Posted on 12/20/2024 3:24:40 PM PST by nickcarraway
A view from Santorini, Greece. Credit: Greek Reporter Greece was selected as the most beautiful country in the world for 2024 according to a global survey by US News and World Report.
The publication ranked Greece at the number one spot, followed by New Zealand and Italy. The top 10 most beautiful countries include Switzerland, Spain, Thailand, Norway, Iceland, Australia and Austria.
Greece’s beauty is a captivating blend of natural wonders, rich history, and vibrant culture. The country boasts thousands of islands with crystal-clear waters, sandy beaches, and picturesque coves.
From the snow-capped peaks of Mount Olympus to the fertile plains of Thessaly, Greece offers a variety of landscapes. White-washed villages with blue-domed churches dot the countryside, offering a glimpse into traditional Greek life.
Greece is home to some of the world’s most famous historical sites, including the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and the ancient city of Delphi. It also enjoys a Mediterranean climate with long, hot summers and mild winters.
Grecian Delight supports Greece
Greek culture has forged distinctive identities in science, the arts, social sciences and cuisine. Greece gave birth to drama and the theatre, as well as disciplines such as political science. Greek Orthodoxy is the dominant religion, but religious tolerance is encoded in the country’s constitution.
Greece ranking as the best country in the world
US News and World Report also rank top countries in the globe according to global performance on a variety of metrics, such as adventure, agility, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, heritage and power.
Switzerland is the best country in the world, followed by Japan and the United States. The seven countries that complete the list are: Canada, Australia, Sweden, Germany, UK, New Zealand and Denmark.
Methodology of the survey
The rankings project of the US News and World Report is based on how global perceptions define countries in terms of a number of qualitative characteristics—impressions that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment, and can directly affect national economies. The 2024 analysis covers perceptions of 89 nations.
A set of 73 country attributes—terms that can be used to describe a country that are also relevant to the success of a modern nation—were identified. Various attributes and nations were presented in a survey of nearly 17,000 people from across the globe. Participants assessed whether they associated an attribute with a nation.
Each country was scored on each of the 73 country attributes based on a collection of individual survey responses. The more a country was perceived to exemplify a certain characteristic in relation to the average, the higher that country’s attribute score, and vice versa. These scores were transformed into a scale that could be compared across the board.
I've been to many parts of Greece. But I was disappointed when I went to Kalamo that there was no zoo.
Carhenge is brilliant! I went on a hot sunny day and saw each exhibit up close. They were rather clever and I was amazed such a thing exists.
During my first visit to Greece, it took one just look at the daughter of my distributor to be absolutely knocked out. Auburn hair, wonderful smile, and bright green eyes, name Eleni. Something like the young lady in the middle picture. That was over forty years ago, and I can still see her in my mind’s eye.
Yeah but they ain’t got a Monument Valley, a Half Dome, a Yellowstone, Yosemite Valley, Coastal Redwoods. I could go on but somebody else add to my list.
Athens has rats bigger than Cats...
Wow...I did not know that. I wonder why they won't or don't clean it up?
Last time I was in Greece antifa was burning down the cities and the government was bending over backwards to cater to Merkel’s imported violent Muslims and Africans. The country side is still wonderful.
greece where the gov froze people’s bank accounts aawhile back
“The Greek government shut all banks in the country on June 29 after the European Central Bank capped emergency funding to the lenders.
Cash withdrawals from ATMs are now limited to €60 a day (about US$67) for Greek citizens. Foreigners who can find an ATM with cash are exempt from the limit, but cash-poor tourists are finding it very hard to find ATMs with money.
More importantly, Greece has made the first step down the road to capital controls by prohibiting the transfer of money to destinations outside Greece unless approved by the Ministry of Finance. “
France is #20? Nonsense. France is #1!
I agree
France would he high on my list also, however, there is no place on earth like Santorini, but Santorini is not a country. I would put Italy first.
The most beautiful women in the world live on Rhodes -
,,, agreed.
Italy, Switzerland, New Zealand...in that order
Was there today.
Not just natural wonders, if they count the Parthenon, the New York City skyline has a beauty of its own, by night or day.
Canyonlands National Park, Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef National Park, Beartooth Highway in Montana.
“Beartooth Highway in Montana”
Since moving to North Idaho eight years ago, we’ve been covering lots of the northwest, western Montana, and western Canada from the coast to Calgary. The Beartooth Highway is definitely on our list, but it’s snowed in so much of the year we just haven’t gotten there when the road is open.
And it at least used to be cheap to visit, in his "Comedians in Cars" show, Jerry Seinfeld remarked about how he and his family were frequent visitors, and how the economic crisis there didn't have any impact on the baklava. :^)
I'd guess that the celebrity Z-list (they're almost all Z-listers IMHO) have demanded luxury accommodations and the price has gone up here and there. A few years back Greece opened ownership of Aegean Islands (many are uninhabited) to foreigners.
Santorini has 2.5 million visitors a year, most of whom visit during the best weather, a ten week period -- and the permanent population is about 25,000 people, a good many ex-pats of other countries who loved the place and run B&Bs now.
Italy seems very popular these days for Americans for vacations. Including the wealthy in their yachts.
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