The charming little Tourlitis Lighthouse is perched on the islet of Tourlitis, a chunk of rock opposite the harbor at Chora, on Andros island. It is Greece’s first modern lighthouse and the most picturesque. The lighthouse is located about 200 meters out to the sea. A flight of stairs carved into the rocks lead to the lighthouse.
The Tourlitis Lighthouse is the only Greek lighthouse to be built entirely by Greek hands, and also the nation’s only wave-swept rock sentinel, exposed to the brunt of heavy seas. This is the first automatic lighthouse of the Greek lighthousing system, as the lighthouse keeper doesn't actually reside there.
The first lighthouse here was built in 1897. After that was destroyed in the Second Word War, a simple scaffold tower was erected on Tourlitis. The present lighthouse is a replica of the original, and was built in 1990s at the expenses of Alexandros Goulandris, an oil tycoon of Andros island. Goulandris and his wife dedicated the lighthouse in memory of their deceased daughter Violanda.
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