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One of the most mountainous districts of the country, Central Greece lies in the heart of the mainland, home to the Oracle of Delphi, Theves, Mount Elikon and Parnassos 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 singificance (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today, whose main aim is a pilgrimage to Delphi, should nonetheless not restrict themselves to the inexhaustible historical reference points.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 tourism facilities, all of which provide infinite opportunities for a most pleasant stay both winter and summer.