A Tour of Greece: A Quick Overview of The Nation of Greece, Plus a Recipe for Sweet Cheese Baklava as Lagniappe

Introduction

In this article, you will find some geographic facts about Greece and some very interesting serious, fun, and also unusual facts. I have also included a Greek dessert that I found very tasty.




Image via Wikipedia

Country Information

• Geographic Facts

Here are some geographic facts about Greece:

1. The country forms a peninsula in the southeastern part of Europe. Greece has more than 1400 islands, which is about 20% of the country. The largest island is named Crete. There is no part of the mainland that is more than 90 miles from the sea. Greece’s formal name is the Hellenic Republic.

2. The terrain is mostly mountainous and rocky. There are two mountain ranges referred to as the Pindus and Peloponnesus mountains. The Pindus mountain range is located in the northern area of Greece and the Peloponnesus mountain range located in the southern area.

3. Greece is the most seismically active (volcanoes) country in Europe. More than half of the continent’s seismic activity is located in Greece. The climate is generally mild, with wet winters and hot, dry summers.

• “Serious” Facts

Here are some serious facts about Greece:

1. Democracy was conceived in Athens, Greece in 5th century B.C. The democracy was governed by about 40,000 males. The Athenians believed that citizenship required active participation in public events. Most demonstrated their involvement through oratory speech. Oratory speech, also called rhetoric, is a persuasive type of public speaking. Greece went through several intrusions by Turks and Nazi’s but welcomed freedom that democracy offered again.

2. Several influential people are associated with Greece. The famous mathematician Archimedes was from Greece. Homer, the poet who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey lived in Greece. Aristotle the philosopher was born in Greece. Aristotle and Cicero gave structure to the art of public speaking.

3. Religion was very important to the Greeks. Ancient Greeks believed in a polytheistic system, which is a belief in many Gods. “Zeus” was the leader of the Gods, who lived on mount Olympus. Worship usually consisted of a sacrifice of a domestic animal for a God. The rich would sacrifice animals and the poor who didn’t have animals to spare, offered pastries. The rituals and sacrifices were held at the temples or altars devoted to the Gods. Some of the temples had statues of the Gods. According to nationalgeographic.com, Greece’s primary religion is now Greek Orthodox.



Image by Maralinga in WA via Flickr

• “Fun” Facts

Here are three fun facts about Greece:

1. The first Olympic Games were in Greece in 776 B.C. The games were held in Olympia, Greece every four years. The main stadium sat 45,000 people and thousands of tents were placed outside the stadium for overflow. Married women could be put to death for watching the games. The games were played in the honor of the Gods, and many sacrifices were made throughout the games. On the middle day of the event 100 oxen were sacrificed.



Image via Wikipedia

2. The tradition of tall, white chef hats come from the Greeks. In the middle ages, monastic brothers who prepared food in the Greek Orthodox monasteries wore tall white hats to distinguish them in their work from the regular monk, who wore large black hats. (about.com)

3. The saying “taking the bull by its horns” comes from the Greek myth of Hercules saving Crete (island) from a raging bull by seizing its horns.

• “Potpourri”

Here is an unusual fact (or two or three) about Greece:

1. The dead are always buried because the Greek Orthodox Church forbids cremation. Five years after a burial, the body is exhumed and the bones are first washed with wine and then placed in an ossuary. This is done in part to relieve the shortage of land in Greek cemeteries.
2. Don’t plan on saving money on your trip, couponing is illegal in Greece!

• Travel Information

Here are essential pieces of info that travelers to Greece will want to know about where to go, what to see, and/or how to stay safe while there:

1. The emergency number in Greece is 166. Knowing the emergency numbers can help give you some peace of mind. Also, there is at least one doctor on every island and some of the larger islands have hospitals.

2. May, June, September, and October are the best times to visit Greece. In the winter some of the islands close and the islanders go to their other homes on the mainland. Ferries, seasonal cafes, and hotels usually close their doors from the end of November to the beginning of April.

3. You should go to the islands of your choice first and then see Athens on your way back/ the latter of your trip. There are often ferry cancellations because of the Meltemi winds. You will need a windbreaker almost any time of the year when traveling in Greece.

Food Information

• Recipe

Baklava is a popular Greek dessert that is baked during the holiday season. You can purchase Baklava from some Greek merchants in the United States. The recipe serves about 20 people. I enjoyed making it for my family in my test run for the class. I would recommend making a larger amount of the nut mixture for the recipe. I acquired my recipe for kraftrecipes.com, search Greek desserts.

First, here are the ingredients you will need for preparing Sweet Cheese Baklava:

Ingredient	Quantity
1 cup of finely chopped walnuts, use food processor	2 packages (8 oz each) Cream cheese, softened
¼ cup sugar	½ cup honey, divided
1 tsp. ground cinnamon	2 eggs
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg	1 tsp. vanilla
12 sheets frozen phyllo pastry, thawed, Cut in half cross wise	½ cup butter (1 stick), melted

Next, here is a step-by-step guide to preparing Sweet Cheese Baklava:

Step	Action
1	Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine the walnuts, sugar, and spices in a bowl and then set aside. Beat the cream cheese, ¼ of the honey, eggs, vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well blended.
2	Layer phyllo in 13 by 9 inch baking pan. Brush each phyllo sheet with butter. Sprinkle a thin layer of the nut mixture evenly on top of the butter on every other phyllo sheet. Spread cream cheese mixture over the top when you are finished layering.
3	Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cream cheese mixture is set. Heat the remaining ¼ cup of honey in microwave and then drizzle over Baklava. Cool to room temperature before cutting to serve. You can also serve Baklava chilled. To do this: cover with plastic wrap and store up to 2 days in the refrigerator.

• My Kitchen Story

I am proud to say I did most of the cooking myself. I am not a great cook, but I am practicing. I purchased all of my ingredients at Wal-Mart. The hardest part of the recipe is having patience to carefully layer the phyllo sheets. My mother stepped in to help me with the blender, those things are fast! I didn’t know how to control it. I had a little trouble with the honey that you drizzle over the baklava when it is done. I warmed my honey in the microwave in the measuring cup. I heated it too long and it bubbled over and went all over the microwave. So, definitely put the honey in something besides the cup you used to measure it and don’t heat longer than 15 or 20 seconds. The phyllo has special instructions on the box, but just in case they do not here is a tip. They stress to not let the sheets dry out. In order to do this, you must use saran wrap and a damp kitchen towel. You place the plastic wrap down first, next the phyllo sheets, and then another sheet of plastic wrap on top. Lay the damp towel on top of the plastic wrap, removing each time to retrieve a sheet of phyllo and then place it back on top.

References

Barrett, M. (n.d.). A history of Greece. In Matt Barrett’s Travel Guides. Retrieved February 7, 2011, from ahistoryofgreece.com

Eighty five Interesting facts about Greece. (2009, April 19). In Random Facts. Retrieved March 2, 2011, from randomhistory.com

Greece Facts. (n.d.). In National Geographic. Retrieved February 9, 2011, from travel.nationalgeographic.com

Greece History. (n.d.). In Lonely Planet. Retrieved February 25, 2011, from lonelyplanet.com/Greece

Religion in Ancient Greece. (n.d.). In Wikipedia . Retrieved March 2, 2011, from wikipedia.org

Sweet Cheese Baklava. (n.d.). In Kraft Foods. Retrieved February 15, 2011, from kraftrecipes.com

University Press Inc. (n.d.). In Ancient Greece. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from ancientgreece.com

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Contact Information

To contact the author of “A Tour of Greece: A Quick Overview of the Nation of Greece, Plus a Recipe for Sweet Cheese Baklava as Lagniappe,” please email Sherrie.Lindsey@selu.edu / sclindsey2@gmail.com.

Biography

David C. Wyld (dwyld.kwu@gmail.com) is the Robert Maurin Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a management consultant, researcher/writer, and executive educator. His blog, Wyld About Business, can be viewed at http://wyld-business.blogspot.com/. He also serves as the Director of the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.com/), a hub of research and news in the expanding world of competitive bidding. Dr. Wyld also maintains compilations of works he has helped his students to turn into editorially-reviewed publications at the following sites:

• Management Concepts (http://toptenmanagement.blogspot.com/)
• Book Reviews (http://wyld-about-books.blogspot.com/) and
• Travel and International Foods (http://wyld-about-food.blogspot.com/).

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