Presentation of Greece

Presentation of Greece

• Capital: Athens
• Area: 131,940 sq km
• Population: 10,707,135 (July 1999 est.)
• Currency: drachma
• Form of government: parliamentary republic; monarchy rejected by referendum 8 December 1974; unicameral Parliament or Vouli ton Ellinon (300 seats; members are elected by direct
  popular vote to serve four-year terms); president elected by Parliament for a five-year term; prime minister appointed by the president
• Languages: Greek
• Religion: Greek Orthodox (98%), Muslim (2%)
• National holiday: Independence Day, 25 March (1821)

Greece is a country with a hallowed past and an at-times turbulent present. Appreciation of the achievements of its classical past has tended to overshadow its development as a free nation since the War of Independence from the Ottomans in 1821. Many foreign Hellenists imbued with a romantic ideal of the Greece of Pericles and the Parthenon are blithely ignorant that Greece today is a vibrant modern European country. It is equally a land where the languages of recent migrant communities from the Balkans, Africa and Asia - not to mention the English and German of EU migrants and retirees - contribute to Greece's status as one of Europe's more recent multicultural societies.


Presentation of Greece

As recently as 1983, when it acceded to the EU, Greece was essentially a conservative, agrarian society famous for olive oil, coups, beaches and islands.Greeks boast more mobile phones than fixed-line phones. Internet hotspots pop up like mushrooms, while car ownership, once the privilege of the affluent few, is now a consumer commodity enjoyed by the majority. While sleeping on beaches was once de rigueur for travellers in the carefree '70s, tourism is now most definitely pitched to the middle to upper-end markets and sleeping rough is now oh-so out.


Presentation of Greece

Yet the fact that Greece continues to enjoy a steady influx of foreign visitors is easy to explain. The Greek people still have the welcome mat out. It is they who, after all, make Greece. Without the indomitable bonhomie of the Greeks themselves, Greece would be a different place altogether.


Presentation of Greece