TRAVEL TALK
Diving into Greece’s First Underwater Museum A national marine park protects wildlife and now offers tours of “the Parthenon of shipwrecks” off the island of Alonissos. | By Maria Atmatzidou
Greece | POSTED ON: December 11, 2020
At Greece’s new underwater museum, scheduled to open officially in June 2021, divers will be able to explore an ancient shipwreck and its bounty of wine jars in the Aegean Sea. Photo by: Timo Dersch
“Greece, always in season” declared the sun-soaked nation’s tourist campaign last January. It was a marketing slogan backed by truth; in 2019 some 34 million visitors were drawn here. But then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived and decimated the tourism industry.
Greece Opens Worldâs First Underwater Museum Around a 2,400-Year-old Shipwreck
Dec 10, 2020
Greece’s first underwater museum allows visitors to dive down in time to the era of the Peloponnesian War while viewing ancient shipwrecks and pristine coral gardens.
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Diving down to depths of 80 feet, guides are able to show visitors the 90-foot-long Peristera shipwreck sitting where it sank 2,400 years ago while carrying a cargo of wine and black-glazed clay tableware.
The Peristera shipwreck museum, named for a neighboring uninhabited islet along whose coast it was discovered, was opened to the public during a pilot period which just ended at the closing of October. In total more than 300 people arrived, including 250 visitor-divers.