Peristera Underwater Museum/Muncipality of Alonissos
In the early ’90s, off an island called Alonissos on Greece’s eastern coast, a fisherman chanced upon a wreck that would become known as “the Parthenon of shipwrecks.”
“As you go down and you see it from above and you see the volume of the wreck, it is truly spectacular,” said Panagiotis Anagnostou, diver and owner of Alonissos Seacolours. “It is about 25 meters long and 11 meters wide. It’s like stepping back in time—2,500 years ago.”
The Peristera shipwreck, its formal name, dates back to the late 5th century B.C. It is the very first underwater museum in Greece, and one of the most significant investments by the country in a market that is currently on the rise: underwater tourism. According to a recent report by the market research organization Future Market Insights, the global diving tourism market is estimated to reach $2.9 billion in 2022, a number expected to double in the next decade.