Environment

Greece lies at the southern extremity of the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern 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 more than 1400 islands, of which 169 are inhabited. The islands are divided into six groups: the Cyclades, the Ionians, 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 (4920ft) above sea level. Epiros and Macedonia, in northern Greece, still have extensive forests, but goat grazing, felling and forest fires have seriously denuded the rest of the country.

Greece is endowed with a spectacular richness of flora - over 6000 species, some of which occur nowhere else, including more than 100 varieties of orchid. In spring, the Peloponnese and the mountains of Crete explode with the country's best show of wildflowers, including crocuses, anemones, irises, poppies, lilies, rock roses and cyclamens. Herbs, too, grow wild all over the Greek countryside - 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. The human population that shares their mountain habitats considers wolves and bears pests rather than endangered species. Watching dolphins and porpoises as they follow the boats is one of the pleasures of island hopping, and the waters around Zakynthos and Kefallonia are home to the last large colony of sea turtles in Europe. The baby turtles, which are hatched on sandy beaches, now have to face not only natural hazards as they make their way out to sea, but also cars, discos and beach parties. The Mediterranean monk seal is the rarest of all the seal species and one of the six most endangered mammals in the world. Numbers have declined drastically in the last 100 years and the present population is 400, about half of which live in Greece.

Greece has mild wet winters and hot dry summers. Winter temperatures can be severe in the mountains, and even Athens can get viciously cold. Maximum temperatures on the islands hover around 30°C (87°F) in summer, but the heat is often tempered by the northerly wind known as the meltemi.

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