Chrissi Island

One of the 81 uninhabited islands of Crete is Chrissi or Gaidouronisi (donkey) island. Chrissi lies 8 miles away from Ierapetra's coasts, in the Libyan sea and is almost flat with colourful volcanic rocks covered in gold sand, purple shells and sand dunes. It is 5 km long and has an average width of 1 km and an average height of 10m. From over there the visitor can have an impressive view of the Libanon cedar forest, probably the last existing in Europe. The density of these trees is approximately 28 trees per hectare and in an average age of 200 years old. On the west part of the island the visitor can see the well-preserved old chapel of Agios Nikolaos (possibly built in the 13th century), the salt pan which still gathers salt, the old port, the Minoan ruins, some Roman carved graves and the light house. In the sea around the island the variety of the marine species is impressive. Around 54 different species of fossils were set on the volcanic rocks 350000 to 70000 years ago, when Chrissi was covered by water. A number of them still live in the sea around. The turquoise waters around the island are shallow. Up to 1 Km north and south, the depth does not exceed 10 m. This makes Chrissi the best place for snorkeling. Chrissi looks like the last paradise on Earth. A place to dream, swim and go walking. It is not allowed to litter, to collect rocks, shells, plants, to light fires, to walk outside the designated paths and to camp.