Ep. 61:  – Greek Islands – Top 5 (most popular)

July 2, 2023 Peter Jans

Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

Today's episode is on the five most popular Greek Islands. I recently had the pleasure of visiting three of the five islands listed in our mnemonic today which was Santorini, Rhodes and Mykonos. With Santorini I loved the whole volcanic setting and of course the houses along the cliffs. Rhodes for the medieval architecture and Mykonos for the quaint Mykonos town.

The Greek islands are steeped in history and have been home to numerous civilisations including the Minoans, the Mycenaeans, the Spartans, the Athenians and the Roman and Byzantine Empires.

Today they are a popular tourist destination with the majority of islands still uninhabited. Today’s mnemonic is on the top 5 most popular Greek Islands.

So, with no further ado, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Island_of_Crete,_Greece.JPG

Wikipedia Summary

Greece has many islands,[Note 1] with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200[1] to 6,000,[2] depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166[3] and 227.[2]

The largest Greek island by both area and population is Crete, located at the southern edge of the Aegean Sea. The second largest island in area is Euboea or Evvia, which is separated from the mainland by the 60m-wide Euripus Strait, and is administered as part of the Central Greece region. 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.

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 Euboea; and the Ionian Islands, chiefly located to the west of the mainland in the Ionian Sea. Crete with its surrounding islets and Euboea are traditionally excluded from this grouping.

This article excludes the Peloponnese, which has technically been an island since the construction of the Corinth Canal in 1893, but is rarely considered to be an island due to its artificial origins.

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_Greece]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greek_Islands_regions_map.png

Mnemonic

Greek Islands – Top 5 (most popular) – Santorini CRaM Crowds

(Now if you have ever been to Santorini, you will know that the crowds are crammed into small walkways)

1. Santorini

2. Crete

3. Rhodes

4. Mykonos

5. Corfu

Five Fun Facts

1. Greece has approximately 6,000 islands of which around only 200 are populated.

2. Greek legend says that after God had finished creating the earth, he had a few rocks left over. So, he threw them over his shoulder which just happened to be in the Aegean Sea, thus creating the Greek Islands.

3. The island of Santorini is actually an active volcano with its last eruption in 1950. Scientists have found evidence of 11 eruptions before this, in the last 200,000 years.

4. The city of Rhodes which is the capital of Rhodes is the most popular holiday spot in Greece which is famous for its medieval Old Town and turquoise beaches.

5. The Greek Island Crete is both the largest and most populous island in Greece. As well as being the home of the Greek God himself, Zeus.

And I must Apollo-gise, I don’t have any cheesy puns today, but I did happen to go to a quiz on general knowledge and Greek Mythology the other night. We were doing alright after the general knowledge but crashed after the Greek Mythology round. Unfortunately, Greek mythology just seems to be our Achilles heel!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greek_Island_Helicam.jpg

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. Which Greek Island is known as the party island?

Q.2. Why did white become the trademark colour of Cycladic (cy-cladd-icc) houses? Your two options are, to reflect the sunlight because of the heat or, because the limestone whitewash was considered an effective disinfectant.

Q.3. Mandraki (man-drake-ee) Harbour is the main Port of which Island? Options are Corfu, Rhodes or Santorini

Bonus Q. The Greek Islands are awash with blue doors. What is the significance of the blue doors?

Mnemonic Recap

Greek Islands – Top 5 (most popular) – Santorini CRaM Crowds (Now if you have ever been to Santorini, you will know that the crowds are crammed into small walkways)

1. Santorini

2. Crete

3. Rhodes

4. Mykonos

5. Corfu

Three Question Quiz Answers

Q.1. Which Greek Island is known as the party island?

A. Mykonos

Q.2. Why did white become the trademark colour of Cycladic houses? Options are, to reflect the sunlight because of the heat or, because the limestone whitewash was considered an effective disinfectant.

A. It was because the limestone whitewash was considered an effective disinfectant.

Q.3. Mandraki Harbour is the main Port of which Island? Options are Corfu, Rhodes or Santorini

A. Rhodes

Bonus Q. The Greek Islands are awash with blue doors. What is the significance of the blue doors?

A. They keep away the evil spirits

Word of the Week

gens du monde

[ zhahn-de-mond ]

plural noun

people of the world; leaders in society; fashionable people.

Example

The Greek Islands attracts a lot of the gens du monde for vacation