Morning Coffee and Backgammon

35° 11’ 25.0800” N 25° 42’ 55.0700’’ E

Once, Agios Nikolaos was a small fishing village on Crete. Today, like many other fishing villages, it has been discovered by thousands of tourists, including a large number of cruise ship tourists.

Nevertheless, the town has retained its charm. The locals still play a significant role in the town’s atmosphere. Elderly Greek men gather every morning at the local café, where they enjoy their morning coffee and play backgammon with great concentration and perhaps a sip of ouzo.

The old men were sitting there when we left the good ship Ronja in May, and they are still sitting there now as we have returned in September.

Continuing from Agios Nikolaos, we pass by a small rocky island, Spinalonga, which served as a leper colony for 54 years from 1903 to 1957. The Cretan state forced 251 lepers to live on the island. The island had two entrances, one of which was the entrance for the lepers, a tunnel known as “Dante’s Gate.” Upon arrival on the island, the lepers received food, medical treatment, and a pension, which had previously been unattainable for Crete’s lepers, who primarily lived in remote caves, far from society.

Victoria Hislop has written a heart-wrenching novel, “The Island,” about life on Spinalonga during this period.