Dive into an underwater museum

A unique visitor attraction has finally opened in Greece, as the country's first underwater museum, inaugurated in 2020 but then mothballed due to the pandemic, is now open for business. Scuba diving tourists are invited to visit a derelict vessel with its 2,500 year old cargo of wine amphorae. The vessel lies on the seabed of the waters surrounding Peristera, a rocky outcrop off the island of Alonissos in Greece.

Wine cellar maker from Denmark, Lisette Fredelund was keen to see these earthenware pots at first hand and to experience the ancient civilisation they help to illustrate.

Lisette Fredelund: "It was with a different perspective. We are not watching only marine life or corals but watching ancient civilizations. I was just, while we were down there trying to imagine what it had been like being on a vessel transporting wine from one shore to another. It was just amazing."

The museum also provides a virtual reality tour for those who prefer not to plunge into the depths with an oxygen pack strapped on their backs, allowing them to appreciate the exact same exhibits. Nevertheless, it is the blend of diving and archaeology that intrigues Austrian Hans Jurgen Fercher.

Hans Jurgen Fercher: "It makes it special and unique that it's a combination of diving and archaeological diving. It's diving into history. It makes this place live and live again, so this is what touches me."

Professionally guided dives come to about 95 euros, a 50 percent increase to diving solely for pleasure. But, it is the goal of sustainable tourism that the organisers of these archaeological dives wish to achieve, and by doing so, they hope to benefit the wider region.

​​The wreckage from four more ships has now been sighted, and Dive Centre founder Kostas Efstathiou believes this will put Alonissos well and truly on the world diving map.

Kostas Efstathiou: "We are very excited to have another four wrecks in the following two years and that is really going to put Alonissos on the world diving map. We are going to have like an underwater safari of ancient wrecks."

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