Agios Nikolaos boat trip is a sea outing on the Gulf of Mirabello in Crete, with the Spinalonga fortress, Elounda, the Spinalonga peninsula and the islets of Mochlos and Pseira as its main sights. The trip is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville, listed with the other Crete tours and Greece boat tours.
This post covers what the trip is, the Gulf of Mirabello, Lake Voulismeni, the Spinalonga fortress, Elounda and its peninsula, Mochlos and Pseira and the formats on sale. Common questions come last.
What is an Agios Nikolaos boat trip?
An Agios Nikolaos boat trip is a sea outing from the harbour town of Agios Nikolaos on the north coast of Crete, sailing across the Gulf of Mirabello to the island of Spinalonga, the Elounda shore and the Minoan islets.
Agios Nikolaos lies east of Heraklion, north of Ierapetra and west of Sitia. Every Agios Nikolaos boat trip starts at its harbour, and the town grew up around that port.
The name means Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors and of Greece. For that reason Agios Nikolaos is a common placename in Greece and Cyprus. The saint suits a town built around a port.
Settlers from the hillfort of Lato founded the town in the late Bronze Age. Security on the hill had become a lesser concern then, and easy access to the harbour had become more important.
The town works as a hub for twenty or so small villages and farms of the surrounding part of Lasithi. Its climate is hot-summer Mediterranean, with very mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers.
- Starting point: The harbour of Agios Nikolaos is the base for every sailing in this post.
- Waters: The route crosses the Gulf of Mirabello, an inlet of the Sea of Crete.
- Name: Agios Nikolaos means Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors.
- Region: The town lies in Lasithi, the eastern part of Crete.
The Lasithi Plateau tour post covers the high plain inland in the same part of Crete. The sections below follow an Agios Nikolaos boat trip from the harbour to the islets.
Why does an Agios Nikolaos boat trip cross the Gulf of Mirabello?
An Agios Nikolaos boat trip crosses the Gulf of Mirabello because the town overlooks this embayment of the Sea of Crete in eastern Crete, and the main sights of the coast, from Spinalonga to the Minoan islets, lie around its shore.
The gulf, also called the Bay of Mirabello, is an embayment of the Sea of Crete on the eastern part of the island. The tourist town of Agios Nikolaos overlooks it.
The locale was important in the prehistoric settlement of Crete, so an Agios Nikolaos boat trip sails over water with a long human record. Hilltop towns once looked down on the bay.
The road from Agios Nikolaos to Elounda follows the shore and climbs a small mountain. On a clear day, the whole bay is in view from there, as far as the eastern tip of Crete.
In the 1930s, the enclosed waters between Elounda and the Spinalonga peninsula served as a landing for Imperial Airways flying boats. Known as Mirabella Harbour, it handled long-range flights to the Middle East and beyond.
- Gulf: The Gulf of Mirabello lies below the town and belongs to the Sea of Crete.
- Viewpoint: The shore road to Elounda gives a view across the whole bay.
- Flying boats: Imperial Airways used the waters near Elounda in the 1930s.
- Wreck: The aircraft City of Alexandria was wrecked there in a storm on 28 December.
The gulf frames every route in this post. Each Agios Nikolaos boat trip leaves the harbour and turns north along the shore of the bay, so the sights follow in order.
What does an Agios Nikolaos boat trip show at Lake Voulismeni?
An Agios Nikolaos boat trip passes Lake Voulismeni, a small circular lake at the centre of the town, 137 metres across and 48.8 metres deep, joined to the harbour by a channel that soldiers of the French Army dug in 1907.
Locals call the lake simply The Lake. It was freshwater once and is now linked to the sea. A small park above it offers a panoramic view of the water.
In Greek myth, the goddess Athena bathed in the lake. The rocks around it are limestone breccias, laid down by undersea landslides from the mountains north-west of the town.
Captain Thomas Spratt surveyed eastern Crete for the Royal Navy in 1852 and measured the lake at 64 metres. The University of Athens found a maximum depth of 48.8 metres in September 2000.
A massive earthquake on 12 October 1856 rated grade XI on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale. Its epicentre lay 40 kilometres away, and the lake’s western corner collapsed. An Agios Nikolaos boat trip passes that cliff.
- Size: The lake measures 137 metres across and 48.8 metres in depth.
- Canal: The French Army built the present canal between 1905 and 1907.
- Bridge: The modern concrete road bridge opened in 1954.
- Fault: A fault runs through the north-western side, where the cliff is the scarp slope.
A first channel to the sea was dug by Kostas Adosides Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Lasithi, between 1867 and 1871. An Agios Nikolaos boat trip leaves through the later canal.
How does an Agios Nikolaos boat trip reach the Spinalonga fortress?
An Agios Nikolaos boat trip reaches the Spinalonga fortress by sailing north from the harbour along the Mirabello shore, then landing at the dock of the rocky island where the Venetians laid the foundation stone of their sea fort in 1579.
Tourist boats leave for the island from Plaka, Elounda and Agios Nikolaos. A small snack bar stands near the dock, and the island is uninhabited today, with restoration work done in recent years.
The Venetians held Crete from 1210 and built a string of fortresses, and Spinalonga was among the last. Salt-pans in the gulf from the mid fifteenth century gave the area value, and pirates made defence urgent.
Engineers surveyed the island in 1574. The foundation stone was laid in 1579 over the ruins of an acropolis, and two inscriptions record it, one on the main gate and one on the north rampart.
The Ottomans received the fort in 1715 under an agreement, with a condition that the inhabitants be transferred safely to Corfu. The Ottomans broke the agreement, and the people there were killed or enslaved.
- Stone: Builders took stone from Spinalonga itself and also from Olouda and Kolokitha island.
- Church: Iakovos Jiritas built a church in 1709, and it stood for six years.
- Revolt: In 1878, only Spinalonga and the fortress at Ierapetra stayed out of rebel hands.
- Status: The island became an archaeological site in 1976 and opened formally to the public in 2000.
The Spinalonga tour post covers the island in full, including the walls, the leper colony and the Ottoman village, while this post keeps to the sailing of an Agios Nikolaos boat trip.
What does an Agios Nikolaos boat trip pass at Elounda and the Spinalonga peninsula?
An Agios Nikolaos boat trip passes Elounda and the Spinalonga peninsula, where the sunken ancient city of Olous lies in the bay, and where the village of Schisma forms the centre of the modern Elounda community on the shore.
Elounda belongs to the municipality of Agios Nikolaos. Its village of Schisma is by far the largest and is understood as Elounda Centre. The area of Kalydon covers Spinalonga, the peninsula and Kolokythas island.
Olous was a city of ancient Crete, now sunken, at the site of present-day Elounda. After boundary disputes with the hillfort of Lato, its citizens made a treaty with those of Lato.
A temple of Britomartis stood in the city, with a wooden statue that tradition ascribed to Daedalus. Texts found in the ruins link the town with Knossos and with the island of Rhodes.
An Agios Nikolaos boat trip passes the water where swimmers in Elounda Bay can still visit the sunken city. The only visible remnants today are scattered wall bases, and the sea reclaimed the rest.
- Olous: The ancient city lies sunken at the site of present-day Elounda.
- Coins: The image of Britomartis appears on the coins of Olous.
- Schisma: The largest village is understood as Elounda Centre.
- Buses: KTEL buses run between Elounda, Plaka and Agios Nikolaos through the day.
An Agios Nikolaos boat trip passes a shore with a diplomatic past. In 1984, the prime minister of Greece met the president of France and Colonel Gaddafi of Libya at a luxury resort in Elounda to discuss Chad.
Which islets does an Agios Nikolaos boat trip pass at Mochlos and Pseira?
An Agios Nikolaos boat trip passes the islets of Mochlos and Pseira in the Gulf of Mirabello, where long excavations have uncovered Minoan towns, cemeteries, workshops and cult vessels of the Bronze Age, in sites close to the coast.
Mochlos is a small uninhabited island and the site of a Minoan settlement. Richard Seager first excavated it in 1908, at the western end, where he found a cemetery from before the palaces.
Modern work began in 1989 as a Greek-American project under the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. It uncovered remains dating from 3100 BC to the tenth century AD, including a Mycenaean village.
Behind the modern village of Mochlos stand two artisans’ quarters of the Minoan town. One was used for crafting bronze, ivory and stone, and the other for making pottery.
Pseira is an islet with Minoan and Mycenaean remains. Seager explored it in 1906 and 1907. The town ranged round an open square, the plateia, and was violently destroyed between about 1550 and 1450 BC.
- Mochlos: Remains span 3100 BC to the tenth century AD.
- Cemetery: The Mochlos cemetery was in use from Early Minoan I to Middle Minoan IA.
- Rhyta: Cult rites at Pseira used drinking vessels with a hole at the base, including a bull-shaped one.
- Burials: Pseira has five kinds of burial, from rock shelters to tombs imitating houses.
The Crete boat trip post covers other sea routes around the island, for readers who want to compare coasts beyond the Agios Nikolaos boat trip waters of the Gulf of Mirabello.
Which formats of Agios Nikolaos boat trip are on sale?
An Agios Nikolaos boat trip is sold in formats that range from a day trip to Spinalonga with a swim stop to a catamaran cruise, a sailing cruise, a boat dive for certified divers and a sunset sail with wine.
The classic Agios Nikolaos boat trip format is the day trip to Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga island. A boat trip to Spinalonga with a swim stop follows the same line but adds time in the water.
Barbecue formats pair the fortress with a meal on board. One covers Spinalonga, Elounda and Agios Nikolaos, another Spinalonga and Agios Nikolaos, and a third adds a barbecue lunch to the Spinalonga and Elounda route.
Other formats start from Heraklion or Plaka. A history tour with a barbecue cruise leaves from Heraklion, as does a cruise with lunch. A Plaka village trip adds Spinalonga as an option.
Sailing formats include a Mirabello Bay cruise with a meal, a half-day or full-day luxury sailing cruise and a golden hour sailboat tour with wine. A catamaran adds sushi, a slide and a chef lunch.
- Day trip: Spinalonga and Agios Nikolaos in one outing.
- Cruise: Catamaran, sailing and Mirabello Bay formats with a meal.
- Underwater: A semi-submarine cruise and a boat dive for certified divers.
- Season: A winter day trip from Plaka and a golden hour sailing option.
The tour cards and availability boxes on the page list live dates for each Agios Nikolaos boat trip, so the choice of format and day rests on what is open.
What do travellers ask about Agios Nikolaos boat trip?
An Agios Nikolaos boat trip raises questions about the lake at the harbour, its legends and its geology, and about the islets of the gulf, so these four answers draw on the town, the lake and the islet of Mochlos.
Is the lake seen on an Agios Nikolaos boat trip a volcano crater?
No. A local story calls the lake bottomless and the crater of an extinct volcano. The complete absence of igneous rocks near the lake rules out a volcano, and the supposed link with Santorini can be dismissed for the same reason.
Why was the lake on an Agios Nikolaos boat trip once called the stinky lake?
Once the spring stopped flowing, the lake became stagnant and became known locally as Vromolimni, the stinky lake. The obvious solution was a channel to the sea, which let denser seawater flush away the stagnant freshwater and the smell. The channel still links the lake to the harbour.
What happens at the lake on an Agios Nikolaos boat trip at Orthodox Easter?
Every year at midnight, at the turn to Orthodox Easter Day, the majority of the population of the town gathers around the lake. They celebrate with fireworks and firecrackers thrown by the people attending the event. The custom is a yearly event.
How close is Mochlos to the shore on an Agios Nikolaos boat trip?
Only 150 metres separates the island of Mochlos from the small fishing village and resort of the same name on the main island of Crete. The island is administered from Tourloti, which is only 9 kilometres away from it. The Minoan town stood on the island itself.
Featured photo: Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.