Elounda is a place-name that is easy to pronounce, but difficult to describe. It is a place that can only be experienced personally, to live forever thereafter in your dreams.
It is built on the site of the ancient Minoan city Olous, one of the strongest ancient cities of Crete. Over the centuries it was known by the names Olous, Olounda, Hersonisos, Amylka, Amyklion, Kolokytha Olous, Alyngos, Naxos, Axos, Oxa and Kadistos. The exact location of Olous is placed in the area of Poros, near the salt pans, where remains of a sunken city have been found. Reports say that Olous hosted the magnificent statue of Vritomartis (the Cretan version of Artemis), which was a work of the renowned sculptor Daedalus. Other gods that were worshiped in Olous were Zeus and Mars. The city flourished because of trading grindstones for polishing metal, extracted in the quarries of Karfi area.
Elounda is located 10km north of Agios Nikolaos, near the northwest side of the bay of Mirabello. The area is a renowned tourist resort with luxurious hotels for the most expensive tastes. Each year Elounda hosts in utmost secrecy several Heads of States and celebrities of the international economic, political, athletic and artistic elite. Indeed, it is no coincidence that Elounda has the most landings of private helicopters in Greece!
Elounda has to offer to its visitors some of the most beautiful landscapes in Greece. The small town of Elounda is not particularly graphic, but it is built on the edge of the idyllic lagoon of Korfos Bay, which is formed between the Spinalonga Peninsula and Crete.