Spinalonga island
The best way to get there is by a rented car, although the serpentine there is still the same when crossing the ridge. But the views - and before wealthy people specially went here to admire the views, it only later became fashionable to swim in the sea almost naked - the views are simply wonderful. Mountains and sea! And at the same time, and if you sometimes look at the sea and get bored, then at the mountains - never! And the olive oil here is the most real and much cheaper than in Nicosia. I bought a canister and the whole family is provided for a year!
This is how it approaches, growing out of the sea …
And it's getting closer and closer!
Well, when you get to Spinalonga, you see … something that looks like a fortress and ancient ruins, and here you should at least learn a little in advance about what it is before your eyes. Let's start with some interesting facts from the history of this place. For example, from the fact that since 1957 this island has had the official antique name of Calydon, but people, out of habit, still call it Spinalonga. Moreover, next to the island there is also a peninsula with the same name.
And this is how it looks from the mountain if you go there by car.
The latter is the best way. By the way, this is how the gate of Heraklion looks like in the surrounding fortress wall. Impressive, isn't it ?!
Today the peninsula is separated from Crete by a small bay. In ancient times, this place was dry land and there was a large port city of Olus, which was under water after a strong earthquake that happened in the 2nd century AD. Today the village of Elounda is located here. But in the Middle Ages, all these lands were not inhabited due to constant pirate raids.
The pier and the main tower of the Spinalonga fortress.
Tourists are flowing!
Then, at the beginning of the 13th century, the island of Crete, which at that time was called the Kingdom of Candia, was seized by the Venetians, so that it became part of the Venetian Republic. Salt began to be mined on the Spinalonga peninsula, and it was with this salt industry that the revival of the region began. Then, in 1526, the northern tip of the Spinalonga peninsula was turned into an island by the Venetians, since it was decided to build an impregnable fortress here, which was supposed to protect the approach to the restored port of Olus. The place was not chosen by chance, since here, on the top of the cliff, the ruins of the ancient acropolis were still preserved, which the Venetians decided to use as its foundation. As a result, the fortress was commissioned in 1586.
The same tower and the ruins of fortifications.
By this time, the neighboring island of Cyprus, which, like Crete in the 16th century, belonged to the Venetians, was captured by the Ottoman Empire. And it was quite clear that they would not stop there and their next target would be the island of Crete, so the Venetians took the construction of a new fortress very seriously.
Venetian helmet. Found not here, but in Cyprus. But once again it says that the Venetians ruled in the Mediterranean for a long time and successfully! (Cyprus, Museum of the Sea in Ayia Napa)
As a result, they got a powerful concentric fortification, which consisted of two lines of defense: a fortress wall that surrounded the entire island along its perimeter and ran along the coast, and a citadel on top of a cliff in the most elevated part of the island. She was armed with 35 guns and therefore was legally considered one of the most impregnable fortresses of the Venetians in the Mediterranean basin.
Fortress from afar. One can imagine what she looked like when a gun barrel protruded from each of her embrasures, spewing smoke and flames … A ready-made location for shooting a movie about Admiral Ushakov - "Ships Storm Bastions."
In 1669, the Ottomans nevertheless captured Crete, but Spinalonga never succumbed to them and for more than 35 years, until 1715, belonged to the Venetians. But then they nevertheless surrendered it to the Turks, and they built their village in the ring of its walls. In the 19th century, more than 1,100 people lived there. When the island became part of Greece in 1913, most of the Turks fled from here, leaving behind only empty houses. The seclusion of the place and the absence of any economic interests in this area suggested to the government an original solution to all the problems of the depopulated island - lepers were exiled here in 1903!
The watchtower was made entirely of stone!
Now this disease, although it still occurs, is practically forgotten in European countries, and once this terrible and incurable disease, called leprosy, or leprosy, was well known to people, and from ancient times. She is mentioned in Egyptian papyri and in the Bible in the Old Testament. In medieval Europe, leprosy was very widespread, even in Scotland and Scandinavia, and the only way to combat it was to isolate the sick in special places - leper colony. The people who fell into them never returned to normal life, being buried alive in these terrible places.
Tower of the fortress from the inside. This is where they could put cannons on carriages, and a couple of gunners in historical costumes for photographs, and arrange a paid shooting from these cannons for tourists … But while the Greeks do not know how to lure money out of tourists as they should. And everyone who enters the island should be offered 25 grams of strong local alcohol free of charge. This raises the level of critical perception of the environment and, accordingly, will increase the number of rave reviews on the Internet by an order of magnitude.
However, the patients disfigured by the disease could still leave them. They were even allowed to beg on the roads of Europe, but were strictly prohibited from entering the cities. They were obliged to cover their faces with canvas bags and carry a bell in their hands, warning healthy travelers with their ringing so that they could turn off the road in time. How frightening an encounter with a leper could be is well written in Robert Stevenson's Black Arrow and is by no means fiction. There were leper colony, called "Meskinia", and in Crete. In France, in the Middle Ages, there was even a special ritual, according to which a patient with leprosy was placed in a coffin and buried in a cemetery, and then dug up and with the words: "You died for us" - sent to a leper colony. The entrance to the territory of the fortress on the island was carried out through a curved tunnel. In the days of the leper colony it was called "Dante's gate" - as in Hell, the people who got here did not have the slightest hope of ever returning back.
And it was Spinalonga that turned out to be the ideal place to isolate the sick and calm the rest of the healthy population of Crete. After all, this island was located not too far from the coast, so it was not difficult to deliver food and patients there. In addition, many empty houses were left there, abandoned by the Turks, where they could live. But it was still an island, so there was an impenetrable strip of water between the "infection" and the rest of the island!
There is a legend that after Crete gained independence, the Turks did not want to leave Spinalonga, and only when the first lepers were sent to the island did they flee from it in horror. Be that as it may, but by 1913 there were already about 1000 patients on the island and already in 1915 Spinalonga had become one of the largest international leper colony.
Living conditions on the island at that time were simply appalling - slums, poverty and complete squalor. There were no medicines, no basic amenities, there was absolutely nothing that, at least somehow, could brighten the life of the unfortunate inhabitants of this island.
Most of the island's territory is just such ruins. So do not flatter yourself, you have been warned!
True, patients in Spinalonga were given a monthly allowance, but it was so meager that it was not even enough for food, not to mention the purchase of some kind of medicine. The island itself was almost completely cut off from civilization - all things coming from there were carefully sterilized, and water and food were delivered by its inhabitants only by water.
However, quite soon, in spite of everything, the inhabitants of the island managed to organize themselves and create a community with their own rules and … values. Even marriages began to be concluded on the island, although this was prohibited by law. True, if healthy children were born to married couples on the island, they were immediately taken from their parents and sent to orphanages in Crete. By the way, the inhabitants of Crete seriously believe that ghosts are found on the island - the resting souls of the departed. They say that voices and even bells are heard on the island at night. So don't be late for the last boat to the mainland!
Over time, shops and cafes appeared on the island, and a church was even built, in which a healthy priest who had lived on the island for many years served. A traditional bazaar appeared at the gates of the fortress, where the sick could buy food and even send letters to their relatives on the mainland. In the 1930s, new houses began to be built on the island, and in 1939 a circular road was drawn on it along the perimeter of the island, for which part of the fortress walls was blown up.
Some of the walls and bastions of the fortress go straight into the water, so there was nowhere for the enemies to land.
However, even before it was built, at first glance, a quite ordinary event happened on the island, but it turned out to be very important for him - in 1936, a former law student, 21-year-old Epaminondas Remundakis, was sent there as another patient. He turned out to be a real leader who managed to rally the islanders. He created the "Brotherhood of patients of Spinalonga Saint Panteleimon", the head of which he was elected, restored the old Byzantine church of St. Panteleimon, established communication with the outside world. They found a dentist who agreed to come to the island, which was not easy, given the specifics of the job ahead, and for the nurses who already worked there, Brotherhood … achieved an increase in salary. Then an electric generator was installed on the island, so that it received electric lighting earlier than the surrounding settlements. Thanks to the labors of Remundakis, a theater and cinema, a hairdresser and a cafeteria appeared on Spinalonga. They installed loudspeakers broadcasting classical music, a school appeared, in which one of the patients became a teacher, and even began publishing its own humorous magazine. Marriages were now officially registered on the island and the birth of 20 children was registered.
Some streets and houses are nevertheless put in order.
At least some kind of greenery …
At least some shadow …
In short, as is often the case, just one person changed the lives of many, and for the better. He himself, in his autobiography, which he called "The Eagle Without Wings," wrote about it this way: “… I spent 36 years in prison without committing a crime. Over the years, many people have visited us. Some to take photographs, others for literary purposes. Why did some want to show disgust, while others - compassion? We want neither hatred nor condolences. We need kindness and love …"
View of the fortress from above. Nothing special, but the panorama around is simply breathtaking.
But the main thing that the inhabitants of the island needed was medicine. And just since 1950, diaphenylsulfone (dapsone) has become the main agent of leprosy. By 1957, the leper colony on the island was closed, and those patients who were incurable, including Remundakis himself, were transferred to clinics on the continent.
Evening is approaching.
The sun goes down …
After that, people forgot the small island off the southern coast of Crete for 20 long years. But in the 70s, tourists became frequent visitors and this place began to come to life little by little. A tourist infrastructure has appeared in nearby villages, and where there are tourists, there are new jobs. But the real boom on the island began after the bestseller "The Island" by Victoria Hislop appeared in England in 2005 and then in other countries. It was a great success, and then the MEGA TV channel in 2010 shot a series of the same name on it. So, if you have time, before going to Spinalonga it is worth reading this book, or even better it would be to watch the TV movie shot on it.
Plaka village, where many people come by car. The village is quite small but cozy.
On the opposite side of the village is this church - the Church of St. George. Looks funny, doesn't it?
Well, if you don't read anything, then … it's still worth going there, although there is nothing special there. Ruins and … everything! An impressive fortress, but there are no cannons, so there are only stones around. But very beautiful views. Just really! And, by the way, about the fortress and cannons … It is not at all difficult for people with a developed imagination to imagine them, and at the same time to think how good it would be to shoot one of the episodes of our, Russian, modern, historical television series about Admiral Ushakov here. Someone who, and he deserves it! Moreover, he deserved much more than Admiral Kolchak, who had already been awarded the television series. The British, for example, shot the eight serial television series "Hornblower" (1998 - 2003), about the adventures of a young sailor, ships and battles at sea, and filmed perfectly. Moreover, some of his episodes were filmed in our Crimea, in the Livadia Palace. So if they can, then why can't we film a series about such a significant national hero? And just the storming of the bastions of Corfu is really asking to be filmed right here, on the island of Spinalonga! But this is so - "reflections at the front entrance" and nothing more. Although who knows, maybe among the visitors of the VO site there are people who have access to our Russian producers, and they will like this idea. Who knows…
And this is a still from the TV series Hornblower. And the ships are there, and the guns roll back when firing, and the uniform is accurate to the smallest detail … Anyone who is interested in the naval theme of the era of the Napoleonic wars, I advise you to take a look.
Anyway, the island is worth a visit. Well, and you can get to Spinalonga from Agios Nikolaos or from Elounda on a small boat that runs back and forth in the summer months from morning until late at night. There is also the village of Plaka, located directly opposite the island, from where you will be taken to the island by boat in 10 minutes and for only 8 euros. But sailing from Elounda is half an hour and the ticket will cost 15-16 euros, respectively. When visiting the island, do not forget the water and be sure to bring sunscreen as there is no shade on the island. From the city of Heraklion, it is best to get to the above-mentioned places by a rented car or by the KTEL bus, which runs every half hour, starting from 6:30 to 21:45. The ticket costs 7, 1 euro, travel time 1, 5 hours. There is also a local bus from Agios Nikolaos to Elounda between 7:00 and 20:00. Travel time is approximately 30 minutes. The ticket costs 1.70 euros. There is also a bus to Plaka from here every 2 hours, from 9:00 to 17:00. The ticket costs 2, 10 euros. The main thing is not to stay on the island for the night, because then you will have to spend the night on bare stones. Everyone who works there is leaving the island with the last boat!
