The little bridge
A small span over the channel joining lake to harbour.
fs — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cayambe — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cayambe — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cayambe — CC BY-SA 4.0
**A round lake in the middle of a town, joined to the sea by a narrow channel** — the heart of Agios Nikolaos and its social centre, not merely a sight in it. It is only about **130 metres** across but **very deep** — around **64 metres** — with a rock cliff rising directly above it on one side and a row of cafés and tavernas along the water's edge on the other. It was a **completely closed lake** until **1867**, when a channel was cut through to the harbour — after which the water turned brackish and boats came in. The little bridge over that channel is where everyone stands to take photographs. ⚠ A local legend grew up that it is **bottomless**, and that the goddess Athena bathed in it — the first is **not true** (its depth is known and measured), and the second is a story with nothing behind it. ✅ It is **finest at sunset**, when the cafés light up and the cliff reflects in still water.
A small span over the channel joining lake to harbour.
Rock rising straight above the water and mirrored in it when calm.
A row of tables on the water that light up at sunset.
Agios Nikolaos, 72100 Lasithi, Crete
**No — and this is one of the best-known tourist legends in Crete.** ✅ **The measured fact**: the lake is about **64 metres** deep, established by modern survey. Very deep for a body of water 130 metres across in the middle of a town — but **not bottomless**. ✅ **Where did the legend come from?** From two things: first the **shape**, since a narrow, circular, very deep lake looks like a well rather than a lake; and second that old attempts to sound it **with a rope and weight** failed because of the depth and water movement, so fishermen came back saying they had found no bottom. ⚠ **As for the Athena story** — that the goddess bathed here — **there is no archaeological or textual basis for it whatever**, and it is a relatively recent tourist addition. ✅ **What is true and stranger**: the lake was **entirely closed** and did not meet the sea until **1867**, when the channel was cut by hand.
**Yes, and it is the only sensible base at this end of the island.** ✅ **The position**: from here you reach **Elounda**, **Spinalonga**, **Kritsa** and **Gournia** in **half an hour or less**; the **Lasithi Plateau**, the **Dikteon Cave** and the **Richtis Gorge** in **an hour**; and **Sitia**, **Toplou** and **Vai** in **an hour and a half**. Nowhere else east of Heraklion gives you that. ✅ **The town itself** is a comfortable size: big enough for a choice of restaurants, pharmacies, cash machines and buses, small enough to walk end to end. ⚠ **What you should know**: it is **not a historic town** like Chania or Rethymno — no Venetian old quarter and no architecture to speak of; its appeal is the lake, the harbour and the position rather than the stone. ⚠ **Its central beaches are small and crowded**; the better ones are outside town. ⚠ **Neighbouring Elounda is far dearer** — luxury resorts; Agios Nikolaos is the sensible price.