Historical Information

The city of Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece since 1834, where the city became the capital city instead of Nafplio, which was the temporary capital in 1829 after the Liberation of Greece and the Declaration of Independence.

Athens is located in the center of Greece, surrounded from three sides by mountains and overlooking Saronico Bay which is connected to the Mediterranean Sea from the fourth side. Athens has a population of about two million people today, but about 4 million people when counting  suburbs and the neighboring city of Piraeus. 

Athens is one of the oldest cities in Europe and the world (about 5000 years old) it was announced in 1985, as the first cultural capital of Europe. The most famous two monuments of Acropolis temple and the monastery of Daphne, was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1987 & 1990  respectively. 

The first Olympic Games in the modern era were held in Athens in 1896, and after nearly a century it hosted the Olympic Games of 2004. 

Origins of the name: the name of the city dates back to Athens, the Greek goddess of wisdom. There is a Greek legend about the reason behind that name. The legend says that both of the goddess Athena (Minerva to the Romans) and Poseidon (Neptune to the Romans) requested to be masters of the city and that the city  be named after them, they competed to win this honor, by presenting  - each of them - a gift to the city. Thus,  Poseidon hit the ground with his trident and made a spring of saltwater to reflect the power of the sea. On the other hand the  Legend had it that Athens created the olive tree and presented it to the city to be a symbol of peace and prosperity. Athenians, led by their ruler Cecrops accepted the gift of the olive tree and named the city after the goddess Athena's name. 

With various ancient monuments, discoveries, artifacts, precious archaeological treasures, theaters, ancient temples and numerous works of art dating back to the era of " classic Athens ", and with the historical richness of Athens, it became one of the most beautiful cities that attracts millions of tourists, in addition to that, Athens is a modern city with restaurants, cafes, luxurious shops, swimming pools, breathtaking beaches (not more than 50 km from the city center), public parks, nightclubs and different  places of entertainment, where the various visitors can find  at every corner of the city something interesting and enjoyable . 

Athens, like all other Greek cities, was a democratic state ruled by the Parliament (Alxlicia), which was elected by popular votes, in this parliament, discussions were conducted and decisions were made by votes.

 In the era of its ruler Pericles, which was known as the golden age of Pericles, Athens was a city of arts and culture, and thanks to its army fleets, it was the greatest and most powerful city - state - of its time.

Athens was a school of culture, philosophy and various sciences until the year 529 BC, with the famous Greek tragedies and comedies.

Athens was attacked by Persians in 490 BC, Athenians stood up to the Persian invasion and won the sea battle of Marathon and the land battle of Salamis in 480 BC.


Geographical Information

Location

Greece is located in South-Eastern Europe, on the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula. It is bordered by Bulgaria to the north, by the State of Verum, Albania, Turkey and the Aegean Sea to the east, the Ionian Sea to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The  total length of the Greek coast is about 16,000 km and the total land border is 1228 km, the length of the borders of neighboring countries is as follows: with Albania (282 km), Bulgaria (494 km), Turkey (206 km), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Verum - 246 km) .


Area

The area of Greece is around 133 thousand square kilometers, compared to the Arab States. Greece's area is equivalent to the area of Jordan and Palestine combined together. Greek islands constitute around a quarter of this area with a total of around 3000 islands, more than half of them are  uninhabited islands. Crete is the oldest island thereof with an area of 8260 km.

The Population is 11,171,749 persons and population density is 85 / sq km.

Greece is one of Europe’s highest countries above sea level, where the highest peak of the Greek mountains is represented in Mount Olympus which is around 2900 meters high.

western Greece contains several lakes.

A map showing the major regions in Greece: 1 Attica 2 central Greece 3 Central Macedonia 4 Crete 5 East Macedonia and Thrace 6 Epirus 7 ionic islands 8 North Aegean 9 Peloponnese 10 South Aegean 11 Thessaly 12 western Greece 13 West Macedonia.

Climate

Athens has a Mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers (30-40 ° C  during the months of July and August) and cold winters (15-8 ° C during the months of February and March).

Sport

Athens has a long history in the field of sports and sporting events, and a large number of sports facilities. The city has hosted a number of international important sporting events.

People and Society

Greek people can be divided into three age groups; the category of 0-20 years old constitutes almost 20% of the population, the category of 20-64 years old constitutes 60% of the population, and the category of 65 years and older constitutes 20% of the population, which  means that 3/5 of the population are bearing the brunt of the entire community.

Greek people are generous and hospitable people, a large percentage of them speaks English or German, they like  visitors and welcome them, they are  always willing to give any information requested from them, especially in the islands, villages and suburbs, as is the case with most of the peoples of the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Greek  traditions are very similar to the Arabs habits which makes the Arab visitor feels at home.

In Greece there is no ethnic intolerance or discrimination of any kind (with the exception of a few cases which  began to appear recently in several poor and middle-income neighborhoods of neo-Nazi extremist but when they are spotted  they 'll be immediately eliminated and isolated by the population and security authorities).

Greek people love football and like to discuss their teams performance as well as domestic and foreign policy matters and comment on them, which sometimes, lead to disputes and conflicts. They also like dancing, singing, music and entertainment, leisure, fun, pranks and drinking wine with late dinner (in the late hours of the night until the early morning hours).