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MEETINGREECE
9
GREECE
more than 17 million people visited Greece in 2008, and it is
expected that in a few years this number will reach 20 million,
almost twice the country’s population. The increasing number of
tourists and the evolving profile of today’s traveller demand a
host of new tourism offerings and infrastructure projects. In
Greece, investors will find a wide spectrum of opportunities, a
welcome environment for new investment, and some of the most
beautiful locations in the world. According to the 2009 Travel &
Tourism Competitiveness Report published by the World
Economic Forum, Greece holds the 24th overall position among
133 countries, 3rd place in the prioritization of travel & tourism
sub index, 9th place in the number of World Heritage cultural
sites, 5th place in tourism infrastructure and 1st place in the
physician density sub index. New, comprehensive legislation is
under consultation governing the construction of holiday homes,
a market with significant potential. Experts estimate that more
than 1 million Europeans would consider a second/holiday home
in Greece. A wide variety of large, attractive, suitable plots of
land are available for development throughout most of the
country.
Furthermore, the Greek State is actively promoting government
real estate assets, including Xenia Hotels, holdings managed by
the Hellenic Public Real Estate Corporation (HPREC), as well as
marinas that need to be upgraded.
http://www.investingreece.gov.gr/
T HE HE A L T HY GRE E K D I E T & GA S T RONOMY
Greece is famous for its tasty and healthy cuisine. Visitors in
Greece could join any of the village traditional fiestas with great
food, wine and live folk music, all over the country. The delicious
local cuisine is based on fresh ingredients produced in the fertile
soil such as the top quality virgin olive oil, produced on
Peloponnese and Crete, organic vegetables, oranges, honey,
cheese and herbs. A comparative study held among several
western countries found that Cretans presented the lowest
percentage of deaths by heart attack and cancer, as well as the
highest life rate compared to other samples. This was largely
attributed to the healthy Mediterranean diet followed by all Cretan
families. Contemporary Greek cookery makes wide use of olive
oil, vegetables and herbs, grains and bread, wine, fish, and
various meats, including lamb, goat, poultry, rabbit and pork.
Also important are olives, cheese, aubergine, courgette, and
yoghurt. Some dishes use filo pastry.
Olives and Olive Oil
No other single product is more important to Greek cooking than
the olive. From this small fruit, olive oil is produced; the Elixir of
life, Gold Liquid and Gift from the Gods, are all terms that are
used by the Greeks to describe olive oil.
Orektika (Starters or Appetizers)
Rusks with tomato, feta cheese, olives, oregano and olive oil is a
typical starter all over the country.
Boiled mountain greens with olive oil and lemon juice is also a
typical Greek dish.
Meze is a collective name for a variety of small dishes, typically
served with wines or anise-flavored liqueurs as ouzo or
homemade tsikoudia and tsipouro. Dips are served with bread
loaf or pita bread. In some regions, dried bread (paximadi) is
softened in water.
Cheese
Greece is famous for its variety of delicious local cheeses, i.e.:
Feta: Made from sheep and goat’s milk and since 2005 has
been a protected designation of origin product in the EU.
Graviera: The standard hard cheese with many types and tastes
produced in many Greek regions.
Myzithra: Fresh cheese made of ewe’s milk and sometimes
made of goat’s milk (in which case it is called katsikisia) or mixed
milk. Hardens when matures and used as grated cheese.
Anthotyros: From the words anthos (flower) and tyros (cheese), it
is a very mild soft spring cheese made when the sheep pastures
are still full of flowers.
Kefalograviera: Hard sheep milk cheese with a salty flavor and
rich aroma, very similar to Kefalotyri. It is often used to make
Saganaki, when it is cut into triangular pieces, rolled in seasoned
flour and lightly fried.
Sweets and Desserts
Healthy Mediterranean sweets and desserts use ingredients from
the local products. Fruit, nuts, eggs (not many), flour and olive oil
are the most common ones. Greek desserts are characterized by
the dominant use of nuts and honey. Spoon sweets (glyka tou
koutaliou) are popular, usually served with coffee and a glass of
cold water. Most are made of whole fruit, though some kinds are
made of pieces or purees. One typically Greek spoon sweet is
the snow-white and intensely aromatic vanilla, which is not made
of vanilla, but of mastic resin, for which the Aegean island of
Chios is famous. This is usually served as a spoonful of sweet on
a table spoon dropped into a tall glass of ice-cold water and
popularly called a vanilla submarine.