Perhaps the sweetness and sourness of food are the most basic flavors in Greek dishes, which may be because they often use ketchup, cheese and so on. At the same time, it must be mentioned that the oil used in Greek cuisine is healthy olive oil, and the delicate but not greasy feeling makes every dish more refreshing. For example, MOUSSAKA, a traditional Greek main course, has a unique taste, including fried eggplant, exquisite beef stuffing, onion, tomato sauce, Mazuri cheese, cream and so on. Layer upon layer, it combines milk flavor and meat flavor. Vine stuffed rice is an appetizer. The unique fragrance of grape leaves, the smoothness of rice, the mellow meat stuffing, the sweetness of cream sauce and so on. Always let the taste buds "surprise", absolutely delicious. In fact, more than that, Bakola Wa crispy pie, KADEFI, Athena mixed baking tray and so on are all super delicious.
Hotel prices in Greece vary greatly, and the peak season price is about 0.5 times that of 65438+ off season. Generally speaking, the off-season price of a hotel double room is about 800 yuan RMB, and most room rates include breakfast. The best hotel is the GrandBretagne Hotel in Athens, which is now the center of social life in Athens. There are not many youth hostels in Greece, and the English service and tourism consulting service are better, but there is not much advantage in price. The off-season price of a bed is about RMB 200 yuan.
Summary: It is said that Greece has three treasures: sunshine, sea water and stones. It is sunny all the year round and is called "the balcony of Europe". The long coastline of the Mediterranean outlines the most beautiful Aegean Sea, and famous cultural sites are almost everywhere. The museums in Athens are world-famous. Athens is a holiday resort for tourists all over the world.
Greek civilization has a history of 5,000 years, and has created splendid classical culture in the long years, leaving a lot of valuable cultural heritage for today's Greeks. Visiting ancient times is an important part of traveling to Greece. You can visit Aegean culture in Crete and Peloponnesus. You can also go to Attica Peninsula, Athens and Sparta to inspect the ancient city-state culture and pursue the lost prosperity. You can also go to the capital Athens to see the Parthenon and the pure gold statue of Athena, the patron saint, and learn about Byzantine culture. It is best to go to Macedonia and Thessaloniki. Greece has a variety of natural landscapes, providing tourists with a large number of unique tourism projects. In northern Greece, there are many ski resorts with complete facilities; In the mountains of central Greece, it is a good place for friends who like to climb mountains. The Greek coastline is tortuous, with many natural harbors and islands. Mild beaches and blue waters have created many elegant beaches. This is a good place for rest and water sports.
National Day: March 25th (182 1 year)
National flag: rectangular, with an aspect ratio of 3: 2. It consists of blue and white stripes, four white stripes and five blue stripes. There is a blue square with a white cross above the flagpole. Nine broad stripes represent a Greek proverb, "Give me liberty or give me death", which has nine syllables in Greek. Blue stands for blue sky and white stands for religious belief. Most Greeks believe in the Orthodox Church, which is the state religion.
National emblem: a shield emblem surrounded by olive branches. The almost square blue shield is inlaid with a white cross, which symbolizes religious belief.
Capital: Athens; Population: 3.073 million (1993). The highest temperature is 33℃ and the lowest temperature is 6℃.
Geographical location: area 13 1957 square kilometers, of which 15% is an island. Located at the southernmost tip of the Balkan Peninsula. It borders Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania in the north, the European part of Turkey in the northeast, the Ionian Sea in the southwest, the Aegean Sea in the east and the African continent across the Mediterranean Sea in the south. The coastline is about 15000 km long and the territorial sea is 6 nautical miles wide. The territory is mountainous and has plains along the coast. Pindus Mountain runs through the west, and Thessaly Basin is located in the middle. This river is short and has many ports. The largest peninsula is the Peloponnesian Peninsula, and the largest island is Crete.
Climate: subtropical Mediterranean climate, warm and humid in winter and dry and hot in summer. The average temperature in winter is 6 ~ 65438 03℃, and that in summer is 23 ~ 33℃. The average annual precipitation is 400 ~1000 mm.
History: Greece is the birthplace of western civilization. It created splendid ancient culture and made great achievements in music, mathematics, philosophy, literature, architecture and sculpture. From 2800 BC to 1400 BC, Minoan culture appeared in Crete and Mycenae culture appeared in Peloponnesus. In 800 BC, the slave city-state was formed, and the first five centuries were its heyday. Since 338 AD, it has been occupied by Macedonia, Rome and Byzantium. 1460 was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. 1821On March 25th, Greece broke out the war of independence against the Turkish invaders and declared its independence at the same time. 1829 On September 24th, all Turkish troops withdrew from Greece. During World War II, Greece was occupied by German and Italian troops. 1944 national liberation and restoration of independence. 1946 king reset. 1In April 1967, the military launched a coup and established a military dictatorship. 1June, 973, the king was abolished and the * * * system was established. The military government collapsed in July1974; 1 1 Parliamentary elections were held in June, and the New Democracy Party won the election. In February, 65438, a referendum was held, and the system of state government was established.
Administrative divisions: The whole country is divided into 13 regions, 52 states (including the sacred mountain "assus divine right" and 359 towns), and the north enjoys great autonomy. The regional names are as follows: Thrace and East Macedonia, Central Macedonia, West Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, ionian islands, West Greece, Central Greece, Attica, Peloponnesus, North Aegean Sea, South Aegean Sea and Crete.
Economy: Greece is one of the economically underdeveloped countries in the EU, with a relatively weak economic foundation. The main mineral resources are bauxite (about 654.38 billion tons), lignite (about 5.6 billion tons), nickel, chromium, magnesium, asbestos, uranium and marble. The forest area accounts for 20% of the country. Compared with other EU countries, the industrial base is weak, the technology is backward and the scale is small. The main industries are mining, metallurgy, textile, shipbuilding and construction. Greece is a traditional agricultural country, with arable land accounting for 26. It accounts for 4% of the national area. Service industry is an important part of economy, and tourism is one of the main sources to obtain foreign exchange and maintain the balance of international payments. Since the 1960s, tourism has developed rapidly, and since the 1970s, the number of inbound tourists has continued to increase. In recent years, the number of inbound tourists has exceeded the total population of Greece. The main tourist attractions are the Acropolis, the Delphi Sun Temple, the ruins of the ancient Olympia Stadium, the labyrinth of Crete, the Epidavros amphitheater, the tomb of the Macedonian king in Virginia, the Holy Mountain, Rhode Island and Corfu Island.
Culture: Ancient Greek science and culture is the product of the fusion of ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, ancient Indian and Greek science and culture. The emergence and development of ancient Greek science and culture went through three stages: ancient period, classical period and Hellenistic period. Ancient Greek writing and art, classical Greek philosophy and highly developed natural sciences are deeply influenced by oriental culture. Greece is considered as the birthplace of European culture. Within its territory of 6,543,800 square kilometers, there are historical sites and priceless cultural relics everywhere. The most famous Greek monument is the Minoan maze in Crete. The Acropolis is the symbol of ancient Greek culture and the pride of modern Greeks. Byzantine art is the crystallization of Greek medieval art. In order to protect a large number of Byzantine artworks, the Greek government established the Byzantine Art Museum in the downtown area of Thessalonica, the northern capital, near the modern buildings of famous international fairs. According to the main branches of Byzantine art, Byzantine Art Museum is divided into mosaic, mural, textile art, metalworking art, architecture, music and dance.
First, the preparation before departure
1) Please be sure to bring your passport, ID card, air ticket and personal travel articles to the designated place on time.
2) Preparing clothes depends on the change of seasons. The average temperature in Europe is 0-5 degrees Celsius in winter and 20-26 degrees Celsius in summer. It is about 8- 10 degrees lower at night than during the day. Dress should be light and comfortable, and there is no special requirement on other occasions except for formal attire in European casinos. Due to environmental awareness, European hotels often don't have disposable items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste and slippers, so tourists should bring their own.
3) The main consumption is credit card, and MASTAR's market share in Europe is higher than VISA's, so MASTAR card is the best; In addition, be sure to bring euros and prepare as many small euro notes as possible for easy use. According to China's foreign exchange carrying permit, every citizen is allowed to carry foreign exchange equivalent to two thousand dollars (or equivalent currency) when traveling abroad.
4) Because drugs must be purchased with a doctor's prescription in European pharmacies, and the medical expenses are expensive, it is necessary to bring commonly used drugs in case of emergency.
5) It is recommended that you use a suitcase with wheels, which is convenient for you to check and carry on the plane.
6) If you want to bring 139, 138, 137, 136, 135 mobile phones, please turn on the international function at the local telecommunication office before you leave.
Second, safety is the most important issue.
Europe is full of thieves, and robberies are also heard from time to time. Therefore, passports/air tickets/money and valuables must be carried close to the body, and the satchel should be slung sideways to prevent gangsters from robbing from behind on motorcycles. The most dangerous cities are mainly Paris/Milan/Rome. If things are left in hotels and tour buses, tourists are responsible. Hotel lobbies and restaurants are often visited by thieves. Although Europeans rarely run red lights, they should be careful when crossing the road.
Third, European laws are different from China's.
Drivers must have a rest time of 9 consecutive hours, and the driving time should not exceed 9 hours every day, so they can refuse to ask drivers to work overtime at night.
Smoking, food with skin and ice cream are not allowed in the carriage at any time. Drivers are not allowed to turn on the air conditioner when parking due to environmental factors, otherwise they will be fined. Never get water on the floor when taking a bath in the hotel, or the hotel will be fined 500 dollars.
Four, check the passport, shopping tax rebate
There is generally no need to check passports between European countries, and there are almost no borders between countries, but passports must be checked when entering and leaving Europe. Shopping tax rebate is a policy in Europe. Some shops refund tax on the spot, while others need to go to the airport of a country for tax refund. The tour leader will explain and help you, and you should follow the advice of the tour leader when shopping, otherwise you will suffer if you can't refund the tax.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) eat.
When traveling in Europe, the breakfast in the hotel is usually European western food, sometimes it is very simple (only two pieces of bread and a glass of juice or milk). Westerners are extremely disgusted with wasting food. Lunch and dinner are usually Chinese food.
Six, telephone, change the line
Don't leave the team. Be sure to know the hotel address, telephone number, room number of the tour leader, tourist license plate number, etc. In case you get lost.
You can find this team. You'd better buy a telephone magnetic card, because the telephone bill in the hotel is very expensive, and you have to pay for making local calls. In general, dial 0 for outside calls, 0086 for domestic calls and 00 186 for Hong Kong calls. In short, it's better to get to know the team leader in advance. Telephone cards vary from place to place, but German cards and Dutch cards can be used universally.
Phone cards can be bought at gas stations, small shops, cigarette shops and newsstands. When you use the United States to exchange local currency, you should be aware that there may be a handling fee of 10%, but the hotel does not charge a handling fee. There is a handling fee of HK$ 50 for changing money in a Hong Kong bank. Your inexhaustible foreign currency can be converted into dollars or Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong.
Seven, at their own expense.
1) Hotels usually have closed-circuit TV programs, but all of them are paid, so don't touch any buttons with "pay", "p" and "p" on the TV remote control. Note that there are no free drinks in the refrigerator. Be sure to check if you have forgotten anything before leaving the hotel and return the room key to the reception desk. In a hotel, you usually have to pay a tip of $65,438 +0-2 and ask the bellman to help you with your luggage.
2) You have to pay for going to the toilet in Europe, which is equivalent to about RMB 4 yuan. Coke, cigarettes and film are very expensive in China. Telephoto cameras and video cameras must be declared when they leave China Customs to avoid being taxed when they return.
Eight, matters needing attention:
1) Spitting, smoking and littering are absolutely not allowed. Don't talk loudly in public places. You can't wear sneakers, jeans and T-shirts when you go to the casino. Don't cut in line, unreliable people get too close, so it's better to keep them at arm's length.
2) Never put valuables, cameras and video cameras in checked baggage when flying, and never put camera batteries in checked baggage.
3) Some hotels in Europe don't have air conditioning, because it's not hot at night, but they all have heating. The water in the bathroom can be drunk directly.
4) Don't forget to bring your ID card, otherwise you can't leave the country. The entry and exit cards for China and Hong Kong can be filled in with the help of the tour leader, and Europe does not need to fill in the cards.
5) The time difference between Europe and China is 6 hours in summer and 7 hours in winter. Smoking is not allowed in the bathroom on the plane.
6) After receiving the checked baggage, be sure to remove the old strips on it, so as to avoid misunderstanding when checking the baggage next time, which will lead to your luggage being transported to the wrong place.
Language-Many European countries have their own languages, but English is widely used.
Store opening hours-European stores are open from Monday to Saturday, from 9 am to 5 pm. The law stipulates that Sunday is a rest day. But some convenience stores, gas stations and some shops in tourist areas are exceptions.
European tourists' diet-Europe has rich foods from all over the world with various tastes and consumption levels. Food with local flavor is more abundant.
There are Gravlax (salted raw salmon fillets) and rainbow trout. Leipajuusto (bread cheese) is a kind of cheese that is baked in front of a fire until it is crisp. It is usually eaten with coffee and berries. Alan pancakes are delicious, too. They are baked in the oven, seasoned with cardamom, and then coated with jam and cream. They are fragrant and delicious, and the taste is unforgettable.
European travel medical insurance-European hotels and local travel agencies keep in touch with nearby doctors. When there is a need to solve the disease, you can arrive immediately. The free medical insurance system in Northern Europe is not aimed at short-stay passengers, so buying medical and accident insurance is a necessary measure before traveling.