Surrounding Islands
A large number of islands, islets, and rocks hug the coast of Crete. Many are visited by tourists, some are visited only by archaeologists and biologists. Some are environmentally protected. A small sample of the islands include:
- Gramvousa (Kissamos, Chania) the pirate island opposite the Balo lagoon.
- Elafonisi (Chania), which commemorates a shipwreck and an Ottoman massacre.
- Chrysi island (Ierapetra, Lasithi), which hosts the largest natural Lebanon cedar forest in Europe.
- Paximadia island (Agia Galini, Rethymno) where the god Apollo and the goddess Artemis were born.
- The Venetian fort and leper colony at Spinalonga opposite the beach and shallow waters of Elounda (Ag. Nikolaos, Lasithi).
- Dionysades islands which are in an environmentally protected region together the Palm Beach Forest of Vai in the municipality of Sitia, Lasithi.
Read more about this topic: Crete, Physical Geography
Famous quotes containing the word surrounding:
“Every winter the liquid and trembling surface of the pond, which was so sensitive to every breath, and reflected every light and shadow, becomes solid to the depth of a foot or a foot and a half, so that it will support the heaviest teams, and perchance the snow covers it to an equal depth, and it is not to be distinguished from any level field. Like the marmots in the surrounding hills, it closes its eyelids and becomes dormant for three months or more.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)