The Greek Isles: Spetses (the final stop)

After an incredible cruise of the Greek Isles on the Norwegian Getaway and a busy itinerary, we were excited to leave the ship and hop on a two and half ferry ride from Athens to the small lesser known island of Spetses.

From my investigations I had realised that Spetses is more of a local island with Greeks catching the ferry from the mainland to spend the weekend in this less frequented island. After the busyness of Santorini, this little piece of paradise was the absolute epitome of rest and recuperation.

Day 1
We arrived in the early afternoon and checked straight into our room at the harbour-side hotel called Hotel Roumani.

Our room had a beautiful view of the harbour with ferries coming and going and everyone else either on foot or on the two wheels of a scooter. Cars are banned from this island with only 2 cars available as taxis, so the best mode of transport is a scooter or bicycle that are available to hire.

We decided to head straight to the pebbly local beach for a swim in the warm ocean and had a nap in the shade of the sea wall.

On the way back from the beach we walked through the village to find a cold drink drink and had the most incredible sunset.

Day 2
Up early and a quick continental breakfast later, we headed straight our in search of the scooter hire shop just a block behind our hotel.

The hire place accepted my husbands drivers license and off we went on our little scooter to explore the rest of the island.

We planned to go to Bekiri Cave which is a low tide cave which is accessible by a short hike along the coastal path from the far right end of Agio Anargyroi Beach. Make sure to wear water shoes at all of Spetses' Beaches as the pebbly shores are painful on the feet. They were also useful for the short hike to the cave under the pine trees.

Once we arrived the cave happened to be empty so we enjoyed the space to ourselves for about 20 minutes before other people arrived. We spent our time swimming through the mouth of the cave and jumping off the boulders into the warm sea.

The next beach was Agia Paraskevi. We laid down our towels and took another wonderful swim and explored the beach.

That evening we had incredible Pizza at Spetsiotiko Greek restaurant along the waterfront. We loved every bite and probably should have gone back another evening again!

And of course a final post dinner swim as the sun set over Spetses. This part of the trip was turning into the best part of the trip.

Day 3
This day was for more rest. late morning after sleepin in we decided to make the half hour walk along the waterway and across the peninsula to Paralia Garifalos.

Along the way we took in the clean architecture of the area and snooped through the suburbs and alleyways with bountiful Boughainvillia and paved paths. Eventually we spotted the sea once again as we emerged from the neighbourhood in the parking area for Paralia Garifalos. We took a short walk down the stone steps and found a shady spot to perch ourselves just on the right hand side of the beach in the bay.

The water was clear green and warm and welcoming. The afternoon was spent reading, swimming and reading some more before we eventually relented and started our lazy stroll back towards town.

A fresh water shower and were back out along the waterfront for the evening with the locals. Everyone comes out late afternoon to catchup on the latest news and spend time with the family. This lifestyle is so good for the soul and it is reflected in the demeanour of the local inhabitants.

Some of them were singing together as we walked by and then stopped in at small, but immaculate church lit with candles and small lights.

Our final evening was bitter-sweet as we knew that the following morning we would drag our luggage to the ferry and begin the very long journey home to Cape Town, South Africa.

We feel very privileged to be able to explore Europe and especially love the Mediterranean. But we also know that our lives are planted at the southern tip of Africa on a wild coast between two oceans. And we wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Follow for a new series of Mediterranean adventures from the next blog!

All photos are my own.

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