Skorpios

Skorpios (Greek Σκορπιός ( m. sg. ) ) Is a small inhabited Greek island in the Ionian Sea. Since the entire area is privately owned, stepping onto the island is not permitted.

Geography

Skorpios belongs to the Ionian Islands and is located about one kilometer east of the neighboring island of Lefkas near the port of Nidri; the island of Meganissi is just two kilometers south. The Greek capital Athens is located 250 kilometers south-east. The island is rather flat and reaches a height of 81 meters, the surface measures approximately 80 ha island was once forested and sparsely meantime, today the island is again densely forested.

History

Little is known about the history of the island, it found no traces of antiquity. The Venetians from deforested the island, along with the rest of the Ionian islands of Skorpios in 1864 part of Greece. 1963 Aristotle Onassis bought the island and let this reforest consuming. Today there are over 200 different species of trees on the island.

On October 20, 1968 Aristotle Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis were married on the island. In the 1960s, numerous celebrities visited the island, in part, on the road by paparazzi. Onassis also built a chapel on the island, after the death of his son Alexander Onassis he wanted this there can be buried, because the Orthodox Church a funeral of non-church not allowed in a house of worship, Onassis left after consultation build an annex with separate entrance which serves as a mausoleum. There, Christina Onassis were and he himself buried. Maria Callas was cremated according to their desire and the ashes scattered off the island in the Ionian Sea.

The island was inhabited until a few years ago seasonally by the owners and their approximately 600 employees. The maintenance costs for the island are about 1.5 million euros annually. 2001, however, only two people were registered with a primary residence on the island, the 2011 census still does an actual inhabitants of the island.

Various most prominent buyers had visited the island, including Bill Gates, at times was a sale to Giorgio Armani as safe. In April 2013 Skorpios for a period of 100 years to Ekaterina Rybolowlewa, the daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolowlew to have been leased. This is to circumvent a clause in the will of Aristotle Onassis, stating that the island may not be sold; in the event that his descendants could not entertain, it should fall to the Greek State or, if that does not do so, to Olympic Airways. The effectiveness of the lease contract should therefore be checked by the judiciary