Australia
Greece Travel and Destination Guide
BACKGROUND INFO
Full Name
Hellenic Republic
Capital City
Athens
Area
131,940 sq km
Population
10,668,000
Time Zone
GMT/UTC +2
Daylight Saving Start
last Sunday in March
Daylight Saving End
last Sunday in October
Weights Measures System
Metric
Geography
The peninsula that constitutes mainland Greece is surrounded by more than 1400 islands, of which 169 are inhabited. The islands are divided into six groups: the Cyclades, the Ionians, the Dodecanese, the islands of the Northeastern Aegean, the Sporades and the Saronic Gulf islands. The two largest islands, Crete and Evia, do not belong to any group. Roughly four-fifths of Greece is mountainous, with most land lying over 1500m (4920ft) above sea level. Epiros and Macedonia, in northern Greece, still have extensive forests, but goat grazing, felling and forest fires have seriously denuded the rest of the country.
Languages
• Greek (official)
Modern (demotic) Greek is the official language of the State. It derives from Ancient Greek yet it has a much simplified grammar. It has absorbed many words from its linguistic and cultural neighbours. Modern Greek differs substantially from the purist 'Katharevousa', or cleansing Greek, an artificially contrived variant which is closer to Ancient Greek that was used at varying times in recent Greek history. While Katharevousa is no longer used in everyday speech it still evident on street signs and can cause occasional confusion for the tourist.
People
By far the greatest number of people in Greece are ethnic Greeks, but there is growing migrant foreign population with thriving communities from Albania, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania. Many recently arrived African migrants are also visible in larger Greek towns and cities. North-eastern Greece is home to a sizeable Turkish-speaking Muslim community and smaller Slav-speaking communities along the borders with Bulgaria and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Religion
98% Greek Orthodox, 1.3% Muslim, 0.7% other
Government Type
Parliamentary Republic
Government Leaders
Karolos Papoulias
President (head of state)
Kostas Karamanlis
Prime Minister (head of government)
Country Dialing Code
30
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