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About Greece
Adapted from Wikipedia
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country
in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end
of the Balkan Peninsula. It is bordered by Bulgaria,
the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania
to the north and by Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea
lies to the east and south of mainland Greece, while
the Ionian Sea lies to the west. Both, parts of the
eastern Mediterranean basin, feature a vast number of
islands. Greece lies at the juncture of Europe, Asia,
and Africa. It is heir to the heritages of classical
Greece, the Byzantine Empire, and nearly four centuries
of Ottoman rule. Regarded as the cradle of western civilization
and the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy,
the Olympic Games, western literature, political science,
major scientific principles and drama (including both
tragedy and comedy), Greece has a particularly long
and eventful history and a cultural heritage which has
been considerably influential in Europe, Northern Africa
and the Middle East. Today, Greece is a developed country,
a member of the European Union since 1981 and a member
of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union
since 2001. Athens is the capital; Thessaloniki, Piraeus
and Patra are some of the country's other major cities.
Getting to Greece
Adapted from Wikitravel
Passport and Visa Requirements
Greece is both a member of the European Union (EU)
and the European Economic Area (EEA). All EU nationals
(including citizens of new member states) may enter
Greece with a valid national ID card; this includes
non-member states affiliated with the European Union,
such as Monaco and Andorra. Citizens from EEA states
that are not members of the EU (such as Switzerland,
Norway, and Iceland), may also enter Greece with a valid
national ID card.
A valid passport is required of all non-EU and non-EEA
nationals, and most are also required to obtain a visa.
Citizens of select countries, including Argentina, Australia,
Canada, Chile, Croatia, Hong Kong SAR, Israel, Japan,
South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, and the
United States, are allowed a 90-day visa-free stay.
Citizens of Brazil and Uruguay are allowed a 60-day
visa-free stay. For the most recent information on entry
requirements, contact your nearest Greek consulate.
Greece is a signatory of the Schengen agreement along
with Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Italy, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Spain, and Sweden. There are no passport checks when
traveling between any two Schengen countries. A non-Schengen
national who plans on visiting multiple Schengen countries
-and who needs a tourist visa to visit them- may do
so on just one visa from one Schengen country; but he
is best advised to specifically obtain the visa for
the first country he will be visiting.
By plane
Athens' Elefthérios Venizélos International
Airport (located near the Athens suburb of Spáta),
is the country's largest, busiest airport and main hub,
handling over 15 million passengers annually as of 2006.
Other major international airports in terms of passenger
traffic are, in order of passengers served per year,
Heraklion (Nikos Kazantzákis Int'l), Thessaloniki
(Makedonia Int'l), Rhodes (Diagorás), and Corfu
(Ioánnes Kapodistrias).
Athens and Thessaloníki handle the bulk of scheduled
international flights. However, during tourism season,
several charter flights arrive daily from many European
cities to many of the islands and smaller cities on
the mainland.
Olympic Airlines, the nation's flag carrier, offers
service to Greece from several cities in Europe, the
Middle East, Southeast Asia, and North America. Aegean
Airlines, which owns half the the domestic market, also
operates a number of international routes to Greece
from various European cities. Athens is also well-served
by airlines from all over Europe, the Middle East, North
America, and Southeast Asia, with flights to their respective
hubs.
The presence of low-cost carriers in Greece's international
market has increased tenfold within the past decade,
offering service to Athens and Thessaloníki from
several other European locations, such as Easyjet (from
London Gatwick, London Luton, Milan and Berlin), Virgin
Express (flying from Brussels), Transavia (Amsterdam),
German Wings (Cologne/Bonn and Stuttgart), Hemus Air
(Sofia), Sterling (Copenhagen, Stockholm, Gothenburg
and Oslo), LTU (Düsseldorf), Alpi Eagles (Venice),
Norwegian Air (Warsaw, Katowice and Krakow), Wizzair
(Katowice and Prague), and FlyGlobeSpan (Glasgow).
By train
Thessaloniki is Greece's hub for international rail
service. Trains connect Thessaloníki to Sofia,
Bucharest, Budapest, Istanbul, and other international
cities.
By car
Greece can be entered by automobile from any of its
land neighbors. From Italy, ferries will transport cars
to Greece. From western Europe, the most popular route
to Greece was through Yugoslavia. Following the troubles
in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, most motorists
from western Europe came overland by Italy, and then
took a trans-Adriatic ferry from there. Although the
countries of the former Yugoslavia have since stabilized,
and Hungary-Romania-Bulgaria form another, albeit a
mugh longer, alternative, the overland route through
Italy now remains the most popular option.
By bus
There is some, albeit limited, international bus service
to neighboring Albania, Bulgaria, and Turkey.
By boat
From Italy, several ferries depart for Greece daily.
Ferries to Patras (Pátra), Igoumenítsa,
and Corfu (Kérkyra) leave throughout the year
from the Italian port cities of Venice, Trieste, Ancona,
Bari and Brindisi. For more information on Italy-Greece
ferries, see www.greekferries.gr.
From Turkey there are ferries from Marmaris to Rhodes,
from Tsesme to Chios and from Kusadasi to Samos.
There are also ferries connecting Piraeus and Rhodes
to: Alexandria, Egypt; Larnaca and Limassol, Cyprus;
and Haifa, Israel. |
