Greece is a paradise in Europe. The country has become widely known due to its rich history, it is of no less interest as an international resort. Consider the largest islands of Greece.
general information
The country includes more than one thousand four hundred 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 developed by people. However, many live on no more than a hundred people.
The most populated islands in Greece are Crete, Euboea, Lesvos, Rhodes and Kefalonia. They are also the largest in area. Each of them is famous for its rich history dating back more than one thousand years. They had to survive the heyday and fall of empires, from which the unique ruins of temples, palaces, fortifications, and gardens have now remained.
Crete
The largest island of Greece as if in a fog is shrouded in myths and legends. 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 lies in the fact that it is at the junction of sea routes between Africa, Europe and Asia Minor. The main Cretan ports are Agios Nikolaos, Heraklion, Chania and Rethymnon.
The islands in Greece are famous for their amazingly beautiful nature, and Crete is no exception. Its southern coast is steep and steep, and the northern coast is sandy and gently sloping. The maximum height of the mountains is 2400 meters, while there are an incredible number of caves in them - more than three thousand! According to legend, in one of them Zeus was born. Deep gorges, fertile plains and villages buried 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. Mountain slopes are covered with carpets of medicinal herbs and flowering shrubs.
Gifts of nature
The best islands of Greece yield up to three times a year. For example, oranges, peaches, potatoes and peppers grow in Crete. Each free patch of land is occupied by a greenhouse, inside which one and a half meter cloves or clusters of bananas flaunt. The most common oil trees.
Euboea
In second place on the list of "Largest islands of Greece" is Euboea. It is separated from the shores of Southern Thessaly by the Strait of Trikkerii, in the west of Lokrida, Attica and Boeotia - by the Straits of Talactia and Euripus. At the narrowest point of the latter, there is a bridge 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 3,600 square kilometers; it has a mountainous 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 (mulberries) are very common.
Island population
The largest islands of Greece are maximally developed by people. So, already 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 confusion over the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and the invasion of the Crusaders, large groups of immigrants came to the island, whose origin was not Greek. In the southern regions of Euboea, the Venetians settled, and after that - the Albanian Arnauts and Turks. In the Middle Ages, the north-west was filled with nomadic Romano-shepherd Wallachians. Halkis is inhabited by gypsies. The beginning of the nineteenth century was marked by the mass migration to Euboea of Karakachans, nomadic Greek-speaking groups of unknown origin, adhering to the Orthodox faith.
Today, the most common among the inhabitants of Euboea is the Greek language, however, in some villages you can still hear the Albanian dialect.
Lesbos
This island is located in the northeast of the Aegean Sea. He is the third largest Greek island 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.
Excursion into the past
The first settlements, which are known for certain, 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, Alkey and Sappho. Thanks to the creativity of the latter, the name of the island became the source of the emergence of a new term - “lesbian love”, which meant female homosexual relations.
For some time, the island was home to Aristotle (before he received the court rank from Philip of Macedonia). It is assumed that in the second century Taty Long lived on Lesbos, a writer who glorified the island in the pages of his novel Daphnis and Chloe.
In the Middle Ages, Lesbos was captured by the Genoese. Power over the territory was in the hands of the Gattilusio clan. 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, Greek troops conquered the island during the liberation operation. According to the Treaty of Sevres, concluded in 1920, Lesvos became part of Greece.
Rhodes
Which islands in Greece are the largest? We have already mentioned Crete, Euboea and Lesvos. 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. From Rhodes to the capital - Athens - two hundred and seventy nautical miles.
The island is often called the pearl of the Mediterranean. On its territory there are a great many natural beauties and archaeological sites. By decision of UNESCO, the historical part of Rhodes is included in the list of world cultural heritage.
Climatic features
The best islands of Greece 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 a lot of sunny days on the island - about three hundred a year. The warmest months are July and August (+29 on average), and the coolest 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 eastern Mediterranean. The island significantly influenced the history of the entire region; during its heyday, art and literature received special development. Painting, philosophy, physics, astronomy, geography and sculpture reached their peak.
Unfortunately, the masterpieces of Rhodes painting have not reached our days. 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. The characteristic artifacts of that time were vessels that depict wild goats, griffins and deer, interspersed with garlands of flowers and anfemias.
The sculpture also reached a special level of development precisely in Rhodes. Local craftsmen used parolite in their work, not marble. In the fifth century BC, an independent sculpture school was formed on the island. In the Hellenistic period, it became the most significant in the East and one of the most famous in Greece. In this era about a hundred and thirty craftsmen from thirty cities worked on the island. Among the most famous of them are Briaskida from Athens and Lysippos from Sikion.
The poet Apollonius lived and worked in Rhodes, as well as Aristippus of Cyrene, a philosopher, a student of Socrates. A speaker from Athens Aeschineus founded an oratory school on the island. Many Rhodians succeeded in philosophy. Among them, Panetai, Evdem.
"Frozen music"
The architectural appearance of any locality is directly dependent on the morphology of its territories, historical past and geographical location.
The settlements of Rhodes are divided into located on the islands and coastal. The latter include the cities of Rhodes and Lind. They are built in the form of an amphitheater, and amazing views of the boundless expanse of water open from them.
As for the settlements in the internal territories of the island, they owe their appearance to the need to protect the local population from constant attacks by pirates during the Byzantine period and after the Turks captured Constantinople. Thus, people chose sites that are impossible to see from the sea, small plains, slopes of hills and mountains, valleys and places on the banks of rivers. Most of the new settlements were fortified. The stone, land and timber used in the construction of houses and fortresses, but the island was enough.
Kefalonia
This island is the largest of the Ionian. Its name comes from the name of Mullet - 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 closest neighbors of the island are Zakynthos and Levkas. Mount Enos - the highest point of Kefalonia (1628 meters), area - 781 square kilometers. The administrative center and largest city is Argostoli. Kefalonia is located in a seismic hazardous area. The island suffered the most from the 1953 earthquake. As a result, most villages and all cities were destroyed. Only the northernmost settlement, Fiskardo, survived.
A bit of history
All the largest islands of Greece, the names and descriptions of which we presented above, were founded many thousands of years ago. Thus, historians and archaeologists have established that people began to develop Kefalonia in the Paleolithic period. The first famous inhabitants are the Greek Leleg tribe. They came to the island in the fifteenth century BC. Currently, thirty-five thousand people live in this territory. Patron and protector of the island consider St. Gerasimos of Kefalonia.
Transport network
The island has an airport with a runway of 2.4 kilometers. It is located ten kilometers from the city of Argostol. The main route is Kefalonia - Athens. In addition, the airport accepts many charter flights from all over Europe.
Ferries to the continent regularly depart from ports on the east coast. So, from the port of Poros the ferry is transported to the west of the Peloponesse, and from Sami to Patras.
Kefalonians have long been engaged in navigation. Many centuries ago, it brought good income. As the exhibits of the Ethnographic Museum confirm, the inhabitants of this island were wealthy people. From traveling, they brought home expensive fashionable furniture, dishes, clothes and art objects. Some modern large shipping companies are organized precisely by the Kefalonians.
Wonders of nature
The island is famous for geological phenomena that can be observed due to tectonic processes that occurred earlier. So, a truly unique phenomenon takes place in a place called Katavores: tons of sea water continuously hide underground, pass through a kind of underground tunnel seventeen kilometers long and break to the surface, falling into the lakes of Melissani and Karavamilos.
Concerts are held in the Kefalonian cave of Drogarati. Thanks to good acoustics, eight hundred people can simultaneously enjoy the sounds of beautiful music among stalagmites and stalactites.
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 reserve mountain is mostly covered with dark green firs, the wood of which was previously used in the construction of ships.
Fauna
The island is inhabited by animals of rare species. One of the largest turtles - the caret - is under state protection. Representatives of an endangered species lay their eggs in the sand of a reserved beach in 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 want to simply soak up the gentle sun on beautiful beaches.