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Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
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Vehicle registration plates of Greece
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Greek vehicle registration plates are composed of three letters and four digits per plate. The letters represent the district that issues the plates while the numbers begin from 1000 to 9999, similar plates with digits beginning from 1 to 999 are issued for motorcycles which exceed 50 cc. With the exception of Athens and Thessaloniki, all districts are represented by the first 2 letters, the final letter in the sequence changes in Greek alphabetical order after 9,000 issued plates. For example, Patras plates are ΑΧΑ-1000, where ΑΧ represents the Achaia prefecture of which Patras is the capital, when ΑΧΑ-9999 is reached the plates turn to ΑΧΒ-1000 and this continues until ΑΧΧ is finished. Only the letters from the intersection between the Latin and Greek alphabets by glyph appearance are used, namely Α, Β, Ε, Ζ, Η, Ι, Κ, Μ, Ν, Ο, Ρ, Τ, Υ, Χ. This is because Greece is a party to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. The rule applies in a way in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Combinations used for residents are L-NNNN and are limited. Until 2003, taxis used L-NNNN, the plate was aligned with the prefecture, when number plates were introduced to Greece, they were numbered and in the late 1950s the system was L-NNN and LL-NNN. The letters were Greek letters and Latin letters, respectively, in 1956, the system was NNNNNN. In 1972, they became lettered and the system was LL-NNNN while trucks used L-NNNN, in 1983, the system was LLL-NNNN and the first two letters are prefecture letters. In 2004, the euroband was added, the first 2 of 3 letters of a licence plate usually represent the prefecture where the car was registered. Π. — Disabled in war ΔΟΚ — Test plates ΔΣ — Corps Diplomatique or foreign delegation Ε. Α. or ΕΛ. ΑΣ. — Hellenic Police ΛΣ — Coast Guard ΞΑ — Foreign missions ΕΣ — Hellenic Army ΠΑ — Hellenic Air Force ΠΝ — Hellenic Navy ΠΣ — Fire Guard ΠΚ — President of the Government, i. e
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Metropolitan area
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As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. The Greater São Paulo is a term for one of the multiple definitions the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with zones not necessarily urban in character and these outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities. For example, El Monte, California is considered part of the Los Angeles metro area in the United States, in practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Population figures given for one area can vary by millions. A polycentric metropolitan area is one not connected by continuous development or conurbation, in defining a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities form a nucleus that other areas have a high degree of integration with. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines statistical divisions as areas under the influence of one or more major towns or a major city. However, this definition has become obsolete with the conurbation of several statistical divisions into a larger metropolitan areas. In Brazil, metropolitan areas are called metropolitan regions, each State defines its own legislation for the creation, definition and organization of a metropolitan region. The creation of a region is not intended for any statistical purpose, although the Brazilian Institute of Geography. Their main purpose is to allow for a management of public policies of common interest to all cities involved. They dont have political, electoral or jurisdictional power whatsoever, so living in a metropolitan region do not elect representatives for them. Statistics Canada defines a metropolitan area as an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the area must have a population of at least 100,000. To be included in the CMA, adjacent municipalities must have a degree of integration with the core. As of the Canada 2011 Census, there were 33 CMAs in Canada, including six with a population over one million—Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. In Denmark the only area is Greater Copenhagen, consisting of the Capital Region of Denmark along with the neighboring regions Region Zealand. Greater Copenhagen has an population of 1.25 million people
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Olympic Air
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Olympic Air S. A. is a regional airline, a subsidiary of the Greek airline carrier Aegean Airlines. It was initially formed from the privatization of the former Greek national carrier Olympic Airlines and its main hub is Athens International Airport, with Rhodes International Airport serving as secondary hub. The airlines headquarters are in Building 57 at Athens International Airport in Spata, the airline uses the IATA code OA that it inherited from Olympic Airlines, and the ICAO code OAL. The airline initially launched using the ICAO code NOA, but later bought the OAL code used by Olympic Airlines. On 22 February 2010, Olympic Air and its main competitor Aegean Airlines announced they had reached an agreement to merge their operations, after an inquiry by the European competitions commission, it was announced on 26 January 2011 that the merger was blocked citing anti-competitive concerns. However, the sale to Aegean Airlines was eventually approved by the EU Competition Commission on 10 October 2013, and it currently operates 12 Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft and 2 ATR42, its former fleet of A320 and A319 aircraft having been sold during the various processes covered above. On 16 September 2008 the Greek Government announced a restructuring of Olympic Airlines. Pantheon would operate parallel to Olympic Airlines until April 2009, when Olympic Airlines would be shut down, Pantheon would then be renamed using the Olympic brand name and its six-rings logo. The new Olympic Air would not be a successor to Olympic Airlines or Airways. First to respond was the Marfin Investment Group, the largest investment fund of Greece, submitting an offer to buy the flight operations, also, Swissport submitted an offer to buy the ground handling operations. After three weeks of negotiations with MIG, on 4 March 2009, Aegean Airlines and Greek-American consortium Chrysler Aviation, on 6 March 2009, Development Minister Kostis Hatzidakis announced the sale of the flight operations and the technical base companies to MIG. The negotiations with Swissport continued for another week, to facilitate an agreement between MIG and Swissport. However, a deal was not reached and MIG announced it would take over Olympics ground handling operations as well, as a result, after 35 years of state control and 10 years of failed sale attempts, Olympic returned to being a private corporation. The new owners planned to secure approximately 4,000 of the 8,500 jobs of the Group and it also acquired the right to use the two hangars, the cargo unit of Olympic Airways Services and other facilities at Athens International Airport for 25 years. The new airline planned to only retain 65% of the flight operations compared to Olympics flight operations in summer 2008 and it also had to give up its monopoly on the currently operated state-subsidized island routes, and equally share them with other Greek airlines. The new name of the company was announced during a tender to modernize and this tender followed a previous one that called for fashion designers to submit their designs for the new uniforms of the airline. Shortly after the deal was struck, MIG announced the recruitment process for the three new companies, as well as new tenders for the acquisition or lease of new aircraft, OA also placed options on a further eight of the type. Olympic leased a total of 14 A320 series aircraft for its entry into service in September 2009, and plans to order its own aircraft from either from Airbus or Boeing in the near future
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Zografou
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Zografou is a suburb of approximately 71,000 in the eastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. Actual the community reports a population of 150.000 inhabitants and it was named after the Greek politician Ioannis Zografos. To the east of Zografou lies mount Hymettus, the area, being close to the centre of Athens, developed similar urban sprawl characteristics, with high-rise buildings of even 10 stories tall being the norm. The city is home to the Athens university campus and polytechnical school campus and therefore. Zografou includes the areas of Ilissia and Goudi. Zografou is an suburb of Athens, located about 4 km east of Athens city centre. The municipality has an area of 8.517 km2, towards the east the municipality extends to the forested Hymettus mountain. The built-up area of Zografou is continuous with that of Athens, a large campus of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens is situated in Ano Ilisia, the easternmost quarter of Zografou. Ano Ilisia derived its name from the river Ilisos, which starts at St Eleousa, another quarter of Zografou is Goudi, in the northwestern part of the municipality. The main church of Zografou is consecrated to Agios Therapontas, with Zografou having been built on the hills of Hymettus, a common sight around the city are some very steep uphill streets. Zografou is served by bus lines 140,220,221,230,235,250,608,622 and 815, the eastern beltway Motorway 64 passes through the municipality. After the departure of the Ottomans from the area in the 1830s, the area came into the ownership of Ioannis Koniaris, mayor of Athens from 1851–1854, and Leonidas Vournazos. In 1902, Eleni Vournazos, widow of Leonidas, sells 1,250 stremma of the Kouponia/Goudi area to Ioannis Zografos, dividing it into plots, he sold them for installments of 112 drachma per month. The first houses were erected in 1919, within ten years,100 had been built. At this time, the foundations of the Church of St. Theraponta were erected, in 1929, the area, now known as Zografou, was split from the city of Athens and became an independent community. It was elevated to a municipality in 1947, its first president being Sotirios Zografos, in 1935, the area of Kouponia was incorporated into the community. Dimitri Kitsikis Public Foundation Gounaropoulos Museum, dedicated to the works of painter Giorgios Gounaropoulos, in addition, the sport club Ilisiakos, founded in 1927, is based in Ilisia a district that is shared between Athens and Zografou. Dimitri Kitsikis Royal Society of Canada Nikos Kourkoulos actor Marika Kotopouli actress List of municipalities of Attica City of Zografou official website News site for City of Zografou
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Marousi
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Marousi or Maroussi is a suburban city in the northeastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. Amarousio dates back to the era of the ancient Athenian Republic, its ancient name was Athmonon, Marousi is situated 13 km northeast of Athens city centre. The municipality has an area of 12.938 km2, the built-up area of Marousi is continuous with those of the neighbouring suburbs Pefki, Kifisia, Vrilissia and Halandri. Within Marousi lies the biggest forest in urban Athens, Dasos Syngrou, the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, the largest sports complex in Greece, built for the 2004 Summer Olympics, is located in the southwestern part of the municipality. The main thoroughfare is Kifisias Avenue, which connects Marousi with central Athens, Marousi has 4 stations on Athens Metro Line 1, and two suburban commuter railway stations, Nerantziotissa station and Kifisias railway station. Marousi is also home to a number of public and private educational institutions. Marousis favourable infrastructure has led to economic growth. The managing office of Consolidated Contractors Company, a large Middle Eastern, the Mall Athens, one of the largest shopping centres in southeastern Europe, is situated in the southwestern part of Marousi. Vivartia has its office in Marousi. Google Athens is headquartered in Marousi, the new building of Greek Ministry of Education is located in Marousi, in the district Neratziotissa. In the same district is located the School of Pedagogical and Technological Education, the German School of Athens is also located in Marousi. Maroussi is the place of Greek Olympic Sport Center and it is located in the southwest of the suburb, in an area that is named Kalogreza. Maroussi has also some sport such as Dais Indoor Hall. Local teams are Maroussi B. C. with long-time presence in A1 Ethniki Basketball and A. C. Doukas with many titles in Handball and Futsal. The Olympic Stadium is used as home stadium by famous clubs of Greek football, currently by AEK, prince Michael lived in Marousi from his marriage to Marina Karella in 1965, since late 1970s
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Penteli, Greece
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Penteli is a town and a municipality in the North Athens regional unit, Attica, Greece. It belongs to the Athens metropolitan area and it takes its name from the Penteli mountain. The municipality has an area of 36.064 km2, the municipal unit Penteli 28.878 km2 and it is 14 km northeast of central Athens. Some of the neighbourhoods of Penteli are Agia Triada, Agios Dimitrios, Daou, the Penteli mountains were renowned in Classical Greece as well as in the Roman Empire as a source of the marble, which was also used to build the Parthenon. The Romans constructed a 140-foot water tower and aqueduct to supply water to the city of Athens, during the Greek War of Independence, the French philhellene Sophie de Marbois-Lebrun, Duchess of Plaisance supported the revolutionary leaders. When she settled in Greece in 1834, she bought large plots of land in Athens and she had the Rododafni Castle in Penteli built for her. In July 1995, Penteli was ravaged by a large forest fire, according to Turkish former prime minister, Mesut Yilmaz, many of the forest fires that raged the Greek countryside during that summer were accually started by Turkish secret service agents. The forests of Penteli suffered damage again from the August 2007 fires, Rododafni Castle, also known as Pyrgos Doukissis Plakentias, a mansion built for the Duchess of Plaisance. Construction was started in 1840, but it was not finished until 1961, the Penteli Astronomical Station of the National Observatory of Athens, completed in 1936 List of settlements in Attica Official website
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Athens
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Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime. In 2015, Athens was ranked the worlds 29th richest city by purchasing power, Athens is recognised as a global city because of its location and its importance in shipping, finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education and tourism. It is one of the biggest economic centres in southeastern Europe, with a financial sector. The municipality of Athens had a population of 664,046 within its limits. The urban area of Athens extends beyond its administrative city limits. According to Eurostat in 2011, the Functional urban areas of Athens was the 9th most populous FUA in the European Union, Athens is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city also retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a number of Ottoman monuments. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery, Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics. In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι a plural, in earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη. It was possibly rendered in the later on, like those of Θῆβαι and Μυκῆναι. During the medieval period the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα, an etiological myth explaining how Athens has acquired its name was well known among ancient Athenians and even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, and the god of the seas, Poseidon had many disagreements, in an attempt to compel the people, Poseidon created a salt water spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However, when Athena created the tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Different etymologies, now rejected, were proposed during the 19th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος or ἄνθος meaning flower, ludwig von Döderlein proposed the stem of the verb θάω, stem θη- to denote Athens as having fertile soil. In classical literature, the city was referred to as the City of the Violet Crown, first documented in Pindars ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι. In medieval texts, variant names include Setines, Satine, and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
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Chalandri
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Chalandri is a suburb in the northern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is a municipality of the Attica region, Chalandri is a suburb in Northern Athens, around 12 kilometres from the centre, its location corresponds with one of the 10 ancient demes of Athens, known as Phlya. The municipality has an area of 10.805 km2, Chalandri was a small village until the rapid expansion of Athens during the 1960s and 1970s. Its built-up area is now continuous with those of the neighbouring suburbs Filothei, Marousi, Vrilissia, Agia Paraskevi, Cholargos, nevertheless, it has still a high ratio of open green areas per citizen in the Athens agglomeration. Several embassies are based in Chalandri and it is one of the largest suburbs in terms of population, with more than 70,000 residents. It holds an independent municipality status since 1944, Chalandri is served by the Chalandri metro station. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Chalandri has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, Agia Varvara Ano Chalandri Doukissis Plakentias Kato Chalandri Patima Metamorfosi Polydroso Toufa Sidera Synoikismos American Community Schools is located in Chalandri. Municipal Infirmary of Chalandri Gialvalis Clinic is located at Chalandri and specializes in thyroid gland, sport clubs of Chalandri with presence in Greek national divisions are AE Chalandriou, GS Chalandriou and Nireas Chalandriou. List of municipalities of Attica Official website
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Kifissia
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It has traditionally been home to rich Greek families and major Greek political families.100 km2, the municipal unit 25.937 km2. Kifisia is situated in central Attica, at the end of the forested Penteli mountain range. The small river Kifisos forms the border of the municipality. Kifisia is situated 12 km northeast of Athens city centre, the built-up area of Kifisia is continuous with those of the neighbouring suburbs Lykovrysi, Nea Erythraia, Marousi and Pefki. Kifisia consists of the neighbourhoods, Adames, Ano Kifisia, Kato Kifisia, Kefalari. It is a suburb with many parks and tree-lined streets. The main thoroughfare is Kifisias Avenue, which connects Kifisia with central Athens, the Kifisia station is the north terminus of Athens Metro Line 1. Cephisia was a deme of ancient Attica and it was the home of the famous dramatist Menander. Cephisia had become a famous retreat of philosophers during the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian, in his Attic Nights, Aulus Gellius describes the unique ambiance of intellectual ferment and aristocratic leisure in an idyllic setting which he created there. It was also the practice of Herodes to provide instruction in philosophy for selected youths from Athens. The remains of some of his family funeral monuments lie at the centre of the town in Platonas Square and he also beautified a sanctuary to the Nymphs in the ravine of Kokkinara, in the nearby district of Kefalari. This chapel is an example of a monastery church originally provided with a fireplace. During Ottoman period, in 1667, Kifisia was visited by the Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi and he described a small country town set in a fertile plain of paradisaic beauty, with three hundred tile-roofed houses. Half the inhabitants of the town were Muslims and half were Christians and he records that there was a single mosque, without a minaret, and many small Christian chapels - some of which survive today. The temperature in Kifisia tends to be lower than that of the city, so following the independence of Greece. Its popularity faded somewhat during the middle of the Nineteenth Century when the danger of raids by brigands who infested the nearby mountains was very real, however, the suppression of brigandage, and the arrival of the railway in 1885, led to the dramatic development of the area. For those unable to afford a house, many hotels were built. Following the liberation of Greece from German occupation in 1944, the British Royal Air Force ill-advisedly made its headquarters in Kefalari, accenture, Aegean Airlines, Barcleys, BP, Eurobank Ergasias, Eltrak, Ferrari Metaxa, Walmart, and Volvo have their head office in Kifisia
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Agia Paraskevi
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Agia Paraskevi is a suburban town and a municipality in the northeastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is part of the North Athens regional unit, Agia Paraskevi was named after the main church of the town, which is dedicated to Saint Paraskevi of Rome. Agia Paraskevi is situated near the edge of the forested Hymettus mountain range,9 km northeast of Athens city centre. The municipality has an area of 7.935 km2, the built-up area of Agia Paraskevi is continuous with those of the neighbouring Cholargos, Chalandri and Gerakas. Besides the central area around the Agia Paraskevi Square, Agia Paraskevi consists of 7 districts, Kontopefko, Nea Zoi, Tsakos, Stavros, Aigiannis, Pefkakia, the nuclear research center Demokritos, which hosts the sole nuclear reactor in Greece, is situated in Agia Paraskevi. It is also home of the Greek Ministry of Agriculture, the main thoroughfare is Mesogeion Avenue, which connects Agia Paraskevi with central Athens. The eastern beltway Motorway 64 passes through the part of the municipality. The municipality is served by metro stations and a suburban railway station. Agia Paraskevi was part of the community of Chalandri until 1931 and it became a municipality in 1963. Formerly a farmers village, it experienced much development since the 1950s. In 1993, there was opposition from inhabitants of the suburb to the construction of the Hymettus ring road. The ring road was to form a major highway on the mountainside linked directly to the Motorway 6, however, the government would not reverse the decision and, in fact, sent bulldozers to the mountainside. This led to a riot in April,1993, thousands of people travelled up the mountainside and faced the bulldozers, forcing the drivers to leave. At length police arrived and managed to force the demonstrators off the site, the road was covered only at a small section, that running over the Deree College. The football team of the city is Agia Paraskevi F. C. known as Santa, during the Olympic games in 2004, a part of the historical Marathon passed through Agia Paraskevi over Mesogeion avenue. Agia Paraskevi hosts also two clubs with earlier presence in the higher national divisions, Basketball Agia Paraskevi and GS Agia Paraskevi. The Lycée Franco-Hellénique Eugène Delacroix, a French international school, is in the town, Agia Paraskevi is twinned with, Saint-Brieuc, France Grocka, Serbia City of Agia Paraskevi official website FACEBOOK OFFICIAL GROUP of Agia Paraskevi
Kropia
