02.08.2013
Уединенный скалистый остров Спиналонгаlocated at the bay of Mirabello. It is uninhabited and desolate, less, does not cease to attract tourists to its mysterious coast. Such high popularity is due to its ancient a story full of mystical sadness and grief. However, those who do not wants to delve into the wilds of epochal events, there is something to look.
Today is the island of Spinalonga, which can be reached from Agios Nikolaos or Elounda on a pleasure boat, – this is very beautiful, exotic place. His position was previously considered strategic: In ancient times, the island was the first line in the defense of the eastern Crete from sea pirates.
In general, the history of the development of Spinalonga dates back to 1579, when the Venetians built a defensive fortress here. Fortress was intended to protect the ancient city of Olonte, in the territory which is now located Elounda. In the eastern region of. Crete Venetians began active salt mining. Spinalonga both economically an important area has become a tasty piece of sushi for pirates. So that to prevent pirate infiltration of the island, it was decided to secure the approach to Olonta. The times of the Venetian-Turkish war made the fortress impregnable: for 24 years no the pirate ship was unable to capture it. When Crete was enslaved Turkish invaders, the island provided shelter to Christians, not lost hope to avoid conversion to Islam. Eloquent evidence of the events of those years are the surviving parts of buildings Turkish and Venetian origin, as well as the church of the Holy Panteleimon.
However, Spinalonga’s notoriety gained considerable later. In 1903, an leper colony was opened on the island, where they sent all patients with an incurable disease – leprosy. In leprosarium fell lepers from many islands of Greece. All who left for Spinalonga understood that there was no way back for them. So Spinalonga became the last refuge for several generations the Greeks. However, the island became for the unfortunate the best place, because the society turned away from the lepers and drove them away civilization. Infected were forced to hide in solitary places, for example, caves. In Spinalonga, patients could settle in abandoned villages and getting food along with medical care. Leprosarium was closed only in 1957.
Spinalonga itself is a small picturesque island, bypassing which is possible in just a couple of hours. At the top of the fortress will open stunning views of the bay. Ruins of ancient settlements still cause pity for the sick who lived away from the abandoned families. The main secret of the island, kept by the Cretans, is the legend that these places became a haven of ghosts: the restless the souls of the Turks, the Venetians and the Greek warriors who tragically died in The battle for Mirabello, hovering here to this day. Not rested and the souls of thousands of lepers buried not according to Christian laws. Cretans know how to hear from the uninhabited island at night the mysterious sounds of music, voices and chime …
How to get there (map)
