We awoke on the ferry this morning at 5 am to the sound of Wes’ alarm and the ships sound system telling us we were docking. It had been strange to be in a ‘dorm’ room with two sets of bunk beds and two strangers as bunk mates. We did not talk to them at all not because we were unfriendly but because they spoke only Greek. At any rate, we scrambled out of bed and quickly got ready to leave while the other two continued to sleep. I am not sure when they got up, but they were not rushing.
As we left the ferry we were given a small glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee which was a nice way to start the day. Breakfast was not in the plans as of yet. We headed out to find a the metro bus to take us to the main Bus station to catch the intercity bus to Neflio. First we had to find a place to by the metro bus ticket and that was not difficult (try any metro station). Then we had to find the bus itself, again we lucked out that it was just across the street form where we were looking.
We got onto that bus, now the adventure starts. We are looking for the main bus station and that should be easy to spot – right? Not a chance. We watched for it but it never materialized. Finally we did what we should have done in the first place, ask the bus driver. Evidently we had missed it so he dropped us off at a bus stop, told us which bus to take and suggested we ask the driver to let us know. That is exactly what we did, and we were dropped off right where we should be…but wait, where is the bus station? We look around on both sides of the street and can not see the place where there are a lot of buses parked and people waiting to leave town. So we have to ask a young lady (remember all younger generation have some English skills) and she pointed across the street.
Ok, now the next challenge is getting across the 6 lane busy expressway. The knowledge that there was a major bus station close at hand meant there had to be a way to cross over and sure enough, the structure for the expressway signs was also a walking overpass with a spiral staircase on each end. So if you have the breath to climb 15 feet up the staircase and don’t get dizzy doing it, you have no problem crossing over to the other side.
Now we are walking along the street of store fronts wondering where the bus station could possibly be when we came across an opening the size of a garage door and looking in discovered it was a breezeway to a back court full of buses and waiting passengers. We had found it, but there is no way it was possible to find this place from the street, no signs and no other visual clues.
The bus is going to leave in about 30 minutes so our timing was great. This gave us time to find a quick breakfast, chat with a couple of guys from Dover, England and organize to get onto the bus. Our tickets have assigned seating which is new to us as well, but that is fine.
We head out as passengers and enjoy the scenery which is not that different from other places of Greece we have travelled, but still very pretty.
We arrive in Naflioand check when the buses leave for future reference. Then we look for the tourist information centers suggested in the Lonely Planet. We learn immediately that the recommended one is no longer open. So we think about finding the municipal one which is also mentioned. We use Karen (our GPS) and put in the address expecting to be lead down the streets to the open door. Again wrong, no door to find to be opened. So we decided to forget that and just find a hotel. After all, there must be lots of options.
Naflio has two sections, the old section and the newer section. We had been told that the old section has character and higher costs so best to look to the newer section for hotels. We took this advice to heart so started to look around for hotels. Have you ever noticed that when you are looking for something, you can never find it? But when you do find one and settle, the next time you venture out you see lots of them? Never mind, we know what we are looking for and the type of price we should have to pay, so we are becoming more discriminatory. The first three places we looking at both had great prices but did not meet our requirements so we simply moved on. The fourth place met all our requirements at a price we were happy with, so there we settled.
Now we had to make some decisions about how long we would be here and when we would be moving on to Italy. We looked at the things we wanted to do and felt that two nights would be sufficient. The ferry we would be taking to Italy leaves at 2ish in the afternoon and the ferry terminal is about 3 to 4 hours from here. Decision, we would leave here early Sunday morning and catch the ferry to Italy. Then we started t get the ferry schedules sorted out and learned that Sunday would not work since they don’t run on that day. So, back to our planning. Finally after sorting ferry schedules out we are going to travel to Italy on Monday and there is lots to do here so we will wait to Monday am to go to the ferry terminal.
Next we talked about the plans necessary for Rome which will be where we will travel to from the ferry terminal. The ferry ride will be overnight again so we will get a dorm room again. We will arrive in Italy Tuesday morning around 10:30 so which train do we wish to get to and where will we find it? Questions quickly answered thanks to the internet. Finally we decided to start looking for a hotel and book a room rather than wander the streets of Rome looking – there are too many streets.
We completed all this by mid afternoon so it definitely was time to get outside and stretch our legs, so we headed out to explore Naflio. Nafplio is a seaport town in the Peloponnese in Greece that has expanded up the hillsides near the north end of the Argolic Gulf. The town was the first capital of modern Greece, from the start of the Greek Revolution in 1821 until 1834. Nafplio is now the capital of the peripheral unit of Argolis. Nafplion is situated on the Argolic Gulf in the northeast Peloponnese. Most of the old town is on a peninsula jutting into the gulf; this peninsula forms a naturally protected bay that is enhanced by the addition of man-made moles. Above the city is a fortress called the castle of Palamidi which we will be exploring tomorrow.
So we decided to walk up to and explore the ruins of the Palace of Kapodistrias which was the Governor’s house in the Three Admiral’s Square built by Ioannis Kapodistrias in 1829. It came to be known as the “Palataki” or the “Little Palace”. Keeping in tune with the other beautiful and extravagant buildings that line the square, the Palataki was considered to be a work of art.
The interior and exterior of the mansion carried an air of extravagance and royalty. The Governor had specifically instructed for the mansion to be sparsely furnished. The Mansion has been host to King Otto, who resided in the mansion as well. It was then that this mansion was renamed as the “Royal Palace”. After his death, Ioannis Kapodistrias’ embalmed body was placed in the central hall for public viewing. Truly extravagant in all senses, the Palataki definitely lived up to its reputation before it burnt down in a fire in 1929, a hundred years after its construction. There really is not much left of the orginal building but what remains truly speaks of an impressive building at one time.
We continued with out exploration by finding the beach below the ‘Little Palace’ and walking along the boardwalk which when around the end of the peninsula and returned to the old town of Napflio. The views as we walked around were great to see and we really enjoyed the leisurely walk even though the wind came up quite strongly to try to discourage the walking.
We finished dinner and have returned back to our room ready for a good nights sleep without any rocking movements or snoring bodies other than our own (Wes’ really but he will never admit to it.)
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