Gianissada Island

Α group of four (4) small islands at the north of the Sitia Bay, at a distance of 9 miles from Sitia. Two of them, Giannisada and Dragonara, are the biggest ones with mostly cedar-trees from Lebanon and the other two, Paximada and Paximadaki, are just small rocky islands. According to Mythology, the island was created by god Dionysus who was worshipped there and the islands were named after him. In antiquity, the islands belonged to the people of Itanos. On Dragonara, the island with the most vegetation, there are obvious traces of habitation and tombstones of the first Christian time have been found. On the eastern part of the same island, there is a cave and on the western part there are natural rocky "pillars" rising out of the sea water.There is also the small church of Agios Antonios, a small house and a small port. These islands belong to the Municipality of Sitia and according to recent research the construction of infrastructure work for the protection and the balanced tourist development of the islands is being planned. 25 years ago pasturing was forbidden; therefore the vegetation grew and the rabbits that always lived there multiplied. Dionisades Islands in Sitia, East Crete Dionisades Islands in Sitia, East Crete