Page 172 - Orange Butterfly (2)

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unit 8
4. Extension to Geography Greece
Greece is a country in Southern europe, and is in the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula. it’s surrounded by the republic of Macedonia, albania and Bulgaria in the north, by the Mediterranean Sea in the south, by the ionian Sea in the west, and by Turkey and the aegean Sea in the east.
http://www.embassyworld.com/maps/Maps_of_Greece/
The country is composed of a large mainland (named the Peloponnese) and by many islands, like rhodes, Crete, dodecanese, and the Cyclades. Because it consists mostly of islands, it has more than 13,500 kilometers of coastline.
The mainland is connected to the rest of Greece by two ways by land, an artificial one (the rio-antirrio bridge) that was completed in 2004, and a natural one (the isthmus of Corinth).
Greece has a lot of islands and islets (a very small island) , and most of them are in the aegean Sea. Nobody knows exactly how many there are, since some are so small, some people count them as islands, while others don’t. Because of this, some say there are 1,200 islands, while others say it’s something closer to 6,000. The Greek Tourism organization agrees with 6,000, and speaks of 227 of them being inhabited. Most travel guides, say 1, 425 islands, with 166 are inhabited.
another interesting fact is that 80% of Greece is covered by mountains, making it one of the most mountainous countries in europe. The Pindus mountain range stretch across the mainland and underwater, across the aegean Sea, which is what forms many of the aegean islands. Central and Western Greece have high, sharp peaks, along with many canyons, like the Vikos
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