Greece has been one of those places in the world which have been highlighted by some history rich in significant events which contain that mixture of war, conquests, love and mysticism, which has been reflected on many occasions on the big screen where the lives of legendary men and women with overwhelming personalities have been projected who make the spectator immerse in a world full of magic and mysteries.
Not in vain, Greece has been considered the cradle of Western civilization, where the most famous Acropolis in the world is in Athens, a city that was built in the V century BC and has been key in the construction of our History, our thoughts, our culture and art, hoarding hundreds of classic monuments with extremely interesting information of transcendental historical stages for the world, which is exhibited in its museums for the enjoyment of the millions of tourists who visit it.
This great country with only ten million inhabitants and an extension of 131.957 square kilometres has many different landscapes, full of wonderful nature, heavenly beaches and an air of unique mysticism, able to attract even the most demanding tourists who will surely fall in love with some of the 227 islands inhabited that it has and with its striking and energetic life with those little villages painted in white that give it a romantic touch in the middle of the colorful landscape.
However, tourists are never missing who like to enjoy nature, and they have in Greece a great option, since this country has a practically virgin nature in its mountainous forests and its rural villages, which can be observed practically from any point because the 75% of the territory of this country is covered by massifs.
For snow and skiing lovers, it offers interesting alternatives, as well as large lakes and long rivers for those tourists who prefer water sports, representing fabulous options to spend a fun and unforgettable vacation.
Thus, with a whole series of elements in its favor, with history, culture, heavenly landscapes, beaches that tell love stories, a fabulous climate, and a mixture of captivating cultures, it has been possible to develop a varied tourism that offers to visitor’s lots of alternatives and a series of visits and alternatives that produce in them the satisfaction of living memorable experiences, which make them return to this great country.
In this way, tourism has become a fundamental element of the economic activity of that country, and has made it one of the favorite destinations for millions of tourists around the world and this has been since ancient times, when thousands of pilgrims from the ancient world arrived to its coasts and to its cities full of culture and advances to spend days and even to stay to live, fleeing from the precarious conditions of their countries.
It was gradually becoming an important power of ancient times, when it was advancing and building monuments that have been highlighted throughout history, and proof of this is that there are currently about 18 monuments that have been declared as World Heritage Site of Humanity by UNESCO, which are among the most important in Europe and the world.
This development of tourism had its starting point in antiquity, a period when a great cultural exchange took place, mostly between the Greek colonies and the nascent Roman Republic at a time when even the Western Mediterranean had not been conquered by the Roman Empire.
Later, when Greece was conquered and became part of the Roman Empire giving its inhabitants Roman citizenship, that cultural exchange that took place between both civilizations originated a flow of a large number of Romans visitors, who were increasingly interested in knowing the famous centers of Greek philosophy and science, among which Athens, Maroon and Thebes can be cited, where a whole history full of knowledge was made, with great thinkers and philosophers who made many contributions to the Western world. However, with the passing of the centuries that boom in tourism declined.
If we locate ourselves in the current era, we must remind you that tourism in Greece began to flourish in the 1960s and 1970s thanks to a nascent movement called mass tourism, which allowed and favoured major tourism initiatives and where large-scale projects were developed, which led to the construction of large hotels, improvement of roads, maintenance of historical and cultural sites, among many other improvements, which favored the increase of international tourists from that time to the present.
Already in the 2000s, two very important events took place in Athens which focused the attention of millions of people around the world on them, as the 2004 Olympic Games and the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 were, which are a very positive influence for the tourism of any country, bringing important income for their economies.
In fact, these events greatly helped to boost tourism again in Greece, which already had large cultural and historical infrastructures such as the New Museum of New Acropolis, which contributed to increase the flow of tourists in the country since some cities apart from Athens began to be taken into account by national and international tourists, as is the case of Thessaloniki, which became the European capital of youth in 2014.
Following the tour around this country of love and mysticism, we must mention that the most visited region is Central Macedonia, which is located in the north and where some of the most popular attractions and with the largest influx of tourists are located, such as the famous Olympus Mount, Halkidiki, and Pella, which is the place where Alexander the Great was born, besides the very mentioned and acknowledged Thessaloniki, which in turn is the second largest city in Greece.
By 2015, Greece had positioned itself among the most visited countries in Europe and the world, having received a total of 26.5 million tourists in that year, which allowed tourist activities to contribute 18% of the Gross Domestic Product to the nation, as well as having been able to strengthen this sector through improvements in infrastructure and services.
Thanks to this improvement, Greece has been able to promote religious tourism and pilgrimages to historical territories full of mysticism and cults that give the human being the opportunity to experience divine experiences and that search for the contact of the soul with that higher being that most human beings call “God”.
This can be achieved through visits to the great monasteries such as Meteora and Athos Mount. This monastery has had a great tourist activity since 1988 was declared as National Heritage Site of Humanity by UNESCO, where tourists can enjoy a splendid landscape among rocks that give the feeling of “levitating” throughout the area that is surrounded by impressive cliffs.
In addition, tourists can enjoy a wonderful nature there, surrounded by buildings built during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and some ruins of previous centuries that give a romantic and mystical touch at the same time since they are located on the border of these cliffs, which make the visit become a mixture of vertigo, spirituality, landscapes and overflowing nature, which is protected and in its forests you can find turtles with a size over 30 cm, even raptors more than 2 meters long.
On the other hand, the warm and Mediterranean Greece offers its best tourist destinations as its capital Athens, Mykonos, Crete, Corfu, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Chalkidiki, among others, receiving who visits it with great hospitality and offering historical and mystical places, an exquisite gastronomy, fabulous landscapes and a mix of cultures that could only happen in that beautiful country located in Europe, right between East and West.
In this way, Europe, Asia and Africa have left their traces in Greece, which is strategically and favorably located in the middle of these three continents, so its culture, customs and traditions are very varied and unique for foreign tourists, so it is very easy to be impressed by those beautiful little towns with white houses set against the sea, that romantic touch of its streets, its delicate craftsmanship, its typical architecture that distinguishes it among all, its striking customs, its nightlife and magical places full of stories and legends.
One of those places that you should not miss is the Melissani cave, which was named for the legend of nymph Melissani, who was a beautiful deity looking like a maiden and was in love with the demigod of the shepherds and flocks called Bread which did not correspond to her love, so the beautiful nymph committed suicide by drowning in the blue waters of a hidden cave, which was later taken by other nymphs to make it their refuge.
Over the years, an earthquake occurred on the island of Kefalonia where the cave is located and it made the roof fall down, exposing the place by means of a natural skylight that turned the ancient cavern into a cenote, which was rediscovered in 1951 by speleologist Giannis Petrochilos, to become a place full of magical energy that attracts tourists’ attention.
ALFA