Greece or Hellas, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in south-eastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan peninsula. It is bordered by Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania to the north and by Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece while the Ionian Sea lies to the west. Both parts of the eastern Mediterranean basin, feature a vast number of islands.
Greece lies at the juncture of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is heir to the heritages of classical Greece, the Byzantine Empire, and nearly four centuries of Ottoman
rule. Regarded as the cradle of western civilization and being the birthplace of
democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, western literature, political science, major scientific principles as well as
drama including both tragedy and comedy, Greece has a particularly long and eventful history and a cultural heritage considerably influential in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. Today, Greece is a developed country, member of the European Union since 1981 and a member of the Eurozone since 2001. Athens, Thessaloniki, Piraeus and Patra are the country's major cities.
