The very first sprint race of the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C. was won by Coroebus of Elis, a cook!

Feta, which is made from sheep and goat’s milk, is Greece’s national cheese. It dates back to the Homeric ages, and the average per-capita consumption of feta cheese in Greece is the highest in the world!

No part of Greece is more than 137km from the sea.

Did you know that Epirus is the most mountainous territory of Greece and the poorest in the EU; however it has a unique natural wealth!

Alexander the Great, one of history’s greatest warriors and leaders of all time, was Greek. Alexander the Great conquered land all the way from Greece to Asia. His achievements and conquests gave rise to the later Hellenistic period (323 BC - 31 BC).

In Greece, people celebrate the “name day” of the saint that bears their name in a similar way to their own birthday.

Continuously inhabited for over 7,000 years, Athens is one of the oldest cities in Europe.

The first philosopher is considered to be Thales of Miletus (c. 624 – 425 B.C.). He is credited as giving the first explanation for the origin of the world that was not mythological.

700 plant species of Greece are endemic, meaning that they may be found only in Greece; approximately 20% of those are aromatic or medicinal plants.

Did you know that in Greece, 47 mountains are over 2000m., 105 mountains between 2000 and 1500m., 155 mountains are between 1500m. and 1000m. The number of mountains under 1000m. have yet not been recorded.

Crete, Greece’s largest island and birthplace of the Minoan Civilisation, is the most southern one, except for the little island of Gavdos!

The species and subspecies of the native plants in Greece are about 6,000, almost as much as 50% of the native plants of Europe!

Did you know that Greece hosts 50% of the brown bear population in western & southern Europe.

Greece is the place where democracy was born. But democracy in ancient Athens was significantly different from modern democracies. It was both more participatory and exclusive, and there were no political parties in Athenian democracy.

Do you know what rakomelo is? It is a Cretan hot cocktail! A delicious mixture of honey, spices and the alcoholic beverage tsikoudia. Bottoms up!

Greece's national drink is ouzo. Ouzo is a dry anise-flavoured aperitif. Cheers, "stin igia mas" in Greek!

Greek is one of the oldest spoken languages in Europe since it has been spoken for more than 3.000 years.

An old Greek legend says that when God created the world, he sifted all the soil onto the earth through a strainer. After every country had good soil, he tossed the stones left in the strainer over his shoulder and created Greece.

Greece is a leading producer of sea sponges.

Greece has one of the richest varieties of wildlife in Europe, including 116 species of mammals, 18 of amphibians, 59 of reptiles, 240 of birds, and 107 of fishes.