For the rest of the world ‘To Nisi’ hype started in 2010. For myself, it began in February this year, when my friend Maria bullied me into watching it. Of course I had read the book, of course I knew the story but nothing touched me in quite the same way as this Greek, 26 episode adaptation of Victoria Hislop’s, ‘The Island’. Watching it in record time, this very emotional drama bewitched me from the very beginning leaving me wanting to find out more about this leper colony.
And of course, wanting to go and see it for myself.
This summer my friend Maria Laspou made my dream come true by gifting me the opportunity to stand on Spinalonga island for my big 40th birthday with close friends.
We went, we saw, we cried, we toured. “As you walk around Spinalonga, stop and hold your breath. From some hovel nearby you will hear the echo of a mother’s or sister’s lament or a man’s sigh. Shed a couple of tears from your eyes and you will see the sparkle of the millions of tears that have drenched this road.” – Epameinondas Remoundakis.
In combination with the book, the series and the real facts we were told, we couldn’t help but be totally engrossed in all things Spinalonga.
The facts as we were told:
In 1903, this leper colony on Spinalonga was established to isolate people suffering from Hansen’s Disease from the healthy population.The cure for leprosy had not yet been discovered, and the contagious disease was regarded with horror. Hansenites, as lepers are known, were quarantined in leper colonies outside towns, living off the charity of passers-by.
People were terrified of leprosy and lepers had to wear bells to warn people of their approach. It was not known that most of the population is naturally resistant to the disease and that the risk of contagion was much lower than thought. But who would dare run the risk of catching an incurable, fatal disease and be condemned to a life of isolation away from loved ones?
So a small, population free island, was the perfect solution and Spinalonga was ideal because it was close to shore, permitting the easy transfer of patients, food and supplies and occasional visitors. Deserted houses were in abundance after the departure of the Muslim inhabitants.
On 30 May 1903 the decision to transform Spinalonga into a leper island was signed, and 250 patients were transported there from all over Crete. With the unification of Crete and Greece in 1913 more came from the mainland.
Eventually, as more patients were brought from abroad Spinalonga was classified as an International Leper Hospital.
The patients of Spinalonga were entitled to a small monthly allowance, which was often not enough to cover their food and medicine. These were hard times, when Greece was rocked by successive wars (Macedonian Struggle, two Balkan Wars, two World Wars, the Civil War), worsening the welfare and financial position of the lepers on Spinalonga. Living conditions were extremely poor, and some lepers’ accounts paint a picture of utter squalor.
The great change came about in 1930, when Epameinondas Remoundakis was brought to Spinalonga. Remoundakis was a third-year law student when he fell ill. Remoundakis was the person the others unwittingly had been waiting for to bring about change to the inhumane living conditions.
“We were together, he was a great man and the terrible disease had condemned him to blindness and losing a hand…” Manolis Foundoulakis
So, after many years of decay, the houses of Spinalonga were whitewashed, the road around the island was opened, an outdoor cleaning service was set up, a theatre and cinema were built, and classical music was heard from the loudspeakers in the street.
People fell in love and were married on Spinalonga. They had children, some of whom grew up without ever catching the disease.They looked after one another, did any work they could to improve their lives, ran their own kafeneion and barber shop, and had their own church of St Panteleimon, with a brave priest who, though not a leper himself, volunteered to spend his life among those in forced exile.
The “Fraternity of Patients of Spinalonga” founded by Remoundakis played a decisive role in ensuring the quality of lives for those on the island was like the one that they had left behind when they had been forced to leave their homes and move to Spinalonga. From 1948 onwards, with the discovery of the cure for Leprosy, the number of lepers on Spinalonga gradually fell as they slowly but surely recovered and returned back to their families.
The Leper Hospital remained operational until 1957, until the last 20 patients were moved to a leper hospital in Athens.
Passionately engaging us with a rich authentic detail and drawing us into a long lost forgotten world , Victoria Hislop pays enormous tribute to Cretan culture in ‘The Island ‘ as she portrays a convincing likeness of the life and times on Spinalonga. Packed with family sagas doomed love affairs and catastrophic secrets, it tells the story of Alexis Fielding, a woman on the brink of a life-changing decision. Alexis knows little about her family’s past and has always resented her mother for refusing to discuss it. She knows only that her mother, Sofia, grew up in Plaka, a small Cretan village, before moving to London, England. Making her first visit to Crete to see the village where her mother was born, Alexis discovers that the village of Plaka faces the small, now deserted island of Spinalonga, which she is surprised to learn was Greece’s leper colony for much of the 20th century. At Plaka, Alexis meets an old friend of her mother’s, Fotini, who is prepared to tell her the entire tragic story of her family that Sofia has spent her life concealing—the story of Eleni, her grandmother, and of a family torn apart by war and passion. Alexis discovers how intimately she is connected with the island, along with the horror and pity of the leper colony which was once there.
Just as Alexa felt the urge to visit her mother’s roots, my friend and I also felt the beckoning power of Spinalonga. It was truly a place well worth visiting and never forgetting.
Thank you Victoria Hislop for bringing Spinalonga back to life .
Maria x
