5 Best Performing Arts Venues in The Saronic Gulf Islands, Greece

Thousands flock in from all over Greece to attend the Armata Festival celebrations on Spetses, held in honor of Panagia Armata (Virgin Mary "of the Army"), in what is probably the most glorious weekend on the island's calendar. During the second week of September, Spetses mounts an enormous harbor-front reenactment of a War of Independence naval battle (the epic battle took place on September 8, 1822), complete with costumed fighters and burning ships. Book your hotel well in advance if you wish to see this popular event. There are also concerts and exhibitions during the week leading up to it.

The island celebrates its crucial role in the War of Independence with the Miaoulia, which takes place the last weekend of June. At around 10 o'clock on Saturday night, Hydra's small port goes dark, and a journey into history commences as the day's festivities culminate in a reenactment of the night Admiral Miaoulis loaded a vessel with explosives and sent it upwind to the Turkish fleet back in 1821. Naturally, the model enemy's ship goes down in flames. Fireworks, music, traditional dancing, treasure hunts, and sports competitions all accompany the burning of the fleet, a glorious part of Hydra's Naval Week.

Two of the most important festivals held at Agios Nektarios Monastery are Whit Monday, or the day after Pentecost (the seventh Sunday after Easter), and the November 9 saint's name day, when the remains of Agios Nektarios are brought down from the monastery and carried in a procession through the streets of town, which are covered in carpets and strewn with flowers.

On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, August 15—the biggest holiday of the Christian summer throughout Europe—a celebration is held at Panagia Chrysoleontissa, a mountain monastery built between 1403 and 1614.