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The island of Spinalonga (official name: Καλυδών Kalydon) is located at the eastern section of Crete, in Lasithi prefecture, near the town of Elounda. The name of the island, Spinalonga, is Venetian: spina lunga "long thorn", and has roots in the period of Venetian occupation. This location is also the setting for Victoria Hislop's bestselling novel The Island and Werner Herzog's experimental short film Last Words.

According to Venetian documents, the name of the island originated in the Greek expression στην Ελούντα stin Elounda (meaning "to Elounda"). The Venetians could not understand the expression so they familiarized it using their own language, and called it spina "thorn" lunga "long", an expression that was also maintained by the locals. The Venetians were inspired for this expression by the name of an island near Venice called by the same name and which is known today as the island of Giudecca.^{[citation needed]}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinalonga