GREECE IN THE EU
BY JESSICA GRAY
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY
Greece is not a founder of the EU but joined on January 1,1981. Greece was a part of the Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire, and the Byzantine Empire. Greece is on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Ionic Sea, and the Agean Sea. It is made up of thousands of islands and is very mountainous.
FLAG
The Greek flag was recently adopted on December 22, 1978. It is amde up of nine horizontal blue and white stripes and a white cross on a blue background in the upper left corner. The blue in the flag symbolizes either the skies or the sea, the white is the clouds or the sea foam, and the cross represents the Greek Orthodox Church.
GOVERNMENT
Greece uses a Parliamentary Republic which is rled under the Parliamentary system. As of right now they use the Euro as their form of currency but used to use a Drachma.
TOURISM
People come to Greece mainly for the beautiful buildings and seas. The capitol of Greece is Athens, other major cities are Patras,Peiraias,and Thessaloniki.
FUN FACTS
- Greeks celebrate Name Days which are the day of the saint that shares the same name as that person. For example if someone was named Dimitri, their name day would be on the saint, Dimitri's, day. Everyone named Dimitri would celebrate on this day.Also name days are more of a bigger deal than birthdays.
- It is considered an extremly rude insult to show your palm in Greece which is why everyone will walk around and wave with a closed fist.
- After reciecving a compliment, one will make a spitting action (but not spit) toward the other to protect them from the evil eye.
CITATIONS
"GREECE." Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 19 Nov. 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
"Greece." CultureGrams Online Edition. ProQuest, 2015. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
"85 Interesting Facts About . . . Var Addthis_config = {"services_compact":"email,fark,digg,delicious,linkedin", "services_expanded":"email,fark,digg,delicious,linkedin"};." 85 Interesting Facts about Greece. N.p., 19 Apr. 2009. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
"Greece." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
"General Information - Greece." European Commission. N.p., 12 Oct. 2009. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.