Greece Small Group Tours

Greece small group tours are trips for a small party led by a host. They take place across the Greek mainland and islands, from Athens to the Peloponnese. The southern Peloponnese holds the Mani, Diros, Monemvasia, Kalamata, Navarino, Methoni, Messene and Bassae. Further north stand Patras, Kalavryta and the Zagori villages of Epirus. Greek food and music follow, from feta to rebetiko. Related pages cover a classical Greece tour, Greece tour packages and Greece island hopping tours. The main hub for every region is Greece tours.

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What are Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours bring a small party together with a host for trips across Greece. No country on the Mediterranean basin has a longer coastline than Greece. The mainland is mountainous and pushes out into the sea at the far south of the Balkans.

Among national coastlines worldwide, the Greek one ranks 11th in length, at 13,676 km. The Greek mainland ends in the south at the Peloponnese peninsula. In a peninsula, water hems the land in on all but one edge. The Pindus mountains send extensions across the Peloponnese, and they end in Crete.

Greece small group tours belong to a land of nine traditional regions, and the Peloponnese is one. Messenia is a regional unit, or district, in the southwest of the Peloponnese. A district is an area marked off for local government. Elis lies north of Messenia, Arcadia northeast and Laconia southeast.

The Taygetus range rises in the east of Messenia. A mountain range is a line of linked peaks. The Kyparissia mountains stand in the northwest, and the Lykodimo in the southwest. The Neda flows through the north, while the Pamisos runs through central Messenia. In Greece small group tours, the host is the person who leads the party.

• Islands: Sapientza, Schiza and Venetiko are the largest of the Messinian Oinousses islands.
• Sphacteria: The small island of Sphacteria lies across the bay of Pylos and closes it off.
• Settlement: The islands off the Messenian south coast are virtually uninhabited, with almost no residents.

The Ionian Sea borders Messenia on the west, while the Gulf of Messinia washes its south. A gulf is a wide bay that cuts deep into the land. In the phrase Greece small group tours, a small group is a modest party with one host.

Why does the Mani Peninsula matter to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours unfold in a country whose far south holds the Mani Peninsula. Of the three peninsulas that point south off the Peloponnese, the Mani sits in the middle. The Taygetus mountains run on down its length to the south.

To the east of the Mani lies the Laconian Gulf. The Messenian Gulf and the Messenian peninsula lie to its west. Long ago, the Mani was reckoned part of Laconia. Laconia was a region under the power of Sparta, a strong city-state. A city-state was a city that ruled itself and the land around it.

Greece small group tours run through a modern state that splits the Mani between two municipalities. East Mani lies in modern Laconia, and West Mani in Messenia. Municipality is the Greek state’s term for a local council district. The Apidima Cave lies in the Mani. It holds fossils of Neanderthals, an early human species.

From 1978, the Greek state named tower-house villages in the Mani traditional. Tower-houses are fortified family homes built tall, like small castles. Building there now faces limits. Greece small group tours operate in a land that gave the whole Mani a special title in 2003. That title ranks the Mani as a cultural complex of worldwide importance.

• Name: The oldest known record of the name Mani is a church list from 907.
• Birds: The southern part, about 317 km2 in size, is a protected area for 72 bird species.
• Eagles: Raptors, or hunting birds, found there include the short-toed snake eagle and Bonelli’s eagle.

The people of the Mani are known as Maniots. Greece small group tours work within a state whose War of Independence began in 1821. The Maniots played a key part in that war. A war of independence is a fight to throw off outside rule.

Which story do the Diros Caves add to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours cut across a country where three caves line Dirou Bay, in the Mani. The caves are Alepotrypa, Glyfada and Katafygi. Glyfada also goes by the name Vlychada. A bay is a curved inlet where the shore bends inward.

Dirou, the local name, has Slavic roots and means stagnant water. Stagnant here describes water that sits without any current. People held worship in the caves in Paleolithic and Neolithic times. Paleolithic means the Old Stone Age, and Neolithic the New Stone Age. They believed the caves led down to the underworld, the home of departed souls.

Alepotrypa means The Fox’s Hole in Greek. It is a Neolithic site on the Mani Peninsula. Greece small group tours are journeys through a land where Alepotrypa ranks among Europe’s biggest burial sites. Diggers have found remains of at least 170 people there. A burial site is ground set aside for graves.

Alepotrypa is a karst cave. Karst forms where rainwater eats away limestone and leaves caves and hollows. The cave measures roughly 300 metres from end to end and 50 metres across. Greece small group tours travel in a country where one Diros cave is ringed by stalagmites. Stalagmites are stone spikes that build up from a cave floor.

• Chambers: Six large chambers lie inside Alepotrypa, and a deep, slightly salty lake marks its far end.
• Access: Parts of the Diros caves are reached by small boats and through narrow passages.
• Earthquake: An earthquake blocked the entrance around 3200 BC, and the settlement was then abandoned.

Silver jewellery found at Alepotrypa points to wealth in the area. Greece small group tours are trips in a land where silver was very rare in Neolithic times. Alepotrypa belongs to the cave group of Pyrgos Dirou, a town in the Mani.

How does Areopoli fit into Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours unfold across a land where Areopoli stands near the west coast of the Mani. Its port, Limeni, lies 1.5 km away. The town lies 20 km southwest of Gytheio. A port, put simply, is a town whose harbour shelters boats.

Before 1912, the town went by the name Tsimova. In that year, Areopoli became its official name. The town was once the seat of Oitylo municipality. A seat, in this sense, is the base from which a district is run. Ibrahim Pasha came ashore close to Areopoli in June 1826, yet a battle at Dyros forced him back.

On 17 March 1821, the Greek War of Independence began at Areopoli. Petros Mavromichalis, the last bey of Mani, started it. He was also known as Petros Pierrakos. A bey was a title for a local chief. For Greece small group tours, the first flag of that war rose in Taxiarchon Square.

In 1829, 290 families lived in Areopoli. From then until the mid-20th century, the head count swung from 1,100 to 2,000 people. A settlement is any place where people have put down homes. Greece small group tours travel through a country where Areopoli remained the largest settlement of the Mani.

• Towers: Built of field stones, the tower houses differ from blue and white Greek village homes.
• Growth: The town spread east along its main road, where a market grew up.
• Poet: The poet Koulis Alepis, who was born in 1903, came from Areopoli.

In Greece small group tours, the name Areopoli means city of Ares. Ares was the ancient Greek god of war. In modern times, Areopoli has become a flourishing town. Flourishing means thriving and doing well. Areopoli lies in Laconia, on the Mani Peninsula.

What links Monemvasia with Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours journey across a land where Monemvasia sits off the east Peloponnese coast. The town crowns a tied island in the Myrtoan Sea. Such an island hangs on to the mainland by a slim neck of sand.

The pilgrim Vilibaldos left the oldest known mention of Monemvasia, back in the 8th century. In 1147, ships of Roger II, king of Sicily, tried and failed to seize the city. William of Villehardouin won it in 1225 after three years of siege. A siege rings a town with troops until it gives in.

Greece small group tours span a country where Monemvasia’s golden age lasted until 1460. A golden age is a stretch of peak wealth and success. Under Ottoman rule, people left the upper town of Monemvasia. Greek fighters ringed the fortress for four months in 1821. On 23 July 1821, its defenders gave it up to the Greek side.

The 1828 census counted just 659 people in Monemvasia. In a census, officials count every resident. Water came from cisterns right up to 1964. Cisterns are tanks that hold rainwater. Power lines brought electricity in 1972. Greece small group tours roam a land where the old town held only 32 residents in 1971.

• Bridge: In 1971, Monemvasia gained a western bridge that tied it to the rest of Greece.
• Revival: From the 1970s, Monemvasia flourished once more, this time as a place for tourists.
• Festival: Each 23 July, a ship built every year is packed with fireworks and set alight.

On 12 August 1690, the Venetian leader Girolamo Corner entered Monemvasia after it surrendered. Today the town of Molaoi serves as the seat of the Monemvasia municipality. On Greece small group tours, Venetian is the adjective for Venice and its people.

What place does Gytheio hold in Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours range over a country where Gytheio lies on the east coast of the Mani. It is the largest and the leading town in the Mani. The town sits at the northwestern end of the Laconian Gulf.

In ancient times, Gytheio served as the seaport of Sparta, about 40 km to the north. A seaport is a harbour town for ships at sea. It remained a major port until it was destroyed in the 4th century CE. CE stands for Common Era, the standard count of years. Its founders in myth were Heracles and Apollo.

Greece small group tours are set in a country where the islet of Cranae lies off Gytheio. Islet is the word for a tiny island. In myth, Helen and Paris passed their first night together there before they left for Troy. On Cranae stands the Tzannetakis Tower, today a museum of the history and culture of Mani.

The Romans built a theatre at Gytheio, and it is well preserved today. The archaeologist Dimitris Skias found the theatre and the acropolis in 1891. An acropolis is the raised, walled core of an ancient town. Greece small group tours cross a nation where the bulk of ancient Gytheio now lies under water.

• Hill: The town rose on a hill known as Koumaros or Laryssio.
• River: The river by Gytheio runs dry for long spells and bears the nickname Xerias, or dry river.
• Murex: The Laconian Gulf held plenty of murex, a sea snail used for purple dye.

Today a causeway joins Cranae to the mainland. Causeway means a built-up track running over water. Cranae also has a lighthouse built of solid marble. In Greece small group tours, the name Gythium is the ancient form of Gytheio.

In what way does Kalamata connect with Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours thread through a nation where Kalamata ranks second in the Peloponnese by population. Only Patras is larger. Messenia’s capital and main port is Kalamata. It lies on the Nedon River, at the inner end of the Messenian Gulf.

One idea links the name Kalamata to a title of the Virgin Mary that praises her eyes. Another traces it to Kalamai, an older name meaning reeds. Reeds are tall grasses of wet ground. For Greece small group tours, Kalamata is known far and wide for the Kalamatianos dance.

After independence, Kalamata was rebuilt and grew into a key port of the Mediterranean. Only Marseille, in the whole Mediterranean, has an older Chamber of Commerce than Kalamata. Such a chamber gathers merchants to argue the case of local trade. In 1821, Mavromichalis proclaimed the revolt against Ottoman rule inside the local Holy Apostles church.

On 13 September 1986, Kalamata was shaken by an earthquake measuring 6.2 in magnitude. Magnitude is a scale for how much energy a quake releases. Greece small group tours weave through a realm where the Ypapanti cathedral sits below a Frankish castle. Frankish describes the western European rulers who held lands in medieval Greece.

• Population: Kalamata’s city proper held 58,816 people at the 2021 census.
• Silk: Silk scarves of Kalamata come from a weaving workshop at the Kalograion monastery.
• Quake: That 1986 quake killed 20 people and left 330 others injured.

Builders laid the foundation stone of the Ypapanti cathedral on 25 January 1860. The church was consecrated on 19 August 1873. To consecrate a church is to bless it for worship. For Greece small group tours, Kalamata holds the largest port in Messenia.

Why does the Battle of Navarino belong in Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours wind through a nation whose Peloponnese west coast holds Navarino Bay. There, on 20 October 1827, the naval Battle of Navarino took place. Naval describes things done by navies and their warships. The bay opens onto the Ionian Sea.

Fleets of Britain, France and Russia beat the Ottoman and Egyptian forces. The Ottoman fleet also held squadrons from Egypt, Algiers and Tunis. A squadron is a cluster of warships under one commander. Greece small group tours amble through the land of the last major battle fought wholly under sail.

The bulk of the ships fought while at anchor. At anchor means held fast to the seabed by a heavy iron hook. The allies won through stronger firepower and better gunnery. Gunnery is the craft of aiming and firing big guns. Admiral Edward Codrington led the Allied fleets as commander-in-chief.

By the Treaty of London of 1827, the allies sought autonomy for the Greeks within Ottoman rule. Autonomy means the power to govern oneself. The battle itself came about more by accident than by plan. Greece small group tours rove across a nation whose young republic this battle rescued from collapse.

• Ibrahim: Ibrahim marched 16,000 men into the Peloponnese in February 1825.
• Troops: In 1827, the regular Greek army counted fewer than 5,000 soldiers.
• Aftermath: A French force sent to the Peloponnese later helped to secure Greek independence.

Britain had an official interest in keeping the Ottoman Empire whole. Public opinion in Britain gave strong support to the Greeks. Public opinion is the shared view of the people of a country. In Greece small group tours, Navarino is the older name for the bay at modern Pylos.

What does Methoni Castle bring to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours meander through a land where Methoni Castle guards a cape in southwestern Messenia. It is a medieval fortress in the port town of Methoni. The sea protects it on three sides. A cape is a pointed tip of coast.

A deep moat cuts the castle off from the land. Moat is the word for a deep, wide ditch dug round a fort. Once, a wooden bridge carried people across. Today a stone bridge of 14 arches leads to the entrance. Technicians of the French Morea expedition built it over the moat.

Venetian builders raised new work on the ancient battlements. Battlements are the notched top walls of a fort. The entrance arch has pilasters with Corinthian capitals. Pilasters are flat wall columns, and capitals are their carved tops. Greece small group tours drift across a country where experts date this arch to Venetian builders after 1700.

A ruined Turkish bathhouse survives within the walls. For Greece small group tours, the Byzantine church of St. Sophia stands within the castle. Byzantine means from the Greek-speaking empire ruled from Constantinople. A granite pillar from 1493/4 rises there too. It is wrongly known as Morosini’s stele, a stele being an upright stone slab.

• Bourtzi: The Bourtzi islet carries a two-floor, eight-sided tower that ends in a round dome.
• Prison: Over time, the Bourtzi has served as a prison on more than one occasion.
• Lion: Venetian emblems on the walls show a winged lion, the sign of St. Mark.

French troops of the liberating corps stayed in the area until 1833. A corps is a large army unit. The church of Santa Sotira is credited to them. Greece small group tours spread over a land where the castle’s sea gate was restored.

What makes Ancient Messene relevant to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours trace a country where Ancient Messene lies 60 km east of Pylos. In 371 BC, the Spartans lost the Battle of Leuctra, and the Thebans then invaded the Peloponnese. The Theban general Epaminondas next chose to build three fortified cities.

Messene in Messenia was one, and Megalopolis and Mantinea in Arcadia were the others. Exiles of Messenian descent then came back, chiefly from Sicily and North Africa. An exile here means someone driven out of a homeland and kept away. They had kept a community abroad for about 300 years.

The circuit wall of Messene stood 7 to 9 metres high. A circuit wall loops all the way round a city and its land. The main road north to Arcadia still runs through the Arcadia Gate. Greece small group tours venture through a land where Messene’s Laconia Gate mirrors its Arcadia Gate.

The ancient writer Pausanias told of a hilltop temple to Zeus Ithomatas. Its statue was the work of Ageladas, a sculptor from Argos. Other buildings on the site include the theatre, the stadium and the council chamber. Greece small group tours criss-cross a country where a museum of the finds stands inside the old walls.

• House church: Christians turned a rich Roman home into a house church during the 3rd and 4th centuries CE.
• Basilica: A large three-aisled basilica, a long hall-like church, dates from the sixth century.
• First dig: Themistoklis Sofoulis led the first systematic dig at the site in 1895.

The monastery of Mone Voulkanou sits on the lower southeast slope of Mount Eva. Monks, men vowed to prayer, live together in a monastery. Greece small group tours tread the homeland of Damophon, a sculptor of the 2nd century BC.

How does the Bassae temple of Apollo Epicurius relate to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours stride across a country where Bassae lies in northeastern Messenia. Its Temple of Apollo Epicurius ranks among the best preserved temples in Greece. In classical antiquity, the site was part of Arcadia. Antiquity covers the far past of Greece and Rome.

The village of Skliros stands close by. The site stands south of Andritsaina and west of Megalopolis. The present temple is the last of four built on the site. Scholars call it Apollo IV. Its design is credited to Iktinos, an architect at Athens. Modern scholars doubt this.

The temple is aligned north to south. Steep mountain slopes left little space, so the builders chose that line. Greece small group tours wander a country where this temple has six by fifteen Doric columns. Doric names the plainest and sturdiest Greek column style. The temple stayed in use until the 4th or 5th century AD.

The French architect J. Bocher first noticed the temple in November 1765. Russian archaeologists began the first fully published excavation in 1836. An excavation lifts away soil, layer by layer, to expose remains. Greece small group tours sit within a country whose Archaeological Society dug the area in 1902. Konstantinos Kourouniotis led that dig.

• Stylobate: The stylobate, the stone platform beneath the columns, measures 38.3 by 14.5 metres.
• Tent: A white tent now covers the temple to shield the ruins from the weather.
• Acid rain: Its distance from big cities spares it much of the acid rain that eats limestone.

In 1811, Charles Robert Cockerell and Carl Haller von Hallerstein arrived at Bassae, hoping for finds. Every drawing that Haller made of the site was later lost at sea. In Greece small group tours, the title Epicurius means Apollo the Helper.

Why does Dimitsana matter to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours run across a country where Dimitsana is a mountain village of Arcadia. Its houses climb a mountain slope 950 metres above sea level. The village is also the seat of Gortynia, a municipality, or local council area.

The name Dimitsana first appears in writing in the year 967. A document of the Patriarchate records it, in connection with Philosophou Monastery. A patriarchate is the office of a patriarch, a senior bishop of the Orthodox Church. Greece small group tours journey across Greece, and that early record ties the town to the monastery.

Bishop Ananias Lakedaimonias set up the town’s first gunpowder mills in the mid-18th century. Gunpowder is an explosive powder used in guns. Greece small group tours are trips through Greece, and Dimitsana gained a library in 1764. A monk named Agapios built it and moved the books of the monastery there.

Throughout the Greek War of Independence, the town ran 14 gunpowder mills day and night. Greece small group tours travel Greece with a host, and these mills kept Greek fighters supplied with gunpowder. A war of independence is a struggle in which a people fights to rule its own land.

• Library: Dimitsana’s library now keeps about 35,000 books, along with manuscripts and documents.
• Water power: The Open-air Water Power Museum has a flour mill, a tannery for making leather and a gunpowder mill.
• Nickname: Its mills gave Dimitsana a nickname: “the Nation’s powder keg”, meaning a gunpowder barrel.

Dimitsana stands on the ruins of Teuthis, a town of ancient Arcadia. The word ruins means the broken remains of buildings from the distant past. Greece small group tours head across Greece, and old Teuthis lies beneath the modern village of Dimitsana.

Which legends does the Lousios Gorge bring to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours take place in a country whose western Arcadia holds the Lousios. That name covers both a river and a gorge, a deep and narrow valley. Its ends lie at Karytaina in the south and Dimitsana in the north.

Tradition says the river takes its name from Zeus, father of the Olympian gods. Greece small group tours cross Greece with a host, and Pausanias wrote that Zeus bathed at its sources. Pausanias also called the Lousios the coldest river of the world known to him. A source is the spot where a river begins.

Monasteries cling to the gorge walls, among them Timiou Prodromou and Philosophou. Each monastery serves as a shared home for monks, who are religious brothers bound by vows. Aimyalon and Panagias Kalamiou are two more monasteries on those cliffs. Greece small group tours pair travellers with a host, and these four monasteries sit within the Lousios gorge.

Ancient Gortys stands where the gorge ends in the far south. Greece small group tours head out with a host, and Gortys had a marble temple of Asclepius. The sculptor Scopas made its statues of Asclepius and Hygieia. Sculptors are artists who carve or model figures in stone and metal.

• Old name: In antiquity, meaning ancient times, the river also carried the name Gortynius.
• Meeting point: The Lousios ends in the Alfeios, at a spot 2.5 kilometres northwest of Karytaina.
• Forest and cliff: Dense woods fill a large share of the gorge, set among tall, steep cliffs.

The ruins of Gortys were dug out by archaeologists between 1940 and 1956. Archaeologists study vanished peoples through the objects and buildings they left. Greece small group tours range over the Greek mainland, and those years of digging uncovered old Gortys.

How does a Greek myth tie Lake Stymphalia to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours operate in a country where Lake Stymphalia lies in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Its water fills a closed karst basin beside wetland and farmland. Karst is limestone ground where water drains away underground. A basin is a low, bowl-shaped area of land.

Greek myth tells of the Stymphalian birds, which plagued the Arcadian woods beside the lake. Myths are traditional tales of gods, heroes and monsters. Greece small group tours travel the Greek mainland, and killing these birds was the sixth labour of Heracles. In this story, a labour is one of the hard tasks given to Heracles.

Water from the source of the Stymphalus stream once fed the city of Corinth. Greece small group tours follow a host around Greece, and the Roman emperor Hadrian arranged that water link. He used an aqueduct, a built water course that brings water from far away. Large parts of that aqueduct can still be traced today.

Excavations on the north shore of the lake have run since 1982. Excavation means digging with care to bring buried remains to light. Hector Williams has directed the work for the University of British Columbia. Greece small group tours explore Greece in small parties, and the dig covers the site of ancient Stymphalus.

• Bird stopover: The lake serves as an important resting place for migrating birds.
• Bird size: Pausanias described the Stymphalian birds as being as large as cranes.
• Zaraka: The Franks, who occupied much of Greece, built Zaraka monastery in the 13th century.

The lake has no outlet except one channel that runs under the ground. An outlet is a way out through which water leaves a lake. Greece small group tours roam Greece with a host, and only that hidden channel drains Lake Stymphalia.

What sets the Diakopto–Kalavryta railway apart for Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours cover a country with a historic rack railway, the Diakopto–Kalavryta line. The line covers 22 kilometres from Diakopto to Kalavryta, by way of the Vouraikos Gorge. A rack railway uses toothed rails to climb steep slopes.

Builders started work on the mountain line in 1885. Italian craftsmen helped with the building, since they had worked on similar lines in the Alps. A craftsman is a skilled worker who makes things by hand. Greece small group tours move through Greece in small parties, and a French company built the line.

The railway has three stretches of rack. There, gear wheels on the train grip toothed rails laid in the centre of the track. This happens wherever the gradient, or steepness, of the line rises above 10%. Greece small group tours take a small party through Greece, and the rack stretches cover the steep ground.

From sea level, the railway climbs to a height of 720 metres. At its steepest point, the gradient reaches 17.5%. Every height on land is counted upward from sea level, the mean level of the ocean. Greece small group tours range across Greece, and the climb spans 22.3 km of track.

• Opening: The line entered service on 10 March 1896, as a branch of a larger network.
• Steepest: The line holds the title of the steepest railway in Greece.
• Steam: Six steam locomotives, or engines, were built specially for this line, to one basic design.

The writer Gerald Durrell put the railway into a children’s book in 1974. Its steam engine, called Madame Hortense, appears in the story as well. Greece small group tours are hosted trips in Greece, and the book also became a film.

In what ways does Kalavryta enrich Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours happen in a country where Kalavryta stands in the mountains of east-central Achaea. The Vouraikos river flows past the town, which sits on its right bank. The right bank is the side on the right when facing downstream.

Kalavryta stands near ancient Cynaetha. In the late Middle Ages the town was the heart of a barony. A barony was an estate ruled by a baron, a noble. Greece small group tours travel with a host, and the barony lay inside the Principality of Achaea. A principality is a state ruled by a prince.

Kalavryta played a leading part in the early stages of the Greek War of Independence. On 21 March 1821, Bishop Germanos III raised the flag of the revolt at Agia Lavra. In a revolt, people rise up and defy the rulers above them. Greece small group tours unfold across Greece, and this flag-raising took place at a monastery.

The cave system called Spilaio ton Limnon lies at Kastria. Its Greek name means Cave of the Lakes. Lakes and strange rock formations fill the cave. Rock formations are natural shapes made by stone over time. Greece small group tours explore the Greek mainland, and Kastria lies within the district of Kleitoria.

• Agia Lavra: Agia Lavra monastery sits on a hilltop, 4 km to the southwest of the town.
• Mega Spilaio: A second well-known monastery, Mega Spilaio, lies 8 km to the northeast.
• Ski centre: A ski centre serves Kalavryta from the Chelmos slopes, east of the town.

The present municipality of Kalavryta took shape in 2011, when four former municipalities merged. Those four were Aroania, Kalavryta, Kleitoria and Paia. Greece small group tours take travellers around Greece, and each of those four is now a municipal district.

How does Patras fit into Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours span a country in which Patras leads Western Greece as capital and largest city. The city rises at the foot of Mount Panachaikon. It looks out over the Gulf of Patras, a wide inlet of the sea.

Every February, Patras hosts one of the largest carnivals in Europe. A carnival is a season of street parties, costumes and parades. The Patras Carnival is known for huge satirical floats, along with balls and parades. A satirical float is a decorated parade wagon that makes fun of people or events.

The Roman Odeon, the leading ancient monument of Patras, stands in the upper town. An odeon is a theatre built for music and singing. Greece small group tours cover Greece with a host, and the Odeon dates from around 160 AD. It was built in the reign of Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius.

Saint Andrew’s church ranks second in size among Byzantine-style churches of the Balkans. Byzantine style follows the building art of the eastern Roman Empire. Greece small group tours lead small parties, and the Saint Sava cathedral in Belgrade alone is bigger. The word cathedral names a bishop’s own principal church.

• Location: Patras lies in the northern Peloponnese, 215 km west of Athens.
• Castle: Patras Castle dates back to the 6th century AD and to Justinian, a Byzantine emperor.
• Firsts: Patras was the first Greek city to bring in public streetlights and electric trams.

Patras carries the nickname “Gate to the West”. Its busy port links Greece by trade and contact with Italy and Western Europe. Greece small group tours range around Greece, and Patras also serves as a trading hub. A hub is a busy central point.

Which chapter of history does Chlemoutsi Castle open for Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours stretch across a country where Chlemoutsi, or Clermont, is a medieval castle in Elis. Medieval means from the Middle Ages, between ancient and modern times. It served as the main stronghold of the Crusader state known as the Principality of Achaea.

Builders raised the castle between 1220 and 1223. The work took place under Prince Geoffrey of Villehardouin. A stronghold is a fortress that is hard to attack. Greece small group tours carry small parties across Greece, and Italian sources later called the castle Castel Tornese. That name came into use from the 15th century.

At its heart stands a hexagonal keep, which means a main tower with six sides. The keep wraps around an inner courtyard. Such a yard is open to the sky and closed in by walls. Greece small group tours rove Greece, and an outer wall encloses a yard on the west side.

Its main use appears to have been as a jail for important captives. A captive is a person held prisoner by an enemy. Byzantine generals taken in the Battle of Makryplagi were among those held there. Greece small group tours explore Greece with a host, and Alexios Philes died a captive there.

• Height: The castle sits on a small plateau, or flat hilltop, 226 metres above sea level.
• Condition: The castle keeps much of its original 13th-century form, with only minor later changes.
• Siege: No army ever laid siege to Chlemoutsi, so no enemy ringed it to force surrender.

Greece small group tours work across Greece, and Byzantine rule over the castle began in 1427. In 1460 the castle passed to the Ottoman Empire. It fell together with the rest of the Morea, a Byzantine despotate, or state ruled by a despot.

What engineering story does the Rio–Antirrio Bridge give Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours belong to a country joined across the Rion Strait by the Rio–Antirrio Bridge. The strait, a narrow sea channel, sits where the Gulf of Corinth meets the Gulf of Patras. The bridge links Rio on the Peloponnese with mainland Antirrio.

Officially, the structure is the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge. Trikoupis served as prime minister of Greece in the 19th century. He proposed a bridge at this very spot. Greece small group tours give each party a host, and Greek funds of his time fell short. A prime minister stands at the head of a national government.

The Rio–Antirrio Bridge ranks among the longest multi-span cable-stayed bridges anywhere. In such a bridge, cables run from towers to the deck. Multi-span means more than one gap, and fully suspended means the deck hangs from cables alone. Greece small group tours keep parties small, and the bridge is the longest of the fully suspended kind.

Under each pier, builders drove 200 hollow steel pipes down into the seabed. A pier is a strong pillar that holds up part of a bridge. The pipes made the seabed firmer and more stable. Greece small group tours go out with a host, and this work came first, before the piers rose.

• Length: End to end, the bridge stretches 2,380 metres across the strait.
• Width: Its 28-metre deck carries two lanes each way, an emergency lane and a walkway.
• First crossing: Olympic torchbearers were the first people to cross the bridge officially.

In 2006 the bridge won the Outstanding Structure Award. Greece small group tours run trips across Greece, and a world body of bridge engineers gave the prize. Structural engineering is the science of making buildings and bridges stand firm and strong.

Whose memory does Missolonghi keep for Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours are run in a country where Missolonghi is capital of Aetolia-Acarnania. Aetolia-Acarnania is a regional unit, a district for local government. The town sits between the Achelous and Evinos rivers. Its port opens onto the Gulf of Patras.

In 1821 Missolonghi joined the uprising before any other place in western Greece. In 1826, after a year under attack, the townspeople left in the Exodus. An exodus is a mass departure of people from a place. Greece small group tours are trips with a host, and the Exodus took place on a single night.

The British poet Lord Byron died in Missolonghi in 1824. Lord is a British title of nobility. Byron was a philhellene, a foreigner who loved Greece and its culture. He backed the Greek fight for independence. Greece small group tours set out across Greece, and Missolonghi is where the poet’s life ended.

Past the town gate lies the Garden of Heroes. Famous and unnamed fighters of the Heroic Sortie lie buried in it. A sortie is a break-out by people trapped inside a surrounded place. Greece small group tours roam with a host, and the word heroic means brave and admired.

• Sacred Town: The official name of the municipality means “Sacred Town of Missolonghi”.
• Lagoons: The Missolonghi–Aitoliko lagoons, shallow salt-water pools partly cut off from the sea, lie to the west.
• Memorial Day: The Memorial Day for the Exodus falls each year on Palm Sunday, one week before Easter.

A cenotaph in the town holds the heart of Lord Byron. A cenotaph is a monument to a person whose body lies elsewhere. A statue of Byron also stands in Missolonghi. Greece small group tours take place all over Greece, and both monuments honour the poet.

Which harbour history does Nafpaktos share with Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours venture across a country where Nafpaktos lines a bay on the Gulf of Corinth. The bay sits on the gulf’s northern coastline. Its ancient name, Naupaktos, means boatyard. A boatyard is a place where boats are built and repaired.

In the 15th century Venice controlled the town, and it took the Venetian name Lepanto. In 1499 the town passed into Ottoman hands. Greece small group tours cover the mainland, and the Ottoman navy used the port in the 16th century. A navy is the fleet of warships of a state.

Miguel de Cervantes, the famous Spanish writer, fought in the Battle of Lepanto. A statue at the port of Nafpaktos honours him today. A statue is a carved or cast figure of a person. Greece small group tours move with a host, and a battle is a large fight between armed forces.

The port and the castle are the main sights of the town of Nafpaktos. Both still keep well-preserved remains from the time of Venetian rule. Castles are walled strongholds raised for defence in war. Greece small group tours run with a host, and the adjective Venetian refers to Venice.

• Old harbour: In classical times Nafpaktos held the finest harbour along the northern shore of the Corinthian Gulf.
• Statue: The Mallorcan artist Jaume Mir made the statue of Cervantes that stands at the port.
• Mosque: The Fethiye Mosque, a Muslim house of prayer, is the town’s largest from the Ottoman era.

In March 1829 the town of Nafpaktos joined the independent state of Greece. Independent means free to govern itself, with no outside power in control. Greece small group tours travel around Greece, and a state here means a country with its own government.

What seafaring past does Galaxidi reveal to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours take parties across a country where Galaxidi rests on a natural double harbour. It faces the Gulf of Itea from the west. The Gulf of Itea reaches north from the Gulf of Corinth. A double harbour is a port with two sheltered bays.

Today’s Galaxidi stands where the ancient city of Haleion once lay. Haleion was a city of western Locris, a district of ancient Greece. A district here means a named region inside a wider country. Greece small group tours are hosted trips through Greece, and ancient means belonging to times long past.

Maritime trade made the town flourish in the 18th century. The word maritime describes anything tied to the sea and to ships. In the 1860s and 1870s, only Syros outranked Galaxidi as a Greek shipping centre. Greece small group tours lead travellers around Greece, and a shipping centre is a base for trading ships.

In Greece the carnival season ends with Clean Monday, the first day of Orthodox Lent. Lent is a season of fasting and prayer before Easter. On that day, Galaxidi keeps up the custom of Alevromoutzouroma. The Greek word means flour smudging, and the custom is also called the Flour Wars.

• Fleet: The merchant fleet of Galaxidi once counted over 400 ships.
• Steam: After 1890 local shipowners failed to move over to steamships, and the town’s wealth faded.
• Chronicle: In 1864 the scholar Constantine Sathas found the Chronicle of Galaxidi in the Monastery of Sotir.

During the Flour Wars, the people taking part throw coloured flour at each other. They keep going until everyone runs out of flour. Greece small group tours journey through the country, and onlookers become targets as well. Onlookers are people who stand by and watch.

Why does Zagori stand out on Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours run through a country that includes Zagori. Zagori is a region and a municipality in the Pindus mountains of Epirus. Each municipality has its own elected local council. Epirus covers the north-western corner of Greece.

For Greece small group tours, Zagori has a very long human story. The first signs of people in Zagori are between 10,000 and 17,000 years old. Kleidi Cave sits on the banks of the Voidomatis river. Epipalaeolithic artefacts were dug up there. Epipalaeolithic describes the last stage of the Old Stone Age, before farming began.

Over 160 arched bridges went up across the wider Zagori area. An arch is a curved span of stone that carries weight over a gap. As a rule, each of these bridges has one to three arches. For Greece small group tours, the Greek word for such arches is kamares.

Houses in Zagori are built of local stone. Their roofs are made of stone tiles, formed from limestone or sandstone. No cement holds these tiles in place. Cement is a building powder that hardens and binds stones together. Only the weight of the tiles resting above keeps each one still.

• Bridge: The three-arched Plakidas bridge, known too as Kalogeriko, stands close to Kipoi village.
• Name: Zagori is believed to stem from Zagore, a Slavic word that translates as “beyond the mountains”.
• Village square: Villages centre on a square called the mesochori, with a church, a plane tree and a fountain.

For Greece small group tours, Zagori recalls a time before modern roads. Those roads opened in the region only in the 1950s. Until then, mountain roads and arched stone bridges linked its villages. Modern here means roads built for cars and trucks.

What story does Papingo bring to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours gain a mountain story from Papingo, a place made up of two villages. Their names are Megalo Papingo and Mikro Papingo. In Greek, megalo means great and mikro means small, so they are greater and lesser Papingo.

In origin, Papingo is an Albanian place name. It joins pa, a word that means not, with peng, a noun meaning pledge or hostage. A pledge is a solemn promise. The village first appears in writing in a bull of 1325. A bull is a sealed formal order, and this one came from Andronikos III Palaiologos, a Byzantine emperor.

Ottoman rule reached the region after 1430, and Papingo then became the capital of Zagori. The Ottomans were a Turkish dynasty with a vast empire. In the 17th and 18th centuries, certain locals became folk healers. On Greece small group tours, these healers go by the name Vikos doctors. They treated different diseases with local herbs.

In 1897 Papingo gained a Greek school, the Kallineios School. Michael Anagnostopoulos paid for it. He was a rich expatriate who had made his home in America. An expatriate has left his homeland to live in another country. For Greece small group tours, the school stands as a gift sent home from abroad.

• Mountain: Both villages lie below Mount Radovoli, a peak within the Tymphe massif, or mountain block.
• Rock pools: The Rogovos stream shaped the Kolymbethres, rock pools in the limestone named after baptismal fonts.
• Church: Saint Blaise church went up in 1852 over the foundations of a much older church from 912.

For Greece small group tours, Papingo is a place of small numbers. The 2021 census found 184 people living in Papingo, while Mikro Papingo had 39. A census means counting everyone who lives in a place on a set date.

How does Monodendri fit into Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours have a village chapter in Monodendri, part of Central Zagori. Central Zagori is a municipal unit, or council district, within the Zagori region. The village lies 41 kilometres north of the city of Ioannina. A kilometre equals one thousand metres.

On Greece small group tours, the village name has a simple meaning. In Greek, monos means single and dendri means tree. The name goes back to one large fir that grew near Agios Minas, a former monastery. A fir is an evergreen tree with needles. Lightning struck that fir, yet it lived on until 1840.

The Scholarcheion, the first school in Monodendri, opened in 1750. The word names a Greek secondary school of that era. Among its pupils, by tradition, was Markos Botsaris from Souli. He became a revolutionary leader, someone who fights to overthrow a ruling power. For Greece small group tours, the school ties Monodendri to the name of Botsaris.

Near the village stands the monastery of Agia Paraskevi. Its founders, in 1412, were Michael Voevodas Therianos and people from Vitsa. Monks are men who live together under religious vows, and a monastery is their home. In 1778 it was refounded as a nunnery, a house for nuns instead of monks.

• Height: Monodendri sits 1,060 metres above sea level and keeps its stone-built houses.
• Benefactors: Manthos and Georgios Rizaris, merchant brothers and national donors, were both born in Monodendri.
• Girls’ school: In 1841 the Rizaris brothers founded the Parthenagogeion, a school just for girls.

For Greece small group tours, Monodendri has a summer stage too. A stone theatre stands at the far end of the village. It rises in a curve, like an amphitheatre with tiers of seats. The theatre hosts cultural festivals in the summer months.

On Greece small group tours, what was the oracle of Dodona?

Greece small group tours carry an ancient name from Epirus: Dodona. In the oldest accounts, by Homer, Dodona is an oracle of Zeus. An oracle was a holy place where people asked a god about the future. Homer was an early Greek poet.

On Greece small group tours, the voice of Dodona came from trees. Priestesses and priests served in a sacred grove, or small wood. They judged the right course of action from the sound of rustling oak leaves. A newer view points to bronze objects hung from the oak branches. The wind rang them like a wind chime.

In Homer, the priests of Dodona bear the name Selloi. They slept on bare earth and left their feet unwashed. Herodotus, a Greek historian, says the prophetesses there were called peleiades. The word peleiades means doves in Greek. Prophetesses were women thought to pass on messages from a god.

Diggers at Dodona have recovered more than 4200 oracular tablets. For Greece small group tours, oracular simply means linked to an oracle. The tablets use different alphabets, or sets of letters. An alphabet is the full set of letters used to write a language. Each tablet is a small, flat piece for writing.

• Titles: At Dodona, Zeus was worshipped as Zeus Naios and as Zeus Bouleus, the Counsellor.
• Argo: In a retold legend, the ship Argo had the gift of prophecy thanks to oak from Dodona.
• Emperor: In 362 CE, the emperor Julian sought the oracle’s advice before fighting the Persians.

For Greece small group tours, the oak sits at the heart of Dodona’s story. Pausanias, a travel writer of the 2nd century CE, noted a sacred oak of Zeus there. He described Greek sites he saw on his journeys.

Which beliefs shaped the Necromanteion of Acheron for Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours share a north-west region with an old name from myth, the Necromanteion of Acheron. Acheron is the name of a river. In Greek, Necromanteion means Oracle of the Dead. People of faith came to the site to talk with their dead ancestors.

Devotees saw the site as a gateway to Hades, the land of the dead. A devotee is a person loyal to a faith or a god. A realm is a kingdom or land under one rule. On Greece small group tours, Hades also names the god who ruled that realm.

Visitors who sought the dead began with a shared meal. It held pork, oysters, barley bread, broad beans and a narcotic mix. A narcotic is a drug that dulls the senses or brings on sleep. Later, the priest appeared to lift off the floor and float across the temple. Theatrical cranes, machines for lifting actors, created this effect.

For Greece small group tours, the site carries a modern debate. Its ruins are no older than the late 4th century BC. Scholars now also see the building as a walled, or fortified, farmhouse. Such farmhouses were common in the Hellenistic period, the Greek age that came after Alexander.

• Tribe: The oracle belonged to the Thesprotians, the local Greek tribe of Epirus.
• Odyssey: In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus used it as his entrance for a journey to the underworld.
• Finds: Excavators found 21 bronze washers, parts of seven or more catapults.

For Greece small group tours, the Necromanteion stood above its rivals. Among oracles of the dead, the one at Ephyra ranked first in importance. Other temples held such oracles too, among them a temple of Poseidon at Taenaron. Poseidon was the Greek god of the sea.

What past lies behind Parga for Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours have an Ionian chapter in Parga. The town sits on the Ionian shore. The cities of Preveza and Igoumenitsa lie on either side of it. The Ionian Sea is the body of water off the western shores of Greece.

In 1401 the town of Parga passed under Venetian control. Venetian means ruled from Venice, a sea republic in the north of Italy. A republic has elected leaders instead of a king. For Greece small group tours, that year marks the start of Venetian rule in Parga.

Residents of Parga first built their castle in the 11th century. They sought protection from pirates and the Ottomans. The Ottomans were rulers of a Turkish empire. Hayreddin Barbarossa, an Ottoman admiral, set the fortress on fire in 1537 and wrecked it. An admiral is the commander of a fleet. The houses inside the walls burned too.

For Greece small group tours, the castle of Parga tells a story of rebuilding. The Venetians raised it again, for a third and final time. Their new fortress was stronger than before. Supplies for the castle arrived through two bays, Valtos and Pogonia. Bays are inlets where the sea pushes into the land.

• Layout: Parga is built amphitheatrically, its houses climbing the slope in curved tiers.
• Community: Records from 1496 note a Romaniote, or Greek-speaking, Jewish community in Venetian Parga.
• Gate: The castle gate carries the name “ANTONIO BERVASS 1764” and two-headed eagles.

Today Parga is a resort town that is known for its natural environment. A resort is a town where people go for holidays and for rest. For Greece small group tours, Parga joins a Venetian past to an Ionian setting.

Why does Nicopolis matter to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours have a Roman chapter in Nicopolis, also called Actia Nicopolis. It was the capital of Epirus, a province of the Roman state. A province was a region of the Roman Empire, and a capital was its leading city.

North of the city, Octavian had once pitched his own tent on a hill. On that hill he later raised a monument and a sanctuary for Apollo. Apollo was a Greek god of light and music. Rams from captured galleys decorated the monument. A galley was an oared warship, and its ram was a beak for striking ships.

For Greece small group tours, Nicopolis also has a story of sport. Octavian set up the Actian games for Apollo Actius, with a contest every fourth year. Emperor Nero later came to take part in these games. He won the chariot race and was crowned for it. A chariot was a fast, horse-drawn cart on two wheels.

In roughly the first five years, local authorities oversaw the city walls and main buildings. These included a theatre, a stadium, a gymnasium, an odeion and an aqueduct. An odeion is a small roofed theatre for music, and an aqueduct carries water. For Greece small group tours, a gymnasium here means a training ground for athletes.

• Coins: Nicopolis struck its own copper coins, a right it used until 268.
• Visit: Emperor Hadrian came to Nicopolis in 128, together with his wife, Vibia Sabina.
• Churches: Six basilicas, or large early churches, were built in the city from around 460.

Alexander Philadelpheus, a Greek archaeologist, was the first to find and dig the site. An archaeologist studies the past through objects in the ground. For Greece small group tours, his name stands at the start of research at Nicopolis.

What gives Metsovo its character on Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours have a mountain chapter in the town of Metsovo. The town belongs to Epirus and stands amid the Pindus peaks of the Greek north. The Pindus range forms the high mountain backbone of the Greek mainland.

Of all Greek towns, Metsovo is the biggest centre of Aromanian life. The Aromanians, also known as Vlachs, speak a language that grew from Latin. Latin was the speech of the Romans. Aromanian life here means the language, customs and community of that people. For Greece small group tours, Metsovo is the main home of this culture.

From the mid-17th century, Metsovo residents gained a special tax deal. They paid one lump sum each year instead of the usual taxes. A lump sum is a single payment made in one go. Their part of the deal was guarding nearby mountain passes and helping travellers. A mountain pass is a low route through high ground.

Until the start of the 20th century, residents of Metsovo fell into three classes. Their names were the arhontzi, the vinitsi and the algi. For Greece small group tours, a class here means a layer of local society. The algi were travelling sheepherders. They bred livestock on a large scale and also carved wood.

• Trade: In the early 19th century, Metsovo merchants traded in Moscow, Cairo, Trieste, Livorno and Malta.
• Cheese: The town has won fame for its cheeses, Metsovone and Metsovela among them.
• Name: In the Aromanian language, the town goes by the name Aminciu.

For Greece small group tours, Metsovo has a working mountain economy. Agriculture and tourism lead that economy. Agriculture means the farming of crops and animals. Tourism in Metsovo is at its strongest in winter, the coldest season of the year.

Which ballad tells of the Bridge of Arta on Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours have a story of stone and song in the Bridge of Arta. This old stone bridge spans the Arachthos river at the western edge of Arta. Arta itself is a city in north-western Greece.

The present bridge is thought to be an Ottoman construction of the 17th century. The Ottoman Empire was a Turkish state that ruled wide lands in that age. Each century covers a full one hundred years. For Greece small group tours, the bridge stands as Ottoman work in stone.

A folk ballad, also named The Bridge of Arta, tells of a human sacrifice during the building. A ballad is a song that tells a story. In the tale, a bird with a human voice speaks to the Head Builder. It tells him to sacrifice his wife so that the bridge stays standing.

The ballad names 45 masons and 60 apprentices, led by the Head Builder. A mason builds in stone; an apprentice learns a trade. On Greece small group tours, the key image is a bridge whose base fell every night. Walled up alive in its base, the wife curses the bridge to shake like a leaf.

• Border: Between 1881 and 1912, the frontier of Greece and the Ottoman Empire ran across the bridge’s crown.
• Theme: Burying a person alive inside a building, called immurement, was a common theme in Balkan folklore.
• Parallel: The same theme runs through The Building of Skadar, an epic poem from Serbia.

For Greece small group tours, the Bridge of Arta lives on in everyday Greek speech. Greek proverbs and fixed expressions grew out of the ballad. Proverbs are brief sayings that people know well. These sayings deal with delays that never seem to end.

How does Lake Pamvotida add to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours have a lake chapter in Lake Pamvotida, in the Epirus region. The lake also goes by the name Pamvotis. Its other common name is the Lake of Ioannina. Ioannina is a city in north-west Greece.

The lake lies 470 metres above sea level, south of the Mitsikeli mountains. Sea level is the average height of the surface of the sea. The name Mitsikeli belongs to a ridge of linked mountain tops. For Greece small group tours, the Mitsikeli range marks the northern edge of this setting.

Two urban settlements fringe the shores of the lake. The regional capital, Ioannina, lies to the west, and the town of Perama lies to the north. Urban means built-up, like a town or city. Farmland covers the rest of the shore around the lake. Farmland is land used for crops or for grazing animals.

A regular boat service runs out to Ioannina Island, which lies within the lake. This small island sits near the northern shore, and people live on it. In the final days of his rule, Ali Pasha, an Ottoman governor, hid there. On Greece small group tours, Ottoman means belonging to the old Turkish empire.

• Ports: The lake has small fishing ports and a separate port for boating.
• Drainage: In 1960, a tunnel and ditch were dug to drain its northern end towards the Kalamas river.
• Tiny animals: Two species of bryozoan, tiny animals that live in colonies, were recently reported from the lake.

For Greece small group tours, the lake is also a home for wildlife. Small mammals and waterbirds live in and around it. Its waters hold a rich mix of fish and crustaceans. Crustaceans are water animals with hard shells and jointed legs.

What history does Konitsa hold for Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours have a frontier story in Konitsa, a town of Epirus. It lies north of the city of Ioannina and close to the border with Albania. Albania is the country that borders Greece to the north-west.

For Greece small group tours, Konitsa is a town of rivers and slopes. Konitsa climbs a slope of the Pindus mountains in amphitheatre form. An amphitheatre is a curved theatre with rows of seats that climb upward. Konitsa looks down over a valley. In that valley, the Aoos and Voidomatis rivers meet.

In the Middle Bronze Age, from 2100 to 1900 BC, Proto-Greek peoples lived in the Konitsa region. Proto-Greek means the early forebears of the Greeks. The Bronze Age is the era when tools were made of bronze. For Greece small group tours, BC counts the years before the start of the common era.

The Chronicle of Ioannina of 1380 is the first record of Konitsa under its modern name. Chronicles list past events one after another, in time order. It reports that the Despot of Epirus made the castle defences stronger. He did so because an attack was near. For Greece small group tours, a despot here means a regional ruler.

• Villages: The villages around the town carry the name Konitsochoria, or villages of Konitsa.
• Name: One theory reads the name as Slavic, from koni for horse and tza for land.
• Schools: In 1906, the Konitsa district, or kaza, counted 1,036 pupils in 31 schools.

For Greece small group tours, Konitsa is known as a base for the outdoors. Hikers bound for the Pindus mountains use the town as a popular starting point. Others come for rafting on the Aoos or for paragliding. Rafting is riding a river in an inflatable boat.

How does feta belong to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours travel through the home of feta, a soft cheese with no skin. Its holes are small, or there are none at all. In the city of Thessaloniki, people call it tyrí, the ordinary word for cheese across southern Greece.

Under European Union rules, feta comes in two traditional kinds, firm and soft. The European Union is a group of European countries that share laws. The firm kind is tangier, meaning sharper and fresher in taste. It also counts as higher in quality than the soft kind of feta.

Greece small group tours take place where cheese making is documented from the 8th century BC. In the 11th century, a writer named Psellos recorded feta under the name prósphatos. That Greek word means recent or fresh. The cheese he recorded was produced by Cretans, the people of the island of Crete.

In northwestern Greece, feta, milk and sheep meat form the main source of income for shepherds. A shepherd is a person who looks after sheep. Greece small group tours unfold in the land of a cheese with more water than cheddar. That extra water leaves feta lower in fat and food energy than aged cheeses.

• Cephalonia: The island makes feta by tradition but was left out of the protected name.
• Crumble: Slicing feta leaves trímma, a Greek word for crumble, which cooks add to pies as well.
• Minerals: Feta is rich in calcium and phosphorus, two minerals found in food.

Greece small group tours cross a country where the soft kind of feta is almost spreadable. Spreadable means soft enough to spread with a knife. In Greek kitchens, cooks put this softer cheese mainly into pies, which are baked pastry dishes.

What links ouzo to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours unfold in the homeland of ouzo, a clear spirit, meaning a strong alcoholic drink. The major Greek dictionaries trace its name to üzüm, the Turkish word for grape. A popular story points to an Italian phrase instead.

That phrase is uso Marsiglia, Italian words meaning for use in Marseille, a French city. In the story, the stamp marked silkworm cocoons sent abroad for sale. Cocoons are the silk cases that silkworms spin. Modern ouzo distilling took off at the start of the 19th century, after Greek independence.

In the early 20th century, absinthe fell out of favour, and ouzo filled part of the gap. Absinthe is a strong spirit flavoured with wormwood, a bitter herb. People once described ouzo as absinthe minus the wormwood. Greece small group tours run in the country where, in 1932, ouzo makers developed copper-still distilling.

Ouzo making begins with a 96% alcohol spirit, heated in copper stills. A still heats a liquid and gathers its vapour. Makers then add anise, a plant with sweet, spicy seeds, and sometimes fennel, cardamom, coriander, cloves or cinnamon. Greece small group tours travel where Greeks call this flavoured blend ouzo yeast.

• Strength: The lowest strength allowed for finished ouzo is 40.5 percent alcohol.
• Sugar: Makers can add sugar before adding water, mainly to ouzo from southern Greece.
• Labels: From October 25, 2006, Greece held the right to call ouzo a purely Greek product.

Greece small group tours cross a land where ouzo is traditionally sipped slowly, mixed with water or ice. Drinkers share mezedes with it. Mezedes are small plates of food set out for everyone at the table. One such plate is a meze.

Which spirit story does tsipouro bring to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours take place in the land of tsipouro, a strong spirit distilled from grapes. Tradition credits Orthodox monks on Mount Athos with the first batch, in the 14th century. Monks are men who live apart in a religious community.

The anise version is a fairly new variation, introduced during the 1900s. A variation is a changed form of something. Tsipouro is normally double-distilled, meaning heated and condensed twice. Condensed means cooled from vapour back into liquid. Greece small group tours journey through a country where barrel-aged tsipouro exists but is not the norm.

Production starts with ripe dark grapes fed through crusher-destemmers, machines that crush the fruit and strip the stems. Greece small group tours run where distillers discard the opening and closing batches, the head and tail. Only the middle batch, known as the heart, becomes tsipouro. A distiller is a maker of spirits.

After distilling, the spirit rests and ripens in tanks of stainless steel. Ageing it in wooden barrels instead creates aged tsipouro, a fairly new drink compared with whiskey. Producers can also keep the whole grape pulp, juice and all. This gives a finer spirit named apostagma. Pulp is the soft, crushed flesh of the fruit.

• Serving: According to Greek producers, tsipouro tastes best straight from the fridge.
• Protection: In 2006, Greece sought protected designation of origin status for tsipouro and won it that year.
• Ouzo link: Anise tsipouro and ouzo taste almost alike, yet their methods of production differ greatly.

Greece small group tours move through a land where tsipouro changes role with the seasons. Depending on the time of year, it is a refreshment or a hot drink. Depending on the hour, it takes the place of coffee or wine.

What does retsina add to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours range across the home of retsina, a Greek wine flavoured with resin. The wine is white or rosé, and very rarely red. Resin is the sticky sap of trees. Ancient jars sealed with Aleppo pine resin are said to explain the taste.

Greece small group tours operate in one of two places allowed the name retsina. The European Union protects it for Greece and for parts of southern Cyprus. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder recommended adding resin to fermenting must. Must is fresh grape juice on its way to becoming wine.

Liutprand of Cremona, an envoy, went to Constantinople in 968 to set up a marriage. An envoy is a person sent abroad on behalf of a ruler. At court, he was served wine blended with resin, pitch and gypsum. Pitch is a dark, sticky tar, and gypsum is a soft white mineral.

Greece small group tours happen in the country whose island resin wines were recorded by medieval pilgrims. A pilgrim is a person who journeys to a holy place. In 1494, the Italian noble Pietro Casola travelled toward Jerusalem. At Modone in the Peloponnese, only a strong resinated wine with an unpleasant smell failed to please him.

• Byzantium: The eastern empire went on producing resin wine well after the western empire stopped.
• Racking: At racking, when wine is moved off its sediment, the resin film and solids are removed.
• Name rules: A South Australian style can be called resinated wine, but never retsina.

Greece small group tours roam a country where today’s retsina uses far less resin than before. It lacks the old whiff of turpentine, a sharp-smelling oil. Such wines suit strong dishes like skordalia, a garlic dip served as meze with drinks.

What is the true story of sirtaki for Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours share a homeland with sirtaki, a Greek dance. Choreographers created it for the film Zorba the Greek. Choreography is the planning of dance steps. The dance and its music by Mikis Theodorakis also go by the name Zorba’s dance.

The steps blend syrtos with the slow and fast rhythms of hasapiko. Syrtos names a family of Greek dances in a dragging style. Greece small group tours unfold where the dance is identified with the Greeks as an invented tradition. An invented tradition is a new custom treated as old.

Despite its name, sirtaki holds two styles. Its slower part uses syrtos steps, and its faster part uses pidikhtos. Pidikhtos is a hopping or leaping style of Greek dance. The dance got its name, sirtaki, when the film was first screened. To screen a film is to show it to an audience.

Credit for the film choreography goes to Giorgos Provias. During filming, Stelios Katsivelakis taught choreography to the actor Anthony Quinn. Quinn also learned Greek dances such as the kalamatianos and hasapiko. Greece small group tours travel in the country of a dance whose leg movements partly suggest crushing grapes.

• Formation: Groups dance sirtaki in a line or a circle, hands resting on neighbours’ shoulders.
• Solo: A lone dancer raises both arms out to the sides, level with the shoulders.
• Record: On August 31, 2012, 5,614 people danced sirtaki together in Volos for a world record.

Greece small group tours stay in the land of a dance that starts slow and smooth. Its tempo, or speed, rises, and the steps turn quick and lively, with hops and leaps. In the fastest part, the time signature, or beat pattern, switches to 2/4.

Which history lies behind moussaka for Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours move through a country where moussaka is served layered and hot. The dish is built on aubergine or potato, with ground meat as a common addition. Balkan and Middle Eastern cooks make their own versions. Aubergine is the British name for eggplant.

The English word moussaka came from Greek mousakás and other Balkan languages. Those took it from Ottoman Turkish, which borrowed it from Arabic. Ottoman Turkish was the language of the Ottoman Empire. Greece small group tours unfold in a land whose dish name first reached English print in 1862. It appeared in a translated Turkish cookbook.

The food historian Charles Perry links the word to an Arabic term for moistened. Perry ties this to the dish being soaked in broth. A 13th-century Arabic cookbook by al-Baghdadi describes similar aubergine dishes called maghmūmat. Its recipe alternates aubergine slices with layers of spiced mince and onion in a shallow pan.

Greece small group tours take place where cooks build moussaka on sautéed aubergine and tomato. Sautéed means fried quickly in a little fat. The minced meat is mostly lamb. The meat cooks with tomatoes, onion and garlic, spiced with cinnamon, allspice and black pepper. Allspice is a dried berry with a warm taste.

• The chef: Nikolaos Tselementes, who shaped the modern Greek version, trained in French cooking.
• Custard top: Elizabeth David brought the custard-topped Balkan version to the United Kingdom.
• Turkey: Turkish musakka is not a layered dish at all, unlike the Greek one.

Greece small group tours run in a land with neighbours that cook moussaka differently. In Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, potatoes take the place of aubergine. There the top is milk or yoghurt mixed with eggs. Yoghurt is a thick, sour food made from milk.

How far back does souvlaki go for Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours journey across the homeland of souvlaki, meat grilled on a skewer. A skewer is a thin rod pushed through food for cooking. People eat it hot, right off the skewer. In Greece and Cyprus, cooks mainly use pork.

Souvlaki is a diminutive, a word form that marks something small, of the Medieval Greek soúvla. Soúvla means skewer, and it was borrowed from Latin subula. Greece small group tours run through a culture whose skewer cooking dates to the Bronze Age. That age takes its name from bronze, a metal of copper and tin.

On Santorini, excavations found stone cooking supports from before the Thera eruption. That eruption took place in the 17th century BC. Excavations are planned digs that uncover remains of the past. Pairs of dents in the stones seem to have held the skewers. A line of holes in the base let air reach the coals.

Greece small group tours share the land where Mycenaean souvlaki trays were found at Gla, Mycenae and Pylos. These trays were rectangular ceramic pans set under skewers of meat. Ceramic means made of fired clay. Homer’s Iliad, an ancient Greek poem, mentions meat roasted on spits. A spit is a long rod for roasting meat.

• Obeliskos: In Classical Greece, this word named a small spit or skewer.
• Meat shops: The Prodromic Poems describe Constantinople meat shops selling slices of spit-roasted meat.
• In English: In English, souvlaki first appears in writing in 1942, its earliest known use.

Greece small group tours come to a country where modern souvlaki spread widely only after World War II. Merída means portion in Greek. A souvlaki merída is a full plate with fried potatoes, vegetables, sauce and pita. Pita is a flat round bread.

What does rebetiko reveal to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours wander the country of rebetiko, the popular city song of the Greeks. Above all, it belonged to the poorest, from the late 19th century to the 1950s. Rebetiko later formed the basis for newer Greek popular music.

In the 1930s, separate kinds of Greek city music merged into one clear genre, or musical style. This blending of musical styles is called syncretism. Greece small group tours take place where this partly forgotten music came back in a revival. That revival began in the 1960s and grew stronger from the early 1970s.

Rebetiko joins elements of European music with the music of the Greek mainland and islands. It adds Byzantine church chant and the modes of Ottoman art music. A mode is a set of notes that shapes a melody. Rebetiko melodies are said to follow dromoi, a Greek word for roads or routes.

A taxim is a freely improvised opening, made up while playing, with no fixed beat. It can come at the start or in the middle of a song. Greece small group tours range through the land where bouzouki, baglamas and guitar became rebetiko’s core instruments. The baglamas is a small, portable version of the bouzouki.

• Heritage: In 2017, UNESCO added rebetiko to its Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.
• Glass and beads: On certain recordings, a clinking sound comes from worry beads drawn across a fluted glass.
• Three words: Manos Hatzidakis summed up rebetiko in three words: meraki, kefi and kaimos, meaning love, joy and sorrow.

Greece small group tours go through a land where rebetiko stays close to nightlife. Its settings are the ouzeri, an ouzo bar, and the taverna, a Greek tavern. The root word first appears in a 1614 Greek-Latin dictionary from Leiden, meaning wanderer.

Which roots of the bouzouki matter to Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours are journeys through the country of the bouzouki. This lute has a long neck and a round body. A lute is a plucked string instrument. Its steel strings are played with a plectrum, or pick, for a sharp, metallic sound.

Greece small group tours go across a country that got the bouzouki from Greek refugees of Anatolia. Refugees are people driven from their homes. Anatolia is the land also called Asia Minor. The refugees brought it in the early 1900s. The instrument’s name traces to bozuk, a Turkish word for broken or modified.

Once in Greece, the bouzouki gained a back made of staves, copied from the Neapolitan mandola. Staves are curved wooden strips. The change made the body strong enough for thicker steel strings. Greece small group tours travel through the land where a standard bouzouki carries 27 frets. A fret is a raised strip across the neck.

The bouzouki descends from the tambouras family, known in ancient Greece as the pandura. The Mantineia Base, a marble slab from 330–320 BC, shows a muse playing one form. The Muses were Greek goddesses of the arts. General Makriyiannis, a hero of the 1821 revolution, had a tambouras now kept in a national museum.

• Four courses: Manolis Chiotis popularised the four-course bouzouki, with four pairs of strings tuned like a guitar.
• First record: Musicians first recorded the four-course version of the instrument in 1956.
• America: The bouzouki was first recorded commercially in America in 1926, not in Greece.

Greece small group tours belong to the country whose bouzouki later travelled to Ireland. Johnny Moynihan brought the Greek instrument into Irish music around 1965. The Irish bouzouki that grew from it has four courses, a flatter back and a different tuning.

Who is Karagiozis, and what does he mean for Greece small group tours?

Greece small group tours set out in the land of Karagiozis, a shadow puppet from Greek folklore. Folklore means the old stories and customs of a people. He is the star of Greek shadow theatre, a puppet art that began in Ottoman times.

His name comes from the Turkish Karagöz, meaning dark eye. Greece small group tours are trips across the country where he forms a key part of its heritage. In the late 19th century, Dimitrios Sardounis gave him a Greek form in Patras. Known as Mimaros, he is seen as the father of modern Greek shadow theatre.

He appears as a poor, hunchbacked Greek with a long right hand and bare feet. He lives in a poor cottage with his wife Aglaia and their three sons. On the stage, his cottage stands on the left and the Sultan’s palace on the far right. A sultan was the title of the Ottoman ruler.

Greece small group tours lead through a land where folklore experts sort the tales into Heroics and Comedies. Barba Giorgos, or Uncle George, is a country man from the Rumeli mountains of Central Greece. He wears the fustanella, a traditional kilt. Sior Dionysios is a gentleman from Zakynthos with an Italian manner.

• Puppets: Makers once cut the figures from camel skin, but today cardboard is the main material.
• Screen: The white cloth screen is called mperntes, from the Turkish perde, meaning curtain.
• Light: Candles or lamps shine on the figures, so the audience sees their outlines through the cloth.

Greece small group tours share a country with a puppet that Greek television showed weekly in the 1980s. Today, he appears mainly at folk feasts, at festivals and on national Greek television. A folk feast is a local public celebration.

What do travellers ask about Greece small group tours, and what are the answers?

Greece small group tours prompt questions about four parts of everyday Greek life. They are worry beads, spinach pie, Kalamata olives and loukoumades. Loukoumades are fried balls of risen dough soaked in syrup or honey. Kalamata olives are big, dark purple and meaty.

Before Greece small group tours, what is a komboloi?

In Greek and Cypriot culture, a komboloi is a string of beads handled to pass the time. Its English name is worry beads. Unlike prayer beads, it serves no religious or ceremonial purpose. Greek sets hold an odd number of beads, and 17, 19 and 23 are common counts.

For Greece small group tours, what fills a spanakopita?

Spanakopita filling traditionally mixes chopped spinach with feta, egg, seasoning and onions or scallions. Scallions are young green onions. Cooks wrap or layer the filling in filo, a paper-thin pastry, with butter or olive oil. Out in rural Greece, cooks reduce the spinach and add leeks, chard and sorrel.

With Greece small group tours in mind, why are Kalamata olives picked by hand?

Growers pick Kalamata olives by hand so the fruit does not bruise, and they cannot harvest them green. Their tree stands out for its leaves, twice as large as those of other olive varieties. These trees fight off olive knot, a plant disease, and the olive fruit fly.

Ahead of Greece small group tours, where does the name loukoumades come from?

The Greek name loukoumádes comes from the Arabic word luqma, meaning morsel, mouthful or bite. In the Byzantine era, they were popular during Lent and in monasteries, because they suited Orthodox fasting. Lent is the Christian season of fasting before Easter. Romaniotes, the Greek Jews, name them zvingoi and cook them as Hanukkah treats.