SPETSES
Vacations and Sightseeing
Vacations and Sightseeing
| Basic information | |
| Official language | Greek |
| Capital | Spetses Town |
| Area | 22,5 km² |
| Population | 4,027 (2011) |
| Currency | euro (EUR) |
| Web | .gr |
| Code. | GRC |
| Tel. | +30 |
Popular destinations GREECE
| Aegina | Alonissos | Andros |
| Chios | Corfu | Crete |
| Hydra | Kalymnos | Karpathos |
| Kefalonia | Kos | Lefkas |
| Lesbos | Mykonos | Naxos |
| Paros | Patmos | Peloponnese |
| Poros | Rhodes | Samos |
| Santorini | Skiathos | Skopelos |
| Spetses | Thasos | Zakynthos |
Vacations and Sightseeing
Spetses Town is actually the only village on the island. It has elegant architecture and a beautiful harbour. Vehicles are not allowed within the town, with the exception of bicycles and motorbikes. Buses or boats run to destinations in the rest of the island. A traditional but very touristy means of transport are the many horse-drawn carriages.
The private museum of Bouboulina, founded in 1991 by Philip Demertzis-Bouboulis, is located in her birthplace and displays a collection of personal items, including furniture, paintings and personal artefacts, as well as the household furnishings of this heroine. The traditional mansion is interesting to visit because of the amazing Florentine ceiling with fine woodcarving in the main salon. Laskarina Bouboulina, originally from the island of Hydra, is one of the few female heroes of the Greek Revolution.
The most popular beaches of Spetses are Aghioi Anargyroi (only sandy beach) and Aghia Paraskevi, on the west side of the island. A bus and many boats take you daily from Spetses Town to these beaches during the summer season. The very picturesque Zogeria beach on the northern edge of the island, popular with the locals, can also be visited by boats. Other beaches include Kaiki, Kouzounos, Vréllas, Ligoneri, Kounoupitsa, Xylokériza, Agios Mamas and Agia Marina. The beaches on Spetses are relatively quiet.
The (Hatzigiannis) Méxis Museum is housed in a mansion built between 1795 and 1798, with a mixture of Spetsian, Ottoman and classicist furnishings of the time. Prehistoric pottery, 18th century utensils and period furniture are on display in the house. Of particular interest is the coffin of Laskarina Bouboulina and the figurehead of her ship 'Agamemnon'. Also on display are the remains of a cargo ship built in the 12th century BC, found in 1990 and one of the oldest known shipwrecks in the world.
House floors, courtyards, streets and squares are tiled with mosaics of black and white pebbles. The patterns of these mosaics, called 'botsalóto' or 'krokália', are often inspired by the sea or military history.
Every year during the second weekend of September, the Armáta festival commemorates the defeat of the Turks in the Battle of Spetses on 8 September 1822 by a combined fleet from Spetses, Hydra and Psara. Nauplion, among others, was liberated.
Sources
Wikipedia
CIA - World Factbook
BBC - Country Profiles
Last updated April 2024Copyright: Team The World of Info