Spinalonga

The Venetians fortified this small island in 1579 to guard the entrance to the Gulf of Mirabello, building a ring of walls and bastions that held out for decades after the rest of Crete fell. In 1903 the Greek state established a leprosy hospital here, and until 1957 the island housed patients from across Greece who built a community inside the fortress: a main street of shops, a church, a cinema, gardens and their own council, documented in memoirs and, more recently, in Victoria Hislop's novel The Island, which brought a surge of visitors. Today the walk goes through the tunnel entrance, up the main street past the restored houses and the disinfection room, around the shore and back, with the Cretan mountains across the water.

History

The islet was fortified in antiquity to guard the entrance of the port of Olous, and in the 820s Christians hid among its ruins from Saracen raiders. The Venetians, who held Crete from 1210, began salt-pans in the shallow gulf in the mid fifteenth century, and in 1579 the Provveditore generale Luca Michiel laid the foundation stone of the fortress to plans by the engineer Genese Bressani; Spinalonga stayed in Venetian hands after the rest of Crete fell to the Ottomans in the Cretan War of 1645-1669, until it was handed over by agreement in 1715. In the early 20th century it became a leper colony, and it has been uninhabited since 1962 (Wikipedia, Spinalonga).

The main sights

• The Venetian walls - bastions and ramparts ringing the island.
• The main street - the restored houses and shops of the former community.
• The church of Agios Panteleimon - the island's place of worship.
• The tunnel entrance - the passage through the wall from the landing.

When to go

Spring and autumn for space and comfortable walking; the island is exposed with no shade. Boats run frequently in season and stop in winter or in rough weather. Early boats avoid the tour crowds.

Practical notes

The site is busy from mid-morning, and the circuit is short, about an hour. There is no shade or cafe on the island, and the ground is uneven. The history is recent enough that visitors should treat it as a memorial place rather than a curiosity.

Nearby

Elounda and Plaka face the island; Agios Nikolaos is fifteen minutes south.