Theme Week Cyclades – Paros

22 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Paros Collage © Dimorsitanos/cc-by-sa-3.0

Paros Collage © Dimorsitanos/cc-by-sa-3.0

Paros is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about 8 kilometres (5 miles) wide. It lies approximately 100 mi (161 kilometres) south-east of Piraeus. The Municipality of Paros includes numerous uninhabited offshore islets totaling 196.308 square kilometres (75.795 sq mi) of land. Its nearest neighbor is the municipality of Antiparos, which lies to its southwest. Historically, Paros was known for its fine white marble, which gave rise to the term “Parian” to describe marble or china of similar qualities. Today, abandoned marble quarries and mines can be found on the island, but Paros is primarily known as a popular tourist spot.   read more…

Theme Week Cyclades – Tinos

21 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Town of Tinos © Eu.stefan/cc-by-3.0

Town of Tinos © Eu.stefan/cc-by-3.0

Tinos is a Greek island situated in the Aegean Sea. It is located in the Cyclades archipelago. In antiquity, Tinos was also known as Ophiussa (from ophis, Greek for snake) and Hydroessa (from hydor, Greek for water). The closest islands are Andros, Delos, and Mykonos. It has a land area of approximately 194 square kilometres (75 sq mi) and a 2011 census population of 8,636 inhabitants.   read more…

Syros in the Cyclades

16 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Ermoupouli © Jeremy Avnet

Ermoupouli © Jeremy Avnet

Syros is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is located 78 nautical miles (144 km) south-east of Athens. The area of the island is 83.6 km2 (32 sq mi) and it has 21,000 inhabitants. The largest towns are Ermoupoli, Ano Syros, and Vari (el). Ermoupoli is the capital of the island and of the Cyclades. It has always been a significant port town, and during the 19th century it was even more significant than Piraeus. Other villages are Galissas, Foinikas, Pagos, Manna, Kini and Poseidonia.   read more…

The Old Royal Palace, seat of the Hellenic Parliament

15 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  5 minutes

Old Royal Palace © flickr.com - Gerard McGovern/cc-by-2.0

Old Royal Palace © flickr.com – Gerard McGovern/cc-by-2.0

The Old Royal Palace is the former royal palace in Athens. The palace faces onto the Syntagma Square and now houses the Hellenic Parliament.   read more…

Ithaka off the west coast of Greece

11 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Vathy © flickr.com - auteur/cc-by-sa-2.0

Vathy © flickr.com – auteur/cc-by-sa-2.0

Ithaca or Ithaka is an island located in the Ionian Sea with an area of 120 square kilometres (46 sq mi) and a little more than three thousand inhabitants. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. It lies off the northeast coast of Kefalonia and to the west and within sight of continental Greece.   read more…

Parga on the Greek west coast

5 October 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

View of Parga with the Panagia Island © Sakis Kostaris/cc-by-sa-3.0

View of Parga with the Panagia Island © Sakis Kostaris/cc-by-sa-3.0

Parga is a town and municipality located in the northwestern part of the regional unit of Preveza in Epirus, northwestern Greece, with 12,000 inhabitants. The seat of the municipality is the village Kanallaki. Parga lies on the Ionian coast between the cities of Preveza and Igoumenitsa. It is a resort town known for its scenic beauty. The present municipality Parga was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities of Parga and Fanari. Parga is at a distance of 65 km from the Aktion National Airport and during the summer months connected with the surrounding islands (PaxosAntipaxosCorfu).   read more…

Drama in Greece

13 June 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Byzantine city wall © KFZI310/cc-by-sa-3.0

Byzantine city wall © KFZI310/cc-by-sa-3.0

Drama, is a town and municipality in northeastern Greece. Drama is the capital of the regional unit of Drama which is part of the East Macedonia and Thrace region. The town (pop. 44,823 in 2011) is the economic center of the municipality (pop. 58,944), which in turn comprises 60 percent of the regional unit’s population.   read more…

Larissa, capital and largest city of the Thessaly region

28 May 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Ancient theatre of Larisa © Fsb2004

Ancient theatre of Larisa © Fsb2004

Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos. Larissa, within its municipality, has 163,000 inhabitants, while the regional unit of Larissa reached a population of 284,000. The urban area of the city, although mostly contained within the Larissa municipality, also includes the communities of Giannouli, Platykampos, Nikaia, Terpsithea and several other suburban settlements, bringing the wider urban area population of the city to about 220,000 inhabitants. Today, Larissa is a major commercial and industrial centre in Greece. Legend has it that Achilles was born here, and that Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, died here.   read more…

Piraeus on the east coast of the Saronic Gulf

6 April 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Mikrolimano © Templar52

Mikrolimano © Templar52

Piraeus is a port city in the region of Attica. Piraeus is located within the Athens-Piraeus Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center (municipality of Athens), and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf.   read more…

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