TERESA LEVONIAN COLE explores the laid-back isle of Spetses, Greece with its revamped iconic hotel

SUNLIGHT glinted on a sapphire sea, colourful fishing boats bobbed in the tranquil waters, waiters delivered trays of iced coffee to convivial gatherings at cafés lining the harbour and dominating the vista was the imposing limestone and marble façade of the Poseidonion Grace Hotel.

Such was the scene that greeted me as the hydrofoil approached the main harbour of Dapia, on the island of Spetses, Greece.

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A two-hour journey from Piraeus on the mainland, Spetses has long been a popular bolthole for fashionable Athenians.

Now there is a new temptation for visitors, with the long-awaited reopening of the near 100-year-old Poseidonion. It is rumoured, several royal families will descend there next month for the impending nuptials of Prince Nicholas of Greece.

As I stepped inside the revamped hotel it felt light and airy, with lofty ceilings, sweeping staircase and magnificent marble terrazzo floor tiles restored to their original splendour.

I threw open the shutters of my dove-grey room with its wood floors and beautiful marble bathroom and stepped on to a wrought-iron balcony to soak up the dazzling Mediterranean light.

I chatted to Petros Haritatos who has written a book about the island. He said the hotel was built in 1914 by tobacco tycoon Sotirios Anargyros as a luxurious retreat for hunting parties.

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We sat on the terrace of the hotel's elegant Aneton restaurant, tucking into an indulgent breakfast of cheeses, home-baked breads, along with juicy tomatoes, crushed olives and fruits picked from the hotel's organic gardens.

Petros said Anargyros is largely responsible for how Spetses looks today. "An early conservationist, he purchased two-thirds of the island and planted 100,000 Aleppo pines, safeguarding against over-development, " he says.

Spetses is steeped in history and laced with charm. Cars are banned from town so I hailed one of the many horse buggies at Dapia harbour. We set off at a jaunty trot along the waterfront toward the Old Harbour, where elegant yachts moor in front of the island's trendiest restaurants.

It is a delightful place to wander.

I climbed narrow cobbled streets ablaze with bougainvillea and oleander while admiring beautiful houses tinged with Moorish or Venetian influence, their pebble-mosaic courtyards fragrant with jasmine and lemon trees.

The island's most famous beaches, the long, sheltered, mostly sandy bay of Aghios Anargyros and Aghia Paraskevi, with its half-mile arc of pebbles backed by a chapel, occupy adjacent bays on the south-west coast and are served by buses and tourist boats during high season.

From Dapia I took a water taxi around the island's craggy shoreline, thick with Anargyros pines and indented with deep turquoise bays. Tiny churches nestled in coves and caves winked above the waterline.

Back in town as evening fell, Tarsanas, one of the island's best fish tavernas, with simple tables perched a toe-dip above the water, was abuzz with yachties.

As a feast of seafood mezze and grilled black bream appeared before me, a boat chugged into the harbour, stopped in front of the restaurant and released a fireworks spectacular into the starry night. No one batted an eyelid. On a magical island, it seems, such is the stuff of life.

GETTING THERE:
Poseidonion Grace (dialling from the UK: 0030 22 9807 4553/ www.poseidoniongrace.com) offers doubles from £162 per night (two sharing), B&B.

Periscope Hotel (21 0729 7200/www.yeshotels.gr) offers doubles from £125 per night (two sharing). easyJet (0871 244 2366/www.easyjet.com) offers return flights from various UK airports to Athens from £173.

Hellenic Seaways (21 0419 9000/ www.hellenicseaways.gr) offers return hydrofoil travel from Piraeus to Spetses on the Flying Dolphin from £58.

Greek National Tourism Organisation: 020 7495 9300/www.visitgreece.gr