My first breath... my first kiss.. my first love... my family... MY EVERYTHING
Here are some facts about my "everything".. :-)
LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY: Greece is located on the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula in South East Europe and the territory also includes several hundred islands in the Ionian and Aegean Seas. It is bound by Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, Turkey and the Aegean Sea to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Ionian Sea to the west. Around 20% of the total land area is accounted for by islands, of which the largest are Crete, Evoia Lesbos, Rhodes, Khios, Kefallonia, Corfu, Limnos, Samos and Naxos. Mountains and hills dominate the landscape accounting for nearly 80% of the total land area. In the northeast, the Macedonian and Thrace regions are separated from Epirus in the northwest by the Pindhos Mountains, which are a continuation of the Dinaric Alps. The mountain range along the east coast includes Mt. Olympus and continues through to include some of the islands. The Pindhos Mountains continue southeast to Giona and reappear as the islands of Kea, Kithnos, Serifos and Sifnos. Other mountain ranges include Taiyetos in the south and Parnon in the east. In the extreme northeast, Thrace is separated from Bulgaria by the Rhodope Mountains. The principal rivers include the Mesta, Strimon, Arakhthos, Akheloos, Aliakmon, Pinios and Alfios. Major Cities (pop. est.); Athens 772,100, Thessaloniki 384,000, Piraievs 182,700, Patrai 152,600 (1991). Land Use; forested 20%, pastures 41%, agricultural-cultivated 27%, other 12% (1993).
CLIMATE: Greece has a Mediterranean climate with long hot dry summers and mild winters when the majority of rainfall occurs. In the summer the Etesian, a northerly wind, blows across the Aegean Sea while in the mountainous areas, temperatures are generally cooler with severe winter temperatures and heavy rainfall. Average annual precipitation in Athens is 414 mm (16 inches) and the average temperature ranges are from 6 to 13 degrees Celsius (43 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit) in February to 23 to 33 degrees Celsius (73 to 91 degrees Fahrenheit) in August.
PEOPLE: The principal ethnic majority are the Greeks who account for 96% of the population while the "Macedonians of Northern Greece" account for 1.5%, Turks for .9% and 1% are Vlach, Slav, Albanian or Jewish.
RELIGIONS: The official religion is Greek Orthodox Christianity which accounts for 98% of the population and there is also a small minority of Muslims which account for 1.5% of the population.
LANGUAGES: The official language is Greek with 98% of the population speaking it, although English and French are also widely understood. |
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