Background: Greece achieved its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829. During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, it gradually added neighboring islands and territories, most with Greek-speaking populations. In World War II, Greece was first invaded by Italy (1940) and subsequently occupied by Germany (1941-44); fighting endured in a protracted civil war between royalist supporters of the king and communist rebels. Following the latter's defeat in 1949, Greece was able to join NATO in 1952. A military dictatorship, which in 1967 suspended many political liberties and forced the king to flee the country, lasted seven years. The 1974 democratic elections and a referendum created a parliamentary republic and abolished the monarchy. Greece joined the European Community or EC in 1981 (which became the EU in 1992); it became the 12th member of the euro zone in 2001.
May 1st 2008Europe » Greece » Pelopennese » Nafplion And so to Athina...Finally out of the airport and on our journey in our rental VW gripping on to seat as Rob drove on left side of car and on the wrong side of the road!!! Motorists here are crazy, wi ... 22 photos[full story]
April 29th 2008Europe » Greece » Pelopennese » Nafplion It's argos actually. Napflion is the gold coast of the Peloponnese.
Sunday.
everything is closed for easter. We pick up our car and we decide on the spur of the moment to go to Delphi before the ... 11 photos[full story]
April 3rd 2008Europe » Greece » Pelopennese » Nafplion We finished off our three weeks in Italy, heading south to Pompeii after Rome. Pompeii was an amazing site. It was stopped dead in its tracks one August morning in 79AD. And now, nearly 2000 years ... [full story]
February 26th 2008Europe » Greece » Pelopennese » Nafplion On Saturday we left Delphi and drove to Olympia. In Olympia we went to the ancient ruins of where the first Olympics were. It was so cool! The ruins looked just like all the other ruins that we had se ... [full story]
November 3rd 2007Europe » Greece » Pelopennese Our ferry ride delivered us to Patras, Greece and from there we took a bus to Athens. Unfortunately the bus dumped us off in front of the Superfast ferries office without much assistance about the me ... 37 photos[full story]
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