Archive for August, 2010

• Greece is one of the top tourist destinations with nearly 16.5 million tourists visiting the country which is more than the total population, which is over 10 million.
• More than 2000 islands are present in Greece and the largest is the Crete.
• Athens, on of the oldest cities in Europe, is a birthplace of democracy, western literature, the Olympic Games, and western philosophy.
• The country enjoys over 250 days of sunshine a year.
• Almost 80% of the Greece is mountainous.
• When compared with most of the countries, Greece has more international airports.
• Greece produces 7% of the marble in the world.
• The government of Greece spends 6% of the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the military.
• The national sport of Greece is Football or Soccer.
• A maximum number of the archaeological museums are present in Greece than any other country in the world.
• Made from the goat’s milk, Feta is the Greece’s national cheese and its average per-capita consumption is the highest in the world.
• “Taking the bull by its horns” is a saying which is originated in Greece.
• The most famous tourist spot in Greece is the city of Rhodes.
• In 776 B.C., the first Olympic Games took place in this country.
• With 116 species of mammals, 59 of reptiles, 107 of fish, 240 of birds and 18 of amphibians, Greece has the richest varieties of wildlife in Europe.
• Greek is one of the oldest languages in Europe which has been spoken for more than 3000 years.

The best car rental services in Greece are offered from Avis, Budget, Thrifty, ebookers, Easy Car, and Enterprise.

Sparta was a great and very powerful city-state in ancient Greece. Sparta emerged to be the biggest military force in Greece in 650 BC. Naturally Sparta was chosen to lead the Greek allied army against the Persian forces that came to conquer Greece in 480.
Sparta’s system was original and unique. It focused on strict military training of the males and to strive for excellence. Spartiates were the citizens and soldiers. Mothakes were non-Spartan residents born and raised as Spartans,. Perioikoi were free men living out of the city and live as farmers to feed the Spartans and themselves. Helots were considered as the lowest casts, the servants who were property of the state, non-Spartans either enslaved locals or prisoners of war.
Boys would be trained in battle, stealth, loyalty, tolerance, hunting and even dancing and singing through the Agoge from early childhood. The Agoge was very tough. The boys were also trained in tolerating not only pain but hunger. They were given only one clothing per year, a red cloak. At the age of 18, the elite boys were becoming the army’s reserve.
The syssition was a dish of black soup. It contained pork, the pork’s blood and vinegar, boiled. morphsuits It was awful they say but good enough to stay alive. The honeymoon or month of honey before the training completes was a task, a challenge in which the boys had to servive one month only by eating honey. They had to speak to the point-Lakonizein they call this. Any male that failed to pass the Agoge was excluded and he would never get his citizenship.

So if you come to Greece and you need a car to visit Sparta, the car rental companies here are Hertz, Sixt, Europcar, Autoeurope.