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 13th 2008Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini Woke up pretty much on time and headed for the port. Arriving early, we had capuccinos at a cafe across from the port and decided to buy lunch there too. A couple of "pies" (greek sandwiches) at 1.70 ... 5 photos[full story]
May 10th 2008Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini athens was really cool. mynokos and santorini were beautiful. we saw some amazing things, all of which i'll talk about later but it's one of the saddest days of the semester right now. yesterday brad, ... [full story]
May 9th 2008Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini Had the best fish meal on tour last night at the local harbour. followed by 263 steps back to the top. Good for the soul.
today we had a fabulous day touring the volcano. we caught a boat at 10.25 an ... [full story]
May 8th 2008Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini Santorini is what you see in pictures and soooo much more!
Coming in to the port on the seacat, the first thing you notice are the cliffs, with the white buildings clinging to the sides. The "touri ... [full story]
May 6th 2008Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini Just a quick update.
Knossos was disappointing. There are a number of 19 and early 20th century archaeologists whoi have a lot to answer for. Arthur Evans did Knossos and rebuilt stuff in the style h ... [full story]
May 4th 2008Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini Day 6
Beautiful Santorini
Mary Donohue will remember Geoff saying how he longed to visit the Greek Island one day.
Well today he got his wish and got to experience the magic of Santorini, wit ... 1 photos[full story]
April 7th 2008Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini Since my last update, I have spent my "Spring Break" in the Cycladic isles of Greece. First was Tinos, where it was windy and rained about half the time I was there. However, they generally don't ge ... [full story]
April 4th 2008Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini We are in Santorini! We got here on Wednesday afternoon and it was raining, so that wasn’t good, but it cleared up yesterday. This island is absolutely amazing! It is so gorgeous. It’s exa ... [full story]
March 24th 2008Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini We had to get up around 4:30am to get our ferry. We wanted to get there early just in case... well I don't know just in case what. We just wanted to get to Santorini. However, Holly is a bit of an a ... 50 photos[full story]
September 19th 2007Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini Nat had come out to Europe for 4 weeks of tripping around and after 5 days in London, we both headed out on Paris on the eve of the rugby world cup kick-off, not that we realised until we heard it on ... [full story]
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