Spinalonga

You read that title correctly. Spinalonga (Kalydon) was, until 1957, an operating leper colony that separated the sick - or those presumed sick - from the rest of their community. A place where stigma and fear consigned men, women, and sometimes their children, to a life of isolation on this desolate 8 hectares. 

Fortified since ancient times, much of the remaining infrastructure dates back to the period of Venetian military occupation.  Later, as the nearly 200 years of Ottoman domination were coming to an end, Turkish families from all over Eastern Crete fled to Spinalonga, fearing the Cretan insurgents' reprisals. 

The island has been uninhabited since 1962. That's when the last resident, a Greek Orthodox priest, finally left, having completed his commemorative duties to the dead. 

Today, Spinalonga is a museum in the final stages of becoming a UNESCO world heritage site. It is reachable by boat from the village of Plaka*, 10 minutes further south from the town of Elounda, or from Eastern Crete's main city Agios Nikolaos. The return trip costs 10 euros and boats leave every 30 minutes. 

*Note, there are two villages bearing the name Plaka on Crete. Be careful when entering this name into your GPS that you're headed in the right direction!

When you step onto the dock and the boat sputters away behind you, you experience a brief moment of that "stuck feeling". You're on an island with no way off. Ahead is the tunnel that passes through the outer walls of the Venetian defences. It's hard not to find yourself thinking of the dread that newly arrived residents must have felt as the reality of their exile sank in. 

Yet, when you emerge on the other side, you find a pleasant row of colourfully painted shops and homes that today house the informational exhibits of the museum. 

The structures become increasingly dilapidated as you move further in, but this part of the colony has a very similar look to the many small Cretan villages that you passed along your earlier drive. 

That sense of normality is a reminder that while Spinalonga surely felt sometimes like a prison, it was also a place where nearly 400 people continued to build their lives. Marriages were celebrated. Children were born and baptized. Bread was baked and artisans turned out pottery and metalworks. 

Unfortunately, the earliest exiles didn't benefit from the strength of community. When an outbreak of leprosy emerged on Crete in the early 1900s, fear of transmission saw sufferers essentially sent to the island to await their deaths. Tragically, it's believed that numerous people were transported to Spinalonga under false pretences. Misdiagnoses of other conditions as harmless as psoriasis could result in an order of removal. 

As the island's population grew, the residents organized and began to drastically improve the community's conditions. Buildings were renovated, a generator was installed to provide electric light, the clinical facilities were improved and even a small cinema was established. At one time, the island also supported a school, a cafe, a barbershop and a church led by a priest who volunteered to live among the lepers though he himself was not infected. 

In the 1950s, curative drugs became available and gradually the island's population began to dwindle. Father Chrysanthos Katsoulogiannakis, the island's priest, became the last resident to leave the island in 1963. He had remained there alone in order to fulfil the Orthodox tradition of honouring the dead 40 days after their passing. 

British author Victoria Hislop has written beautifully about the experience of Spinalonga's residents in her novel The Island. Your visit will no doubt be all the more meaningful and heart wrenching, recalling Eleni, a young schoolteacher torn from her family and sent to live out her days on the colony island.

A visit to the island should take anywhere from an hour to ninety minutes. Do climb up the rocky paths from the main village into the hills. The views are sublime. Even if you decide not to pick up a copy of Hislop's novel, spend some time reading more about the fascinating, tragic and inspiring history of Spinalonga's people before your visit. 

There but by the grace of god, go we.