The island of the living dead, Spinalonga, Crete, Greece - fantastic 4K drone footage

Nicknamed the island of the living dead, Spinalonga, lies at the natural harbor of Elounda in the prefecture of Lassithi in Crete. Despite being a small barren island of 85 acres, it carries a long history and holds a special place in the Greeks' hearts, while it preserves its beauty notwithstanding its dark past.
A little-known fact is that Spinalonga was not always an island. It is believed that in 1526, the Venetians destroyed part of the peninsula of Elounda to create an island, which was fortified to safeguard the port of ancient Olous. Olous remained uninhabited until the mid-15th century when it gained commercial value due to its salt pans. The inhibition of the city, along with the pirate raids and the Turkish threat, made the fortification a necessity and resulted in Spinalonga becoming one of the most powerful sea fortresses in the Mediterranean.
Spinalonga remained under Venetian rule even after the rest of Crete was occupied by the Ottomans. In 1715, however, the Ottomans managed to conquer the small island, banishing the Venetian presence from Crete completely. Eventually, in 1903, the Turkish left the island and it became once again a part of Greece.
Despite its rich heritage that stretches all the way back to antiquity, however, Spinalonga is known across the world as the host of the leper community from 1903 to 1957, and as one of the last active leper colonies in Europe, reaching a number of nearly 400 inhabitants during the outbreak of the illness.
Leprosy, or Hansen's disease, is a long-term bacterial infection that affects the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes of the patient. The illness causes the deformation of features, especially on the face and the limbs. Although leprosy itself is not lethal, it can ultimately cause death from a condition secondary to the original diagnosis.
There are many tales of horror about the island, especially in regard to the early years of its operation as a leper colony. The island had no infrastructure and people were sent there to wait for their death while battling inhumane conditions, with not so much running water being available in the region. Additionally, it is believed, that due to the ignorance of the doctors at the time, many people were misdiagnosed and were imprisoned in Spinalonga while suffering minor conditions, such as Psoriasis.
In March 1936, however, a young man was about to change the fate of all the island's inhabitants. Epaminondas Remountakis, a third-year student of Athens’ Law School, at the age of 21, was forced to exile, following years of struggle with the disease, which he tried to keep hidden. There, he founded the 'Brotherhood of the Sick of Spinalonga’, in an effort to improve the patient's living conditions and he dedicated his life to this novel cause.
For the first time in years, the houses in Spinalonga were whitewashed, the ring road was opened, a public cleaning service was established, and even a theater and a cinema were constructed, while classical music could be often heard in the streets of the island, coming from a loudspeaker a patient had donated. After a little while, a power-generating machine arrived to light the streets at night.
Slowly but surely, the inhabitants of the islands started forming a community that didn’t focus only on survival. People fell in love and got married, giving birth to children who grew up without ever being infected by the disease. They developed strong bonds with one another and started living life as normally as they could: they exercised, went to school, and opened a coffee shop and barbershop, while they had the ability to go to church in St. Panteleimon, operated by the brave Chrysanthos Katsoulogiannakis, a priest that volunteered to live in the island without being a leper himself.
Fortunately, the number of patients on the island started to decrease in 1948, due to the first drug against Lepracy being discovered and the last inhabitant leaving the island in 1962. The stigma around leprosy, however, didn’t end with the evacuation of the island. Lepers weren’t seen as patients but as monsters, and even the reference to the island’s name remained taboo for years to come.
After many years of research, in 1948 the first drug to treat leprosy was discovered in America. Thus, the patients began to be treated and Spinalonga was gradually emptied of patients until 1957 when the last one left and the leprosarium was permanently closed. The few lepers on the island were in very bad condition and were transferred to Athens, to an "Infectious Diseases" hospital.
In the words of Remoundakis, "Walking along the street of Spinalonga, stop and hold your breath. From a haggard around you, you will hear the echo of a mother's sore, a sister’s, or a man's sigh. Let the tears drip from your eyes and you will witness the shimmer of the millions of tears that have watered this road before ... "

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Absolutely wonderful