20 Fun & Interesting Facts about Greece
1. Greece contains some of the most ancient ruins in the world.
2. Greece has an annual visitation rate of about 13 million tourist every year
3. Greece has more international airports than any other country in Europe because of the vast amount of tourist demand each year
4. 80% of Greece is actually mountains and the rivers cannot be navigated because of this
5. Capitol of Greece is Athens
6. Ancient Greece was not a single country like modern Greece. Rather, it was made up of about 1,500 different city-states
7. Greece is the leading exporter of sea sponges
8. A lot of buildings in Greece are painted Blue because of the myth that it keeps evil away
9. Thousands of birds stop in Greece’s wetlands on their migrations. As many as 100,000 birds from northern Europe and Asia spend their winters there
10. The first Olympic games took place in Greece in 776 B.C
11. Greece had the first garbage dump in all of Europe it was started in 559 B.C.
12. The Greek language is one of the oldest languages still spoken in Europe about 300 yrs. old
13. With 9000 miles of coast line in Greece at no point anywhere in Greece are you more than 90 miles from the ocean
14. The first reported philosopher came from Greece Thales of Miletus in 480 B.C
15. A unique drink was made for Spartans before battle made up of salt, vinegar, and blood
16. means people who don’t speak Greek and therefore sound like they’re saying “bar-bar-bar-bar
17. one hundred faired bulls would be sacrificed to Zeus each year before the Olympic games
18. alexander the Great was the first modern ruler to imprint his face on gold coins used for currency
19. Greece currency is drachma which is considered the oldest currency in Europe before it was replaced with euro in 2002
20. Greece declared independence in 1829 from the byzantine empire
