Cheap Holidays and Best Places to Go
GREECE
The heritage of ancient Greece:
The history of Greece spans over 5,000 years. Ancient Greek
culture and civilization, which flourished around the shores
of the Mediterranean, reached its peak around 500 BC,
producing some of the world's greatest artists, dramatists,
politicians, philosophers, mathematicians, doctors and
scientists. In the second century BC, Greece fell to the
Romans. When, in AD 330, the Roman Empire was split in
two, the eastern Greek-speaking part formed the Byzantine
Empire. From the eleventh century, a succession of foreign
peoples invaded Greece, and by the late 1500s it had been
absorbed into the Ottoman Empire.
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The beginnings of Modem Greece:
Greece was dominated by Ottoman Turkish rule for nearly
400 years. In 1821 the Greeks rose up against their Ttirkish
rulers, winning their independence in 1830. However it was
a much smaller country than it is today, for much of Greece
did not gain independence until the late 1800s or during the
Balkan Wars of 1912-13.
During World War 11 Greece was occupied by the Germans.
Following its liberation in 1945, the country was plunged
almost immediately into a civil war (1946-49) in which the
government defeated the Communist Left, bringing Greece
into line with the West. In 1952 Greece joined NATO.
FRANCE
France lies at the heart of Western Europe. It is the
largest country in Europe, and one of the European
Union's largest and most influential countries,
playing an important part in world affairs. Its size
and central position, bordered by eight different
countries, makes it a country of many contrasts
and surprises.
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| france alpines |
Thousands of tourists from all over the world
visit France for its beautiful and varied countryside.
It is divided into twenty-two regions, including the
island of Corsica off the Italian coast. Each region has
its own distinctive character and traditions and some
even have their own special languages and dialects,
such as Breton in Brittany, although French is the
official language. France's full name is
r La Republique Frangaise (The Republic of
France), meaning that the entire country
V is governed by a president, chosen by the
French people every seven years. France
first became a republic after a peasant
uprising in 1789, which started with the
capture of the Bastille prison in Paris on
14 July. Today Bastille Day, on 14 July, is a
national holiday, with parties, processions
and fireworks, and the streets are
decorated with the national flag.
EGYPT
In the fifteenth-century tales of 1001 Arabian Nights, which
included Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Cairo
was called 'the Mother of the World'. It was given this name
because it was thought to be the oldest and largest city on
earth. Even then, the city was already more than 4,500 years
old, Today, Cairo is still the largest city in Africa and
the Middle East.
BRAZIL
Tourism in Brazil has quadrupled from 1.1 million visitors
in 1990 to 4 million in 2000. More visitors are beginning to
come from Europe, North America and Asia. Tourism is
growing fast and this growth is expected to continue well
into the twenty-first century. It is one of the country's major
employers and provided work for 5.8 million people in 1998.
ITALY
Italy contains a wonderful variety of architecture. In
Roman times, town planning was very sophisticated.
The Romans invented concrete and were the first to use
the arched vault. They continued the Greek tradition of
mosaics by pressing tiny bits of stone into wet plaster. The
Romans used uniform shapes and matching numbers of
arches and columns. They had a great influence on Italian
artists of the Renaissance.
Today lots of monuments are crumbling, but most of the
old city centres are preserved as they were many years ago.
Find your dream holiday
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Egypt doesn't have well-defined
seasons. Between April and September
it is very hot; usually above 35 °C
during the day in Cairo and the Delta
region, and rising to an average high
of about 40 °C in Upper Egypt.
October and November average
between 25 and 30 °C. The winter
period is cooler, with temperatures no
higher than 18 or 20 °C in the
daytime and down to 5 or 10 at night.
