The Holy Mount Athos, Greece

The Holy Mount Athos is an autonomous and self-governed territory of Greece, it has this status since Byzantine times. It occupies the whole of the third peninsula of Chalkidiki in northern Greece. In the center of the peninsula rise a long range of hills and mountains, culminating in Mount Athos itself, 2,033m high. It is a unique male monastic society, an Orthodox spiritual center since the 10th century — accessed only from the sea and allowed to men only.

Mount Athos postcard

Corfu, Greece

Corfu (Kerkyra in Greek) is Greece’s island in Ionian Sea. The name Corfi is an Italian version of the Byzantine Koryphō (“city of the peaks”), denoting the two peaks of Palaio Frourio. Corfu has many museums, monuments and cultural centers, and the first modern Greek university was established here. Unlike the rest of Greece, Corfu never fell under the Ottoman rule, and was dominated by the Venetians, the French and the British over the centuries, which greatly influenced it’s culture.