I'm Greek-Cypriot, and though ancient Greece is admirable, modern Greeks and Greek-Cypriots I find to be very sub-par compared to other European countries! Maybe cos they were under Ottoman/Turkish occupation for like 400 years during which they basically skipped the whole Renaissance and Enlightenment eras that made Europe what it is today. Modern Greeks I find to be more superstitious than average in Europe, more religious, more nationalistic, less educated, mostly talk about sports, don't read much, are not much interested in science or culture or any intellectual or human-progress stuff, they're not art lovers or museum-goers, and so on. They love their food, and it's good food, gotta give 'em that! Great climate, too. Basically good for vacations! Long story short, you'd never guess they once invented logic and philosophy and much of science :D