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!
Did you know that Greece is the third largest producer of olive oil in the world? Greeks have cultivated olive trees since antiquity. Some of the olive trees that are still producing olives date back to the thirteenth century.
Did you know that Greece has the biggest EU consumption of olive oil per capita, with around 12 kg per person per year?
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.
Greece has more archaeological museums than any other country in the world; in-fact they are around 196!
Did you know that most days of the year are sunny in Greece? 250, to be exact.
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).
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 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.
About 7% of all the marble produced worldwide comes from Greece.
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!
Continuously inhabited for over 7,000 years, Athens is one of the oldest cities in Europe.
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.
Greek is one of the oldest spoken languages in Europe since it has been spoken for more than 3.000 years.
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!
In Greece, people celebrate the “name day” of the saint that bears their name in a similar way to their own birthday.
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.
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.
Greece's national drink is ouzo. Ouzo is a dry anise-flavoured aperitif. Cheers, "stin igia mas" in Greek!
Crete's history as well as the inhabitants' personality were affected by the island's mountainous landscape.