“I have visited Spinalonga at least 16 times, over the 16 years I have lived here and together with my adult granddaughter, yesterday took a trip to again to the Island.
The boat trip was excellent and remained at the same price that it has been since 2010 (I was very impressed with this), with a fully guided and very informative guide once on the island .
The entrance fee of 8 euros was expected but I feel that the tourist experience from then on in, fell very short from the standard which would be expected by a visitor. The paths around the island were uneven and an elderly lady fell and cut her leg.
My granddaughter went to the W.C. and found them to be very dirty and blocked with excrement ! Yuk !
At the end of the visit we decided to get ice creams and water from the cafe. Two soda waters (plain water was not available for some reason), cost 3 euros each ! Really? A pack of six only costs 1.80 in Lidl! And it was the same brand! I expect an ice cream to be around the 3 to 4 euro, but water 3 euro?
I expressed my dissatisfaction and was met with the well known “Cretan shrug”! I got no receipt until I demanded one … as you know by law we should get one without asking for it . The receipt was timed thirty minutes before I actually bought my items ….. I am not a tourist so I was unhappy with the services offered from Spinalonga.
As a candidate for a UNESCO World Heritage Site and with thousands of tourists expected this summer … isn’t it time to get things sorted out properly? Instead of what I hoped for, they are offering a rip off service and it left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. I won’t be visiting again very soon, if at all!”
Our reader sent us a photograph of her receipt and of the fizzy soda water on sale in the refreshment kiosk on the island. We are not deliberately trying to create bad publicity for the resort – on the contrary, by highlighting the problems, we hope they will very quickly be solved, and for everyone’s benefit.
As the lady (who requested that we do not publish her details), so rightly pointed out in our discussion, “I just want the tourists to have a positive experience of Crete. I love this country that we have adopted, and want the tourists to go away with a great impression of this area, and tell their friends to come, which is all good for the local economy!!!
