Romantic Paradise
In Europe
Country report of Greece
Reporter:
Paula 1008010115
Smile 1005020048
2012-5-4
1.Basic Information
(1) Name： The Hellenic Republic
(2) Location：Greece is located in the southern end of the Balkans in
southeastern Europe, north of the border with Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, the eastern border with Turkey and Aegean, and the southwest border with Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean.
(3) Symbol： national flag
national emblem
national flower (Olea Europaea)
national flag:
The flag is composed by nine blue and white strips, and in the upper left hand corner there is a blue square within which a white cross is painted. The nine strips stand for the Greek motto: \"Better to die than lose the freedom\syllables. The color blue on the flag is a symbol of the Christian faith
national emblem:
The pattern of the Greek national emblem is a green olive branch surrounding the coat of arms with blue shield and white cross. Blue and white is the symbol colors of Greek, symbolizing this pure land between the sky and water, and the olive is a symbol of peace and wisdom. The simple and fluent lines on the Greek national emblem reflect the people's loyalty to Christ and the love for peace.
(4) Natural Feature：The territory is mountainous and there are coastal
plains; it is subtropical Mediterranean climate, little change of annual temperature, warm and humid in winter, hot and dry in summer. The average temperature in winter 6 ~ 13 ℃, 23 ~ 33 ℃ in summer.
(5) Territory：The territory of Greece is 131957 square kilometers, nearly the
same size with that of Anhui province.
(6) world.
Population：The population of Greece is 10,787,690, ranking 88th in the
(7) Official Language ：The official language of Greece is Greek, which
belongs to Indo-European. Greek is one of the oldest languages in Europe and it once had a great influence on the whole European language.
(8) one.
Currency： The currency of Greece is EURO, and Drachma is the former
(9) Capital： The capital of Greece is Athens, which has the same name of a
goddess in Homer’s Epic who encouraged her people and fought with them.
(10) Nation： About 98% of the people in Greece is Greek, the others are Turk, Macedonian and Bulgarian.
(11) State Religion：The state religion of Greece is Greek Orthodox. There are
also Islam and orthodox Christianity
(12) National Anthem：The national anthem of Greece is “Hymn to Liberty” , which is the longest national anthem of the world.
2.Brief history
The Greek civilization was born in 800 BC. At that time, Greece established its own colony on the Mediterranean coast to and resisted the invasion of the Persian Empire.
The ancient Greek was a collection of city-states. Greece used to be led by Macedonia and perished the Persian Empire under the leadership of Alexander III. Therewith, Greek culture was spread to Egypt, the Middle East and Central Asia, which known as the Hellenistic Age.
Greece was conquered by the Republic of Rome in 168 BC. As a province of the Roman Empire, Greek culture continued to dominate the Eastern Mediterranean and affected people's life in Rome. In 395 AD, the Roman Empire was divided into the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire. Eastern Roman Empire with Constantinople as its center was deeply influenced by Greek culture; it had been resisting the aggression from the East and West for centuries. It didn’t belong to the Ottoman Empire until 1453 AD and the Ottoman Empire gradually conquered the whole of Greece.
In 1821, the Greeks declared their independence. After the end of the Greek War of Independence in 1828, Greek monarchy was established in 1833. Throughout the 19th century and early 20th century, Greece continued to territorial expansion, until the Greek territory became what it is today in 1947.
Greece announced to join NATO in 1949; the military staged a coup and deposed the king on April 21, 1967; the military regime collapsed in 1974. On June 11, 1975, Greece established the democratic republic. The Constitution provided for the state system as a \"presidential parliamentary republic.
In 1981, Greece formally joined the European Community (EC)
3.Politics & Economy
Politics:
Greece is a parliamentary republic country. President is the head of the country, five years as a term with acceptable reappointment only once. The legislative power of country belongs to the parliament and the president and the executive power belongs to the president and the prime minister and the court handles the judicial power. The modification of the constitution in 1986 adds lots of restraint to the power of the president.
The election system in Greece known as Proportional Representation is quite sophisticated. Small parties cannot have much influence. At the same time, the
biggest party can control the parliament even though it doesn’t occupy the seats over a half. Every party needs at least 3% votes to hold a seat in the parliament.
Economy：
Greece joined the Euro-zone on January 1st, 2002.
Tourism is the pillar industry, which occupies 15% of the GDP and foreign exchange income of Greece. As a main member that benefits financial aid from European Union (as much as 3% of its GDP), Greece experienced a stable growth in economy in the last few years.
The main export commodities: food, beverages, petrochemical products and textiles.
The main import commodities: machines, transport equipments, fuels and chemical products.
Greece is one of the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain). The problems need to be solved immediately including: reducing the unemployment rate, preventing the privatization of state-owned enterprises, improving the social insurance system, reforming tax system, and decreasing the deficiency of bureaucratic system.
In February 2010, the Greek failure in repaying the debt of 300 billion euros
might cause bankruptcy, which brought a splash to all the European countries as the crisis of Greece might lead a bad influence on them. Resulting from the lack of diligence, luxurious lifestyle and the immoral way to join euro-zone, Greece caused the crisis of European sovereign debt, which almost disintegrated the euro-zone in 2011.
4.Place to go
Tourism sight in Greece:
There are a lot of famous buildings and beautiful tourist destination (scenic spots), many tourist attractions have beautiful or sorrow stories behind them, which make them become more attractive. Autumn is the most suitable (best) season to Greece and it can be really enjoyable to go there between September to October.
Athens Acropolis ：
Athens Acropolis was built in the 5th century BC; it occupies an area of about 4,000 square meters and is 150 meters above sea level. It is the culmination of the ancient Greek architecture and sculpture and it is one of the world's new seven wonders. It is also a symbol of the ancient civilization of Greece and Europe. Acropolis, Greece's most distinguished ancient buildings, is a comprehensive public buildings and the religious and political center.
The word “Acropolis” means “city-state on the high hill”. Its existing main buildings include the Gate, the Parthenon, the Erik Curtis Dion Temple and the Erechtheum Temple and so on. The Goddess Temple of Athena victory is the oldest building of the city.
In ancient Greek mythology, people once set up a new town by the Aegean Sea. Athena and Poseidon both hoped to become the patron saint of this city and they refused to give in. Later, the god king Zeus ruled that the one who give the most useful thing to human beings can own the city. Poseidon gave human beings a strong horse, which is a symbol of the war, while Athena gave them a leafy olive tree symbolizing peace. People yearn for peace not war, and this city finally belongs to Athena. From then on, she became the patron saint of Athens. Later it was put Athens as \"peace-loving city.\"
Aegean Sea ：
Aegean Sea is a symbol of the romantic journey. The coastline of the Aegean Sea is very tortuous and it has a lot of harbors. They are about 2,500 islands, most of them belong to Greece and a small part of them belong to Turkey. The distance can be really short between the islands and you can see everything very clearly in the opposite island at the island you stay.
There are many sayings about where the name “Aegean” comes from. Someone says it is a name of a queen who once lived in ancient Aegean and died in this sea at last; others says it comes from a king named Aegean, he thought his
son dead and jumped into the sea, killed himself with a broken heart; there is also a saying that the word “Aegean” means wave.
Mykonos ：
The island Mykonos is famous for its dreamy and romantic scenery. The alleyway, the doors and the windows in red, green or blue, the white churches and the white windmills beside the marina make it the most popular resort island.
Mykonos attracts tourists from all over the world. There are many restaurants, bars and stores along the coast and it is called “little Venice”. The beach is a good place for people to swim and sunbathe during the day, the bars and the cafes on the west coastline will become livelier when dusk is coming because tourists can get the best view for watching sunset there.
The site of ancient Olympia:
The site of ancient Olympia is in the western valley of Peloponnese, north to the Alfios (16 kilometers away from the outfall ）, about 190 kilometers west to the capital Athens. It is located in the wooded hills of Cronus and is the Holy Land of ancient Greece.
In the tenth century BC, Olympia was a religious center for the worship of Zeus. In addition to the temple, a variety of sports facilities for the Olympic Games is retained here too. From the year of 776 AD, the Olympic Games held every four
years in Olympia, and from the 18th century, groups of scholars came here to study and find the ruins of the ancient Olympic athletics relic. In 1766, the British Chandler first discovered the ruins of the temple of Zeus. Since then, a large number of archaeologists and historians from Germany, France and Britain have had a large-scale exploration in Olympia ruins and acquired a large number of precious data of the ancient Olympic athletics relic in 1881. In 1936, after the 11th Olympic Games, the IOC decided to use the balance to continue the exploration of the Olympia ruins and recover the stadium.
Olympia created the Olympic Games; it is a symbol of mutual understanding, friendship, solidarity and fair competition.
Delphi：
Delphi is only two hours’ drive from Athens. It is the mysterious land of Greece and the “centre of the ancient world”. The mysterious Delphi town was placed on “The world heritage list” in 1987.
According to the Greek mythology, in order to make sure the \"world center\Zeus released two eagles to let them fly in opposite direction, and the place they meet should be the \"world center\". He then made his son Apollo to manage the center of the world and gave him a pebble, which made Delphi become the origin of the \"oracle\". Because of the oracle, Delphi had become a very famous resort where people made pilgrimages. But later Christian rise, oracle activities were banned and the temple was sealed up, Delphi gradually turned into ruins.
5.Thing to do
number the windmills：
There are five windmills in a small seaside hill in the southwest of Mykonos Island, which is a sign of Mykonos, You can do one very interesting thing on the island, that is to number the windmills. Sitting on the hill with the one you love and number the windmills with him/her in your leisure time, how romantic it is!
Visit Athos：
Athos is located in the peninsula of Mount Athos in the Greek coast. There are eleven towns and more than 15,000 residents on the island, including more than 900 monks. Dozens of monasteries in different sizes and styles are built on the hillside.
In 1060, Athos developed the law of \"the ban on women onto the island\". Prohibiting women and even female animals onto the island, the island is also referred to as \"The country of men” by the Greeks, even the photographs and drawings of women or women’s daily necessaries are not allowed to be brought to the island.
Athos is free from the Greek law and directly charged by the monastery. It is the only place that has hierarchism and abstinence life. 900 monks of intellectual breadth are sent to the island as soon as they are born. They have never seen
women, radios, televisions, telephones, musical instruments or newspapers in their life and are not allowed to sing or smoke.
6.Culture
The prosperity of Greece has once created its splendid ancient culture. On the basis of the extensive absorption of cultures in west Asia and Egypt, the ancient Greeks made a creative contribution to mathematics, astronomy, medicine, architecture, sculpture, drama, poetry, philosophy, history, elocution etc.
Food & Drink
As part of the Greek culture, the Greek food has a history of 4000 years and famous for its healthy diets. However, along with the increase of their incomes, the Greeks are gradually changing their traditional diet structure. Traditional Greeks eat much more fish, fruits and vegetables than meat. But modern Greeks like eating meat much more than before. More meat and fast food are making more and more obese people.
A .Olive
The Greeks began to plant olives early on. They use them directly or as a minor ingredient of the main meal or cook food with their oil. The rate of heart disease in Greece is low.
B .Feta
Feta is a kind of white saline cheese; it looks a little bit like tofu, more like the Greek yogurt. People use ewe’s milk to make feta traditionally, but now milk is also used in many places. Feta is the most proud food of the Greeks, which can be eaten as an appetizer, snacks and staple food materials etc. The EU even sets the rule that only the Greek feta is the genuine one.
C.Greek salad
It is made mainly of several fruits and vegetables. Black olives and feta are the supplementary raw materials.
D .The Greek roast lamb
The lamb chop is very fresh and tender and the flavor of goat is covered by the minor ingredient.
E .Chicken spinach pie
It is a kind of light food without salt. You can feel very full after eating it.酥皮包里裹着鸡肉菠
Fish
Because Greece is pretty close to the Mediterranean, the Greeks like eating
fish very much, like codfish, lobster, crab, unagi, snapper, mullets, shrimp and squid.
Drink
Ice water with lemon accompanies every meal in Greece. Many people enjoy strong coffee or strong tea, too. Adults may drink Greek wines or colorless ouzo.
“Ouzo”
Ouzo is also known as “anisette”. It is a kind of alcoholic beverage which you can only find in Greece. The alcoholicity of Ouzo is about 40% and it is made from grapes, pepper, fennel and other fruits and seeds with good smell. Add some ice water to Ouzo and it will turn into oyster white, like the spirit of ancient Greece. To the Greeks, drinking ouzo is an art and a way of life. The EU has also officially recognized ouzo as a Greek specialty
Greek wine
Greece is not only one of the oldest wine production places, but also the oldest hometown of vineyards in Europe. There is a \"Wine Festival\" in Greece every year, when everyone will get together and enjoy the carnival time.
Dressing
The ancient dressing of Greece was made of rectangular fabrics without any
clipping or seaming. People used pins and bands and bounded the fabrics on their bodies, creating a special style of “invisible form”. The main types are: doricchiton, ioricchiton, chlamys, pelops.
Philosophy
The Greek philosophy is the origin of western philosophy, the word \"philosophy\" came from the ancient Greek word “philo — sophia”, meaning love wisdom. For the Greek people, wisdom is not a perceptual knowledge, but the knowledge about the reason and principle of things.
Olympics
The Greeks made the tradition of holding sports meeting every four years in Olympia in 776 BC. During the games, the Greek players and the nearby people got together in the beautiful town—— Olympia, which is located in southern Greece. Although military had been imprinted to the ancient Olympic sports, the games itself may be the big event that brought all the Greeks together.
7.My opinion on this country
In my opinion, Greece is a peaceful and romantic country. It is a place that has a long history and rich culture which makes it always seems peaceful and quaint. What’s more, it’s beautiful scenery and magnificent structures make it one of the most famous tourist attractions in the world.
I love Greek blue and white houses and the blue sea most, and I’d love to go there with my family and enjoy the beautiful scenery on the beach one day. That will definitely be a wonderful experience in my life.
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