In the second summer under the banner of proximity tourism, the most accessible Mediterranean coasts and islands will, once again, be more at than ever before. So why not take the opportunity to sail away from the crowds, to little-known havens where mass tourism has not yet arrived? Here is our ranking of the remote islands (some are from Simone Perotti’s Atlas of Mediterranean Islands) to visit by boat this summer: whether you have already chartered a boat or are about to do so!
- Kyra Panagia (Greece) – 39°19’26 “N – 24°04’20 “E
Also known as Pelagos, it is the largest of the desert islands in the Sporades archipelago. There would also be a monastery, but it is inhabited by only one person: pastor Giorgos Tzortis, who raises the Greek flag every morning. Redoubtable and beautiful to the north is Planitis Bay.
- Lampedusa (Italy) – 35°30’49” – 12°35’12 “E
Phoenician, Greek, Roman, colonized by the French in the eighteenth century, then by the Maltese, English farmers and finally by the people of Pantelleria on the orders of Ferdinand of Bourbon. Further south than Tunis, but Italian. A place surrounded by blue where you can feel at home.
- Jazirat Jalitah (Tunisia) – 37°31’31 “N – 08°55’47 “E
Known in French as La Galite (Italian for Caletta Island), it is the main island of the archipelago of the same name, 40 miles from Tunisia and 150 from Sardinia. A high rock in the sea with a troubled history. Inhabited occasionally in antiquity by Romans and Carthaginians, it was populated in the 1800s by a community of Ponzese and Tabarchinians who practiced lobster fishing there. Between 1956 and 1962, with Tunisia’s independence, the island was abandoned.
- Malu Entu (Italy) – 39°59’26 “N – 08°18’19 “E
A true pearl of biodiversity in the Mare Nostrum. The crystal waters surrounding the small island west of Sardinia are populated by sea turtles of the Caretta caretta species and cetaceans.
- Palagruža (Croatia) – 42°23’34 “N – 16°15’31 “E
A small paradise between Croatia and Italy (30 miles off Peschici), Palagruža (Pelagosa in Italian) is populated by sixteen types of orchids. Its waters are teeming with fish. Suggestive lighthouse on a hermitage to be reached after a good hike.
- Agios Efstratios (Greece) – 39°31’08 “N – 25°00’31 “E
A treat for those seeking peace, Agiostrati. In the middle of the northern Aegean, it is very little visited. In the past, many dissidents during both the Greek Civil War and the Colonels’ Dictatorship were sent to this remote corner in confinement.
- Gavdos (Greece) – 34°50’50 “N – 24°05’16 “E
Located in the Libyan Sea, its southeastern edge, Akra Tripiti, is the southernmost point in Europe. There are 17 churches, but only one pastor. One school, one teacher, three pupils. Rocky but green, thick with pines, cedars and junipers. The beaches are beautiful, the sunset seen from the Gavdos lighthouse is a mystical experience.
- Pantelleria (Italy) – 36°47’27 “N – 11°59’38 “E
Located 55 miles southwest of Sicily and 30 miles north of Tunisia, the volcanic island of Pantelleria offers a unique landscape: blocky lava flows, creeks and stacks complemented by ancient man-made constructions. Dry stone walls, Pantelleria gardens (almost always cylindrical constructions of dry lava stone masonry to protect citrus trees from the wind) and dammusi, ancient cube-shaped rural buildings with thick dry stone walls and white domed roofs.
- New Tabarca (Spain) – 38°09′52″N – 0°28′20″O
Low, white houses sloping down to the blue sea, palm trees, oleanders and ancient Ligurian speech await you on this beautiful island (which is a protected marine area part of the Valencian Autonomous Community) south of Cape Santa Pola in the southern Balearic Sea. Its name is due to the settlement, during the reign of Charles III of Spain, of families of Genoese origin from the small island of Tabarka, Tunisia.
- Gheru (Egypt) – 31°21’30 “N – 30°06’23 “E
On this uninhabited island in the Levant Sea, Egyptologist Paul Gallo discovered a large Macedonian settlement of houses with baths, a fortress, a lighthouse, a Doric temple, and a monumental cistern. Gallo, in 2000, also found some graves that would date back to the Battle of the Nile (1798) between the British and Napoleons. It’s little more than a rock this little island off the coast of Alexandria, but the atmosphere here is almost unreal.
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