Crete is an island, an elongated, mountainous strip of land.It is located in the middle of the sea, at the entrance to the Eastern Mediterranean Basin.

 Its geographical position is from latitude 35°42′ to 34° 55′ N and from longitude 23°44′ to 26°19′ E. It has an area of 8,346 square kilometers and is approximately 260 kilometers long. It’s width nowhere exceeds 60 kilometers and at the narrowest point is just 12 kilometers. Europe Africa and Asia are equally close, equally distant. The Cretan Sea separates Crete from the Hellenic peninsula and the Cyclades, while the Libyan Sea sets it apart from Africa. Geology dominates the Cretan landscape. Everywhere, bare rocks protrude from the sparse vegetation. Geological strata, faults, and folds are visible at almost every turn. There are few places in the world where contrasts of color and shape areas marked as on Crete. From the gray limestone on the bare mountaintops the sheer cliffs, the deep, narrow gorges and precipitous shores to the brilliant green schists and pale phyllites, to gentler slopes covered with dense shrub vegetation.

Truly flat surfaces are exceedingly rare on Crete. Paradoxically, most of them are to be found in the mountains. Whether large or small, mountain plains surrounded by cones of limestone suddenly heave into view, like oases in the rocky mountainous desert.

Source: Natural history museum of Crete