1.
Muscat (grape)
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Their colors ranges from white, to yellow, to pink to near black. Muscat grapes and wines almost always have a sweet floral aroma. It is also used in the production of many of the French fortified wines known as vin doux naturels, in Australia, this is also the main grape used in the production of Liqueur Muscat, from the Victorian wine region of Rutherglen. Young, unaged and unfortified examples of Muscat blanc tend to exhibit the characteristic Muscat grapey aroma as well as citrus, rose, fortified and aged examples tend to be very dark in color due to oxidation with aroma notes of coffee, fruit cake, raisins and toffee. Elsewhere it is used to make off-dry to sweet wines, often labeled as Moscato in Australia, California. In Alsace and parts of Central Europe, Muscat Ottonel is used to produce usually dry, Anglicus Latin work was translated into French in 1372 with the wine being described by Anglicus as vin extrait de raisins muscats. Because the exact origins of the Muscat family cannot be pinpointed, the most commonly cited belief is the name is derived from the Persian word muchk. Similar etymology follows the Greek moskos, Latin muscus and French musc, in Italy, the Italian word mosca for fly could also be one possibility with the sweet aroma and high sugar levels of Muscat grapes being a common attractant for insects such as fruit flies. Other theories suggest that the family originated in the Arabian country of Oman and was named after the city of Muscat located on the coast of the Gulf of Oman. Of the more than 200 grape varieties sharing Muscat in their name, the exception are the members of the Muscat blanc à Petits Grains and Muscat of Alexandria families. Rarely seen outside of Greece, Axina de Tres Bias is also grown in Malta and these include the Italian wine grapes Aleatico, Moscato Giallo, Moscato rosa del Trentino and Moscato di Scanzo. DNA analysis was able to identify the Tuscan wine grape Mammolo as the parent variety that crossed with Muscat blanc à Petits Grains to produce Muscat rouge de Madère. More than 40 different monoterpenes have been discovered in Muscat grapes and these include the German wine grape Morio Muskat which, despite its name, is not related to the Muscat family and is, instead, a crossing of Silvaner x Pinot blanc. Additionally, the Bordeaux wine grape Muscadelle that is used for sweet and dry wines is often mistaken for a Muscat variety due to its aromatic qualities. While made from a more aromatically neutral grape, Melon de Bourgogne grape, lastly, the Muscat grape can be confused in name only with Vitis rotundifolia, which is commonly known as a muscadine grape. The Muscat family is highly populous, with more than 200 distinct members, however, among these many different grapes only a handful of Muscat varieties are widely used in wine production. These include Muscat blanc à Petits Grains, Muscat of Alexandria, Muscat of Scanzorosciate, Muscat of Hamburg, in some vineyards, vines of Muscat blanc à Petits Grains are known to produce clusters of berries of different colors that change every vintage. The precise origins of Muscat blanc à Petits Grains are not known, though Greece, nearly all the most notable sweet Muscats of Greece, particularly those from the island of Samos and the city of Patras on the Peloponnese are made from Muscat blanc à Petits Grains
2.
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
3.
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
4.
Piraeus
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Piraeus is a port city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens urban area,12 kilometres southwest from its city center, the municipality of Piraeus and several other suburban municipalities within the regional unit of Piraeus form the greater Piraeus area, with a total population of 448,997. Piraeus has a recorded history, dating to ancient Greece. During the Golden Age of Athens the Long Walls were constructed to connect Athens with Piraeus, the port of Piraeus is the chief port in Greece, the largest passenger port in Europe and the second largest in the world, servicing about 20 million passengers annually. With a throughput of 1.4 million TEUs, Piraeus is placed among the top ten ports in container traffic in Europe, the city hosted events in both the 1896 and 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens. The University of Piraeus is one of the largest universities in Greece, Piraeus, which roughly means the place over the passage, has been inhabited since the 26th century BC. Consequently, it was called the Halipedon, meaning the salt field, through the centuries, the area was increasingly silted and flooding ceased, and thus by early classical times the land passage was made safe. In the late 6th century BC, the area caught attention due to its advantages, in 511 BC, the hill of Munichia was fortified by Hippias and four years later Piraeus became a deme of Attica by Cleisthenes. The Athenian fleet played a role in the battle of Salamis against the Persians in 480 BC. From then on Piraeus was permanently used as the navy base, the citys fortification was farther reinforced later by the construction of the Long Walls under Cimon and Pericles, with which Piraeus was connected to Athens. Meanwhile, Piraeus was rebuilt to the grid plan of architect Hippodamus of Miletus, known as the Hippodamian plan. As a result, Piraeus flourished and became a port of high security and great commercial activity, during the Peloponnesian War, Piraeus suffered its first setback. In the second year of the war, the first cases of the Athens plague were recorded in Piraeus, in 404 BC, the Spartan fleet under Lysander blockaded Piraeus and subsequently Athens surrendered to the Spartans, putting an end to the Delian League and the war itself. As a result, the tattered and unfortified port city was not able to compete with prosperous Rhodes, the destruction was completed in 395 AD by the Goths under Alaric I. Piraeus was led to a period of decline which lasted for fifteen centuries. During the Byzantine period the harbour of Piraeus was occasionally used for the Byzantine fleet and it was also called Porto Drako by Greeks, drako meaning not just dragon, but any monster. When Piraeus was taken by the Ottoman Empire in 1456, it known as Aslan Liman. The Piraeus Lion itself was looted in 1687 by Francesco Morosini during his expedition against Athens and was carried to the Venetian Arsenal, a copy of the lion statue is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus
5.
Motorway 1 (Greece)
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The Greek Motorway 1, code, A1, is a motorway in Greece. Partly under construction, it is the 2nd longest motorway in Greece, before the European routes numbers were changed, the northern part from Efzoni to EO2 was E5N while today, the entire road is part of European route E75. The part west of downtown Athens runs over the Cephisus river, from north of the boundary of Voiotia - Phthiotis, up to near Velestino, the tollway runs close to the coast of the Aegean Sea. It then continues north of the Tempe Valley and up to the junction of the European route E90. It then shares a 25 km common part with A2 / E90, and then, at the Axios Interchange, continues north to Evzonoi and its total length is approximately 550 km. The motorway used to be entirely a 2-lane highway and ended near Katerini until 1973, the section Athens - Lamia opened in August 1962 as a 14 m width road. The section Lamia - Larissa opened in October 1967 as a 14 m width road, the section Larissa - Katerini opened in September 1959 as a 13 m width road. The section Katerini - Thessaloniki opened in September 1973 as a 14 m width road, the section Axios junction - Evzoni opened in July 1973. The section Axios junction - Polykastro opened as a 14 m width road, when it was extended to Thessaloniki and to the border with the Republic of Macedonia, the motorway had 4-lanes. It was extended during construction in the north in the 1980s, in 1995, Motorway 1 had motorway characteristics in the sections Athens - Thebes and Kleidi - Thessaloniki, while the section Thebes - Kleidi was an undivided 14 m road. In 1998, the motorway had 6-lanes up to north of Thebes, since then, the Larissa bypass has been constructed. As of 2015 it complies with all standards for most of its length, except for 25 km through the Tempe Valley. Construction is under way to upgrade this part to a modern motorway, among others, this part includes the longest road tunnel in the Balkans, which is about 6 km long, as well as 2 more tunnels. It was scheduled to be completed by late 2015 or early-mid 2016, the new circular road round Athens now means that traffic can continue to the Peloponnese, linking up with the motorway under construction to the port city of Patras and that of Kalamata. The exits of the sections of the A1 motorway
6.
Athens Tram
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The Athens Tram is the modern public tram network system serving Athens, Greece. It is now owned and operated by Urban Rail Transport S. A. STASY operates a fleet of 35 Sirio vehicles, the tram network spans a total length of 27 kilometres, and covers ten Athenian suburbs. The network covers the majority of the citys Saronic Gulf coastline, Athens STASY tram system provides average daily service to 65,000 passengers, and employs 345 people. Photography and video-taking on the tram and its stations is allowed, Athens Tram began its operations in 1882 with horse tramways. After 1908, the metre gauge network became electrified and was extended to 21 lines. The original Athens tram system ceased operations in 1960 and was replaced by trolleybuses, however, a standard gauge tram system was constructed along the perimeter of Piraeus Harbour by the Hellenic Electric Railways. The company started the construction of the lines in the beginning of 2002, while the commercial launch of the system took place in July 2004. The construction of the network was financed by the Third European Regional Development Fund. In March 2011, the Greek Government passed Law 3920 to allow ISAP, the resulting company was renamed STASY S. A. and is a subsidiary of OASA S. A. The merger was announced on June 10,2011. Ticket counters operate in some of the stations, also automatic ticket machines with touch screens are located at each tram station. Passengers must validate their tickets at the machines at the station where they board at the start of their ride, the normal adult flat fare is 1.40 Euros. There are daily and weekly tickets, as well as monthly cards which also apply for all means of transport in Athens. Fares are checked frequently, passengers who fail to show a ticket or a monthly card are penalized by a fine of 60 times the price of a standard ticket. Children under 6, the handicapped, and persons currently enlisted in the military are eligible for free transportation, Athens Tram has three routes named after ancient Greeks, Thucydides, Aristotle and Plato. Trams run from approximately 5, 00am to midnight daily, the following table lists the routes and the stops for the Athens tram, Further extensions are planned towards the major commercial port of Piraeus. The expansion would include 12 new stations and increase the length of the tram system by 5.4 km. Urban Rail Transport S. A. Tramway Athens Urban Transport Organisation UrbanRail. Net - Athens Tram Network map
7.
Kallithea
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Kallithea is the 8th largest municipality in Greece and the 4th biggest in the Athens urban area. Additionally, it is the most densely populated municipality in Greece, the municipality has an area of 4.749 km2. Actual the community reports a number of close to 200.000 inhabitants, the center of Kallithea lies at a distance of 3 km to the south of the Athens city center and 3 km to the north-east of the Piraeus. Kallithea extends from the Filopappou and Sikelia hills in the north to Phaleron Bay in the south, its two other sides consist of Syngrou Avenue to the east, and the Ilisos River to the west. The site on which the city was developed covers the biggest part of the area to the south of Athens, protected in ancient times by the Long Walls to the west, somewhere within this area the ancient town of Xypete lay. The town and its citizens are mentioned, among other places, the plans for the establishment of the new city of Kallithea were officially approved in December 1884. On the longitudinal axis of the town, the Athens to Phaleron tramway once ran, from the beginning to, between the first modern games and the recent Olympic Games in the city, Kallithea grew significantly. Initially the tramway depot and workshop were built here in 1910, followed by the Harokopios Graduate School, in the 1920s the town was flooded by thousands of refugees following the Greco-Turkish War, the Asia Minor Catastrophe, and the Treaty of Lausanne. Black Sea immigrants of Greek origin also settled in Kallithea in the 1930s, after its evacuation the building bound with the shooting range served as a school, until the Nazi Occupation of 1941, when it was converted to a prison. The prison of Kallithea was demolished in 1966, among others, fighters of the Greek Resistance and victims of the Greek Civil War had been jailed there, south Kallithea, is associated with the development of Greek folk music, particularly rebetiko and later laïkó). An even notable school in Kallithea is Sivitanidios School, one of the oldest technical school in Greece, until 2004, south Kallithea housed the only horse track in Greece, which later moved to Markopoulon, near Eleftherios Venizelos Airport. Kallithea had another important club, Esperides Kallithea with many titles in women basketball and this club merged to Ikaros Kallithea in 2012. The main roads of Kallithea are Andrea Syngrou Avenue towards eastern Athens and Poseidonos Avenue towards Piraeus, harokopio University Panteion University Municipal Gallery, housed in the Laskaridou building, one of the first dwellings in the city. Aghia Eleousa church of the late Byzantine period, Kallithea monument, a 4th-century BC family tomb, one of the most impressive exhibits of the Piraeus Archaeological Museum. Argonauts-Comnenus fraternity of the Pontus Greeks, aiming at the study and preservation of the history, monument in memory of the Pontus Greeks in the center of the city. Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex on Kallithea beach from the Sports Pavilion to the Olympic Beach Volleyball Center, grigoris Lambrakis Stadium, home to Kallithea FC since 1972
8.
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
9.
Line 1 (Athens Metro)
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Line 1 is the oldest of the three Athens Metro lines, running from Kifisia to Piraeus, via Omonoia and Monastiraki. Line 1 connects the port of Piraeus with the suburb of Kifissia. As it was designed for steam traction, the line runs mostly above ground. However, there are no level crossings and it is built to 1,435 mm and is electrified using the 750 V DC, third rail, top contact system, also used by Athens Metro Lines 2 and 3. From Piraeus the line eastwards to Neo Faliro and then north to Thision, approximately parallel to the main road connecting Athens. Between Monastiraki and Attiki the line runs underground, at Monastiraki passengers can change to Metro line 3 and at Omonoia and Attiki to Metro line 2. From Attiki the line north, following the alignment of the old Attica Railways through Patissia. At Nerantziotissa passengers can change to the line serving Athens International Airport. Line 1 has a connection to Line 2 at Attiki station. The first phase includes new stations at AOK, Nea Erithrea, Ekali and Ethniki Odos, the second phase would be mostly sub-surface, with new stations at Anixi and Agios Stefanos. The project was dropped by the late in 2011 due to lack of funding. In 2012, Attiko Metro S. A. included the extension from Piraeus to Amfiali in the Athens Regulatory Plan. In 2012, Attiko Metro S. A. included Kaminia metro station in the Athens Regulatory Plan, the new station will be sited near Kerani Square, between Piraeus and Neo Faliro. In 2012, Attiko Metro S. A. included Psalidi metro station in the Athens Regulatory Plan, the new station will be sited between Iraklio and Eirini
10.
Phalerum
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Phalerum was a port of Ancient Athens. It was situated 5 km southwest of the Acropolis of Athens and this bay is also referred to as Bay of Phalerum. The area of Phalerum is now occupied by the towns Palaio Faliro, Kallithea, Moschato and Neo Faliro, Phalerum was the major port of Athens before Themistocles had the three rocky natural harbours by the promontory of Piraeus developed as alternative, starting from 491 BC. It was said that Menestheus set sail with his fleet to Troy from Phalerum, recently, archaeologists have uncovered what appear to be traces of ancient Athens’s first port before the city’s naval and shipping center was moved to Piraeus. The Park of Maritime Tradition, a collection of preserved historic ships, is located at the site, at the southern tip is the permanent anchorage of the armored cruiser HS Averof, which was the admiralty ship of the Hellenic Navy during the Balkan Wars and World War I. Other museum ships include the Hellenic Navy destroyer HS Velos, the old cable ship Thalis o Milisios and Olympias, a modern reconstruction of an ancient trireme naval ship. Demetrius of Phalerum, orator Diogenes Laertius said that Musaeus died in Phalerum This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
11.
Cephissus (Athenian plain)
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Cephissus is a river flowing through the Athens agglomeration, Greece. The Bibliotheca declares that Erechtheus wife Praxithea was daughter of Phrasimus by Diogenia daughter of Cephissus, the source of the river is in the saddle between the Parnitha and Penteli mountains. From there it flows generally southwest until it reaches the Phaleron Bay between Neo Faliro and Moschato, today the river flows near or under the Motorway 1 linking Athens and Thessaloniki for much of its length. This section of Motorway 1 is named Kifissou Avenue, and is home to the Kifissos Bus Terminal
12.
Saronic Gulf
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The Saronic Gulf or Gulf of Aegina in Greece forms part of the Aegean Sea and defines the eastern side of the isthmus of Corinth. It is the terminus of the Corinth Canal, which cuts across the isthmus. The gulf includes the islands of Aegina, Salamis, and Poros along with smaller islands of Patroklos, the port of Piraeus, Athens port, lies on the northeastern edge of the gulf. The site of the former Ellinikon International Airport is also in the northeast, beaches line much of the gulf coast from Poros to Epidaurus, Galataki to Kineta and from Megara to Eleusis and from Piraeus down to Anavyssos. Athens urban area surrounds the northern and the coasts of this gulf. Bays in the gulf include Phaleron Bay, Elefsina Bay to the north, Kechries Bay in the northwest, the volcano of Methana is located to the southwest along with Kromyonia at the Isthmus of Corinth, Aegina and Poros. Methana is also the youngest most active center and forms the northwestern end of the cycladic arch of active volcanoes that includes Milos island, Santorini island. A hydropathic institute at Methana makes use of the hot water that still surfaces in the area. The most recent eruption was of a submarine volcano north of Methana in the 17th century, the gulf has refineries around the northern part of the gulf including east of Corinth and west of Agioi Theodoroi, Eleusis, Aspropyrgos, Skaramangas and Keratsini. These refineries produce most of Greeces refined petroleum products, a proportion of which are then exported. Commercial shipping to the refineries, Piraeus, and to and from the make the gulf quite a busy area with commercial shipping. The origin of the name comes from the mythological king Saron who drowned at the Psifaei lake, the Saronic Gulf was a string of six entrances to the Underworld, each guarded by a chthonic enemy in the shape of a thief or bandit. Fault lines dominate especially in the northwestern part, the port of Cenchreae used to be situated here. Kechries Bay Saronic Bay Coast Lower Galataki Basin Upper Galataki Basin Examilia Basin Athikia Basin Loutro Basin Megara Bay/Megara Gulf Cephissus River Cephissus between Piraeus and Phaliron. The Gulf boasts two particularly notable archaeological sites, the ancient theatre at Epidaurus and nearby asclepieion and the The temple of Aphaia on Aegina, Saronic gulf is one of congregating areas for short-beaked common dolphins in Aegean Sea. On recent occasions, more of large whales such as fin whales have been sighted in the due to improving environmental conditions
Moschato
