Greece lies at the southern extremity of the Balkan peninsula in
south-eastern Europe. To the north, it has borders with Albania, the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria, and to the east it borders Turkey.
The peninsula, which constitutes mainland Greece, is surrounded by about 1400
islands, of which 169 are inhabited. The islands are divided into six groups:
the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, the islands of the North-Eastern Aegean, the
Sporades and the Saronic Gulf islands. The two largest islands, Crete and Evia,
do not belong to any group. Roughly four-fifths of Greece is mountainous, with
most land lying over 1500m above sea level. Epiros and Macedonia, in northern
Greece, still have extensive forests, but the rest of the country has been
seriously denuded by goat grazing, felling and forest fires.
The arid Mani region in the Peloponnese is blessed with the country's best
array of wildflowers, including crocuses, anemones, irises, poppies, lilies,
rock roses and cyclamens. The fields are not only carpeted with flowers; follow
your nose and you'll find yourself standing knee-deep in wild oregano, basil and
thyme.
Greeks are overly fond of hunting and fishing, resulting in the serious
depletion of marine and bird life in some places. Wolves and bears are
consid
