Cyclades
Islands
: Amorgos, Andros,
Folegandros, Ios,
Kea, Kythnos,
Milos, Mykonos,
Naxos, Paros
and Antiparos, Santorini,
Sifnos, Serifos,
Sikinos, Syros,
Tinos
Northern
Aegean Islands:
Chios, Ikaria,
Limnos, Lesvos,
Samos, Samothraki,
Thassos
Ionian
Islands:
Corfu (Kerkyra), Ithaki,
Kefalonia, Kythera,
Lefkada, Paxos,
Zakynthos
Saronic
Islands:
Aegina, Angistri,
Poros, Hydra,
Salamina, Spetsis
Sporades
Islands:
Alonissos, Skiathos,
Skopelos, Skyros
Dodecanese
Islands:
Astypalia, Halki,
Kalymnos, Karpathos,
Kassos, Kastellorizo,
Kos, Leros,
Nisyros, Patmos,
Rhodes, Symi,
Tilos
Other
Islands:
Crete, Evia,
Cyprus
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Dodecanese Islands - Halki
Halki is technically not one of the Dodecanese
Islands, but rather one of the Kizil Adalar, a group
of islands in the possession of Turkey and is located
slightly southeast of Istanbul. In ancient times, Halki
was called Chalcitis, and was a popular place for exiled
nobility and for Greek Orthodox monasteries. Halki, in
addition to being the site of a famous seminary that has
produced some great Eastern Orthodox scholars, is a picturesque
tourist area, partly thanks to a beautiful climate and
the influence of the Mediterranean Sea, partly due to
laws passed by the Turkish government banning motor vehicles
on Kizil Adalar. The islands in this area use horses as
the primary means of transportation.
In ancient times, Halki was much prized for its copper
mines; its other name, Chalcitis, comes from the Greek
“chalkos”, which means copper. Halki was ruled
first by the Greeks, but later taken by the Persian Empire
and never regained.
In the Byzantine period, numerous convents and monasteries
were built throughout the Kizil Adalar; the monastery
on Halki is still in operation, and has produced a few
notable religious scholars. These monasteries were also
often used as places of exile for fallen nobility and
other notable people. Exiled people were often blinded
prior to banishment.
Athenagoras, archbishop of Constantinople from 1948 until
1972, attended the seminary on Halki; during his tenure,
he met with the Pope and the two mutually agreed to withdraw
the centuries-old excommunication each had pronounced
for the other when the Catholic Church split down the
middle. Anthimus VIII, another Eastern Orthodox patriarch
of Constantinople, was also educated on Halki, as was
Archontonis, who became the 270th ecumenical patriarch
of the Eastern Orthodox Church from 1991.
During the summer, Halki and the other islands of Kizil
Adalar are a popular resort area for the Istanbul region.
Motor vehicles are prohibited on the islands; instead,
transport via horse drawn carriage, horseback, or on foot
are the norm. As a result, much of the island is very
picturesque, and tourists find none of the pollution,
noise, or unpleasant smells that often mar otherwise rustic
areas.
Halki is primarily an Eastern Orthodox Christian area,
and is very welcoming to tourists from the West.
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