Visit Spinalonga Island with boat ticket and Olive Oil Factory

General information

Program details

This once-in-a-lifetime experience brings you to the sparkling sea of the Mirabello Bay in East Crete. Luxury air-conditioned coaches will deliver you to the village of Elounda – certainly one of the most beautiful locations on the island.

After a short cruise across the clear blue waters, we reach the tiny island of Spinalonga. With its amazingly rich history, Spinalonga is a truly magical place. Due to its strategic location at the entrance to Elounda Bay, the Venetians created a fortified stronghold on Spinalonga – ‘The Rock’ - in the 16th Century AD. This fort protected East Crete from invasion by pirates and its extremely strong walls, even after so many cannon ball strikes, stand proud to this day. In the middle of the 17th century, Spinalonga was attacked and conquered by the Turkish Ottoman Empire and remained a Turkish stronghold until the liberation of Crete in 1821. In 1903, historical circumstances gave Spinalonga another role, that of the Leper colony. For more than half a century the unfortunate ‘living dead’ were taken to live out their lives in an isolated community upon Spinalonga. The village with its tiny houses, shops, church, workshops, and sanitarium still stands today.

British author Victoria Hislop has immortalized the heartbreaking story of the lepers in her internationally acclaimed book ‘The Island’ and the story, based on true facts, has now been made into a film using Elounda and the village of Plaka across the water as its setting.

Our professional tour guide will escort you onto the island and you will hear all about the long history of this fascinating place. Close your eyes and imagine, listen to the sea and taste the saltwater on your lips and you will be transported back in time in an experience you will never forget.

After our visit to Spinalonga, we continue on our cruise across the bay and you will have the opportunity to relax and enjoy the calm, crystal-clear sea at Kolokytha. On our return, we take time for a stop at the picturesque town of Agios Nikolaos where you may take a stroll around the ‘bottomless’ lake, the pretty harbor, and cosmopolitan shops and tree-lined avenues.

Enjoy a relaxing coffee in any of the lakeside cafes and sit back and watch the world go by in this beautiful setting. Voted one of the very best trips on Crete, this is a tour not to be missed.

Duration: 8 hours