Monday. No baseball today so we decided to head up to Tarpon Springs, about 12 miles north of here for some Greek food. We also stopped at the Camping World near there for a few RV things.
Tarpon Springs is an interesting town. It has been the center of the sponge harvesting industry in the U.S. and is now a major tourist attraction in the area. During the heyday of the sponge harvesting a large number of Greek immigrants, familiar with sponge diving in the Greece Islands, arrived there. Now, it still has the highest number of Greek heritage residents of any town in the U.S. Even with the ups-and-downs of the sponge market there is still a commercial sponge harvesting presence in the town as well as lots of local shops selling sponges of various sizes.
Here is some background information about sponge harvesting in Tarpon Springs.
The main tourist street, Dodecanese Blvd. named after a group of 15 Greek islands in the Agean Sea, is along the waterfront, and the center of lots of tourist shops, Greek restaurants and tourist opportunities. Examples include the Spongarama Museum and a boat tour out into the bay (sponge harvest area) where a local goes down into the water in a diving suit and retrieves a sponge or two to show the tourists how it is done. It is all a bit overdone, but the Greek food is excellent and authentic. We have gone there every time we have been here. Our favorite restaurant is Dimitri's by the Water. Once again, we had an excellent late lunch/early dinner. hummus and pita bread for an appetizer, Judy had Greek lemon chicken soup and a grouper sandwich. I had an authentic Gyro sandwich and a Greek beer.
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