Spetses

Spetses grew rich on shipping in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the money is still visible in the captains' mansions with their pebble-mosaic courtyards, the Poseidonion Grand Hotel of 1914 on the waterfront, and the old harbour of Dapia where the boatyards still build wooden hulls by hand. Private cars are restricted for visitors, so the island moves by horse-drawn carriage, scooter, bicycle and water taxi; a single road circles the pine-covered interior in about 25 kilometres, a popular cycle. Beaches are pebble and clear-watered, Agia Marina, Zogeria, Agioi Anargyroi with its sea cave, and the pines run down almost to the shore. The Anargyrios and Korgialenios School, a grand campus above the town, was the model for the school in John Fowles's novel The Magus.

History

Spetses was first occupied in the Mesolithic Age, around 8000 BC, when an isthmus joined it to the Argolid mainland at the point now called Kosta, and the first Hellenic settlement found on the island, at Saint Marina, dates to the 3rd millennium BC; its natural harbours sheltered ships trading in the Argolic Gulf at the height of the State of Lerna, about 2300 BC. Strabo and Pausanias called the island Pitiousa, "abounding in pine trees", while the modern name comes from the Italian and Venetian spezie, "spices"; a Gothic raid on the Eastern Roman Empire later sent refugees here, and the Old Port grew into one of the three largest cities of Argolis (Wikipedia, Spetses).

What's there

• The mansion courtyards - black and white pebble mosaics outside captains' houses.
• The old harbour - traditional wooden boatbuilding still under way.
• The carriages - horse-drawn transport along the car-restricted waterfront.
• The coast road - a 25-kilometre pine-shaded circuit for bikes and scooters.

When to go

May, June and September for warm sea and moderate crowds; August is expensive and full. The island keeps a genuine winter population, so shoulder seasons stay open.

What to expect

Spetses is a wealthy island and prices reflect it, particularly in August. Beaches are pebble, not sand, and the best of them need a scooter or a water taxi. The car restriction is partial: locals drive, so the roads are not traffic-free.

Nearby

Hydra lies east along the coast; the mainland at Kosta is ten minutes by water taxi, with Nafplio an hour beyond.

Key facts