As of: February 26, 2024, 5:30 p.m
By: Franziska Kaindl
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Anyone traveling on the Greek island of Skiathos cannot miss Lalaria Beach.
But be careful: the pebbles should stay where they are.
A holiday souvenir is a must for most travelers - whether it is bought in a local shop or found in nature.
However, especially with the latter option, taking a souvenir with you can be eye-catching.
Many holiday resorts protect their nature and prohibit visitors from helping themselves to shells, stones or sand.
There has also been a ban on Lalaria Beach on the Greek island of Skiathos for several years.
Beach loss on Skiathos: pebbles are not allowed to be taken with you
Greece is one of the top travel destinations for Germans every year - especially the islands.
Although Skiathos is a little less well-known compared to Crete, Corfu and Rhodes, it is still a popular tourist destination.
It is part of the Northern Sporades, a group of islands in the Aegean Sea, and is known for its beautiful beaches.
That's why Lalaria Beach, among others, enjoys a large number of visitors, even though it can only be reached by boat.
The pebbles on Lalaria Beach are a popular holiday souvenir.
© Pond5 Images/Imago
It is characterized by a rock that protrudes into the water like a portal, the Tripia Petra.
According to legend, if someone swims through the hole twice, they will regain their youth.
But the beach itself, with its rounded, blue-white pebbles, regularly attracts numerous holidaymakers.
Unfortunately, its popularity has a disadvantage: over the years, more and more of the stones known as lalaria have disappeared into tourists' bags as holiday souvenirs.
It is estimated that half have disappeared, as Thodoris Tzoumas, now mayor of Skiathos, told the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
(SZ) in 2018.
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The local authorities and the islanders started a campaign years ago to protect Lalaria Beach.
It's called "Take pictures, not pebbles", which means something like "Take photos with you, not pebbles".
This saying can be found on signs on the beach and on posters given to boat tour providers or fishermen, as the German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
Anyone who takes a stone with them and gets caught will face a fine of 400 to 1,000 euros.
The amount of the penalty depends on how many stones the police find, Tzoumas said, according to
SZ
.
There are return boxes at the airports where tourists can return their souvenirs before departure.
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Be careful with seemingly worthless holiday souvenirs from Greece
In general, tourists should be careful about which holiday finds from Greece they want to take home with them.
As the Foreign Office warns, attempts to export archaeological objects can even result in prison sentences lasting several years.
This can also happen without malicious intent: just last year, an Austrian father got into trouble with the police because he had fragments of ancient amphoras taken from Greece in 2019.
His children discovered them while snorkeling in Rhodes - for a long time he was unsure of their value.
“Archaeological cultural assets, to put it simply, ancient objects that are in the ground or under water, are strictly protected in every country,” said Anita Gach from the Austrian Federal Criminal Police Office at the time, according to the APA news agency.
“In Mediterranean countries, if you are caught with an ancient object that has just been dug up, submerged from the sea, or even just ‘found’, you face prison sentences.”