X-RAY MAGAZINE FEATURE

Hilarion: Exploring the Greek Silver Mines of Lavreotiki

In May 2019, a group of dry cavers visited the famous silver mines of Lavrion in the southeastern area of Attica, Greece. The main objective of the visit was to inspect and document the flooded chambers.

Words:
Maria Fotiadi, Erikos Kranidiotis and Stelios Stamatakis
Images:
Trifonas Egglezos, Maria Fotiadi
and Erikos Kranidiotis
Download the full article as pdf ⬇︎
Tech and Training

On a beautiful Sunday morning, a few friends and I visited the famous silver mines of Attica in the municipality of Lavreotiki. Driving nearly 50km from Athens to Lavrion on the southeastern coast of Attica, we went to visit a central mining complex called Hilarion. My friends, who were also dry cavers, told me about the fifth level of this mine, which was filled with water.

Massive Roman shipwreck discovered in Mediterranean

2,000-year-old Roman vessel heavily laden with amphorae

Wrecks & Archaeology

Greek archaeologists have discovered the remains of a massive Roman vessel believed to be the largest classical shipwreck found in the eastern Mediterranean. Believed to have sunk some 2,000 years ago, the 35-metre vessel was discovered at a depth of around 60m during a survey off Kefalonia, one of the Ionian islands off Greece’s west coast. The site is situated 1.5 miles from the entrance to the harbour of Fiscardo, the island's only village to not be destroyed during World War II.

X-RAY MAGAZINE FEATURE

Rebuilding Greece's Dive Industry: An Interview with Avgerinos Vrazopoulos

Greek diving is back on the menu. X-RAY MAG’s Peter Symes asks Avgerinos Vrazopoulos, the director of Scuba Hellas—the Greek diving marketing group—for insights into the development of new dive locations and trip packages for international divers.

Words:
Peter Symes
Images:
Download the full article as pdf ⬇︎
Profiles & Interviews

X-RAY MAG: You are taking on the seemingly gargantuan task of positioning Greece as a diving destination, somewhat anew, even though Greece has always had a recreational dive industry.

Britannic100: "Ship Of Dreams Sunk"

A century ago today - 21st November 1916 - Titanic's bigger sister ship hit a German mine. The collision was fatal.

Wrecks & Archaeology

HMHS Britannic was the largest ship to sink during World War I. (Weighting in at almost 50,000-tons she was also the largest ship in the world).

Many argue she is one of the most beautiful, intact, well-preserved passenger liners accessible to divers. It is little wonder that these factors, and the story behind her construction and sinking continue to capture divers imagination.

X-RAY MAGAZINE FEATURE

My Two Big Fat Greek Diving Days

As my plane touched down in Athens on a warm and sunny October afternoon, it did not seem that long ago since the country experienced deep economic woes, during which a prolonged spat between the Greek Prime Minister Tsipras and then Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the EU bailout dominated the news for weeks on end, painting at times a bleak picture of a nation on the very brink of collapse and simmering with unrest. Not being totally impervious to these events, I was not sure what to expect when I booked the flights. But as I stepped off the plane, I did indeed look forward to finding out how Greece fared and forming my own opinions about the diving to be found here.

Words:
Peter Symes
Images:
Peter Symes
Download the full article as pdf ⬇︎
Travel & Trips

First impressions, once on the ground, was that of apparent normalcy and a metropolis with a steady pulse—like any other major city. Nothing stood out as I was transferred to my hotel in downtown Athens. Traffic was busy and flowing, people were going shopping and visiting cafés and bars as they have always done—or so I presumed, being a visitor and casual observer with a limited frame of reference. As it turned out, I was in for quite a whirlwind of a ride over the next few days.

Scores of ancient shipwrecks found in Greek archipelago

Underwater archaeologists have discovered 22 shipwrecks around a small Greek archipelago, revealing what may be the ancient shipwreck capital of the world

Wrecks & Archaeology

RPM Nautical fundation, an American maritime research non-profit, announced this week that they have just uncovered a whopping 22 shipwrecks around the Fourni archipelago—a find they say adds 12 percent to the total number of known ancient shipwrecks in Greece. Over half of the wrecks date to the Late Roman Period (circa 300-600 A.D.). Overall, the shipwrecks span from the Archaic Period (700-480 B.C.) to the Classical (480-323 B.C.) and Hellenistic (323-31 B.C.) through the Late Medieval Period (16th century).

X-RAY MAGAZINE FEATURE

U-Boat Navigator Mission: HMHS Britannic

Through the centuries in Greece, Kea Island’s renowned statue, the Lion of Kea (one cannot see him from the shore, but I know he is there), continues to smile and look askance upon human vanity—exactly the same way he did in 1916, when during World War I, hospital ships were hit by mines and tragically sank in the Kea Channel. These ships, now wrecks, include HMHS Britannic and SS Burdigala.

Words:
Svetlana Murashkina
Images:
Sergey Bychkov
Svetlana Murashkina
Eugene Tomashov
Download the full article as pdf ⬇︎
Wrecks & Archaeology

It’s July, 2015, Greece. It’s very hot outside. Television commentators from various countries are passionately informing humanity that Greece is ready to leave the European Union, and an inevitable collapse shadows the nation. Here, on Attica, there is still some tranquility and serenity to be found, as is usual for this historical region encompassing Athens. Maria, the taxi driver taking me to the ferry in Lavrio, complains: “Business is very slow. But who said that life is easy?”

Subscribe to Greece