Hello! It’s Brantley and Julia. Today we went to Spinalonga Island and the beach. We started with an hour drive to Agios Nikolaos. From there we took a ferry to Spinalonga Island and to Kolokitha Beach. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and reflected on what an island is to us.
Before we got on the bus, we had breakfast at our new hotel. My (Julia) breakfast was really good. I had watermelon, an orange, a lukkemade, and an iced coffee. After breakfast, we got on the bus for the hour drive to Agios Nikolaos. Our tour guide, Lena, gave us a bunch of fun information about Crete on the way. It is the biggest Greek Island with a population of 600,000 people. We drove along the coast and learned about the many satellite islands of Crete. One is specifically used to breed the Cretan Goat! They only keep the goats on the island because they do not want to cross breed the Cretan goat with other breeds of goats. We also learned that Crete has over 1,000 charted caves and a ravine that is 18 kilometers long. It is the longest ravine in all of Europe. She also told us about new opportunities and growth in Crete like the new international airport being built. While it will bring more people and job opportunities, water is a prevailing issue in Crete which may get worse. Lena told us that Crete is facing a water crisis and it is in the news almost everyday. The river beds and dams are running dry, and with more people, it will get worse.
Today, one of our main adventures was going to Spinalonga Island. This Island was a designated area where people infected with leprosy were exiled. Compared to some of the other ruins we have seen the last weeks, Spinalonga is still well together. You can still picture the different rooms in the houses and see where there would be upstairs and gardens. However, most of these buildings existed before the island was used as a leper colony. The buildings were originally made by Turks and Venitians. After they left, the least sick filled the shops and homes. However, not all people who lived on the island had the disease. Some were misdiagnosed and sent there out of fear. Others like doctors went there for research since the island included a hospital microbiology lab.
There were many differences on the island compared to the mainland. For example, people were not allowed to marry (the priest ended up allowing it). Children born there were sent to Athens where they would never be adopted out of fear. Many of the homes included electricity (one of the first places to do so). In addition, patients received a stipend from the government. There was not much to spend this money on since medicine was free, so most people employed others to work for them. Some patients were wealthier than individuals on the mainland. After World War 2 however, medicine, food, and money ran out leaving the priests to ask for livestock. In 1957 all patients left Spinalonga when a cure was found.
During our tour Spinalonga was talked about as a good thing. We were told that most people liked the island as they had been outcast on the mainland. However, people did try to escape/leave. I wonder what the true feelings of patients were and if this truly was a sanctuary.
After Spinalonga we took a short boat trip to a nearby island (Kolokitha) for some swimming and a BBQ. The water was crystal clear and very blue! There were many people on the sandy beach so we set up all our stuff on the rocks nearby. Everyone got in the water (It was freezing!) and swam. After swimming we went back to the boat for a BBQ which consisted of pork, slaw, bread, and an apple. Vegetarians had a wrap (lettuce and cheese), slaw, bread, and an apple. During the ride back everyone was very tired from such a busy day.
Once we got back to the hotel, we went up to the rooftop of our hotel to reflect. Johnny led the reflection and we focused on islands. Some of the questions he asked us included, “Do you ever feel like an island?”, “Do you feel like you surround yourself by similarity?”, and “Have you ever been excluded?” We spent some time reflecting on these questions in our journal. Afterwards we got into groups of six and talked about what we wrote down. My group (Julia) talked about the first question and how we thought of islands when thinking about ourselves. We related it to growing up and going to college and how we become our own island and comparing the support from family and friends as imports to the island. Brantley’s group talked about the different emotions associated with exclusion.
Julia - Today, I felt like I got to know myself more while visiting Spinalonga Island and thinking about how people were sent to the island if they were thought to have leprosy and had to leave everything they know. Last fall I took a class about western medicine, and we learned a lot about leprosy. I was able to connect what I learned in class and see it. In class we learned about how people with leprosy were ostracized and sent away to leper colonies but we did not learn about the leper colonies. It was sad to see the island and how it excluded people. It helped with answering the reflections about exclusion and islands.
Brantley - Today, after visiting the island, we were asked to reflect on a couple questions, one of which being “do you view yourself as an island?” I think that there are moments throughout my life where I have felt like one where I am looking out onto a group of people who get along very well and know each other even better. Coming into college was a lot like that. I felt separated looking at all the upperclassmen who seemed to have their group and wondering how I would ever find mine. On the opposite side of that, I also try to be on my own island sometimes. I don't always enjoy being part of a big group. I need time to branch away to relax and reflect. Questions such as these plus our time exploring the solitude of Spinalonga Island helped me to think about how exclusion, separation, and community and relate it to who I am.
We had a great day and can't wait to keep sharing our adventures with you!
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