I last visited Spetses 23 years ago at the age of 12. It was always an island I wanted to go back to. This year (2005) I finally got round to revisiting. We stayed at the Nissia. A 5 star hotel.

Its always been a fear of mine when touring the Greek Islands that the hotels often dissapoint. In many cases you will see some fantastic structure, but look behind the facade and the attention to detail just dissapoints and spoils the whole experience. A part of me just couldn't get too excited about staying at the Nissia given my past experiences.

When we arrived we were met by a grand facade that impressed. Everything was well presented and looked tidy. We were led into the reception which was a very small but cosy area. We checked in and were led past the pool to our accomodation.

Everything up to this point was looking good. The pool area was immaculate and looked particularly inviting.

We were shown to our room given some basic information and then left to our own devices. I started to inspect the room. Everything looked ok pretty much as the web site portayed it.

However it wasn't long before things started to come to my attention. They might be minor and most people wouldn't even consider them as anything to worry about however there were things that just niggled me. They included a bed that creaked everytime you sat down on it or moved. A fridge that seemed to double as an alarm clock at random intervals, bathroom fittings that had signs of pitting on the chrome and tv channels that were incompletely tuned in.

I'm sure that had I raised them as serious issues they would have been resolved but to be honest we'd been traveling for several hours and I was just too tired. By the time was more refreshed I just wanted to enjoy the break and the thought of moving rooms was just too much effort.

These issues are the only faults that I can honestly say I experienced at the Nissia. The staff were extremely polite and attentive, the cleaners were polite and very conciencious, and always left the room immaculately clean.

We stayed 7 nights and I can honmestly say that after day 2 all of the above were forgotten as we enjoyed the breakfasts and just relaxed by the pool.

On many an occasion you would see people on the sea front taking pictures of the entrance and walking around contemplating whether to spend a few nights some did some didn't, I assume the price of 195 euro / night (approx £133/ night) would put some people off. However if you stayed for more than 7 nights you got 15% off the price.

The saying " when in Rome.........." springs to mind with the Nissia. It was mainly populated by Greeks during our stay so perhaps when in Spetses do as the Greeks do and stay at the Nissia.

Would I stay at the Nissia again. Absolutely ! Overall its a great hotel