Greece

Greece also known as Hellas and officially the Hellenic Republic is a country in southeastern Europe. Situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula, Greece has land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. Athens is the capital and the largest city in Greece. Greece was the first area in Europe where advanced early civilizations emerged, beginning with the Cycladic civilization of the Aegean Sea, the Minoan civilization in Crete and then the Mycenaean civilization on the mainland. Greece has many islands but the largest is Crete where, the legend says, lived mythical creature Minotaur. Greece primarily has a Mediterranean climate, featuring mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Piraeus is the largest marine – based shipping centre of Greece and also the commercial hub of Greek shipping, with most of Greece's shipowners basing their commercial operations there. Famous tourists places among the beautiful beaches are Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum, the Rio-Antirio bridge near the city of Patras is the longest cable-stayed bridge in Europe and second in the world, the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair and Aristotle University in Greece's second-largest city are the largest of their kind in the Balkans, the Hellenic Parliament in central Athens, Central square in Nafplion, the Hermoupolis port in the island of Syros is the capital of the Cyclades, Holy Trinity monastery, in Meteora, central Greece, the ancient theatre of Epidaurus and the most famous is the Parthenon, a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena.