GREECE a nice

place to visit

Greece is a country in outheastern

Europe, situated on the southern end of the
Balkan Pensinsula. It has borders with
Albania, Bulgaria and the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia to the north, and
Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to
the east and south of mainland Greece, while
the Ionian Sea lies to the west. Both parts of
the Eastern Mediterranean basin feature a
vast number of islands, islets and rock
islands.
It has a total area of 131,940 square
km of which land represents 130,800
square km and water 1,140 square km.
Greece has a coastline of 13,676
km.Greece is divided in regions and
islands groups which are organized, for administrative purposes, into prefectures called
“Nomoi”.
Greece regions: Greece mainland consists of the following regions: Central
Greece, Peloponnese, and Thessaly (east/central), Epirus (west), Macedonia
(north/northwest), Thrace (northwest) and Euboea, the second largest of the Greek
islands.
Greece consists of a mountainous peninsula mainland jutting out into the sea at
the southern end of the Balkans, the Peloponnesus peninsula (separated from the
mainland by the canal of the Isthmus of Corinth), and numerous islands (1400, 227 of
which are inhabited), including Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Chios, the Dodecanese and the
Cycladic groups of the Aegean Sea as well as the Ionian Sea islands. Greece has the tenth
longest coastline in the world with 14,880 km (9,246 mi); its land boundary is 1,160 km
(721 mi).
Four fifths of Greece consist of mountains or hills, making the country one of the
most mountainous in Europe. Western Greece contains a number of lakes and wetlands
and it is dominated by the Pindus mountain range. Pindus has a maximum elevation of
2,636 m (8,648 ft) and it is essentially a prolongation of the Dinaric Alps.
The range continues through the western Peloponnese, crosses the islands of
Kythera and Antikythera and find its way into southwestern Aegean, in the island of
Crete where it eventually ends. The islands of the Aegean are peaks of underwater

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mountains that once constituted an extension of the mainland. Pindus is characterized by
its high, steep peaks, often dissected by numerous canyons and a variety of other karstic
landscapes. Most notably, the impressive Meteora formation consisting of high, steep
boulders provides a breathtaking experience for the hundreds of thousands of tourists
who visit the area each year.
The Vikos-Aoos Gorge is yet another spectacular formation and a popular hotspot
for those fond of extreme sports. Mount Olympus, a focal point of Greek culture
throughout history is host to the Mytikas peak 2,917 m (9,570 ft), the highest in the
country. Once considered the throne of the Gods, it is today extremely popular among
hikers and climbers. Moreover, northeastern Greece features yet another high-altitude
mountain range, the Rhodope range, spreading across the periphery of East Macedonia
and Thrace; this area is covered with vast, thick, ancient forests. The famous Dadia forest
is in the prefecture of Evros, in the far northeast of the country.
Expansive plains are primarily located in the prefectures of Thessaly, Central
Macedonia and Thrace. They constitute key economic regions as they are among the few
arable places in the country.Rare marine species such as the Pinniped Seals and the
Loggerhead Sea Turtle live in the seas surrounding mainland Greece, while its dense
forests are home to the endangered brown bear, the lynx, the Roe Deer and the Wild
Goat.
Phytogeographically, Greece
belongs to the Boreal Kingdom and is
shared between the East
Mediterranean province of the
Mediterranean Region and the Illyrian
province of the Circumboreal
Region. According to the World Wide
Fund for Nature and the European
Environment Agency, the territory of
Greece can be subdivided into six
ecoregions: the Illyrian deciduous forests,
Pindus Mountains mixed forests, Balkan
mixed forests, Rodope montane mixed
forests, Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests and Crete
Mediterranean forests.
The climate of Greece can be categorised into three types (the Mediterranean, the
Alpine and the Temperate) that influence well-defined regions of its territory. The Pindus
mountain range strongly affects the climate of the country by making the western side of
it (areas prone to the south-westerlies) wetter on average than the areas lying to the east
of it (lee side of the mountains). The Mediterranean type of climate features mild, wet
winters and hot, dry summers. The Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Crete, Eastern
Peloponessus and parts of the Sterea Ellada region are mostly affected by this particular
type of climate. Temperatures rarely reach extreme values along the coasts, although,
with Greece being a highly mountainous country, snowfalls occur frequently in winter. It
sometimes snows even in the Cyclades or the Dodecanese.
The Alpine type is dominant mainly in the mountainous areas of Northwestern
Greece (Epirus, Central Greece, Thessaly, Western Macedonia) as well as in the central

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parts of Peloponnese, including the prefectures of Achaia, Arcadia and parts of Laconia,
where extensions of the Pindus mountain range pass by). Finally, the Temperate type
affects Central Macedonia and East Macedonia and Thrace; it features cold, damp
winters and hot, dry summers. Athens is located in a transitional area featuring both the
Mediterranean and the Temperate types. The city's northern suburbs are dominated by the
temperate type while the downtown area and the southern suburbs enjoy a typical
Mediterranean type.
The economy of Greece is very large and rich. After World War II, Greece
experienced the "Greek economic miracle"; GDP growth averaged 7% between 1950 and
1973. Since then Greece has implemented of a number of structural and fiscal reforms
while receiving considerable European Union funding. In 2001, Greece joined the
Economic and Monetary Union. Annual growth of Greek GDP has surpassed the
respective levels of most of its EU partners. Today, the service industry makes up the
largest, most vital and fastest-growing sector of the Greek economy, followed by industry
and agriculture. The tourism industry is a major source of foreign exchange earnings and
revenue accounting for 15% of Greece’s total GDP and employing ,directly or indirectly,
16.5% of the total workforce.
Greece is a leading investor in all of her Balkan neighbors with the National Bank
of Greece in 2006 acquiring the 46% of Turkish Finansbank and 99.44% of Serbia's
VojvođanskaBank.
The manufacturing sector accounts for about 13% of GDP with the food industry
leading in growth, profit and export potential. The public sector accounts for about 40%
of GDP, with the government
however taking measures to decrease
it further. High-technology
equipment production, especially for
telecommunications, is also a fast-
growing sector. Other important
areas include textiles, building
materials, machinery, transport
equipment, and electrical appliances.
At 10% of GDP, construction is one
of the main pillars of the economy,
with the sector experiencing a boom
due to the Athens Olympics of 2004.
Agriculture, at 7%, is the final
important sector of Greek economic activity.
The Greek labor force totals 4.9 million, and it is the second most industrious
between OECD countries, after South Korea. The Groningen Growth & Development
Centre has published a poll revealing that between 1995 - 2005, Greece was the country
with the largest work/hour ratio among European nations; Greeks worked an average of
1,900 hours per year, followed by the Spanish (average of 1,800 hours/year). In 2007, the
average worker made around 20 dollars, similar to Spain and slightly more than half of
average U.S. hourly income. Immigrants make up nearly one-fifth of the work force,
occupied mainly in agricultural and construction work.

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 Greece's purchasing power-adjusted GDP per capita is the world's 28th highest.
According to the International Monetary Fund it has an estimated average per capita
income of $35,166 for the year 2007, comparable to that of Germany, France or Italy and
approximately equal to the EU average. Greece ranks 24th in the 2006 HDI, 22nd on The
Economist's 2005 world-wide quality-of-life index. According to a survey by the
Economist, the cost of living in Athens is close to 90% of the costs in New York; in rural
regions it is lower.

An important percentage of Greece's income comes from tourism. In 2007,

Greece welcomed more than 19 million tourists, and climbed to the top ten tourist
destinations worldwide. The island of Rhodes was announced the best European tourist
destination. Other known tourist sites are the capital Athens, the Ionian island Kerkyra and
the island resort of Myconos.
The shipping industry is a key element of Greek economic activity dating back to
ancient times. Today, shipping is one of the country's most important industries. It accounts
for 4.5% of GDP, employs about 160,000 people (4% of the workforce), and represents 1/3
of the country's trade deficit.
During the 1960s, the size of the Greek fleet nearly doubled, primarily through the
investment undertaken by the shipping magnates Onassis and Niarchos. The basis of the
modern Greek maritime industry was formed after World War II when Greek shipping
businessmen were able to amass surplus ships sold to them by the United States
Government through the Ship Sales Act of the 1940s. According to the BTS, the Greek-
owned maritime fleet is today the largest in the world, with 3,079 vessels accounting for
18% of the world's fleet capacity (making it the largest of any other country) with a total
dwt of 141,931 thousand (142 million dwt). In terms of ship categories, Greece ranks first
in both tankers and dry bulk carriers, fourth in the number of containers, and fourth in other
ships. However, today's fleet roster is smaller than an all-time high of 5,000 ships in the
late 70's.
There are 21 lakes which total 59,890 hectares in area (and 14 artificial lakes), while
the 33 deltas of the greek rivers cover 327,100 hectares. Greece has a lot of lakes very
beautiful like: Lake Kremasta(is the
largest artificial lake in Greece. The
construction of the dam of Kremasta
completed in 1969 and concentrates waters
from four rivers: Acheloos, Agrafiotis,
Tavropos and Trikeriotis. The water that is
accumulated in the artificial lake is about
4,700,000,000 m³. It prevents flooding of
the Acheloos, and supplies electricity to a
national scale during the peaks of the
demand. It is the biggest Hydroelectrical
plant in Greece (Rated Power : 437.2
MW). It was constructed in 1966 and it is
property of the Public Power Corporation);
Lake Koronia; Lake Volvi(A million years ago, Lake Koronia along with Lake Volvi and
all of the Mygdonian basin was a large lake. From that time, the extension of the lake is

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shrinking and almost disappearing into a plain and from the distance from neighboring
Lake Volvi is getting larger. In the 1950s, Koroneia was one of the lakes in Greece in the
most production of fishing. In the 1970s, the size was 450 km² and had the depth of about
5 metres.
In the beginning of the 2000s, the lake was 100 km² and the depth was about 0.5 to 1
metre. In the summer of 2002, the lake was very dry); Ladon Lake and much other.
Because of its strategic location, qualified workforce and political and economic
stability, many multinational companies such as Ericsson, Siemens, SAP, Motorola and
Coca-Cola have their regional R&D Headquarters in Greece.
In 2003, public spending on R&D was 456.37 million euros (12.6% increase from
2002). Total research and development (R&D) spending (both public and private) as a
percentage of GDP has increased considerably since the beginning of the past decade,
from 0.38% in 1989, to 0.65% in 2001. R&D spending in Greece remains lower than the
EU average of 1.93%, but, according to Research DC, based on OECD and Eurostat data,
between 1990 and 1998, total R&D expenditure in Greece enjoyed the third highest
increase in Europe, after Finland and Ireland.
Greece's technology parks with incubator facilities include the Science and
Technology Park of
Crete (Heraklion), the
Thessaloniki
Technology Park,the
Lavrio Technology
Park and the Patras
Science Park.Greece
has been a member of
the European Space
Agency (ESA) since
2005. Cooperation
between ESA and the
Hellenic National
Space Committee
began in the early
1990s. In 1994,
Greece and ESA
signed their first cooperation agreement. Having formally applied for full membership in
2003, Greece became ESA's sixteenth member on 16 March 2005. As member of the
ESA, Greece participates in the agency's telecommunication and technology activities,
and the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Initiative.
Greece is today relatively homogeneous in linguistic terms, with a large majority
of the native population using Greek as their first or only language. The Muslim minority
in Thrace, which amounts to approximately 0.95% of the total population, consists of
speakers of Turkish, Bulgarian (Pomak) and Romani. Romani is also spoken by Christian
Roma in other parts of the country.
Further minority languages have traditionally been spoken by regional population
groups in various parts of the country. Their use has decreased radically in the course of
the 20th century through assimilation with the Greek-speaking majority. This goes for the

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Arvanites, an Albanian-speaking group mostly located in the rural areas around the
capital Athens, and for the Aromanians and Moglenites, also known as Vlachs, whose
language is closely related to Romanian and who used to live scattered across several
areas of mountaneous central Greece. Members of these groups ethnically identfiy as
Greeks and are today all at least bilingual in Greek. In many areas their traditional
languages are today only maintained by the older generations and are on the verge of
extinction.
Near the northern Greek borders there are also some Slavic-speaking groups,
whose members identify ethnically as Greeks in their majority. Their dialects can be
linguistically classified as forms of either Macedonian (locally called Slavomacedonian
or simply Slavic), or Bulgarian (distinguished as Pomak in the case of the Bulgarophone
Muslims of Thrace.
A place very interesting to
visit, between other places from
Greece, is the island Santorini
who is one of the most popular
destinations of Greece and is
known as the home of one of the
most spectacular landscapes in the
world.
I want to visit this
landscape because I want to
discover the famous submerged
caldera, the volcano’s crater, which
is situated today in the middle of a
32 square miles basin of water.
Around the basin, hanging on cliffs of 150m to 300m height, one can admire some of the
most beautiful traditional villages of the Cyclades. The lively colours of the white
Cycladic houses and blue painted windows contrast stunningly against the black volcanic
rocks rising from sea. This scenery keeps inspiring artists and visitors…
These villages are named Fira, Firostefani, Immerovigli and Oia. Santorini is also
believed by some to be the site of Atlantis. Whether or not this is true will have to wait
for future proof but the island is loaded with ancient archaeolgical sites including
Akrotiri, Greece's answer to Pompei, an ancient village that was preserved by lava, now
uncovered. The Archaeology Museum is rich in finds from the island.
Greece is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, ranking in the
world's top 20 countries. According to the greek Ministry of Tourism, the nation received
about 17 million visitors from January to mid August 2007, a large number for a small
country of 11 million. Visitors are drawn to the country's beaches and reliable sunny
summer weather, its nightlife, historical sites and natural beauty.
Many first-time visitors arrive in Greece with specific images in mind and are
surprised to discover a country with such regional and architectural diversity. The famous
whitewashed homes and charming blue-domed churches only characterize a specific
region of the country (the Cyclades Islands). Architecture varies greatly from one region
to the next depending on the local history. Visitors will find Neoclassical architecture in
the cities of Ermoupolis and Nafplio, Ottoman-influenced buildings in Grevená and

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Kozáni, whitewashed Cycladic homes on the island of Paros, and pastel-colored baroque
homes and churches on Corfu.
The nation's terrain is just as varied as its architectural heritage: idyllic beaches,
towering mountain ranges, wine-producing valleys, vast stretches of olive orchards in the
south, and lush forests in the north. Greece's historical sights are just as varied; the
country is littered with just as many medieval churches and castles as classical ruins and
temples.
My opinion is this places most visit because are very spectacular and unique in
the world, so, if someboby has the opportunity to go there, go whit your heart open to see
a great show of nature.