17/09/2026
📖 If you’ve read The Island by Victoria Hislop, then a visit to Spinalonga is an absolute must.
On Tuesday we caught the boat over from Plaka, just like in the book, and spent a couple of hours wandering the streets of this fascinating little island.
And honestly… having read the book, it felt quite surreal. As you walk along the old streets and past the houses, shops, church and hospital, you can almost imagine the characters from the story wandering around here too.
But Spinalonga’s story goes back much further than its years as a l***r colony. It was originally a formidable Venetian fortress, built in the late 1500s to protect the entrance to Elounda and its valuable salt pans. Later, an Ottoman settlement grew up within the fortress walls, with houses built across the island.
And it was those existing houses, along with the island’s natural isolation and formidable walls, that made Spinalonga the perfect place for a leprosy colony. From 1903 until 1957, people with leprosy were sent here to live in isolation. Over time they created a community of their own, with homes, shops, a hospital, church and their own daily life behind the walls.
The colony finally closed in 1957, when effective treatments meant that isolation was no longer necessary, and the remaining residents were transferred to a treatment facility in Athens.
It’s beautiful, haunting and incredibly moving all at the same time.
Definitely one of those places that stays with you long after you’ve caught the boat back❤️🇬🇷
Boats from Plaka start at 10am and run every 30-40 minutes daily at a cost of €12 per person. The entrance fee for Spinalonga is €20 per person.
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