Milos is one of the most beautiful and unique Greek islands. It is a famous destitanion for couples!
So let’s find out some trivia and facts about this majestic island!
- Milos or Melo is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea
- Just north of the Sea of Crete
- Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades group
- The Venus de Milo (now in the Louvre) and the Asclepius of Milos (now in the British Museum) were both found on the island
- As were a Poseidon and an archaic Apollo now in Athens
- Milos is a popular tourist destination during the summer
- The municipality of Milos also includes the uninhabited offshore islands of Antimilos and Akradies
- The combined land area is 160.147 square kilometres (61.833 sq mi)
- And the 2011 census population was 4,977 inhabitants
- Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades
- 120 kilometres (75 miles) due east from the coast of Laconia
- From east to west it measures about 23 km (14 mi)
- From north to south 13 km (8.1 mi)
- And its area is estimated at 151 square kilometres (58 sq mi)
- The greater portion is rugged and hilly
- Culminating in Mount Profitis Elias 748 metres (2,454 feet) in the west
- Like the rest of the cluster, the island is of volcanic origin, with tuff, trachyte and obsidian among its ordinary rocks
- The natural harbour is the hollow of the principal crater
- Which, with a depth diminishing from 70 to 30 fathoms (130–55 m), strikes in from the northwest so as to separate the island into two fairly equal portions
- With an isthmus not more than 18 km (11 mi) broad
- In one of the caves on the south coast, the heat from the volcano is still great
- And on the eastern shore of the harbour, there are hot sulfurous springs
- Antimelos or Antimilos, 13 miles (21 km) north-west of Milos, is an uninhabited mass of trachyte
- Often called Erimomilos (Desert Milos)
- Kimolos, or Argentiera, 1.6 km (0.99 mi) to the north-east, was famous in antiquity for its figs and fuller’s earth
- And contained a considerable city
- The remains of which cover the cliff of St. Andrew’s
- Polyaigos (also called Polinos, Polybos or Polivo) lies 2 km (1 mi) south-east of Kimolos
- It was the subject of dispute between the Milians and Kimolians
- It is now uninhabited
- The harbour town is Adamantas
- From this there is an ascent to the plateau above the harbour
- On which are situated Plaka, the chief town, and Kastro, rising on a hill above it, and other villages
- The ancient town of Milos was nearer to the entrance of the harbour than Adamas
- And occupied the slope between the village of Trypiti and the landing-place at Klima
- Here is a theatre of Roman date and some remains of town walls and other buildings
- One with a fine mosaic excavated by the British school at Athens in 1896
- Numerous fine works of art have been found on this site
- Notably the Aphrodite in Paris, the Asclepius in London, and the Poseidon and the archaic Apollo in Athens
- Other villages include Triovasalos, Peran Triovasalos, Pollonia and Zefyria (Kampos)
- Milos has a Mediterranean climate with mild, rainy winters and warm to hot dry summers
- Bentonite, perlite, pozzolana and small quantities of kaolin are actively collected via strip mine or open-pit mine techniques in Milos
- They are sold all over the world
- In the past, baryte, sulfur, millstones and gypsum were also mined
- In fact, Pliny notes that Milos was the most abundant source of sulfur in the ancient world
- In ancient times the alum of Milos was reckoned next to that of Egypt
- The Melian earth was employed as a pigment by ancient artists
- Milos was a source of obsidian during the Neolithic ages for the Aegean and Mediterranean
- Orange, olive, cypress, tamarisk, juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus) and arbutus trees grow throughout the island, which, however, is too dry to have any profusion of vegetation
- Vines, cotton and barley are the main crops
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