Greece is a paradise in Europe. The country has become widely known for its rich history, it is no less interesting as an international resort. Consider the largest islands of Greece.
General information
The country has more than 1400 islands. Many of them are uninhabited, their sizes are very small. The largest islands in Greece, of which there are two hundred and twenty, are mastered by people. However, many have no more than a hundred people.
The most populous islands in Greece are Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Kefalonia. They are also the largest in area. Each of them is famous for its rich history, numbering more than one thousand years. They had to endure the rise and fall of empires, which now left the unique ruins of temples, palaces, fortifications, gardens.
Crete
The largest island in Greece is shrouded in myths and legends like a mist. It represents the extreme point of all of Europe. Crete is inhabited by 550 thousand people, its area is 8.336 square kilometers. The peculiarity of the island is that it is located at the junction of sea routes between Africa, Europe and Asia Minor. Major Cretan portsAgios Nikolaos, Heraklion, Chania and Rethymnon.
The islands in Greece are famous for their amazing natural beauty, and Crete is no exception. Its southern coast is steep and steep, while its northern coast is sandy and gently sloping. The maximum height of the mountains is 2400 meters, while they have an incredible number of caves - more than three thousand! According to legend, Zeus was born in one of them. Deep gorges, fertile plains and villages immersed in the greenery of olive groves - all this is the island of Crete in Greece. On its territory you can admire chestnut, oak, cypress, cedar and palm groves. The mountain slopes are covered with carpets of medicinal herbs and flowering shrubs.
Gifts of nature
Greece's best islands yield up to three crops a year. For example, oranges, peaches, potatoes and peppers grow in Crete. Each free piece of land is occupied by a greenhouse, inside which one and a half meter carnations or bunches of bananas flaunt. Oil trees are the most common.
Evia
Euboea is in second place on the list of "Largest Islands of Greece". It is separated from the coast of South Thessaly by the Strait of Trikkeria, in the west from Locris, Attica and Boeotia by the Straits of Talactia and Eurypus. At the narrowest point of the latter, a bridge is thrown to mainland Greece, because the distance is only 38 meters.
The heyday of Euboea fell on the period of antiquity, at present it is of interest as a beautiful resort area. The total area of the island is more than 3600 square kilometers, it differsmountainous terrain. The climate is Mediterranean (dry subtropical), the soil in the valleys is fertile. The river network is poorly developed. The main products are wine, honey, wheat and oranges. Peaches and mulberries are very common.
Population of the island
The largest islands of Greece are maximally developed by people. So, in 1889, a little more than ninety thousand people lived on Euboea. According to official sources, the Greeks make up the main population of the island.
After the turmoil caused by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and the invasions of the Crusaders, large groups of immigrants came to the island, whose origin was not Greek. The Venetians settled in the southern regions of Euboea, and then the Arnaut Albanians and Turks. In the Middle Ages, the northwest was filled with nomadic Roman-speaking shepherds, the Vlachs. Khalkis is inhabited by gypsies. The beginning of the nineteenth century was marked by the mass migration to Euboea of the Karakachans, nomadic Greek-speaking groups of unknown origin who adhere to the Orthodox faith.
Today, Modern Greek is the most widely spoken language among the inhabitants of Euboea, but the Albanian dialect can still be heard in some villages.
Lesbos
This island is located in the northeast of the Aegean Sea. It is the third largest island in Greece and the eighth largest in the Mediterranean (only Sicily, Cyprus, Sardinia, Corsica, Crete, Euboea and Mallorca are larger than Lesbos). Its area is 1632.81 square kilometers. The main city is Mytilene.
A trip to the past
The first known settlements appeared on Lesbos at the beginning of the third millennium BC. The oldest famous native of the island is Terpander, a poet who worked in the eighth century BC.
At the end of the seventh - at the beginning of the first half of the sixth century BC, Lesbos was the place of life of such famous poets as Arion, Alcaeus and Sappho. Thanks to the creativity of the latter, the name of the island became the source of a new term - "lesbian love", which meant female homosexual relationships.
For some time the island was home to Aristotle (before he received a court rank from King Philip of Macedonia). It is assumed that Tatius Longus, a writer who glorified the island in the pages of his novel Daphnis and Chloe, lived in Lesbos in the second century.
In the Middle Ages, Lesbos was captured by the Genoese. Power over the territory was in the hands of the Gattilusio family. Its representatives took the title of archons (heads) of the island. They ruled from 1355 to 1462, until the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Mehmed II came to Lesbos. Only at the end of 1912, the Greek troops retook the island during the liberation operation. According to the Treaty of Sevres, concluded in 1920, Lesvos became part of Greece.
Rhodes
What are the largest islands in Greece? We have already mentioned Crete, Euboea and Lesbos above. Now consider the fourth largest island (1398 km²) called Rhodes. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and is part of the Dodecanese group of islands in the Aegean Sea. FromRhodes to the capital - Athens - two hundred and seventy nautical miles.
The island is often referred to as the pearl of the Mediterranean. On its territory there is a great variety of natural beauties and archaeological sites. According to the decision of UNESCO, the historical part of Rhodes is included in the list of world cultural heritage.
Climatic features
Greece's best islands boast fresh summers and mild winters. And Rhodes is the clearest example of this. The climate there is Mediterranean, the average temperature is 18-20 degrees Celsius. There are many sunny days on the island - about three hundred a year. The warmest months are July and August (+29 on average), while the coolest months are December, January, February and March (+9-11 degrees).
Culture and Art of Antiquity
For many centuries, Rhodes played the role of an important trading port in the east of the Mediterranean. The island significantly influenced the history of the entire region; during its heyday, art and literature were especially developed. Painting, philosophy, physics, astronomy, geography and sculpture have reached their apogee.
Unfortunately, the masterpieces of Rhodes painting have not survived to this day. The only source of information is ancient writings. In them you can find references to the work of many talented artists.
Much more is known about ceramics. The Archaeological Museum of Rhodes presents the brightest examples of this art. Characteristic artifacts of that time are vessels depicting wild goats, griffins and deer, interspersed with garlands offlowers and anthemia.
Sculpture has also reached a special level of development in Rhodes. Local craftsmen used parolith rather than marble in their work. In the fifth century BC, an independent sculptural school was formed on the island. During the Hellenistic period, it became the most significant in the East and one of the most famous in Greece. In this era, about one hundred and thirty craftsmen from thirty cities worked on the island. Among the most celebrated of them are Briascides of Athens and Lysippus of Sicyon.
The poet Apollonius lived and worked on Rhodes, as well as Aristippus of Cyrene, a philosopher, a student of Socrates. Aeschines, an orator from Athens, founded a school of oratory on the island. Many Rhodians achieved success in philosophy. Among them are Panetai, Evdem.
Frozen Music
The architectural appearance of any area is directly dependent on the morphology of its territories, historical past and geographical location.
The settlements of Rhodes are divided into those located inside the island and seaside. The latter include the cities of Rhodes and Lind. They are built in the form of an amphitheater, they offer amazing views of the endless water surface.
As for the settlements in the interior of the island, they owe their appearance to the need to protect the local population from the constant attacks of pirates during the Byzantine period and after Constantinople was captured by the Turks. Thus, people have chosen to live in areas that cannot be seen from the sea, small plains, slopes of hills and mountains, valleys and places on the coast.rec. Most of the new settlements were fortified. Stone, earth and wood used in the construction of houses and fortresses, but the island had enough.
Kefalonia
This island is the largest of the Ionian. Its name comes from the name of Cephalus, the hero of ancient Greek myths. There is another version. So, it is believed that the word "Kefalonia" can be translated as "island with a head", and it is associated with the name of the rock Kefalus.
Geographic data
The nearest neighbors of the island are Zakynthos and Levkas. Mount Enos is the highest point of Kefalonia (1628 meters), the area is 781 square kilometers. The administrative center and largest city is Argostoli. Kefalonia is located in an earthquake-prone area. The island suffered the most from the 1953 earthquake. As a result, most villages and all cities were destroyed. Only the northernmost settlement survived - Fiskardo.
A bit of history
All the largest islands of Greece, the names and descriptions of which we have presented above, were founded many thousands of years ago. Thus, historians and archaeologists have established that people began to explore Kefalonia as early as the Paleolithic period. The first known inhabitants are the Lelegs, a Greek tribe. They came to the island in the fifteenth century BC. Currently, thirty-five thousand people live in this territory. Saint Gerasimos of Kefalonia is considered the patron and protector of the island.
Transport network
The island has an airport with a runway of 2.4 kilometers. It is located ten kilometers from the city of Argostol. Main route -Kefalonia - Athens. In addition, the airport receives many charter flights from all over Europe.
From the ports located on the east coast, ferries depart regularly for the continent. So, from the port of Poros, a crossing is made to the west of the Peloponnese, and from Sami - to Patras.
Kefalonians have long been engaged in navigation. Many centuries ago, it brought a good income. As the exhibits of the Ethnographic Museum confirm, the inhabitants of this island were we althy people. From their travels, they brought home fashionable expensive furniture, dishes, clothes and art objects. Some modern large shipping companies are organized by the Kefallonians.
Wonders of Nature
The island is famous for its geological phenomena, which can be observed due to previous tectonic processes. So, a truly unique phenomenon occurs in a place called Katavores: tons of sea waters are continuously hidden underground, pass through a kind of underground tunnel seventeen kilometers long and break out to the surface, falling into the lakes Melissani and Karavamylos.
Concerts are held in Drogarati Cave of Kefalonia. Thanks to good acoustics, eight hundred people can simultaneously enjoy the sounds of beautiful music among stalagmites and stalactites.
The Enos mountain range is a national reserve. On its territory you can see many rare plants listed in the Red Book, including rare species of violets and orchids. The reserved mountain is mostly covered with dark green firs, woodwhich was previously used in the construction of ships.
Fauna
Animals of rare species live on the island. One of the largest turtles - Caretta - is under state protection. Representatives of an endangered species lay their eggs in the sand of a protected beach in the town of Munda.
Conclusion
The largest islands of Greece, the list of which was given above, are of exceptional interest to historians, archaeologists and ordinary travelers who just want to soak up the gentle sun on beautiful beaches.
