Hi, All! I jumped at the chance to visit Spetses on a daily trip last weekend and I am thrilled to share about it today.
First time I visited Spetses was at the age of nineteen with my Uni friends, so it is very close to my heart. I visited it again for short breaks in the 90s and the 00s. Even though this visit was only for a day, it was just as exciting and my husband and I had six whole hours to catch the vibe of it all.
Spetses is an island of the Saronic gulf (close to Athens) that has a huge naval history thanks to Laskarina Bouboulina, the admiral of the Greek Navy, who was a heroine of the Greek War of Independence.
Oh my goodness. This picture makes me feel so old, LOL. But that was 1986 and I was a student at Athens Uni. And I had to show you this picture as it makes the island of Spetses look so idyllic, exactly as I remember it that first time I saw it. My hotel room had a view to the old clock square. It was so built up when I saw it again the other day it was heart-breaking. The middle space was almost taken on completely by restaurant seating areas, and two of them were not even traditional tavernas. They were serving pizza and pasta instead. I found them so out of place. So I like this old, quiet square better… and if you’ve been to any Greek islands in the 80s, you know what I’m talking about and what exactly it is they lack these days. Just looking at this photo makes me hear bouzouki chords in my mind, and my friends from Uni and I even spent an evening dancing in a bouzouki club!
The t-shirt I am wearing says, “If you’re gonna do it, do it right. Do it in Spetses!” and it featured Garfield laid out on a deckchair, sunglasses on, drink in had. So 80s! I was a huge George Michael fan back then so the slogan was perfect; I had to buy the t-shirt LOL. I wore it every summer after that for decades. It was only last year that it’d got so many holes in it I had to throw it away, much to my grief. RIP Garfield of Spetses, LOL!
But I digress. Back to my wonderful day out… After a hearty breakfast at the Dappia, the beautiful stone-paved port of Spetses, my husband and I went exploring. On the back streets of Dappia, across from a tiny park, we found Bouboulina’s stately home, now a museum.
Laskarina Bouboulina was a sea captain, and one of the greatest heroines of the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s against the Ottoman rule.
Inside her home, we saw personal artefacts and beautiful furniture dating from many centuries ago.
Taking pictures wasn’t allowed inside but I was able to find online this photograph of the exquisite living room of the mansion. The wooden ceiling stole my heart. It came from Florence in pieces, apparently, and was assembled at the mansion piece by piece. The intricate designs carved on the wood were breathtaking. And so was the room itself. Just the idea that I was standing at the place where Boubloulina planned the next naval battles with other captains for the liberation of Greece made the hairs on my spine stand on end. It was an experience that made the Greek War of Independence come alive, and I felt the kind of awe I have only felt once before – at Agia Lavra monastery, standing before the legendary banner that started the same war in 1821.
How easy it was to picture Bouboulina in her own spaces! It was a huge privilege to be there. I was deeply moved as I admired her own ancient icon of St Nicholas – the protector of seafarers. It was a beautiful wooden icon with intricate carvings – gold plated. I could imagine how many times she must have prayed before it for the victory of her naval battles so she could save her beloved country. Wow. Just that artefact was enough reward for visiting that special place.
The pictures I’m sharing today from my trip feature the beautiful exterior of Bouboulina’s mansion, and also Spetses’s port (the famous Dappia), the imposing Poseidonion Hotel, and other areas. It was 36 degrees C and we were melting, so the horse and carriage ride and the walk to the end of the peninsula to visit the small marina and the shipyard had to be postponed for another time. All we could do was keep sitting here and there in the shade with food and drink for sustenance and refreshment, LOL.
I am also sharing pictures from other areas we visited on the way – the Corinth Canal, Costa (near the cosmopolitan Porto Heli) where we took the ferry across to Spetses, and the enchanting little town of Ancient Epidavros where we stopped over for coffee on our way back home.
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