GREECE ISLANDS

Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227.

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The largest Greek island by area is Crete, located at the southern edge of the Aegean Sea. The second largest island is Evia. After the third and fourth largest Greek islands, Lesbos and Rhodes, the rest of the islands are two-thirds of the area of Rhodes, or smaller.

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The Greek islands are traditionally grouped into the following clusters: the Argo-Saronic Islands in the Saronic Gulf near Athens; the Cyclades, a large but dense collection occupying the central part of the Aegean Sea; the North Aegean islands, a loose grouping off the west coast of Turkey; the Dodecanese, another loose collection in the southeast between Crete and Turkey; the Sporades, a small tight group off the coast of Evia; and the Ionian Islands, chiefly located to the west of the mainland in the Ionian Sea. 

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The Greek islands ignite the imagination and satisfy the soul with a history laced in mythical tales and told through ancient, sun-bleached ruins.