One of the most
mountainous districts of the country, Central Greece lies in the heart
of the mainland.
It acquired its
name - Sterea Ellada - (firm) after 1821 since it constituted the only
clearly continental portion of the newly liberated Greek state.
Its geographical
position accounts for the great variety in the region’s climate,
which is dry and mountainous inland and mild on the coast. The
contours of its landscape, too, are very diverse: thickly wooded green
slopes, hills with pines, oaks, poplars and fast-moving streams
separated by flat lands, plateaus and lakes, alternating harmoniously
with the countless bays, intricate network of coves - some peaceful,
some sheer and rugged - and picturesque islands that decorate the
south-west coast.
Inhabited since
the distant past, Central Greece is a place with a rich and
distinctive history.
Here one has the
legendary city of Thebes, where the agony of its heroes still lives on
thanks to the works of Greece’s great tragic poets, Sophocles,
Aeschylus and Euripides, among the finest playwrights ever known; Mt.
Elikonas, home of the Muses; as well as Delphi, antiquity’s most
important centre of worship and a pole of attraction for thousands of
tourists.
The region is also
famous for the great battles fought here, some of which affected the
course of history (Plataiai, Chaironia), some of unsurpassed symbolic
significance (Thermopylae) as well as for such personalities as
Hesiodos, Pindar, Epaminondas, Pelopidas and Plutarch, all sons of
this Land.
Visitors today,
whose main aim is a pilgrimage to Delphi, should nonetheless not
restrict themselves to the inexhaustible historical reference points.
Contemporary Central Greece also has much to offer: abundant natural
beauty, magnificently varied scenery, as well as highly evolved
tourist facilities, all of which provide in- finite opportunities for
a most pleasant stay both winter and summer.
