Hire a boat from Heraklion for a 3 day sailing trip to Agios Nikolaos and Elounda. Agios Nikolaos is an extremely popular resort that draws crowds for entertainment every summer. Numerous restaurants, bars, and night clubs give the place its characteristic cosmopolitan atmosphere. A beautiful lake dominates the place. Legend says that the goddesses Athens and Artemis used to bathe in its waters. Elounda is 11 km north of Agios Nikolaos, and is famous for its coves, rocky coastlines, the beautiful village of Elounda, the sunken city of Olous and the remains of a Byzantine basilica. Not far from Elounda is the island of Spinalonga. The island of Spinalonga forms a natural defense “mechanism” for Elounda harbour, and in 1579 the Venetians built a mighty fortress here on the ruins of an ancient acropolis. The Venetians kept control of the island even after the rest of Crete fell to the Ottomans in 1669 and it remained under their control for almost another half a century until its capitulation in 1715. Today thousands of tourists visit Spinalonga each summer as it is the most popular archaeological site in Crete after Knossos.
