Elounda ( el, Ελούντα, Elúnda), alternatively transliterated as Elounta or Elouda, is a small town on the northern coast of the island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

. It is part of the municipality of Agios Nikolaos.

Settlement structure

Spinalonga-et-al-from-OSM-view-with-text-4

Elounda is formed of seven villages and an uninhabited island area. The village of Schisma is by far the most populated one and is often understood as 'Elounda Centre'. The community of Elounda has a total of 2,193 inhabitants according to the 2011 census. The areas making up the community are (at least since the re-organisation of 2011-01-01) with Greek names and head count: * Agia Paraskevi – Ἁγία Παρασκευή – 23 * Epano Elounda – Ἐπάνω Ἐλοῦντα – 115 * Epano Pine – Ἐπάνω Πιναί – 35 * Kalydon – Καλυδών (uninhabited island area) * Kato Elounda – Κάτω Ἐλοῦντα – 86 * Kato Pine – Κάτω Πιναί – 62 * Mavrikianon – Μαυρικιανόν – 142 * Schisma – Σχίσμα – 1,730 The area of Kalydon is made up of the island of Spinalonga, the Peninsula Spinalonga and the island of Kolokythas along with other smaller maritime structures.

Geography and neighbourhood

The road into Elounda from Agios Nikolaos is approximately 12 km in length and follows the shore as it climbs to the top of a small mountain. On a clear day it is possible to see the whole of

Mirabello Bay Mirabello Bay (also ''Bay/Gulf of Mirabello/Mirabella'') is an embayment of the Sea of Crete on the eastern part of Crete in present-day Greece. It is the largest bay of the Greek islands and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea. The tourist ...

and all the way to the eastern tip of Crete. The small fishing village of Plaka (Lasithi), which overlooks the island of Spinalonga and the Kolikithia Peninsula, is located a mere 5 km from the main square of Elounda heading north away from Agios Nikolaos. It is also the closest major town to the former

leper Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria '' Mycobacterium leprae'' or '' Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve dama ...

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

of Spinalonga ( el, Σπιναλόγκα), located on an island officially named Kalydon ( el, Καλυδών). Elounda is a famous tourist attraction, heavily visited by VIPs for its seaside luxury resorts. Prime Minister

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, wh ...

used to spend his summers in Elounda; today, it is visited almost every year by the royal family of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

History

The earliest recorded settlement at Elounda was the ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

city of Olous, whose people were in intermittent conflict with the citizens of

Dorian Dorian may refer to: Ancient Greece * Dorians, one of the main ethnic divisions of ancient Greeks * Doric Greek, or Dorian, the dialect spoken by the Dorians Art and entertainment Films * ''Dorian'' (film), the Canadian title of the 2004 film ' ...

Lato Lato ( grc, Λατώ, Latṓ) was an ancient city of Crete, the ruins of which are located approximately 3 km from the village of Kritsa. History The Dorian city-state was built in a defensible position overlooking Mirabello Bay betw ...

, until a peace treaty was eventually reached. Elounda has a later history as part of the Venetian era. Elounda has changed considerably during its lifespan. The bulk of the ancient city of Olous was reclaimed by the sea towards the end of the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

period and is still visible, in part, when diving in the bay of Elounda. During the early 1900s, Elounda acted as a stopping off point for lepers being transported to the

leper colony A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. ''M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Af ...

at Spinalonga. In the 1930s the enclosed waters between Elounda and the Spinalonga peninsula (known as "Mirabella Harbour") was used by

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to Union of South Africa, South Africa, British India, India, Australia and the Far East, inclu ...

flying boats as a landing, for long-range flights to the Middle east and beyond. In 1936 it was the scene of a fatal crash by IA's ''Scipio''. In 1984, the Prime minister of

, the President of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, ...

, and Colonel

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by '' The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spelli ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...

met in a luxurious Elounda resort to discuss conflict resolution in

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Repub ...

.Alain Rouvez, Michel Coco, Jean-Paul Paddack, Disconsolate empires: French, British and Belgian military involvement in post-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa, 1994

Public transport

Bus services in Elounda are operated by the KTEL ( el, ΚΤΕΛ) bus company, with scheduled services running to Plaka (Lasithi) and Agios Nikolaos throughout the day.

In fiction

* Elounda was used for the filming of the popular BBC television series '' Who Pays the Ferryman?'' in the late 1970s. * It is the setting for the Belinda Jones novel ''Out of the Blue''. * It features in Victoria Hislop's novel ''

The Island The Island(s) may refer to: Places * Any of various islands around the world, see the list of islands * The Island (Cache County, Utah), an island on the Bear River, Utah * The Island, Chennai, a river island in India * The Island, Chicago, a n ...

'', the novel which has also been adapted for Greek television and aired as a mini series in the winter of 2010-11. It also features in 'Yannis' by Beryl Darby.

Notes

Also see ''

The Moon-Spinners ''The Moon-Spinners'' is a 1964 American mystery film starring Hayley Mills, Eli Wallach and Peter McEnery in a story about a jewel thief hiding on the island of Crete. Produced by Walt Disney Productions, the film was based upon a 1962 suspen ...

'' by Disney. Together with 'The Island', by Victoria Hislop there is also available a much more substantial work on the same subject called YANNIS by Beryl Darby who also wrote the first guide book to Spinalonga.

References

External links

*
Municipality of Aghios Nikolaos, Elounda info pageElounda info and elounda guide
{{Authority control Populated places in Lasithi