Greece

Greece was home to one of the world’s first great civilizations. Ancient Greece has a prominent influence even today and there are many (actually an overwhelming number of) historical sites still standing from that time. Explore the parched lands and green valleys of the mainland, or do some island hopping through the blue seas to the famous Greek islands with their white beaches and whitewashed houses.  

Bustling Athens is famous for its Acropolis and the temples and other buildings that are on it (such as the Parthenon). There are also a number of excellent museums with relics from Greece’s past, and the atmospheric Plaka and Monastiraki districts. Elsewhere on the Greek mainland are the ancient sites of Delphi and Olympia (Ancient Greece), Mycenae (Mycenean civilization), and Mystra (from the Byzantine era). The famed monasteries of Meteora are also on the mainland perched on towering and precipitous columns of rock. 

The Cyclades island group includes Apollo’s temple island of Delos with its outstanding ruins and the spectacularly picturesque island of Santorini with its submerged volcanic crater, beaches with sand of all colors (white, black, red, gray) and the postcard-perfect towns perched on the crater’s edge.