Art And Culture in Greece

Cultural programmes in Greece are easier to sort not by century but by what each era left behind. From the Minoan civilisation comes the palace of Knossos on Crete, where a labyrinth of hundreds of rooms has been excavated, a thousand years older than the Parthenon. From classical Greece come the Acropolis, Delphi with its oracle, and stadiums and theatres still in use. From Macedon come the tombs of Vergina near Thessaloniki, where the burial of Alexander's father was found.

Byzantium left churches and mosaics: Thessaloniki, which holds the most of them, and Meteora, monasteries on sheer rock. The Knights Hospitaller left the fortresses of Rhodes and Kos. The Venetians left the harbours of Crete and Corfu, and the French of the nineteenth century left the Achilleion palace on that same Corfu, built for an Austrian empress.

Living culture runs as a separate line: a Cretan night with lyra and dancing, cooking classes on Naxos and Paros, wine tours on Santorini and Mykonos, food walks in Thessaloniki where the dishes are explained through the city's history. Practical notes: museums in Greece close early and some shut on Mondays. Monasteries require covered clothing, and women are sometimes handed a skirt at the door. In summer go to the Acropolis and Knossos in the morning: there is no shade at either.