Greece

Practical tips

Best time

A Mediterranean climate: long hot dry summers, mild wet winters in the south, and real snow in the northern mountains. July and August are the hottest and busiest; May, June, September and October give the same sea with fewer people.

Languages

Greek has its own alphabet and a written continuity of nearly three thousand years. English is widely spoken on the islands and in the cities. Learning to decipher the alphabet is worth more than memorising phrases, because street and stop names stop being illegible.

Etiquette

Meals are long and shared, and refusing offered food lands badly. Monasteries require covered shoulders and knees, for men and women alike. The clock shifts: lunch is late and dinner later still. The rest of the practical guide is in preparation.

What to see & culture

Places

The Acropolis and the museum beside it; Delphi, set against its mountain; the Meteora monasteries on their rocks; Knossos and the Minoan world in Crete; Santorini and the caldera left by an eruption; and Thessaloniki, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman at once.

Culture

A country carrying classical antiquity, the Byzantine world and four Ottoman centuries in overlapping layers, where the Orthodox church still sets the calendar. Easter is the biggest festival of the year, bigger than Christmas, and rebetiko, the music of refugees from Asia Minor, is UNESCO-listed.

Food

Olive oil in almost everything, vegetables treated as a main course rather than a side, island cheeses that never leave the island, and plainly grilled fish. Mezedes are many small plates to share, and every region has its own version of almost everything.