Driving Directions Greece
GREECE or the Hellenic Republic consists of a mainland portion and more than 1,400 islands. Mainland Greece occupies the southernmost portion of the Balkans Peninsula and shares borders with Albania in the northwest, with Macedonia (FYROM) and Bulgaria in the north, and Turkey in the northeast. The Aegean Sea lies to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Ionian Sea to the west.
The Ionian Islands (lonioi Nisoi), including Corfu (Kerkira), lie off the western mainland coast in the Ionian Sea. The remaining Greek islands scattered throughout the Aegean Sea. They include the Cyclades (Kikladhes) group in the southeast, Crete (Kriti) in the south, the Dodecanese group (Dhodhekanisos), including Rhodes (Rodhos), just west of mainland Turkey, the northern Aegean Islands, such a Thásos, Limnos, and Lésvós, and the Northern Sporades (Voriai Sporhadhes), situated off the eastern coast of Greece. In general, the islands are quite arid, hilly, and stony, with thin soils that are difficult to cultivate.