From Chrysoskalitissa Monastery a five kilometres long newly asphalted road leads to Elafonisi, which is one of Crete's most beautiful sandy beaches with turquoise shallow water and the mountains in the background. A long isthmus of sand takes you towards the island with a size of about 3 km2. It is separated from the mainland only by a narrow strait, which in its deepest places reaches a depth of 1-1½ m, but it changes a great deal depending on the current conditions. With a little luck you may see pink "sand" by the water's edge - the "sand" in fact being crushed shells.
The island passed into history in 1824, when 850 children, women and old people sought refuge on the island to avoid being killed by the Turks under leadership of Ibrahim Pasha Messez. April 24th the Turks reached the island, where they murdered the old people and the women, while they kidnapped the young girls, who were later sold in slave markets in Egypt. A tablet is set up on the highest point of the island in memory of the bloodbath.
Until World War II there was a monument on the island in memory of the victims of the passenger ship Imperatrice, which was shipwrecked in 1907. During times many ships had gone aground, and a lighthouse was therefore built in 1922 to reduce the risk of further shipwrecks, but both this and the monument were destroyed by the Germans during World War II. The present lighthouse next to the Agia Irini church is automatic and has a range of 30 nautical miles.
The inhabitants of the nearby villages had fields - mainly rye - on the island, but since the place became a tourist attraction, the fields have been abandoned.
