| Facts about Greece:
Geography:
Greece is situated in the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula and adjoins the coasts of the Asia Minor Islands and occupies an area of 131 994 km². Greece shares borders with Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey. Greece is washed by Mediterranean Sea, including the Ionian, Aegean Sea and at the southern coast of Crete – the Libyan Sea. Greece consists of about 2000 islands, which account for almost 20% of the country.
Greece can be divided into three parts:
Mainland Greece, which consists of Macedonia (Florina, Slavic name is Lerin, Pella, Kavala, Kastoria, Halkidiki, etc.), Thrace (Rhodope, Xanthi & Evros), Epirus (Thesprotia, Preveza, Yanina etc.), Thessaly (Larissa, Magnesia etc ) & Central Greece (Fthiotida, Fokida, Attica etc.). Geographically, the Ionian Islands belong to this region.
Peloponnese – The largest peninsula of Greece and the center of the ancient civilization of Europe, which includes noma Arcadia, Lakonia, Messinia, etc. The famous Corinth Canal, dug by a French firm for the Greek state in the 19th century is situated in Peloponnese;
The islands of The Aegean Sea, the largest of which are Crete - largest Greek island and 8th in Europe (8259 km ²) and Euboea – the second largest island (3654 km²) in Greece, connected to the mainland with a bridge, built on the Euripus Strait and also Lesbos (1630 km²), located off the coasts of Turkey. Many groups of small islands such as the Northern Sporades, The Cyclades, The Dodecanese also exist in Greece.
Relief:
Landscape of Greece – an alternation of rocky, usually treeless mountains, densely populated valleys, numerous islands, straits and bays. Picturesque cliffs, beaches, exotic grottos provide great opportunities for recreation on the sea and mountain tourism. The widely found limestone, especially in western part of the country, led to the formation of sinkholes and caves, lending the landscape a distinctive wild look and attracting tourists to try their hand at speleology. Mountain ranges occupy almost one-fourth of the surface area of the country. Predominantly, these are medium-height mountains (up to 1200 - 1800 m). The main peak point in Greece is Mount Olympus (2917 m). Pindus, Parnassus, the mountain range in Central Greece and Taygetus also reach above 2000m. The plains are are concentrated in the eastern half of the country excluding the Peloponnese, where the plains prevail on the west coast.
Greek music:
In many ways the folk music of Greece is very similar to the music of other Balkan countries - Bulgaria, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Similar rhythms and the emotional lyrics of the songs can be traced to them.
Rebetiko – a Greek city song. Rebetiko was formed in the beginning of the 20th century, when, after the Asia Minor catastrophe, many destitute refugees and the music of Ionia flooded into Greece, i.e, west of Asia Minor merged with the tavern music of the portside lumpen-proletariat of Greece. The style of rebetiko was victimized by Greek authorities and this music emerged from "underground" only in the 1950s with the support of composers such as Manos Hadzidakis and Theodorakis, who supported rebetiko as music, carrying elements of ancient Byzantine music.
Modern popular music has a significant influence from the West. But, it contains traditional Greek melodies and the use of traditional instruments such as the bouzouki.
In 2005, Greek singer Helena Paparizou with the song “Number One” won the Eurovision Song Contest – for the first time in the history of Greece.
Modern Greece produced a lot of composers, especially “New Age” composers. Among them are world the famous Vangelis and Yanni and less known Chris Spheeris and Stamatis Spanudakis.
Rock is very popular amongst the younger generation. Rotting Christ - Greek dark / black / gothic metal band, formed in Athens in 1987, is well known even outside the country. The second cult rock group from Greece is regarded as doom / death command “Septic Flesh”. The third leading rock band from Greece is “Brutal Death Homo iratus”.
Opera singer Maria Callas, the contemporary and long time lover of Aristotle Onassis, is considered a phenomenon in the music world. Marios Frangulis can be singled out from the list of the modern opera singers of Greece.
One of the best contemporary world guitarists is Antigoni Goni.
Sakis Rouvas can be called as an established and successful musician. Greece stood at third place with the success of the song “Shake It” during the Eurovision Song Contest of 2004 in Istanbul.
The relatively young dance "Sirtaki" stands out as one of the symbols of Greece in the modern world.
Media:
The department of overseas broadcast in Greece, the “Voice of Greece” radio is broadcasted in 12 languages including Russian.
Sports in Greece:
Greece is the birthplace of the Olympic Games. Sport is popular here since the times of the ancient city-states. The importance of sports in Greece is evidents as all Greece involved wars were suspended during the Olympic Games.
In modern Greece, sport has not lost its relevance. For the first time, the modern Olympic Games were conducted in 1896 in Athens, in which 13 countries participated.
In 2004, Greece once again hosted the Olympic Games. This time, 211 countries were in the Olympic Games . New sports facilities were constructed with the use of the latest technology.
As of today, the most popular sports are football, basketball and swimming. In 2004, Greece became the European champion in football, losing only one match against the Russian team. Greek basketball clubs have been winners of numerous European tournaments. Greece, along with the Soviet Union - is the only country in history to have teams that have simultaneously been European Champions in football and basketball. |
