Among the jet set on the Greek Riviera

37° 16′ 6.9600” N 23° 9′ 15.2640” E

1th october 2020

By pure chance, we find a berth in Spetzai’s old, plug-stopped but intensely charming harbor, where the inner harbor is occupied by several layers of local small boats, especially wooden dinghies, a couple of large motorboats and a lot of water taxis that have gone into hibernation during the corona descent and low season.

The outer harbor is occupied by a cargo ship, anchoring for better times, and some huge luxury yachts mooring, while highlighting themselves with floodlights on the mast, hull and the water around, so that all the rest of us can understand that some very special people are living on this ship.

We find a humble place at the northern end of the inner harbor where small primitive shipyards preserve the ancient craftsmanship of boatbuilding. They build the most beautiful boats.

Spetzai (the Greeks call the island Spetses) is part of what is being marketed as the Greek Riviera. They have a long way to go yet, but Spetzai IS beautiful, characterized by rich buildings from a time when Spetzai was strong in the area’s commercial life. The island is officially car-free, but is in turn filled with noisy and stinking motorcycles as well as – considering the island’s car-free status – quite a few cars.

It is a wildly beautiful island. It is lower than the average greek island and massively grown with pine trees. We rent two electric bikes and tramples round all the island’s 26 kilometers of asphalt, we pass beautiful beaches, ex-King Constantine and Anne Marie’s big summer residence and we enjoy the magnificent nature. Fantastic experience.