On Spinalonga, 'everything is in a state of gentle dereliction but somehow beautiful', she writes Leprosy patients were exiled to the island from 1903 until 1957, when a cure was found for the disease ...

Spinalonga wasn’t the only leper colony of its kind, Australia also had a number of colonies — its most notable being Fantome Island, 65km north east of Townsville.

Spinalonga has seen a renewed reputation in recent years, with Victoria Hislop’s 2005 book The Island helping to humanise the experiences of the islanders.

An aerial view of the island of Spinalonga in Crete, Greece. Credit: iStock A tourist cliche unfolds as we chug our way out to the tiny island of Spinalonga on a white-painted wooden fishing boat.

Three miles from Elounda, a lazy, low-key seaside resort with a tiny fishing port and cobbled streets of local shops, nestled into a sheltered bay overlooking the island of Spinalonga—the leper ...

For decades after it was abandoned, not much was known about the Greek island of Spinalonga or its days as a leper colony – but all that is changing.

Spinalonga has been abandoned for over 60 years and has a dark past. (Image: Getty) Greece is famous for its stunning islands - sun-drenched getaways scattered across the Aegean Sea.

From Spinalonga (the setting of her debut novel The Island) to Crete, Victoria Hislop shares some of her favourite travel moments. Many of the author's novels are set in the Mediterranean.

The monuments cited below, to which Spinalonga could be compared, do not combine both these characteristics. As regards the fortifications alone, Spinalonga presents similarities to the fortification ...

Spinalonga was also the setting of the popular 2005 historical novel "The Island" by British author Victoria Hislop. The island was used as a leper colony for several decades until the late 1950s.

Weddings on mystical Spinalonga Island . Ionian Weddings, the UK’s only Greek islands wedding specialists made an exciting exclusive addition to its Crete wedding locations portfolio today. Couples ...