
Minóan city of Knossós, a civilisation
reaching even more back into history.
Spread throughout the calm blue waters of the Aegean
are the islands, each with its own extraordinary story. Visit
Zakynthos in the spring to see why it is
‘the island of flowers’, or the volcanic
Santorini, where the blackness of the
sand accentuates the dazzling whiteness
of the villages. The peacefulness of
islands like Skópelos
contrasts with the wild party islands such as
Myknos and Páros where
the worship of Dionysus the
god of revelry continues to the beat of garage and house music.
It is easy to forget that from this fertile land of myths,
olive groves and retsina, sprang political, philosophical and
artistic ideas that shaped the whole course of western civilisation.
Greece today offers the traveller the comforts of modern Europe
in close proximity to the beauty of the ancient world.
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