Holidays in Greece

If you're looking for a Greek holiday villa hideaway, then you are sure to find the perfect Greek holiday villa amongst our superb collection of magnificent villas with private pools and delightful apartments located on the popular Greek islands of Kefalonia, Ithaka and Lefkas.

From visits to archaeological sites, monuments and museums to theatrical productions and folk festivals - Greece is an absolute paradise for cultural tourism. While enjoying your villa holiday in Greece you'll also be able to enjoy various other leisure activities in addition to all that Greek history and culture. Whether its wandering through traditional Greek markets or browsing in designer boutiques; enjoying a whole host of exhilarating water sports; whiling away the hours in a traditional taverna or simply sunbathing or soaking up the local ambience while people watching in a cafe by the sea - whatever you choose, you're sure to have a wonderful fun-filled time during your holiday in Greece.

Greece Geography

Greece is located in south-eastern Europe. It sits on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula, at the point where the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa meet. Greece has borders with Bulgaria and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the North; Albania on the North-West and Turkey on the North-East. The coastline of Greece is washed by three seas: the Ionian to the West, the Mediterranean to the South and the Aegean to the East. All of our Greek holiday villas and apartments are located on the Ionian islands of Kefalonia, Ithaka and Lefkas.

Greece measures a total area of 131,957 km2. It is made up of three main geographic areas: The mainland, the Peloponnese peninsula (separated from the mainland by Corinth Isthmus Canal and approximately six thousand Greek islands dotted in the Aegean and Ionian Seas.

Greece is a truly unique geographic phenomenon as is one of the most mountainous countries in Europe yet boasts some 16,000km of coastline. Almost half of the Greek coastline is around the thousands of islands in the Greek archipelago.

Ancient Greek History

Greece is steeped in ancient history - in fact the first traces of human habitation in Greece appeared during approximateky 11,0000 BC. Visitors can soak up this wealth of Greek history, with the vast numbers of archaeological sites, museums and collections located throughout the whole of Greece. Countless monuments and artefacts from Greece's ancient historic past have been preserved, such as ancient churches, monasteries and castles along with traditional settlements; many of which retain their Ottoman and partly Byzantine structures.

Greek Neolithic Buildings and cemeteries have been discovered throughout Greece and evidence of the first urban centres built in the Bronze Age have been uncovered in the Aegean region. Settlements and organised societies flourished on Crete about 2,000BC. However, following the devastation of Crete aroun 1500BC caused by the volcanic eruption on Santorini, the Mycenean Greeks on the mainland became the dominant force in the Aegean. The decline of the Mycenean civilization caused the population to migrate to the coastal regions. The Geometric Period then followed (900BC) and this saw the beginning of the Greek Renaissance Years; marked by the creation of Greek City-States and the Greek alphabet. The following centuries witnessed major social and political changes. The Greek City-States established colonies as far as Spain and North Africa, laying the foundations for the Classical Period. This character of this period was dominated Athens cultural and politics, but at the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404BC, Athens lost its power and a new force, the Macedonians emerged with Philip II and his son Alexander the Great. Alexander's conquests of all the regions as far as the Indus River radically changed the world map at that time.

Following the death of Alexander, the vast Greek empire was divided among his generals, creating ancient kingdoms. However, the invasion of the Romans saw the final conquest of Greece in 146BC and Greece joined the vast Roman Empire. Many Roman emperors admired Greek culture and acted as benefactors. Christianity then spread throughout Greece following the travels of the Apostle Paul. In 324AD Constantine the Great moved the capital of the empire from Rome to Constantinople, shifting the focus of attention to the eastern area of the empire. During this time Greece became part of the Byzantine Empire.

The turbulent times for Greece continued as Constantinople was over powered by Western crusaders in 1204. Areas of Greece were then given to western leaders to control. However, it was then re-occupied by the Byzantines in 1262. This was to be the last stage of the empire's existence as the Ottomans gradually seized parts of the empire from the 14th Century. Constantinople was captured in 1453 and Crete was the last to fall to t he Ottomans in 1669. The Ottomans dominated Greece for four centuries until the Greek War of Independence in 1821, which resulted in the creation of the independent Greek Kingdom in 1830.

Greek Modern History

During the 19th Century new areas that were home to Greek populations were brought into fold of the Greek State. Greece's sovereign land reached its maximum in 1920, at the end of Word War I. At the end of World War II, with the incorporation of the Dodecanese Islands, Greece became the geographic country we know today. In 1974 Greece changed from being a Constitutional Monarchy to a Presidential Parliamentary Democracy, and in 1981 Greece became a member of the European Community/Union.

Our Greek Villa Holiday Service

Travel with secretdestinations.com holidays and discover secret Greece. A special selection of privately owned holiday villas in Greece, Greek holiday villas with pools and holiday apartments - all hand-picked to give you a truly authentic taste of real Greece and the Greek Islands.