Russian Shipyard (Russian Bay)
Stone arches from 1834, when the imperial Russian navy used this bay as a supply base. The ruins are right on the beach, half eaten by the sea and the pines.
There are few places in Greece where you can lay your towel on the sand and have, ten metres away, the arches of a nineteenth-century military warehouse half sunk in the water. Russian Bay on Poros is one of them, and it is one of those oddities that make the island stick in the memory.
It is on the west coast of Kalavria, about five kilometres from Poros town, past the Neorio area. It goes by two names: Russian Bay (Rossiko Naystathmo) or Aposkiari bay.
What the Russians were doing here
The short answer: imperial Russia backed the Greeks in the war of independence against the Ottoman Empire, and it needed a logistics base in the Aegean. In 1834, with Greece already independent, the tsarist navy built in this sheltered inlet a complex of warehouses, bread ovens, a hospital and workshops to supply its fleet.
The bay was the ideal spot: calm water, a protected entrance, pine timber to hand and a defensible channel a few kilometres away. For decades it was a piece of eastern Mediterranean geopolitics installed on an island of four thousand people.
In time the base lost its purpose, the Russian fleet withdrew and the structures were left abandoned. They were never restored or turned into a museum. They simply carry on there, deteriorating slowly, with the sea coming in and out through the arches.
What you see today
Masonry walls, round arches in various stages of collapse and the odd window opening. Part of the structure is at the water’s edge and part is already in it. With a calm sea you can see the bottom through the arches, and having a little dive around them is a curious experience.
There are no fences, no entry fee and no explanatory signs beyond the odd improvised one. You can go up, go in and photograph, although common sense is advisable: these are unconsolidated ruins and there is loose stone and rusted iron. It is not a place for children to climb.
Next to the ruins there is a sandy beach with plenty of space, sunbeds for hire in season and a small bar and cafe that opens in summer. It is less busy than others on the island because it is further from the port.
Getting there
By water taxi from Poros port is the nicest way and it costs a few euros each way. You negotiate on the quay and there are no fixed timetables.
By scooter, bike or car it is about fifteen minutes along the west coast road, passing through Neorio. There is a large car park next to the beach, an uncommon thing on this island.
The western bus line goes as far as Neorio, and from there it is about twenty minutes on foot along the road, with no pavement but little traffic.
And there is an option we think is the best of all: leave the vehicle here and walk ten minutes to Love Bay, which is right next door and is the most photographed cove on Poros. The two in one morning make a complete plan.
When to go and what to bring
Early in the morning if you want the ruins to yourself and the side light, which is when they photograph best. By mid-afternoon it fills up with people coming for a swim.
Bring water shoes: the entry to the water alternates sand with patches of stone and submerged remains, and there is the odd old piece of iron down there. Also water and something to eat if you go out of season, because the bar only opens in summer and there is nothing else for several kilometres.
Shade is limited. There are pines at the back of the beach, but the good strip is taken early in August.
And an underlying recommendation: this bay is the best place on Poros to understand that the island is not just an Athenian weekend destination. There was an imperial naval base here, opposite there was a panhellenic sanctuary, and in between there is still an island of four thousand people that takes it all very calmly.