Paximadia Islands
| Paximadia Islands | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Mediterranean Sea | |
| Geographical location | 35 ° 1 ′ N , 24 ° 36 ′ E | |
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| Number of islands | 2 | |
| Main island | Sakolévas | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
The Paximadia Islands ( Greek παξιμάδια ( n. Pl. ), "Rusk Islands" ) are two uninhabited islands in the bay of the Messara plain , about ten kilometers off the coast of southern Crete . In front of the western end, a single rock juts out of the sea like a tower, but too small to speak of a third island, as does another rock between the islands.
The elongated island to the west is called Sakolévas and the smaller one is called Akoníza .
In ancient times the islands were dedicated to the goddess Leto and were called "Letoai". The almost vegetation-free rock islands are relatively well-known, as they can be seen from a large section of the south coast of Crete. The western of the two reaches a height of at least 252 meters and measures 1.1 km², the eastern one is only 166 meters high and covers an area of 0.6 km². There is no evidence that the islands were settled in earlier times.
Trivia
The Paximadia Islands play a central role in the novel "The Cretan Guest" by Klaus Modick .
