Some more information about Greece

GREECE● Full name: The Hellenic Republic

● Capital of Greece : Athens

● Official language: Greek

● Major religion: Christianity

● The currency : Euro(€)

● Climate: Mediterranean

● Population: 10 815 197 (2011)

● The country is a Presidential Parliamentary Democracy

● Year of EU entry: 1981

FAMOUS GREEKS

Aristotle 384-322 B.C.

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and student of Plato.

He wrote about science ,art ,poetry and government.

Domenicos Theotokopoulosor El Greco (1541-1614)

El Greco, as he is widely known ,has been a painter ,sculptor ,and architect of the Spanish Renaissance

Mikis Theodorakis (1925-)

Mikis Theodorakis is perhaps the most important Greek music composer of the 20th century ,and one of the most significant in the world.

Typical Greek food

Pita gyros

The popular pita bread is a usual starter or starch source and can be dipped in tzatziki sauce, a sauce made from yogurt, cucumber, lemon, and mint. For fast meals, meats and vegetables can be drizzled with tzatziki sauce and wrapped with pita bread for gyros, a popular sandwich.

Greek Salad

Vegetable lovers will love the Greek salad, a classic dish of greens, lettuce, olives, feta cheese, and dressing, which can be a light and healthy lunch or accompanied by grilled meat such as grilled lamb or chicken. A must-try is kalamata olives, marinated for a period of time before enjoying as an appetizer before a meal.

Seafood

With a lot of coastline surrounding the country, there are a lot of seafood choices to choose from such as fish (sardines, anchovies, mackerel), squid (served whole and grilled when fresh), and lobster. Sardines may be eaten as appetizers or as main course, grilled or fried.

Greek drink ..Ouzo!

For the sweet tooth, there is dessert to end the meal. Honey and nuts are popular ingredients in Greek cuisine.

Baklava, a dessert made from layering phyllo pastries filled with nuts and drenching it with honey uses these two popular dessert ingredients.

Typical greek dances

Hasapiko danceThe hasapiko, meaning “the butcher's dance” from the Turkish word: kasap “butcher”, is a Greek folk dance from Constantinople. The dance originated in the Middle Ages as a battle mime with swords performed by the Greek butchers, who adopted it from the military of Byzantine era. In Constantinople during the Byzantine times, it was called in Greek makellarikos from makellarios “butcher”. There are two versions of the dance, the slow one and the fast one, often called hasaposerviko, referring to Serbian and other Balkan influences on this version of the dance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1M8QzMCC0sω

Syrtaki dance

Syrtaki is a popular dance of Greek origin, choreographed by Giorgos Provias for the 1964 film Zorba the Greek. It is not a traditional Greek folkdance, but a mixture of the slow and fast versions of the hasapiko dance. The dance, and the accompanying music by Mikis Theodorakis, are also called Zorba's dance, Zorbas, or "the dance of Zorba".The link below presents the syrtaki scene from the film Zorba the Greek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4UV6HVMRmdk

Sights in Athens

•Syntagma metro station archaeology exhibits• House of the Greek parliament• Changing of the guards• National Gardens• Hadrian’s Arch• The Temple of Zeus• Propylaia (monumental gateway to Acropolis)• Agrippa monument• The Acropolis• The Parthenon• Erechtheion Temple• Nike Temple

Some more information about our life

Free time activities

● Playing computer games is the most popular passive activity

● Another wide-spread activity is visiting friends and relatives

● Keeping pets,especially cats and dogs

● Going to the café is one of the most popular activity outside the

home

● Sport and physical exercise have always been popular

Immigrants

After the fall of communism throughout Eastern Europe in the late 1980s

and early 1990s, a large number of economic refugees and immigrants from

Greece's neighboring countries, Albania ,Bulgaria ,Romania ,as well as from

more distant countries such as Russia ,Ukraine ,Armenia, and Georgia , arrived

in Greece, mostly as illegal immigrants, to seek employment. The vast majority

of Albanians in Greece is estimated to be between 60-65% of the total number

of immigrants in Greece