GREECE, one of the oldest civilizations in the planet, is still one of the hottest destinations in the whole world and not just in Europe. So if you’re a European, you don’t need to get a visa to come here. Even if you don’t come here through plane, you can still come here via ferries coming from Italy. Here in Athens and the rest of the country, real properties are still booming. That’s because only the United States has amazingly suffered the ongoing housing and mortgage crunch with them. They have left that piece of misfortune in United States shores and not allow it to cross the Atlantic.

In fact, one of the biggest real estate developers in Greece is investing a whooping 600 million in euros in the country. And the very aggressive real estate developer, the Eurobank Properties, has even announced today that it will not just invest in Greece but it will spend half of the amount to be invested overseas to the rest of the continent. To do that, Eurobank Properties has bailed out 36 million new shares at 9 euros apiece. Other countries that they are eyeing investment on are Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania.

Synonymous to the boom of the real estate sector in Greece is the boom of its hospitality industry. The largest all-Greek hotel chain in Greece is owned by the Braemore Group. And the Braemore Group is planning to build a massive five-star hotel in Kefalonia in Greece. Kefalonia is actually an island in the western part of the Greek territory. The hotel that the Braemore Group is planning to build is said to rival that of the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. The Braemore Group hotel in Kefalonia will have a nursery. This is actually the trend in Europe nowadays following the Madeleine McCann kidnapping in May at Praia da Luz in Portugal. In fact, all nurseries situated in hotels in Europe are staffed with child psychologists and are equipped with the latest state-of-the-art playthings in Europe. David Hunter, CEO of the Braemore Group, said that the playthings will again be intercepted and scanned by qualified hotel personnel for any unwanted ingredients even though they were already inspected by Customs and trade officials in the country. This is to ensure that no lead or any unwanted substance has been used in the manufacturing of these playthings as was proven earlier in the China controversy.

Kafelonia is also a very ideal place for sailing and diving. In fact, Hunter is planning to include a dive service in the five-star hotel that he is planning to construct in the place. The dive resort will have a diving expert. The exact spot of the five-star hotel will be Myrtos Beach. Myrtos Beach is actually the setting of the movie Captain Correlli’s Mandolin. Kafelonia has daily flights originating from the United Kingdom such as London and Dublin and there are also flights coming in from Ankara and Istanbul as well as Madrid, Lisbon, Lyon and Charles de Gaulle in Paris.

GREECE is an impressive country to visit because it’s a very old civilization. Olympics has its origin here and the 2004 Athens Olympics drew lots of tourists. Modern day Greece has its own fill of sceneries to see and food to eat. Greek food is always part of a larger cuisine called the Mediterranean cuisine. In a way, Greek cuisine is one of the healthiest in the world because it contains olive oil which has minimum fat content, it contains fruits and vegetables indigenous to Greece and it contains lots of seafood coming from the Mediterranean. Among these catch are redfish, grouper, lobsters and mollusks and if you’re lucky enough, you can drop by a Greek seafood restaurant complete with the live fish. You can then instruct the waiter to pluck the fish from the aquarium and let it cook to whatever is on the menu. For instance, you can have your fish sauteed or grilled in olive oil. But if you don’t like fish, then you can have lamb meat in a shawarma. Anyway, Greek food is synonymous with Turkish food and the shawarma there is yummy. Another feature of Greek gastronomy is the following: native Greeks usually dine out and do not cook at home but when they do, watch out for they will really be throwing an evening of poolside parties.

Going beyond food now, Greece will be hosting an Olympics basketball qualifier. For those teams who have not made it to the 2004 Athens Olympics, it will be a great opportunity for them to play here in the glory that was Olympiad in the olden times. The privileged countries are the following: Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, Croatia, Cameroon, Germany, Croatia, Lebanon, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Slovenia and New Zealand. When going to Greece, always remember that you don’t need a visa anymore if you come from a European country. But if you come from other continents, then you definitely need a visa.

For another piece of news, MAN, the largest telecommunications provider in Greece, has announced that it Ericsson has won its bidding to install fiber optic cellular phone networks in seven Greek municipalities. That’s not a lot but this is the first venture of Ericsson to enter the country. And this is really a noble project since it marks the first time that these towns will go digital. The summer fires of 2007 has destroyed much hope for the residents of southern Greece especially that some of the historical structures in Peloponnesse were destroyed and so events like this tend to enliven the morality of the people in this country. These seven cities are not contiguously located but are rather chosen for their strategic geographical location to neighboring economies such as Cyprus, Malta and Albania. Thus, in a way, it can help prosper the technological advancement of Greece’s cyber revolution. It’s not just in the technology and food level that Greece has cooperated with other countries. A recent report showed there will be more military cooperation between Greece and Turkey in the future.

PART of the Balkan Peninsula in the European mainland, Greece is bordered with Turkey, Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria. Thus, it is proximate to Eastern culture but it is more influenced to Western culture. Greece is a fairly old civilization and today, it is an abode to many Orthodox Christians. The Orthodox are the group of people who have deserted the official Catholic Church during the Great Schism so instead of ministers and pastors, they also have their own bishops and priests too.

To go to Greece, you have to land at Athens International Airport. If you want to come here during winter, you may have to book a ticket as late as two days ahead but it doesn’t hurt to book early either as flights tend to be full. After all, this is the capital of a country and naturally, anytime of the year visitors abound here who are curious about the Hellenic civilization. They want to go to Olympia even as far as Pelloponese.

At the airport alone, you will already be impressed at how the Greeks have adjusted from an obscure civilization to a very modern one. It boasts of the only airport in the world to have robotic security. There are dozens, even hundreds of flights every day from such destinations as European capitals and other capitals of the world including direct flights from New York’s La Guardia, Chicago’s O’Hare and Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International.

The shopping center at the airport is also a swell too. It boasts of lots of duty-free shops and naturally, one hops into the airport to grab some bargain deals. All of these duty-free shops and bars and cafés boast of Halloween decoration at this time of the year. Among the impressive brands that are located here at Athens International Airport are Bulgari, Diesel, Esprit, Hugo Boss, Optical, Nautica, Reebok and Swatch. After all, the airport at a country’s capital must be made all the more impressive to impress tourists. They don’t need that though as whether they like it or not, tourists come here a-buzzing, Halloween or not.

Halloween 2007 at Athens International Airport comes at a most opportune time when Airbus 380, the largest jetliner in the world and operated by Singapore Airlines, makes a stopover here fresh from its debut flight from the Lion City to Sidney. From Sidney, A380 will cross the ocean and have a stopover here at Athens. This scheme has already been booked since 2002 so coming here at this time of the year will surely be a historical moment for you.

Then let’s go now to the five-star hotels. Halloween is not that spectacular here in Greece but if you have kids in tow this weekend during that time of the year and you don’t want your kids to miss any Halloween in their lives, then you can always have a glimpse of Halloween here by going to posh hotels. You don’t need to check in those hotels, you’ll just have to be there for their Halloween celebrations. These Halloween celebrations and elaborate costume parties are meant for the expatriate community, notably the Canadians and the Dutch.