GREECE CRETE LASITHI SPINALONGA

Spinalonga is a peninsula in the Elounda Bay north of Agios Nikolaos, with Olous and Poros in the South. The main tourist attraction in this area is however the small unoccupied islet at its northern end, Kalydon. - Above right: dawn at Plaka, Kalydon on the right.

After the fall of Constantinople during the 4th Crusade, the Venetians became the major force in the Mediterranean. Early in the 1200s, Crete fell into their hands and due to its strategic position for trade with the east, was subsequently established as a Venetian power-base. In spite of more than a dozen major revolts, Venice held control for more than four centuries. In 1579, a mighty fortress was built on Kalydon in response to the growing threat from the Ottoman Empire. It was designed to defend the Bay of Mirabello, and especially the Venetian fleet's anchorage at Elounda. Until 1715, 46 years after the fall of Candia to the Turks, the fort remained in Venetian control and served as a haven for Christians fleeing the Ottoman invasion. - The Turks then controlled the rock until 1903, when they were driven out of Crete, and again the small islet was a last refuge.

This could be the theme of the island's tragical history: the final refuge. In 1903, one of the first decisions of the new Cretan Assembly was to establish a leper colony on Kalydon. Leprosy, the "oldest disease of the world" and the one most feared in ancient times, had become endemic on Crete. The sick, formerly living in caves, were now sent to the island to live and die there. Kalydon was well suited for this purpose: near enough for supplies to be ferried across, but far enough to prevent the disease from spreading. The lepers were to accomodate in the abbandoned old houses; family and visits were not allowed. We can hardly imagine, how they lived on this barren islet and how miserable their deaths were. Years later, things improved slightly, when a small number of doctors, priests and nuns arrived on the island to try to alleviate the suffering of the inhabitants. During its existence, the colony was the last refuge for about four hundred people, some of them even born on the island, and most of them are buried there. It lasted until 1957, when the last leper left.

Today's visitors are ferried from Elounda, Plaka or Agios Nikolaos. They disembark at "Dante's gate" (so named in the times of the colony, when there was no return) and follow a long tunnel to the remnants of a once thriving community, the setting for Victoria Hislop's bestselling novel "The Island". The buildings are in ruins, but the atmosphere is still there.