What to see in Spetses
The town is the sight on Spetses, and the island is honest about it. The wealth came from timber and salt water, from families who built ships, ran cargo under the Ottomans and then put the whole fleet into the war of 1821, and that money is still standing in the shipowners' mansions, the pebble mosaics underfoot and the cannons pointing out from the waterfront at Dapia. The single best hour is Bouboulina's house, the home of the woman who armed her own fleet and commanded the blockade of Nafplio. Beyond the centre there is the old harbour, where wooden hulls are still being built on the same shore, and a monastery in the pines above. The caveat is that this is an island for looking at buildings and reading plaques. There is no major excavation and no visitor spectacle.
Places of interest
Agios Nikolaos Monastery
The oldest monastery on Spetses, eighteenth century, standing above the Old Harbour with a bell tower over the water and one of the finest pebble-mosaic courtyards on the island.
Dapia
The main harbour and the front door of the island: ferries, old cannon batteries, pebble-mosaic terraces, cafes under the mansions and the Poseidonion Grand Hotel presiding over the whole thing.
The Old Harbour
Palio Limani, the natural harbour where the fleet of 1821 was built and where wooden boats are still laid down on the shore today. The most atmospheric corner of the island, and where Spetses eats in the evening.
Spetses Town
Shipowners' mansions, pebble-mosaic lanes, bougainvillea over stone walls and no sensible way to see any of it except on foot. The town is the main attraction on the island.
Museums and archaeological sites
Bouboulina's House
The family house of Laskarina Bouboulina, the shipowner who armed a fleet for the Greek revolution and became its only woman admiral. Guided visits only, run by her own descendants.
Museum of Spetses
An archaeological, historical and folklore museum on the island of Spetses, housed in an eighteenth-century mansion. It holds collections documenting the island's archaeological and historical heritage, as well as aspects of traditional local life.