Elounda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Elounda Ελούντα |
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 Elounda overlook |
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| Location | |
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| Coordinates | Coordinates: |
| Time zone: | EET/EEST (UTC+2/3) |
| Elevation (center): | 5 m (16 ft) |
| Government | |
| Country: | Greece |
| Periphery: | Crete |
| Prefecture: | Lasithi |
| Population statistics (as of [1]) | |
| Codes | |
| Postal: | 720 53 |
| Area: | 28410 |
| Auto: | ΑΝ |
| Website | |
| www.aghiosnikolaos.gr/elounda | |
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Elounda (Greek: Ελούντα, alternative transliteration Elounta or "Elouda", road-sign transliteration "Elounda" or "Elounta") is a small fishing town on the bay of Elounda, on the northern coast of the island of Crete, Greece. It is part of the municipality of Agios Nikolaos (Greek: Άγιος Νικόλαος), and the prefecture of Lassithi (Greek: Λασίθι). It is popular with European tourists and has several hotels. Elounda is also the closest major town to the former leper colony of Spinalonga, located on an island officially named Kalydon (Greek: Καλυδών), located at the entrance of the Bay of Elounda, a lake-like body of water enclosed by mainland Crete and the peninsula of Spinalonga (Greek: Σπιναλόγκα). The town is close to the city of Agios Nikolaos and the village of Plaka (Lasithi).
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[edit] Tourism
Elounda is widely considered the "most luxurious resort" in Greece, due to the many 5-star hotels located south of town, set in their own grounds.
The first luxury hotel in this area was the Elounda Beach hotel, built between 1968-1973 by Spyros Kokotos (Greek: Σπύρος Κοκοτός) as architect and president of the holding company, Helios SA, and his brother George Kokotos(Greek: Γιώργος Κοκοτός) as civil engineer in-charge. The two brothers also built the Elounda Bay hotel just north of this hotel, completing construction in 1976 and shortly thereafter selling it to the National Bank of Greece's "Astir Palace" chain of hotels, headed by Stelios Seferiades (Greek: Στέλιος Σεφεριάδης).
Spyros Kokotos continued by building the Elounda Mare hotel, which opened in 1981 with just 6 bungalows, and is now a 92-unit hotel of rooms and bungalows belonging to the "Relais & Chateux" association.
George Kokotos set up the Semeli winery in Stamata, Attica, before returning briefly to Elounda in order to build another hotel, the originally-named Elounda Rock hotel, later renamed to Elounda Village hotel as part of the "Grecotel" chain of hotels, and nowadays part of the "Aquila" chain of hotels under the same name.
Spyros Kokotos further built the Porto Elounda Deluxe Resort, which started operation in 1992 with only 6 villas and has continued to expand to the present day, reaching a capacity of 250 rooms, suites, and villas. A wing of this resort situated on its southern extremity spun off in 2002 as an independent hotel, nowadays called the Elounda Peninsula All-Suite hotel and consisting of 52 suites and villas.
Another noteworthy 5-star hotel in this area is the Elounda Gulf Villas hotel, owned by the family of Dimitris Kadianakis (Greek: Δημήτρης Καδιανάκης), while another important addition to the luxurious set of hotels outside the town has been the Blue Palace Resort & Spa, located 3.4 kilometers north of the town of Elounda and next to the small village of Plaka, which was completed in 2005 and is owned by the family of Yannis Sbokos (Greek: Γιάννης Σμπώκος).
There are numerous other hotels in and around the village of Elounda, ranging from small self-catered apartment complexes through to 4-star hotel complexes with pools and restaurants like the Elounda Aquasol resort, the Elounda Palm hotel, the Elounda Blue Bay hotel, and others like Elounda Heights, a complex on the hill above Elounda, which has superb views over Elounda and the bay across to Spinalonga.
[edit] History
The earliest recorded settlement at Elounda was the ancient Greek city of Olous, whose people were in intermittent conflict with the citizens of Dorian Lato, until a peace treaty was eventually reached.[2] 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 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 at Spinalonga.
[edit] Transport
In the centre of Elounda, there is a large taxi stand and a bus stop. The local bus company, KTEL, operates services to Plaka and Agios Nikolaos on a regular basis.
[edit] Fiction
Elounda was used for the filming of the popular BBC television series Who Pays the Ferryman? in the late 1970s.
It features in Victoria Hislop's novel The Island
[edit] Notes
Hislop, Victoria (2005). The Island.
[edit] References
- ^ PDF (875 KB) 2001 Census (Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΣΥΕ). www.statistics.gr. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
- ^ C.Michael Hogan, Lato Fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian, Jan 10, 2008
