LITHUANIA - KLAIPEDA
Lithuania is an active member of the European Union (since May 1, 2004) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (since March 29, 2004). Lithuania is the only Baltic country with nearly eight hundred years of statehood tradition, while its name was first mentioned almost one thousand years ago, in 1009. Wedged at the dividing line of Western and Eastern civilizations, Lithuania battled dramatically for its independence and survival. Once in the Middle Ages, Lithuania was the largest state in the entire Eastern Europe, where crafts and overseas trade prospered.
The first mention of Lithuania dates back to the mid-XIII century. The town of Klaipeda was founded in 1252. Klaipeda is a unique Lithuanian city by virtue of its colourful, turbulent and tragic history and also because the Old Town’s architectural style is similar to many western European cities with which it had close links.
Lithuania is an independent and democratic republic. In Lithuania, the powers of the State are exercised by the Seimas (the Parliament), the President of the Republic, the Government, and the Judiciary. The scope of powers is defined by the Constitution. Public authorities serve the people.
The history of the Klaipėda city dates back to the time when the Livonian Order built a castle called Memelburg. A town grew around the castle close to where the waters of the Curonian Lagoon flow into the Baltic Sea.
Klaipeda is now Lithuania’s gateway to the world and the capital of the west of Lithuania. It is a vibrant and exciting city in which to live and work. The City has its own university, which is a true scientific and cultural centre. The Lithuanian Christian College has just celebrated its tenth anniversary and goes from strength to strength.
The seaport of Klaipeda is popular with investors and foreign partners because of its attractive and competitive conditions to develop industry and promote small and medium businesses.
Klaipeda will become increasingly important because of its direct links with other European and world-wide ports and because it is a sea transport centre, where regular shipping lines and fast modern motorway routes merge together.
CROATIA - ZAGREB
TURKEY - IZMIR
GREECE - KATERINI
Greece (Greek: Ελλάδα, Elláda, pronounced [eˈlaða]), officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία[eliniˈci ðimokraˈti.a] Ellīnikī́ Dīmokratía) and known since ancient times as Hellas (//; Greek: Ελλάς), is a country in Southern Europe and Balkans. According to the 2011 census, Greece's population is around 11 million. Athens is the nation's capital and largest city.
Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. It shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north and Turkey to the northeast. The country consists of nine geographic regions: Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands(including the Dodecanese and Cyclades), Thrace, Crete, and the Ionian Islands. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a vast number of islands (approximately 1,400, of which 227 are inhabited). Eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, of which Mount Olympus is the highest peak at 2,917 m (9,570 ft).
Modern Greece traces its roots to the civilization of Ancient Greece, which began with the Aegean Civilizations of theBronze Age. Considered the cradle of all Western civilization, Greece is the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, Western literature and historiography, political science, major scientific andmathematical principles and Western drama including both tragedy and comedy. The cultural and technological achievements of Greece greatly influenced the world, with many aspects of Greek civilization being imparted to theEast through Alexander the Great's campaigns, and to the West through its incorporation into the Roman Empire. This rich legacy is partly reflected by the 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in Greece, ranking it 6th in Europe and 13th in the world. The modern Greek state, which comprises most of the historical core of Ancient Greek civilization, was established in 1830 following the war of independence from the Ottoman Empire.
Katerini (Greek: Κατερίνη, [kate'ɾini], former name: Αἰκατερίνη - Aikaterini; "Catherine") is a town in Central Macedonia, Greece, the capital of Pieria regional unit. It lies on the Pierian plain, between Mt. Olympus and theThermaikos Gulf, at an altitude of 14 m. The town, which is one of the newest in Greece, has a population of 85,851 (according to the 2011 census).
The origin of the name is obscure. The modern town was probably founded during Ottoman rule, but already from the 13th century, travellers as well as maps record the existence of a settlement called Hatera (Ἅτηρα), which may have been the origin of the modern name. Thus Felix Beaujour recorded its name as "Katheri", while François Pouqueville gives the name of the settlement as "Kateri Hatera". According to another theory, the town derives its name from the small chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine (Aikaterini in Greek) to the east of the town, dating to at least the early 19th century. The latter hypothesis influenced official usage, where the town is found as "Aikaterini" or "Agia Aikaterini" until the early 20th century, until the vernacular name Katerini prevailed.
According to the reports of travellers, at the turn of the 19th century, the town had four to five thousand inhabitants, mostly Greeks. In 1806, William Martin Leake recorded 100 hearths, while four years later Daniel recorded 140. For the remainder of the 19th century, the number of homes remained steady at about 300, with a population in 1900 of 2,070 Greek Orthodox and 600 Muslims.
The town was captured by the Greek 7th Infantry Division in 1912, during the First Balkan War, and has been part of Greece since then.[2] With the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923, the town's Muslims left, and Greek refugees, particularly from Eastern Thrace and Greek Evangelicals from Asia Minor, took their place, almost doubling the town's population from 5,540 in 1920 to 10,138 in 1928.
ROMANIA - TECUCI