Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Around
From Agios Nikolaos, up to 14 daily buses serve Elounda (€1.70, 20 minutes), stopping
about €13. Boats to Spinalonga leave every half-hour (adult/child €10/5) between 9am
and 5pm.
Spinalonga Island Νήσος Σπιναλόγκα
Known as the 'leper island',
Spinalonga
(admission €2; 9am-6pm)
was catapulted into
pop-cultural consciousness by Virginia Hislop's 2005 bestselling novel
The Island
and
the subsequent Greek TV series spin-off
To Nisi
. Sitting pretty off the northern tip of the
Kolokytha Peninsula (confusingly also known as Spinalonga Peninsula), its massive fort-
ress was built by the Venetians in 1579 to protect the bays of Elounda and Mirabello, and
fell under Ottoman control in 1715.
In 1903, the island began its most notorious period as a leper colony. Also known as
Hansen's Disease, the condition causes skin lesions, nerve damage and muscle weakness
and has been around since ancient times. Then believed to be highly contagious, sufferers
were stigmatised and isolated, including as many as 1000 Greeks quarantined on Spin-
alonga, initially under squalid and miserable living conditions. This changed in 1936
with the arrival of Epaminondas Remoundakis, a law student who had contracted leprosy
at age 21, and who fought passionately for better medical care and infrastructure on the
island. A cure for leprosy was finally discovered in 1948 and the last person left Spin-
alonga in 1957.
Thanks to Hislop's tale about her own family's connection to the island, interest in
Spinalonga has skyrocketed and you're unlikely to feel lonely when visiting the island. A
1km trail starts at Dante's Gate, the 20m-long tunnel through which patients arrived, and
takes you past such 'sights' (mostly ruined) as a church, the disinfection room, the hos-
pital and the cemetery. Since there's little descriptive panelling, the illustrated booklet
(€6) sold at the ticket kiosk may be worthwhile for a more indepth experience.
Ferries to Spinalonga depart half-hourly from Elounda (€10) and Plaka (€5), giving
you an hour on the island (though you can stay longer and return on a different boat).
There's also one daily boat from Agios Nikolaos (€25).
Kritsa Κριτσά
The fine traditions of the old mountain village of Kritsa (krit-sah), 11km southwest of
Agios Nikolaos, are a touch blurred by the often insistent techniques of sellers of em-
