Greece is a country in eastern Southern Europe on the Balkan peninsula, with extensive coastlines and many islands in the Aegean, Ionian, and Mediterranean Seas. It shares borders in the north with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. It has an ancient culture that has had a significant influence on the arts, language, philosophy, politics, and sports of western society, including the genres of comedy and drama, western alphabets, Platonic ideals and the Socratic method, democracies and republics, and the Olympic games. Furthermore it's a geographically appealing place to visit, with a mountainous mainland and idyllic island beaches.

Few other countries can rival Greece in its historical and cultural heritage. Greece continues to be a force throughout the modern Western world - in its literature, art, philosophy and politics.

Situated in the far south of the Balkan peninsula, Greece combines the towering mountains of the mainland with over 1400 islands, the largest of which is Crete.