| Im not going to tell you things about Spinalonga straight from a site about it - Im going to tell you what i learned. Firstly Spinalonga was the last ever leper colony in Greece. It's where the lepers were sent by the Cretan governement. It was the venetians who set up a fortress - the castle you can see with the 4 windows - there in 1579. While on my day trip to the island we went to a small beach before going to it. There we had a barbecue and a swim then we got back on the boat and drove all round Spinalonga. It is a small island and it's in very poor condition, Its curretly under construction. The name Spinalonga means long thorn as thats what the island is shaped like. While there we heard stories from Rowla our amazing guide, she was hallarious. We walked round the whole island and heard how the lepers were sent food from people in Agios Nikolaos - a small town next to Spinalonga. They sold them food and things they needed for very large amounts of money and they poorly treated the lepers. The thing that was really sad was visiting the graveyard. There we got told about how people used to steal the bones are souveneirs so they had to close them up - but you used to be able to see the actual bones of the lepers. It was a very interesting day and i really enjoyed listening to the story of Spinalonga. Though sad it was also very interesting. To top off the fabulous day we stopped in Agios Nikolaos for a few hours of shopping. It was really good and i'd reccomend visiting Spinalonga if you ever visit Crete. |
