For young bride Meng Fei, Greece is an ideal destination for a honeymoon. She and Zhang Jing tied the knot in October and waited until the end of November to visit.

Traditional houses painted in the Greek national colors of blue and white on the island of Aegina.  

After arriving in Athens, the couple visited the Acropolis. The monuments on Sacred Rock date back to the prehistoric era. On the summit is the Parthenon, which is considered one of the most significant buildings of the ancient world.

For history lover Zhang, seeing the Acropolis had been a dream since he was a child and it wasn't a disappointment.

"Although it has been ravaged by time, it is still distinctively delicate," Zhang says.

But Meng wanted more, so the day after seeing the Acropolis, the couple set out for Crete, the largest island in Greece. For Meng, the blue sky and sea and the traditional houses painted in the Greek national colors of blue and white were most memorable.

"Greece is a romantic country, I was delighted to celebrate our marriage there," she says.

The couple could have arranged their wedding ceremony on a Greek island. According to Aris Spiliotopoulos, the newly appointed minister of tourism of the Hellenic Republic, more than 50 Chinese couples went to Santorini, an island in the south Aegean Sea, for their wedding ceremony last year.

For some, Greece is all about the sea, but Spiliotopoulos has ambitious plans. He wants to transform the image of Greece, known for being the land of "sun and sea" into something more modern.

Far from being a museum town, Athens is a buzzing metropolis. Greeks enjoy their nightlife and they don't even think of dinner until after 9 pm.

Discovering a country should be much more than a quick tour around its monuments. Minister Spiliotopoulos wants tourists to have a true Greek experience.

His new slogan for a national campaign beginning around Christmas is: Greece the true experience.

He says Greece has great expectations for the Chinese tourism market since the two countries share many things in common. Greece is the birthplace of Western civilizations, while China is the cradle of Oriental culture. Besides that, Athens and Beijing are the Olympic host cities, respectively, for 2004 and 2008.

As the first Olympic Games of the 21st century, the 2004 Athens Olympics has left a great legacy, including 11 new sports facilities, a new international airport, a suburban railway and an extended metro system.

Spiliotopoulos reckons that Beijing would similarly benefit from the Games.

This year also marks the Cultural Year of Greece in China, which began in September and is scheduled to last for a year. For Stelios Korkidis, counselor for tourism affairs at the Greek National Tourism Organization Beijing Office, this is a year for tourism "because tourism is a celebration of culture".

Tourism exchanges between the two countries have been boosted by direct flights between Beijing and Athens, which launched on November 28. Among the 178 passengers, 70 Chinese tourists joined the first flight.

"Direct flights will promote political and commercial communications between us," Spiliotopoulos says.

According to statistics from the Greek Embassy in Beijing, the amount of visas issued to Chinese citizens in 2006 was 10,975. This is nearly double the figure of 6,012 in the previous year.

"We have made detailed proposals to urge the Foreign Ministry to issue more visas to Chinese tourists we regard Chinese people as our best friends," Spiliotopoulos says.

He also reveals to China Daily that his ministry was planning to open a new office in Shanghai next year.

"Although Greece is a small country, it represents a combination of history and modernity. That is the reason why it has captured our hearts. Our time in Greece is an unforgettable memory," Zhang says.

So unforgettable, in fact, the couple was already thinking of making another visit soon after arriving back in Beijing.

(China Daily December 22, 2007)