It started with a simple journey on a sea kayak to an island just off the coast of Crete, itself being a very large island. We departed from a small beach near the town of Plaka (in Elounda Bay) and were to Spinalonga in only about 15 minutes. Once there we were confronted by large walls, obviously the work of human hands rather than nature. The walls were clearly meant to keep people out or keep people in, whichever way you want to look at it. I think it was for both, depending on the period of history.
The Venetians finished a powerful fortress there in 1579 as a way to protect trade routes through the Eastern Mediterranean. It succeeded. Even when the Ottoman Empire defeated Crete, they did not conquer Spinalonga for years afterward. During that time, the fortress island was used as a santuary for Christians in defiance of the Muslim rule. It is believed that the ecumenical church on the island is the first ever built of its kind. More recently, the island was used as a leper colony. From 1903 until about 1957, lepers were sent here to live out there dying days seperated from the rest of civilisation.
They walked what is known as "the street of pain" day in and day out suffering though a terrible disease, the cure of which was only found in 1947. It is this suffering and this disease that brings me to the story I've thought about for days now.
The upcoming posts will detail this story.
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