Spetses Sights, Greece: Museums, the Old Harbour & War History

Spetses sights at a glance

Spetses is a car-free island in the Saronic Gulf: apart from a small number of resident permits, no cars circulate, so its sights are reached on foot, by bicycle, water taxi or horse-drawn carriage. Most of them sit within walking distance of Dapia, the modern port and main square of Spetses Town.

Bouboulina Museum and the Spetses Museum

The main sights of Spetses are its two town museums, both tied to the naval heroine Laskarina Bouboulina. The Bouboulina Museum occupies the old mansion of the Bouboulina family in Spetses Town, a short walk from the Dapia port, and tells the story of the woman who fought as an admiral in the 1821 Greek war of independence. The Spetses Museum occupies the stone mansion of the 18th-century shipowner Hatzigiannis Mexis and displays the island's historical and archaeological collection, holding the remains of Bouboulina along with old weapons, ship models, coins and revolutionary relics. Both museums sit within a short walk of Dapia port, so most visitors see them back-to-back before exploring the rest of the town.

The Old Harbour and Agios Nikolaos

The Old Harbour, or Palio Limani, is the prettiest corner of Spetses Town and a sight in itself. Ferries cannot reach its shallow water, so it keeps its Greek wooden boats, yachts and three old windmills, and boatyards still build and repair caiques along the quay. At the edge of the old port stands the Agios Nikolaos monastery, the seat of the island's bishop, built in 1805 on a square paved with pebble mosaics. Craftsmen built its bell tower from white marble shipped in from the island of Tinos. This church first flew the Greek revolutionary flag on Spetses, which makes the spot both a landmark and a piece of the island's war history.

The lighthouse and Natalia Mela's sculptures

Past the Old Harbour, the road curves out to the headland and the Spetses Lighthouse, built in 1831 and one of the first lighthouses in Greece. The walk from town takes about 45 minutes through a pine forest and past a small church, with views back over the Old Harbour along the way. The lighthouse building itself is fenced off, but the headland and its views stay open. The headland also doubles as an open-air sculpture park: bronze goats, bulls and a mermaid by the Athenian artist Natalia Mela stand along the shore, part of a set of her open-air works dotted around the town.

Dapia and the Poseidonion Grand Hotel

Dapia is the modern port and main square of Spetses Town, and it carries its own history. Old cannons from the war of independence still point out to sea from the waterfront, a reminder that this was the island's gun battery. Facing the square stands the Poseidonion Grand Hotel, a large Belle Epoque hotel that opened in 1914 and became a fashionable retreat for wealthy Athenians between the wars. A bronze statue of Laskarina Bouboulina, by the sculptor Natalia Mela, looks out over the waterfront near the hotel. Close by stands the Anargyros Mansion, the ornate private residence that the benefactor Sotirios Anargyros built for himself near the port — a separate building from the school he founded. Horse-drawn carriages wait at Dapia for the ride round to the Old Harbour, and the cafes and tavernas around the square are where island life gathers.

Anargyrios and Korgialenios School

The Anargyrios and Korgialenios School is a grand building on the western edge of Spetses Town, set among pine trees above the sea. Spetsiot benefactor Sotirios Anargyros founded the school, modelling it on the English public schools. The British novelist John Fowles taught English here in the 1950s, and the island and the school inspired his novel The Magus. The school no longer runs as a boarding school, but its imposing architecture and gardens still draw visitors who walk out from the town.

Churches and the Bekiri sea cave

Beyond the Old Harbour, Spetses keeps two more churches and one sea cave worth a stop: the Agia Triada church and the small Agia Marina chapel, both in Spetses Town, date from the early Christian and Byzantine tradition and stand among the town's mansions and cobbled lanes. On the west coast, the Bekiri sea cave cuts back into the cliff at Agioi Anargiri beach, and swimmers can reach it directly from the sea. Islanders used this cave as a hideout during the war with the Turks, and today swimmers explore it as part of a day at the beach.

Spetses in 1821 and the Armata festival

Spetses was one of the first Greek islands to join the 1821 revolution, and it gave the cause a fleet and the female admiral Laskarina Bouboulina. On 8 September 1822 the Spetsiot ships beat off an Ottoman fleet in the straits between the island and the mainland, a victory the island still celebrates. The battle left two lasting sights in Spetses Town: the Panagia Armata chapel, a small church built in the 1820s to commemorate the victory, and the yearly Armata festival, which re-enacts that sea battle in the bay off Spetses Town every September, ending with the burning of a mock Ottoman flagship and fireworks over the water. The chapel is the building; the festival is the event, and both carry the same name. The festival is the island's biggest event and ties its sights to the history behind them.

Day trips from Spetses

Spetses makes a base for trips to nearby sights on the mainland and other islands. A day trip by boat and road reaches the ancient theatre of Epidaurus and the ruins of Corinth on the Peloponnese opposite. By sea, the neighbouring islands of Hydra and Poros are short hops from the port and easy to visit for a day. For getting to and around the island, see the Spetses travel guide.

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