Spinalonga

The setting for Victoria’s Hislop bestselling novel, The Island, this floating Venetian fortress and archaeological site was the last leper colony in Europe. (It closed in 1957, but some of the last survivors still live in the village of Plaka.) Spinalonga has just been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, so the whole place is getting spruced up. Boat trips depart from Ayios Nikolaos, Elounda or Plaka, sometimes stopping for a dip in the pristine bays of the Kolokytha peninsula on the way back.