Dark tourism in the Greek islands: top 6 spine-chilling attractions

If you played the “Mysteries of Peking” a thousand times as a kid, if you have the heart of an explorer and you get fascinated by history, then hop on the ferry to go on an adventure with Ferryhopper and explore dark tourism in 6 Greek islands:

1. The Leper Island and the strange shadows in Crete
2. The Kaverian Mysteries and the Topakes of Samothrace
3. The enigmatic dragon houses in Euboea
4. Makronisos, the island of torture
5. Gyaros, the island of death
6. The hidden tunnels in Leros

Abandoned buildings in Spinalonga

1. The Leper Island of Spinalonga and the strange shadows in Crete

Our dark tourism tour starts from Crete. Take your backpack, grab a flashlight, your notebook, and a sandwich for the road, and off you go to unravel the secrets and discover the mysteries of Greece’s largest island!

Spinalonga, the island of tears

Hop on the ferry from Piraeus to Crete and get ready to experience the centuries-old history and fascinating past of Crete. The first stop is at Spinalonga which officially became the island of the Lepers in 1903 and was the new home of all those people affected by Hansen's disease.

The boat will drop you off at the exact point where once the sick were disembarking after bidding their loved ones and the world of the living farewell for the last time.

The island may have been synonymous with social exclusion and rejection. However, on a stroll through the Island of Tears, you will be shocked by the people’s determination who created a society with values and rules and built their own settlement including a school and a hospital.

So, let the stone alleys fable about the adventures of the Lepers there, a dark but fascinating story. Discover the culture of the living dead of Spinalonga, enter their stone houses, and visit the school. Say goodbye to Leper island with a visit to the Spinalonga museum where you will find photos and information about life there.

The impressive Castle of Spinalonga

Drosoulites, the mysterious shadows in Fragokastello

Leaving behind the charged atmosphere of Spinalonga, we head towards the area of Fragokastello which is about 20 minutes by car from the Chora of Sfakia.

Here, between the end of May and the beginning of June, the Drosoulites appear surrounding the Venetian Castle. According to the legend, these moving shadows are the ghosts of the fighters who died in the Battle of Frankokastello on May 17, 1828, during the Greek revolution against the Turks.

Εversince, on the anniversary of the battle, shadows resembling soldiers surround the Frankokastello Fortress. What do you think? Are Drosoulites the ghosts of the fallen soldiers or is it an optical illusion? You just have to discover it for yourself!

2. The Kaverian Mysteries in Samothrace

Greece has a lot of mysterious islands and destinations attracting fans of dark tourism and people who get fascinated by unexplainable phenomena. One of these places is located in Northern Greece. Take the ferry from Alexandroupolis to Samothrace to reach the enigmatic island in just 2 hours!

Samothrace is considered an “energy vortex” and there is no better place to feel it than the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. There, in this place of worship and celebration of the Kaverian Mysteries, you will find traces of the ancient religion of the Kaverian Gods.

Do not leave the island of Samothrace without visiting the enchanting natural pools (vathres in Greek) and the impressive waterfall of Fonias where, according to legend, the topakes, mythical creatures that protect the forest, and the natural pools of the island.

The Sanctuary of the Great Gods in Samothrace

3. The enigmatic dragon houses in Euboea

From the Topakes of the mysterious Samothrace, we set sail to solve another mystery, the dragon houses, also known as drakospita on the island of Euboea. There, you will find more than 20 drakospita scattered in the mountains of the island. These megalithic structures were built with rectangular stones and limestone slabs.

So, let’s go visit the most famous and well-preserved dragon house of Euboea (Evia) which is located on Ochi mountain at 1,365 meters altitude. It is an unsolved mystery and also an architectural paradox of how these giant slabs survived through all these years with no foundations and no material to stabilize the stones.

According to the legend, these structures were the dragons’ dens overlooking the area with their yellowish eyes. Get on the ferry from Volos to Euboea, explore the mountainous region of the island, and discover the true origin of the Dragon Houses.

A well-preserved dragon house (drakospito) in Euboea 

4. Makronisos, the island of torture

From the dragon’s den and ancient Greece, we transport to the dark period of the Greek Civil War and the island of Makronisos, a place of exile.

As soon as you approach Makronisos by boat from Lavrio, you only see a deserted island. However, between 1947 and 1950, the same island was packed with up to 100,000 political prisoners. You can see the remains of the concentration camp and feel the charged atmosphere of the place.

Walk among the marble slabs, visit the churches and the old theater of the First Order used as a means of “reformation and revival” for the prisoners.

However, the theatrical scene was just for the show. The concentration camp’s gimmick was a desperate attempt to convince the world that Makronisos promoted art as a means of learning. Of course, the reality had nothing to do with freedom of speech, expression, and art. It was all about constant torture, and psychological and physical violence, marking Makronisos as the Greek Dachau.

The island of Makronisos from Sounion

5. Gyaros, the island of death

The dark period of torture in the concentration camp of Makronissos hands over the baton to Gyaros. A few minutes before disembarking from the boat, you will see the prisons of Gyaros looming on the horizon, the same prisons that were built by the political prisoners stone by stone.

Arriving on the island of death (Thanatonisi in Greek) which is also known as the Devil's island, you take a long hard look at the inhuman cruelty, evident in every corner of the island. You see clumps of hair stuck in the cracks of the walls that were taken from the prisoners by force and used instead of plaster. You also see the suffocating solitary confinement and the rotten prison cells. 

Sadness and anger are the dominant sentiments while walking through the prison of the arid island of Gyaros near Syros. Heavy iron doors and dark cells where rats and scorpions once frolicked among the prisoners are still spine-chilling today.

A little further, you will also find the cemetery of Gyaros with people who died from grueling work, torture, and malnutrition. The Cycladic island that crushed thousands of human souls is certainly part of the dark tourism and the dark history of Greece.

The arid and uninhabited island of Gyaros

6. The hidden tunnels in Leros

On our journey to discover the top chilling attractions for dark tourism in the Greek islands, we hop on a ferry from Piraeus to Leros making our last stop in the Dodecanese.

With an eventful past, Leros has its own secrets with unexplained phenomena, hidden tunnels, and impressive monuments. Your starting point in Leros is the War Museum located inside the Merikia Tunnel. The sound of the deafening sirens of war from the loudspeakers when entering the tunnel will definitely leave you in awe.

There, the Battle of Leros that took place in Lakki comes to life with the personal belongings, soldiers’ torn uniforms, and helmets pierced by bullets.

Around 5 km from the Museum of War, you will also find the building of the Parabolic Acoustic Mirror which can pick up sound from great distances and warn the army of an air raid. There, according to locals, sometimes you can hear sirens of war and soldiers’ screams.

Tip: the seabed of Leros is the home of many wrecks from the famous "Queen Olga" destroyer ships that sunk in 1943 to german aircraft from the Second World War.

The bay of Lakki in Leros

From Devil's Island to the Dragon Houses of Euboea and the hidden tunnels of Leros, the Greek islands have many unsolved mysteries. Prepare your suitcase, download our Ferryhopper App on your mobile phone to track your ferry at any time in real-time, and book your ferry tickets on Ferryhopper with no hidden fees!