Temenos: Spetses

Traditional double-ender/schooner

Town beach, shadow of Ag. Mama

Spetses

Ann and I took a brief hiatus from our pastoral home in the southern Peloponnese, driving roughly 270 kilometers diagonally—southwest to northeast—for a visit to my family on the island of Spetses. From the coastal village of Kosta, on the Saronic Gulf, it is but 5 kilometers to Spetses island.

Located in the Saronic Gulf, near to the region of the Peloponnese known as the Argolid—a Bronze Age stronghold—Spetses was the island where my maternal grandmother was born in 1899. She immigrated to the United States in 1912, for what was meant to be a one-year visit.

Finikounda harbor--house on the hillside

In 1914, the German U-boats began sinking passenger liners—the most infamous attack was on the Lusitania—and so the immediate return to her island home was delayed during the First War War. She married my grandfather, a Greek immigrant from Nafpaktos, in 1919 and returned to Spetses briefly in 1923, in the early 1950s, and with my brother in 1966.

The 19th-century Poseidon Hotel

Spetses

I first visited Spetses in 1979, when I was a student of classics and archaeology in Athens. I met all of my aunts and uncles, my mother’s first cousins (as well as several great aunts and great uncles) and forged a deep family relationship that continues to this day.

To the monastery

Anchors away

Now the next generation, my third cousins, run the family hotel located near the port.

Spetses--still an island of renowned seafarers

As the only grandchild who speaks fluent Greek, I was able to cultivate a special, enduring cross-Atlantic family bond. This meant a lot to my grandmother, who lived to the age of 93.

Home sweet home

In 1992, Ann and I were married at Saint Nicholas Church (a former monastery), on a promontory overlooking the Saronic Gulf and the distant island of Hydra (home to Leonard Cohen in the 1960s) and the mainland. It is the church where my grandmother Efstathia was baptized in 1899.

Garyfalos ("carnation") beach

I’ve lost count of how many times I have visited Spetses. Initially as a student living in the urban jungle of Athens, I traveled there on many a weekend.

Grabbing the mermaid by the...dorsal fin?

Made famous by John Fowles, in his novel The Magus, Spetses retains much of its charm, although it has been divided up by the 1 percent, many of whom arrive to the their private heliports. To call it the Riviera of the Aegean is no understatement

My Uncle Kyriakos--and his "favorite nephew"

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Spetses has a storied history dating back to the classical period. More recently, it was one of three naval powers—including Hydra and distant Psara—that battled the Ottoman fleets in the 1820s and 1830s, raising the flag of Greek liberation, which was ultimately realized after the Greek Revolution in 1832.

The Old Harbor

Town beach

Here is a small collection of photos from our brief visit there, with some captions. My aunts and uncle, now in their early 90s, are still active: swimming daily, enjoying siestas, tooling around on their scooters, and offering sage advice. Solicited or not.

One of our favorite "swimming holes"

The Eve of Distraction (or Destruction)

As the 4th of July approaches, it's worthwhile to recall the words of one of America's great revolutionary patriots, Thomas Paine: "We need a revolution every 15 years."

The long-ago grievances against King George III led to a just accountability.

But, more than anyone, it was my Aunt Tifa who instilled a sense of revolution in me. And if ever there was time to be a revolutionary, this is it!

As my ancestors often proclaimed from the ramparts 150 years ago: Ελευθερία η Θάνατος! FREEDOM OR DEATH!

And isn’t it true? Now more than ever.