Porto Palermo Submarine Tunnel

Porto Palermo is the site of one of the world's most extraordinary Cold War diving experiences — a submarine tunnel carved directly into the Riviera hillside during the 1950s by the Enver Hoxha regime to shelter Albania's Soviet-supplied submarine fleet, with the tunnel entrances accessible underwater at 5 to 15 metres depth. The tunnel system extends hundreds of metres into the mountain, its concrete walls now colonised by encrusting organisms and its floor scattered with the debris of a vanished military apparatus. Above the tunnel, Porto Palermo's sheltered bay offers excellent reef diving on limestone formations draped in sea fans, with the castle of Ali Pasha rising from the headland as a dramatic backdrop.