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Visit The Greek Islands!
You may find a lot of great places to travel in the southern area of Europe, but one of the most unique of all is Greece. This peninsular and mountainous country is virtually surrounded by the Aegean and the Ionian sea. The surface of Greece, including the Greek islands, covers a total of 131,940 square km, of which, 130,800 square km are land and 1,140 square km are water. Its coastline is 13,676 km long.
Located in the Mediterranean Sea, the weather in Greece and the Greek islands naturally is mild and consists of two major seasons, a dry season and a wet season. Summers are dry and can be pretty hot, and in July and August it is quite unlikely to see any rain and mild winters. Snow might fall in winter in the mountains. Still, the cold in the winter is rather mild. For example in one of the Greek islands, in Rhodes, in January, the temperature can drop to 5 degrees C, but the maximum average temperature is up to 15 degrees C. Usually the temperature does not sink below 0 degrees C. In summer however, the average temperatures rise between 22 and 36 degrees C in July and August, making greek summers hot and dry. The island of Crete has the highest average temperature as it is the most southern of all the Greek islands.
One the most unique characteristics found in this country is the great number of it's islands. There are over 1500 Greek islands of various sizes scattered all over the Aegean and the Ionian sea - most of which are unique in architecture and culture. The majority of the Greek islands are located in the Aegean Sea, between the mainland of Greece and the coastline of Turkey, and these are divided in groups of islands or regions as follows:
1. Ionian sea:
Eptanisa (= Seven Islands) ), includes the Greek islands of Corfu (or "Kerkyra" as the greeks call it), Ithaki, Kefalonia, Kithira & Antikythira, Lefkada, Zakynthos (or "Zante) and Paxi.
2. Aegean sea:
Dodekanisa (=Twelve Islands): Astypalea, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kos, Kasos, Rhodos, Lypsous, Leros, Kastelorizo, Nisiros, Patmos, Symi, Tilos, Chalki.
Cyclades: Amorsos, Anafi, Andros, Antiparos, Thira ( or Santorini ), Kimolos, Kythnos, Milos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Serifos, Sikinos, Sifnos, Syros, Tinos, and Folegandros.
Northeastern Aegean Islands: Ikaria, Samos, Chios, Inousses, Psara, Lesvos (or Mytilini), Limnos, Agios Efstratios, Samothraki, Thasos.
Evia and Sporades: Evia island, Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonnisos, Skyros.
Saronic Gulf islands these are close to Athens, and Pireus: Aegina, Poros, Hydra, Spetses.
And Crete, which is the largest island and is located at the southest part of Greece.
The unique beauty of the islands, the variety of scenery found from one island to the other, their historical heritage and the joyful life of the modern greeks, all these make the islands one of Europe’s most friendly, relaxed and visited destinations!
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