Summary It is one of the three southern European peninsulas and 500,000 square kilometers in size: the Balkan Peninsula. Poetically, it forms the geographical border between the Occident and the Orient. Its name refers to its natural wealth: BALKAN - "MOUNTAINS WITH MANY FORESTS". In fact, the Balkan Peninsula is a treasure trove of ecological diversity. Its hidden wealth: an abundance of national and nature parks - from Croatia to Greece. From the Alps to the sea. As in Greece. Places far from the expected tourist island worlds - full of myths and stories about unknown lagoons, lakes and the mountains of the northern mainland. A journey from one coast to another - from the Aegean Sea to the Gulf of Patras. Alonissos. Island of the northern Sporades. Here, conservationists have been fighting for the endangered monk seals and dolphins since the early 1970s. Today, Alonissos and six other islands make up the largest marine park in Europe and the first in Greece. But as long as the Aegean Sea continues to be abused as a garbage dump, the survival of these marine animals is only partially protected. The Axios Delta. Here - close to the city of Thessaloniki - an undreamed-of natural paradise. Between the life-giving river Axios and the widely laid out rice fields. An annually changing biotope for birds, wild horses and gopher. The Small Prespa Lake near the border with Albania and Northern Macedonia. Idyll and nesting place for thousands of pelicans every year. But this time they bring death with them. Bird flu. Within a few months, a large part of the population of Dalmatian and Pink Pelicans dies. Nature shows its merciless face, while man could only watch powerlessly. The northern Pindos Mountains. Greece's highest national park. Its sacred forests are full of stories. Of religion and superstition. Here, oak trees are connected to the underworld and act as oracles. An unintended positive side effect of these legends: to this day, they protect Greece's ancient forests from deforestation.

• Documentary