Sightseeing in Greece

Greece has to be seen in parts, and geography is to blame: the country holds about six thousand islands, some two hundred and twenty of them inhabited, and they are joined by ferries rather than roads. So no single route "around Greece" exists — there is the mainland and there are the archipelagos, and each has its own logic.

On the mainland everything rests on three points. Athens gives antiquity in its pure form: the Acropolis, the Agora, the Panathenaic stadium, and beside them Plaka and Monastiraki, where ancient walls are built into residential blocks. From Athens people travel to Delphi, which the Greeks held to be the centre of the world, and to Meteora, monasteries set on the tops of sheer rocks. Thessaloniki is the second capital, with Byzantine churches and the royal tombs of Vergina nearby.

The islands fall into groups. Crete is effectively a separate country with the palace of Knossos and its gorges; Santorini is the caldera of a sunken volcano; Rhodes and Kos hold knights' fortresses and ancient ruins; the Ionian islands, from Corfu to Kefalonia, are greener and softer than the rest. Practical notes: ferries link the islands, the timetable is seasonal, and out of season some crossings are cancelled. For the Acropolis and Knossos bring water and a hat — there is no shade at either.