Island of Spinalonga

We can see the island from Elounda and took a boat ride over to see it close up.

We are both reading 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop, which is a story based on Spinalonga and the villages of Elounda and Plaka.

The boat trip took about 20 minutes and the bay was like glass. The water was a turquoise blue.

The Island has a fortress on it, which can be seen from the mainland. This was built by the Venetians in 1579 to protect the inlet. In 1903 it became the site of Greece's leper colony. It remained a leper colony, Europe's last one, until it closed in 1957, when word finally reached Crete that leprosy was not contagious.

When you land on the island, you go through a tunnel which leads to the town. a lot of the houses and shop fronts are in disrepair, but there is an ongoing renovation project to restore the buildings to their former state. There are a couple of churches, a cemetery, as well as the hospital where the patients were treated. The views from the top of the island are lovely.

We spent just over an hour having a look around and then after having an ice cream and an iced tea in a shady taverna, we caught the boat back to Elounda.