The history and heartbreak of Victoria’s Island
I’ve wanted to go to Crete ever since reading Victoria Hislop’s novel The Island. Like a siren, she lured me to the largest Greek island and then to Spinalonga, the tiny speck at the heart of her haunting story about a leper colony in the 1930s.
We drove east from Heraklion airport past the party resort of Malia, the archaeological treasures of Knossos, and dazzling white fishing villages until we arrived at our base, the Elounda Gulf Villas & Suites in Elounda.
The Kadianakis family have created their own take on a Cretan village in the shape of 15 sumptuous suites, 18 luxurious villas with private pools, a beach club, a spa and a restaurant that combines the best of Greek cooking with world-class cuisine. The resort hugs the hillside, but luckily you don’t have to be a mountain goat to clamber up from the infinity pool to
your private villa, as a team of white liveried bellboys sweep you up in golf buggies. I came to eke out the last of the summer sun, and to explore Spinalonga, which sits on the glittering Gulf of Mirabello. Boats depart daily from Elounda and Plaka for the eerie, arid and barren rocky outcrop.
Stepping on to Spinalonga, I was immediately transported back to Hislop’s book, her story of outcasts surviving a life of isolation. But in its own way, Spinalonga is life-affirming.; on our way up, we called in at the modest Church of Panagia Kera – to be wowed by the Byzantine frescoes.
And if you like arts and crafts, you’ll love the village of Kritsa. Here, the Panoramic Taverna looks like the film set for Mamma Mia! We swam from the island’s golden beaches to whip up an appetite for lunch at Taverna Bogazi in the fishing hamlet of Mochlos. On the menu, was baked sea bream, washed down with a Boutari sauvignon blanc. Like so many other hostelries here, the owner gave us the warmest welcome and found us a waterfront table – all at the mention of Victoria Hislop.