Aquaworld Aquarium & Reptile Rescue Centre

This guide to Aquaworld Aquarium and Reptile Rescue Centre in Heraklion traces its start in autumn 1995, when a Scotsman named John McLaren knocked a hole through the wall between two rented apartments in Hersonissos against his neighbors' warnings and opened it that June with a handful of tanks and a jam jar for donations. It follows how word spread and people began arriving with animals nobody else wanted, a hooked turtle, an unwanted iguana, snakes seized from traders, until Aquaworld became the island's only reptile rescue center. Look for the tank near the entrance where the day's newest arrival is usually kept.