Greece

Greece is a country in Southern Europe. It is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. It also shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north and Turkey to the northeast.

Did you know that:
1. No one in Greece can choose to not vote. Voting is required by law for every citizen who is 18 or older.
2. About 7% of all the marble produced in the world comes from Greece.
3. According to Greek mythology, Athena and Poseidon agreed that whoever gave the city the best gift would become guardian over the city. Though Poseidon gave the gift of water, Athena’s gift of an olive tree was deemed by the other gods to be more valuable.
4. Greece is the leading producer of sea sponges.
5. Greece has more archaeological museums than any other country in the world.
6. The saying “taking the bull by its horns” comes from the Greek myth of Hercules saving Crete from a raging bull by seizing its horns.
7. The first Olympic Games took place in 776 B.C. The first Olympic champion was a Greek cook named Coroebus who won the sprint race.
8. Greece’s currency, the drachma, was 2,650 years old and Europe’s oldest currency. The drachma was replaced with the Euro in 2002.