Brief Information about Greece: GREECE, Hellas, officially known as the "Hellenic Republic" is the southeastern most country in Europe, occupying the southernmost part of the Balkan Peninsula. It is bordered by Albania, X-Yugoslavia (the Republic of Skopje) and Bulgaria from the north, and the European part of Turkey from the northeast. The Capital of Greece is Athens were Olympic games of 2004 will take place. From the east by the Aegean Sea, from the south by the Mediterranean Sea, and from the west the Ionian Sea, including more than 400 islands, which occupy more than one fifth of its total land territory the total area of the country is 131,957 square kilometers (50,949 square miles). The mainland portion of Greece comprises the regions of Thraki and Macedonia in the north; Epirus, Thessaly, and Central Greece in the central  section; and in the south Peloponnese, a peninsula which is connected to the rest of the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth. The remainder of Greece consists of more than 400 islands, (only 149 are inhabited). These are Evia, Crete, or Kriti, the Northern Sporades, the Cyclades with Mykonos, Santorini, Paros and Naxos. the Dodecanese islands with  beautiful Rhodes and Kos, Karpathos, Kalymnos, Leros, Patmos (the island of the Apocalypse), the East Aegean islands with Chios, Limnos, Lesvos, Samos, Samothraki, and Thassos, all of which are spread out in the Aegean Sea. In the west, the Ionian Sea, is where the Eptanisa are found, a group of seven inhabited major islands and three small uninhabited ones. The coastal waters of the country are relatively shallow and penetrate far inland. Despite its indented coastline, Greece has fine natural harbors, namely its main harbor of Piraeus, the second largest in the Mediterranean Sea, after Marseilles in France. Piraeus is considered an excellent harbor in the East Mediterranean waters. Greece is the perfect place for holidays even for adventure travelers because of the combination of mountains and thousands of coasts.