Greece was home to some of the earliest advanced civilizations. From the Minoans of the second BC millennium to Mycenaeans who established the basis of the current language, the country has produced cultural, philosophical, political and sport advancements unrivaled by others.The modern Greek state obtained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830. It has carried on what seems like a constant conflict with Turkey and was also involved in both World Wars. In 1981, Greece joined the European Community that eventually evolved into the European Union.
The official name of Greece is the Hellenic Republic. Greece covers an area of roughly 51,000 square miles. Athens is the capital and largest population center with roughly 3.5 million inhabitants. Thessaloniki is the second largest population area with just over one million people. The terrain of Greece ranges from mountains in the north to flat plains in the south and beautiful islands off the coast. Winters are mild while summers are hot and dry making Greece a huge tourist destination.
The language debate took a huge political significance: academics were sacked for using dimotiki, riots were taking place in the streets and a lot of people were claiming that katharevoussa was being used as an instrument of denying access to education to the common man. Nationalist governments like the dictatorship of the colonel Papadopoulos favoured katharevoussa. The struggle between the proponents of dimotiki and katharevoussa represented various strongly opposed social attitudes and political positions.The battle was only won in 1976, by various actions of the after dictatorship government. Dimotiki was adopted in education and administration and has been kept since then as the formal language of modern Greece. Katharevoussa can still be encountered in legal texts and in the lexicon. Occasional inclusions of a katharevoussa sentence or word in the dimotiki can still be heard sometimes and is considerated as a good spoken Modern Greek.
It is important to always have some cash in Greece and the Greek Islands.You can use your cash card on ATM machines but you should ensure also an other way to have access to money. Some ATM may not accept your cash card so you better get information from your local bank agency.
There are ATM machines in all parts of Greece but there are so places where their access is difficult. For example, some islands have only cash machine in the main town. The safer way to travel to Greece and also in all countries is the travellers cheque.Outside banking hours, currency and cheques can be exchanged at ticket agencies.If you travel with cash, do not keep them all in one place (in case you get robbed).
Greece is part of the European Union and its currency is the Euro. (The Euro replaced the Drachma).The euro banknotes come in: 500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5.The are coins of 2, 1 Euros and 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 cents of Euro.
Alphabetical Listing of Hotels in Greece (Crete)
ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF HOTELS WITH PAYMENT DIRECTLY AT THE HOTEL FRONT DESK
