Memories of sandy beaches are pleasant during the winter. I have never seen unsubmerged ship wrecks. We were traveling along a south road to Western Monemvasia of the Peloponnese recently. Beautiful, sandy beaches and coves gave the tourist a feeling of peace. An unforgettable sight is the shipwreck of the Dimitrios. “It has been stranded here since 1981. The rumor is that it was involved in cigarette smuggling between Turkey and Italy, though how it ended up here is shrouded in mystery.”1
The shipwreck is impressive on the clear, blue sea near Gythio. There are many rumors about the ship′s origins and how it got stranded on the beach. Most relate that the ship was used to smuggle cigarettes between Turkey and Italy. She was seized by the port authorities of Gythio and then deliberately released from the port and left to be dragged by the sea to the beach at Valtaki, about 5 kilometers (2.7 nautical miles; 3.1 miles) from the port of Gythio. She was then set on fire to hide the evidence of cigarette smuggling. Another, less common rumor speaks of a ghost ship of unknown origins.2 The owners never tried to salvage it. Only they know why.
References:
- Bostock, Andrew, Greece: The Peloponnese (USA: The Globe Pequot Press, 2013), p. 106.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitrios_shipwreck
Photo 1 and 2 – Dimitrios Shipwreck
