Yaros prison island, Greece

Yaros (Gyaros) - darkometer rating : 8 - The infamous prison island in the Aegean Sea, basically a completely barren rock, which was used as a detention centre/ concentration camp for political prisoners during Greece 's dark days of military dictatorship. Now it's abandoned and derelict. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations More background info: Yaros, also spelled Gyaros, Greece , had been a place of exile and internment before, but it gained its greatest notoriety during the days of the fascist military junta between 1967 and 1974, when immediately after the coup thousands were arrested and deported here, mostly political dissidents from the leftist spectrum, removed from Greek society and exiled on this harsh barren rock by the paranoid anti- communist regime. Conditions were harsh – the place even gained the epithet of "Mediterranean Dachau ". After the prison was closed and abandoned, apparently the Greek Navy used the island as a target range (there are even rumours of depleted uranium being used here). For nearly a decade the island has been "open" to the public. But there is absolutely no tourism infrastructure. The island is uninhabited and unmaintained – even though it's been designated a historical monument. The former prison buildings are crumbling, but going by recent pictures still in relatively good shape. But obviously, you'd have to take good care when nosing about here – there are after all no facilities here … it's a remote, uninhabited, desolate place.