| | Greece, the cradle of civilization, is a country credited with inventing and refining many important staples of the modern society such as democracy, literature, philosophy, arts and science. |
| The Mediterranean climate has mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Temperature averages are around the forties in winter and above the seventies in summer. |
The Greek mainland occupies the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula. No part of the country more than 85 miles from the Mediterranean Sea and about a fifth of the country is made up of islands.
The Peloponnesus, one of the most famous parts of Greece, is a peninsula almost completely cut off from the mainland by a canal. Here you can see ancient temples and ruins at Corinth, Mycenae, Olympia and other historically significant sites. |
| Roughly twenty percent of the population makes their living off agriculture, something that is somewhat odd in a rocky, unfertile and mountainous country such as Greece. Traditionally a nation of seafarers, Greece is still home to one of the world’s largest merchant fleets. |
| When thinking of Greek art, classicism is what immediately comes to mind; perhaps the work of 16th century painter El Greco might also be familiar to some. There is, however, a quite thriving and interesting modern art scene, as well as an exquisite tradition of handicrafts. |
| The Greek society is traditionally very patriarchal although young Greeks live quite differently than their parents do, much like youth in any other modern European country. Even people who work tend to have their dinner late and stay out until close to midnight, this thanks in part to the midday siesta when work seizes and people take a break from the heat. Greeks love their dancing and music, try going to a bouzouki club to party like the natives. |
| Most of the population belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church, the nation’s official religion. Most Greeks go to church on holidays and for events such as weddings or baptisms. Every city has a patron saint, each of which has their own festival day, when people go to church but also throw big parties with food, wine and dancing. |
| One of the oldest surviving Indo-European languages, Greek has undergone many stages of development in dialect and writing. The standard used today is referred to as demotic. The alphabet, after which the Cyrillic one is modeled, has 24 characters and is the same used in ancient Greece, although the letters are pronounced differently today |
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