Lake Voulismeni

Lake Voulismeni
Location Crete
Coordinates 35°11′26″N 25°43′2″E / 35.19056°N 25.71722°E / 35.19056; 25.71722Coordinates: 35°11′26″N 25°43′2″E / 35.19056°N 25.71722°E / 35.19056; 25.71722
Basin countries Greece
Max. width 137 m
Max. depth 64 m
Surface elevation 0 m
Settlements Agios Nikolaos

Lake Voulismeni (Greek: Λίμνη Βουλισμένη, Límni Voulisméni) is a former sweetwater small lake, later connected to the sea,[1] located at the centre of the town of Agios Nikolaos on the Greek island of Crete It has a circular shape of a diameter of 137 m and depth 64 m. The locals refer to it as just "the lake". The lake connects to the harbour of the town by a channel dug in 1870. A panoramic view of the lake can be seen from a small park situated above it.

According to legend, the goddess Athena bathed in it.[1] Every year at midnight turning to Orthodox Christian Easter day, the majority of the population of the town gathers around the lake to celebrate with fireworks, and firecrackers thrown by the people attending that highlight event.[2][3]

It was reported that the German army during their withdrawal from the area at WW2, disposed parts of their weaponry and/or vehicles into the deep lake.

A local urban legend has it that the lake is bottomless.[4] That notion is potentially based on its impressively disproportional high depth compared to its width (64m depth on only 134m width) or/and on locals noticing disturbances at the surface or also the level of the water during the Santorini (Thera) earthquake of 1956. Because of the latter, many assume a possible geological relation of the two locations, but this claim has not been substantiated by known scientific surveys to date.

References

  1. 1 2 "Municipality of Aghios Nikolaos - On Agios Nikolaos". Archived from the original on 2007-01-14. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
  2. ↑ "CRETEgazette - Coming Events in Crete". Retrieved 2007-05-05.
  3. ↑ "Photo from Easter at explorecrete.com". Retrieved 2007-05-05.
  4. ↑ "Stigmes Cretan Magazine (also in print)". Retrieved 2007-05-05.
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