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GREECE TRAVEL: Research your vacation travel plans with us!
Facts About Greece
Greece, officially known as the Hellenic Republic, country in southeastern Europe, occupying the southernmost part of the Balkan Peninsula. Famed for the beauty of its landscape, Greece is dominated by mountains and sea. The Aegean, Mediterranean, and Ionian seas constitute the country’s eastern, southern, and western borders, and no part of mainland Greece is more than 100 km (60 mi) from the water. Islands constitute about one-fifth of the country’s land area.
Greece has historically been poor with inadequate communications, but in the period after World War II ended in 1945 it has experienced rapid economic and social change. Tourism and shipping make major contributions to the Greek economy, which has also benefited from payments arising from Greece's membership in the European Union (EU). The country's merchant ship fleet is one of the largest in the world. Greece's capital and largest city is Athens.
About 80 percent of Greece's land area is mountainous. The Pindus Mountains, with an average elevation of about 2,650 m (about 8,700 ft), extend from north to south through the middle of the mainland.
Places to go in Greece:
- Athens: Modern Athens is divided into districts but Plateía Síndagmatos (Syntagma or Constitution Square) is the epicentre of the city – almost everything worth seeing in Athens is within half an hour’s walk of here.
- Crete: The relatively small island of Crete has given the world some pretty big potatoes, among them: Europe's first advanced civilisation; the mythical Minotaur and its labyrinth; King Minos himself (the semi-fictitious sacrificer of maidens and youths); the palace of Knossos; El Greco; an enduring linguistic mix-up between Cretans and cretins; the ultimate definition of 'family vendetta'; and a traditional costume of baggy pants tucked into high boots which the New Romantic movement foisted on an unsuspecting public back in the 1980s.
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