Amazing food, summer sun, quaint gift shops and a lovely walk along the water are waiting for you at the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks, a wonderful Greek village just outside Tampa, Florida. Tarpon Springs is a beautiful little fishing town, dedicated to three things: the best Greek food around, traditional sponge diving, and all the shopping any visitor could want! This wonderful area of waterfront is less than a mile long, but filled to the brim with shops selling everything from vegetable ivory carvings to coconut monkey head banks, from color changing t-shirts to imported Greek olive oil soap, and of course, sponges or every shape and size.

While the shopping is great, there is much more to do than that! The Sponge Docks have numerous boats docked right on the main walkway, where you can take a beautiful ride down the inlet towards the Gulf of Mexico, seeing graceful sea gulls, huge pelicans, and sometimes manatee, dolphins, and stingray – and always, a real sponge diver, in a traditional suit, practicing the old Greek tradition of sponge diving. You’ll get to ask the diver questions, see his amazing, old style suit, up close, and watch him bring a real sponge up from the sea floor.

The docks also house an aquarium that, while small, is packed with things to see. The aquarium has a giant grouper fish, larger than most dogs, and capable of swallowing a hammer head shark whole! They also have two tanks where you can hand feed sting rays, and pole feed small sharks – it is an amazing, interactive exhibit, worth the trip to Tarpon alone!

And now on to the real reason that we all go on vacation – the food! Tarpon Springs boasts the most amazing Greek food in Florida, possibly in the United States. No matter which restaurant you choose, the gyros and salad are amazing. Mamma’s restaurant has outdoor seating, overlooking a small side street of quaint shops. Hella’s, on the main strip, has fabulous Greek salad, and an amazing bakery, whose baked goods are sold throughout the town. Sprinkled throughout the town are many other tasty restaurants, all offering standard Greek fair, such as gyros, Greek salad, saganaki (flaming cheese), and baklava.

Whether you like to shop, eat, walk, or simply sit on a bench and watch the boats go by, the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks are a must see stop for anyone coming to the Tampa Bay area!