Sunday, November 13, 2011

Beautiful Photos of Memorable Places in Greece

Greece is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Greece was one of the first places civilization took hold in Europe and is therefore the birthplace of many things we’re familiar with, including the Olympic Games, Western philosophy, democracy, political science, and Western literature and drama. Surrounded by the Aegean Sea on the East, the Mediterranean on the South and the Ionian Sea to the West, it’s made up of a mainland and more than a thousand islands (227 of which are inhabited).



Obviously, the sea has a huge influence on Greek life and culture, but Greece is also one of the most mountainous countries in Europe, with 80% of its land area covered by mountains. The climate of Greece is varied, with Alpine, Mediterranean and temperate zones. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful country, with varied terrain and plenty of photo-worthy features.

Below are collection of beautiful places and photos of Greece, covering its architecture, mountains, cities, ruins, and seas. There’s plenty of material there to inspire your designs and get your creative gears turning.


Meteora
The Meteora is a complex of Eastern Orthodox monasteries built on natural sandstone pillars. It’s one of the largest and most important such complexes in Greece. The sandstone pillars are beautiful and interesting, as showcased by the photos below. At one time there were more than 20 monasteries but only six remain today. Five of those are inhabited by men and one by women.






Athens Athens is the capital of Greece and its largest city. It’s also one of the oldest cities in the world, with a recorded history of roughly 3400 years. Classically, Athens was a very powerful city-state within the Greek empire and is credited as the birthplace of democracy and the cradle of Western civilization. It was host to the first modern-day Olympic games and had previously been host to the ancient games.





Santorini
Santorini is a circular archipelago of volcanic islands in the Aegean Sea. It’s what’s left of a giant volcanic explosion that destroyed the earliest settlements. Originally, Santorini was a single island, but the volcano left a giant caldera that is now open to the Aegean Sea. There are no rivers on the islands and water has traditionally come from rain runoff collected in cisterns (though there’s now a desalinization plant on the island).  





 


 

No comments:

Post a Comment