Way Travel - Travel agency in Rethymnon Crete

Crete is the largest island in Greece and the second largest (behind Cyprus) in the eastern Mediterranean. It is located at the southern edge of the Aegean Sea and covers an area of 8.336 km². The population is 601,131 people (2001 count). Its 260 km long and varies in width, from a maximum of 60 kilometers (Dion and Lithino peninsulas), to a minimum of 12 km on the Isthmus of Ierapetra in eastern Crete. The coastline has deep geographic divisions, which gives Crete over 1,000 km of coastline.

The island is extremely mountainous and is defined by a high mountain range crossing from West to East, formed by three different groups of mountains. These are: the White Mountains (2,452 m), the mountain of Idi (Psiloritis (35.18 ° N 24.82 ° A 2456 m), Mount Dicti (2,148 m). These mountains created and preserved the fertile plateaus (like Omalos, the Nida and the Lasithi plateau), caves (like Dikteon and Ideon Andro) and gorges (like the famous Samaria Gorge, Imbros Gorge, the Kourtaliotiko gorge, the Gorge of the Dead at Kato Zakros Lassithi etc).

Crete is at the Mediterranean climate zone, which gives its main character of the climate which is characterized as mild. The atmosphere can be presented as quite humid, depending on the proximity to the sea. The winters are fairly mild and wet, with frequent rainfalls, mostly in western parts of the island. Snowfall is rare in the plains, but quite frequent in the mountains. During the summer, average temperatures are in the range of 25 to 30 degrees Celsius, certainly lower than the mainland of Greece. The south coast, including the plains and the mountains Asterousia, offers more sunny days and warmer temperatures in summer from the rest of the island. However the flora of the island is threatened by the gradual development of livestock in recent years.