Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise sails the Ionian coast of Thesprotia from Syvota to the Blue Lagoon and the Syvota islets, with the Acheron and the Necromanteion nearby on land. The cruise is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville, listed with the other Epirus tours and Greece boat tours.
This post covers what the cruise is, Syvota on the Thesprotia coast, the Blue Lagoon, the islets, the beaches and the port, the link with the Acheron and the Necromanteion and the formats on sale. Common questions come last.
What is a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise?
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise is a boat outing from Corfu or from Lefkimmi to the Syvota coast of Thesprotia, with a swim stop at the Blue Lagoon, and the formats on sale include day, sunset, evening and private departures.
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise joins an island departure to a stretch of the Greek mainland. Syvota lies in Thesprotia, a regional unit of Epirus, and the boats approach it across open water of the Ionian Sea.
The place name has two spellings. Greek transliteration gives Syvota, and the pronunciation sounds close to Sivota, which is the form used on the cruise cards.
Syvota is a village and a former municipality. The area has formed a municipal unit inside the municipality of Igoumenitsa, the largest town of the Thesprotia coast, since the local government reform of 2011.
The cruise cards list swim stops, sea caves, lunch, drinks, sunset sailings and a private yacht option. The later sections of this post sort those formats and set out the history of the coast.
The Corfu to Albania day trip post covers the other mainland crossing from the island, the one to Sarande, while the Syvota cruise stays on the Greek shore.
- Destination: Syvota, a village of Thesprotia in the region of Epirus.
- Stop: the Blue Lagoon, named in every cruise title on the cards.
- Departures: Corfu and Lefkimmi are the two starting points in the titles.
- Sea: the Ionian Sea lies between the island and the mainland shore.
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise therefore combines a swim, a coastline and a short mainland history.
Where does a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise meet Syvota on the Thesprotia coast?
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise meets Syvota as a village of 1,089 residents in the 2021 count, set in a municipal unit of 2,693 people and 72.439 square kilometres on the Thesprotia coast of Epirus, in north-western Greece.
The municipal unit has four main settlements: Syvota, Argyrotopos, Faskomilia and Plataria. The seat of the former municipality stood in Plataria, not in the village that gives the coast its cruise name.
The earliest recorded inhabitants of the region were the Thesprotians, a Greek tribe of Epirus. In antiquity the place was called Sybota, and the modern name keeps that older form almost whole.
In the Middle Ages Syvota shared the fate of Epirus. It belonged to the Byzantine Empire and the Despotate of Epirus, then to the Republic of Venice, and in the 15th century it passed to the Ottoman Empire.
Syvota became part of Greece in 1913, after the Balkan Wars. Greece settled Greek Orthodox refugees from Turkey in Mourtos after 1922, and the 1926 count gave 150 refugee families there.
Two settlements changed their names in 1928. Arvenitsa became Argyrotopos and Nista became Faskomilia, so a map from before that year shows a different set of village names.
- Village: Syvota counted 1,089 residents in 2021.
- Municipal unit: the unit covers 72.439 square kilometres and holds 2,693 residents.
- Settlements: four main settlements share the unit with the village.
- Seat: the former municipality was run from Plataria.
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise lands at a small place with a long record. The numbers above come from the census, and the names come from a century of boundary changes.
How does the Blue Lagoon fit a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise in the Ionian Sea?
The Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise sails in the Ionian Sea, whose name has no settled origin. Ancient stories link it to Ionius, a son of Adrias or of Dyrrhachus, and a modern view links it to Ionians who sailed west.
The Blue Lagoon is the swim stop that gives the cruise its second name. Every title on the cards pairs it with Sivota, and sea caves join the Corfu day cruise.
One ancient version made the sea the namesake of Ionius, a son of Adrias, in the same way that the Adriatic took its name from his father.
Another version made Ionius a son of Dyrrhachus. When his brothers attacked Dyrrhachus, Heracles came to his aid, but in the fight the hero killed the son of his ally by mistake.
The body was cast into the water, and tradition holds that the sea took the name Ionian from that death.
The Oxford Classical Dictionary offers a plainer reading, that the name can come from Ionians who sailed to the west. The spelling of the two words differs by one vowel, so the reading stays open.
- Stop: the Blue Lagoon is the swim stop on every format.
- Name: Ionian derives from the Greek word Ionion, with an unknown etymology.
- Hero: Odysseus, the warrior-king of Ithaca, is the sailor the sea is famous for.
- Story: Heracles figures in the tale of Ionius and Dyrrhachus.
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise therefore carries a sea with rival stories about its name. The swim stop gives the outing its water, and the myths give it a background.
Why do the Syvota islets matter to a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise?
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise passes the Sybota islands, which served as the operating base of the Corcyraean fleet in the naval battle of Sybota, a clash between Corcyra, the old name of Corfu, and Corinth, in antiquity.
Corinth was in dispute with Corcyra, its own old colony, which no longer wanted Corinthian influence. Corcyra held the third largest navy in Greece at the time and allied itself with Athens, an enemy of Corinth.
Athens sent ships to reinforce the Corcyraean fleet, with instructions not to fight unless the Corinthians tried to land on the island. The Athenian commanders were Lacedaimonius, Diotimus and Proteas.
Both fleets fought in what Thucydides called an old-fashioned manner. Hoplites, archers and javelin-throwers stood on the decks, and the crews tried to board each other instead of ramming.
The Corcyraean left wing routed the Corinthian right and burned its camp on the coast. The Corinthian left wing then won, and the Athenians had to come to the aid of their allies.
Twenty more Athenian ships under Glaucon were on their way, and the Corinthians retreated rather than risk a second battle. Both sides claimed victory, and Sparta soon declared war after the fight at Potidaea.
- Base: the Corcyraeans made the Sybota islands their base of operations.
- Corinthian commander: Xenoclides led the fleet that Corinth assembled.
- Athenian relief: Glaucon brought twenty ships after the first fight.
- Later use: the Ottomans used Syvota as a naval base in the Greek War of Independence.
The islets of a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise thus carry a record of fleets. The waters now take swimmers, but the same anchorage served warships in antiquity.
Which beaches and which port does a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise sit beside?
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise sits beside the Gulf of Igoumenitsa, where the port town of Igoumenitsa climbs a forested mountain and the Blue Flag beach of Makrygiali lies on the north-western edge of the gulf, in the Ionian Sea.
Igoumenitsa stands on the easternmost end of its gulf in the Ionian Sea. The city is built on the slopes of a forested mountain and spreads around the water in a wide arc.
The town has carried a run of names. A medieval golden bull of Simeon Uros, dated 1361, mentions it, and Ottoman rule called it Grava or Resadiye before the present form came into use.
The name Resadiye dates to 1909 and honours Mehmet V, who was Ottoman sultan from that year to 1918. The name changed to Igoumenitsa in 1938, when the town became capital of the prefecture.
The archaeological museum opened in 2009 on the north side of the town. It has five sections: historical background, settlements, public life, private life and burial customs.
The present municipality was formed in 2011 by the merger of five former municipalities, among them Syvota. It covers 428.353 square kilometres, far more than the village that the cruise names.
- Beach: Makrygiali carries a Blue Flag and lies on the gulf.
- Gulf: the town stands on the easternmost end of the Gulf of Igoumenitsa.
- Museum: the archaeological museum opened in 2009 with five sections.
- Merger: five municipalities joined in 2011, Syvota among them.
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise belongs to this coast, and Igoumenitsa is its administrative centre. The beach and the museum lie on the mainland side of the same gulf.
How does a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise link Thesprotia, the Acheron and the Necromanteion?
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise links to Thesprotia, whose Acheron river and Necromanteion belong to Greek myth, because the cruise coast shares its regional unit with the oracle of the dead and the river that tradition calls the entrance to Hades.
Thesprotia was part of the Epirote League before Rome annexed it, and it then belonged to the Roman province of Epirus. Byzantine rule followed, apart from a period of Bulgarian rule between the 9th and 11th centuries.
The region fell to the Ottomans in about 1430 and stayed under their rule until 1913. The Thesprotia coast of the cruise therefore passed through the same empires as the island across the water.
The Necromanteion was the leading one of the ancient oracles of the dead. Others stood at the Temple of Poseidon at Taenaron, in Argolis, at Cumae and at Herakleia in Pontos.
Ritual use began with a cleansing ceremony and the sacrifice of sheep. The faithful then descended through meandering corridors, left offerings as they passed through iron gates and heard the priests chant prayers.
The priest then appeared to rise from the floor and fly through the temple, an effect that the account ties to theatrical cranes.
- Province: Thesprotia lay inside the Roman province of Epirus.
- Ottoman date: the region fell to the Ottomans in about 1430.
- Rival oracles: Taenaron, Argolis, Cumae and Herakleia in Pontos held oracles of the dead.
- Ritual: sheep were sacrificed before the descent through iron gates.
The Acheron River tour post covers the river and the oracle in full. The Parga boat trip post covers the nearby coastal town and its bay.
Which formats of a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise are on sale?
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise is on sale in ten formats: six from Corfu, three from Lefkimmi and a private stargazing evening, covering day cruises, sunset sailings, a combined Paxos caves outing, a private yacht and evening boat trips.
Three day formats start from Corfu. One adds lunch and drinks. Another is a boat trip to Sivota, and the third adds a visit to Syvota on the mainland shore.
Three formats start from Lefkimmi. The speedboat cruise calls at Sivota, the Blue Lagoon and the caves, while the sunset cruise runs in the late light and the evening boat trip heads for the Blue Lagoon alone.
One day cruise from Corfu extends the route to the Paxos caves and Antipaxos before the Blue Lagoon swim.
One format from Corfu runs at sunset. That cruise adds a Blue Lagoon swim, caves and Sivota to the evening sail.
A private yacht cruise to Sivota and the Blue Lagoon serves one party. A private stargazing evening at Sivota, with an astronomer and a telescope, uses the dark mainland shore for the night sky.
- Day cruise: Corfu departures with lunch, drinks, caves and a Syvota visit.
- Lefkimmi: speedboat, sunset and evening sailings from the southern port.
- Combined: Paxos caves and Antipaxos before the Blue Lagoon.
- Private: a yacht cruise and a stargazing evening with an astronomer.
The tour cards and availability boxes on this page list live dates for each Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise, so the current departures appear on those cards instead of in the text.
What do travellers ask about the Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise?
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise raises questions about the departure port, the coast it passes, the history of the islets and the neighbouring sights, and the four answers below take each of those topics in turn with plain facts.
Where does a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise start?
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise starts from Corfu in six of the titles on the cards, and from Lefkimmi on the southern part of the island in three others. The destination is the Thesprotia coast of Epirus, reached across the Ionian Sea, and the Blue Lagoon swim follows the crossing.
What does a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise pass on the Syvota coast?
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise passes the Syvota coast, whose municipal unit covers 72.439 square kilometres and holds four main settlements. The shore faces the Ionian Sea, and the islets lie immediately offshore from the village.
Which history does a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise recall?
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise recalls the naval battle of Sybota, in which Corcyra and Corinth fought, with the Sybota islands as the Corcyraean base. Athens sent ships to the Corcyraean side, and both fleets claimed victory at the end.
Does a Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise include the Acheron or the Necromanteion?
A Sivota Blue Lagoon cruise does not include the Acheron or the Necromanteion, which lie inland and have their own posts on this site. The cruise stays on the water, and the oracle of the dead is a separate land visit.
Featured photo: Karelkam, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.