Agios Nikolaos (or Áyios Nikólaos), about 43 miles (69km) east
of Heraklion, was formerly known as a destination for package-tour
groups but is now a cosmopolitan resort with high standards of
harbour-side café-bars and top quality restaurants. The night clubs
and karaoke bars are a thing of the past in this relaxed, yet busy,
town. Ideal for couples of all ages, it is an excellent base from
which to explore the eastern part of the island. The town itself
does not boast any major historical or archaeological sites, but it
does have a curiosity: the deep pool in the environs of the
harbour, called Lake Voulismeni, has many tales and legends
attached to it, and was once believed to be bottomless. Ágios
Nikólaos also has a fine Archaeological Museum, worth seeing for
its growing collection of Minoan artefacts. The museum houses finds
from the cemetery of Aghia Photia, dating back to 2,300 BC,
including more than 1,500 vases. Besides all the Minoan finds the
museum also has the skull of a young Roman athlete wearing a gold
olive-leaf wreath dated to the 1st century AD. Many visitors to
Ágios Nikólaos take the excursions to the fortified islet of
Spinalónga to see the ruins of, and hear the fascinating story of
what became the last leper colony in Europe.
