Greece is situated in Southwestern Europe , with an area of 131,957 s.q km and a population of 10,964,020 .

Athens is the capitak of Greece with a population of 3,192,606 .

http://www.cityofathens.gr

Thessaloniki is the co-capital of Greece with a population of 1,606,045 .

http://www.saloniki.org

Local time is GMT +2 hours .

The Hellenic Republic is a Presidential Parliamentary Democracy .

President of Hellenic Republic : Mr Karolos Papoulias .

Prime Minister : Mr Constantinos Karamanlis .

Parliament : Three hundred elected members with elections held every four years .

Greece is a member state of E.U. since 1981 .

The currency is euro .

The Greek economy adopts the principles of free enterprise and is bound by the regulations of international organisations such as ECOFIN

and WTO , of which it is a member .

USEFUL INFORMATIONS

Electric Current

The standard in Greece is 230V AC (50Hz). Appliances from North America require a transformer and British ones an

adaptor.

Public Holidays 2006

1 January: New Year's Day 

6 January: Epiphany 

6 March : Ash Monday 

25 March: National Holiday 

23 and 24 April : Easter 

1 May : May Day

12 June: Whit Monday ( Holiday only for public sector) 

15 August: Dormition (Assumption) of The Virgin 

28 October: National Holiday 

25 and 26 December: Christmas

Shopping

Greece is the ideal destination to shop for a wide variety of products, catering to everybody's tastes and wishes. Prices are

very reasonable in relation to product quality and visitors will be able to find something for every budget.

Shops are open Monday through Friday from 09.00 till 14.30 and on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday also from 17.30 through

20.30. On Saturday shops open from 09.00 till 15.00, while they are closed on Sunday. Supermarkets and kiosks may stay

open till 22.00.

More specifically, in the centre of large urban areas as well as in tourist areas, tourist shops and kiosks are open from early in

the morning till late at night, seven days a week .