02 April 2011 – Nafplio (Saturday)

Humor Event of the day:  The elevators in the hotels here are very different than those we are used to.  The small elevator car holds 4 people at most and you will want to be friendly. However there is a door off the hall which you  pull open when the elevator arrives (have to listen for it since there really is no other sign of arrival).  If you can not pull the door open that means the elevator has not arrived yet.  Ok, on you get, push the floor you wish and step back since there is no inside door and the wall simply slides by you as the elevator goes up or down.  When you reach the floor you must immediately push the hall door open to get off.  If you wait for the door to open itself, you get a free ride back down.  Today we hesitated a second waiting for the door (old habits die hard) and by the time we remembered to push open the door, we were already going back down to the lobby.  He who hesitates, gets free extra ride.

Today we got up to a leisure start to our day and had a fantastic breakfast.  We are off to climb the steps to reach the Palamidi Fortress and then take the boat over to the Bourtzi Fortress.   We looked outside to very dark clouds and the threat of rain, but it is not raining.  Considering we plan to climb almost 1000 steps to the fortress, I prefer the cooler weather than the hot sun.  (Not that we have experienced much in the way of hot sun lately.)

I have done some research on Nafplio since this really is a city of paradoxes.  On one side we have 3 different fortresses, an old city with the narrow cobblestoned lanes, and a modern city obviously separated from the old city by a street.   I have summarized what I have learned here.

Nafplio Information

Nafplion (Nafplio in modern Greek) is 91 miles or 146 km southwest of Athens and sits on the coast of Argolikos Bay as part of the Peloponnese Peninsula.  The town of Nafplion Greece is one of the most popular and tourist destinations in the Peloponnese.  Nafplion was the first capital of the Greek State in the early 1830s. The Old Town is lovely, with old mansions and paved paths.  Many historical sites can be visited in the area with a beach close.   Nafplion is comprised of both an old and new city.

The main platia called Syntagma (Constitution) Square, is paved in marble and is on a grand scale and surrounded by historical buildings.  The streets approaching from all angles are well lit, closed to automobile traffic and filled with people casually strolling, looking at the jewellery shops, bakeries, tourist shops and the many bars and restaurants.  This area is very obviously a tourist community but naturally evolved.  With the narrow ‘lanes’, tall stone buildings on each side there really is a sense of close quarters and history.  The steets/lanes are cobbled and well lit for those wishing to stroll around after dark.  It is hard to know if the doorways seem to be narrow or if the tall height of the doors creates the illusion of being narrow.  All the steps and stairs we encountered are made from stone and inside often with marble.  The old town is made up of Venetian buildings and neoclassical mansions.

The new town, on the other hand, has the concrete apartment buildings and has a much more modern look.  The streets are wider (Greece wide is not what we are used to, but not the ‘lanes’ of the old city).  We even found street lights and walk lights, not that anyone seemed to pay much attention to them.   What was interesting is that the streets tend to come together in forms of angles and seldom do you find in intersection with only 2 streets at 90 degree angles.

 Behind Acronapflia is a mountain covered in cactus and a view of the coast that is pretty spectacular. There is a pedestrian road that goes around the acropolis to the town beach on the other side.

Palamidi Fortress – our first stop today

Hovering 216 meters above the town, like a watchdog, sits the Palamidi Fortress; something that can be reached by tackling its approximately 1,000 steps (or taking a bus to the top of its hill via a newer constructed road).   We found the views stunning but the cool breeze with cloudy skies (threatening rain) made this a cool climb today for which I was thankful.  I suspect in the heat of the summer, it would not be such a wonderful trek.  I was wearing at t-shirt and shorts and really was not cold but everyone around us with their parkas, sweaters and shivering stances looked at me like I was crazy.  Eventually I did put on my light jacket since the breeze came up and it was chilly.

Palamidi Fortress was built by the Venetians from 1711-1714 and at the time was considered a masterpiece of military architecture.  The Palamidi Fortress is actually three separate fortresses walled together. The fortress had an ideal defensive military positioning with its bastions spreading in many directions over the hill.  Within the extensive outer walls are several independent bastions located across the site at strategic points.

The Agios Andreas Bastion stands at the top of the stairs that come up from town.  Originally the home of the Garrison Commander, it is named after the small chapel that sits in its inner courtyard.  It is hard to really visualize anyone living in this rock structure with the extremely thick walls and obvious fortifications.  I can not imagine ever feeling comfortable or warm with all the rock around.

The largest bastion, Miltiades was used as a prison for condemned criminals from 1840 – 1920. Theodore Kolokotrones, a War of Independence hero spent time there after being condemned for treason.  The one disappointment we faced was that there was no map available for us so we could figure out what area we were currently in or even what path was the best to travel in our exploration.

It was built by the Venetians in 1714 and then taken by the Turks the following year and held until they surrendered it to Kolokotronis after a 15 month siege during the War of Independence.   This is considered one of the greatest attractions in Greece, right up there with the Acropolis.  There is a spectacular view of the city and much of the entire bay and the eastern Peloponessos.

As we walked through the first gate and entered the Palamidi Fortress we were amazed at the size and the many paths, stairs and doors to go through.  Without a map or any type of signage we simply started to walk around taking pictures.  Unfortunately I am not able to give an explanation of what we were looking at or what area of the 3 fortifications we actually were in.   We spent a couple of hours just walking up, down, around, in and out exploring every area we could. 

As we climbed the stairs in the morning we never saw anyone else going up or around and worried that we actually would climb to the top to discover that it was closed on Saturdays.  Fortunately as we arrived we learned that it was open but there were very few people around.  That changed in the time we were there since bus loads arrived many school aged students likely on a school field trip (yes even on Saturdays).  But we also passed a group of special needs people with their support people helping them around.   By the time we left we were glad we had come when it was quiet since now there were hundreds of people wondering around and through the Fortress.

Bourtzi Fortress – our second stop of today

Walk along the harbour front and you can’t help but notice a fortress covering an entire, tiny island, built by the Venetians as a means to protect the city from pirates.  The Bourtzi fortress's construction was designed to fit on the tiny island, 450 meters from Nafplion's shore and accessible by boat. The Bourtzi was built by the Venetians in 1473. The Bourtzi is more or less the symbol or mascot of the city.

 In the 19th century this is where the executioners for the prison at the Palamidi fortess lived since it was bad luck to have them live in the city itself.   It has at various periods been a hotel and I am told that it currently is a musical venue for the Nafplio Folk Music Festival which is held in May and June.

We figured that boat out to the Bourtzi Fortress would be leaving from the docks by the plaza so we wandered down there.  On the way we passed a park with an interesting stream, statute and old gate.  We could not find anything written in English about this so have no idea what it was about.

At the dock we started to look for a sign to show us where to get the ticket to go to the Bourtzi and even though we could see a few boats docked, we could not find anyone selling tickets or any signs indicating where to locate them.  Usually when there is something like that available it has been our experience that we are constantly stopped as we walk along asking us if we want to buy tickets or goods.  We walked up and down the section of the dock looking at the boats, looking for a sign or looking for someone to ask – nothing.  Only as one boat suddenly started to pull out did I find someone and ask about tours to the island and he said that the boat leaving was the boat.  We walked by him at least 3 times and he was talking to someone the whole time so we never interrupted.  Not a problem, we waited for the next boat which was 30 minutes later.  We were just surprised about the lack of signs or any effort to let tourists know about the boat.  However, he also did not have any competition that we could see.

We got to the island and walked through the Bourtzi in about 20 minutes (all the time we were allocated by the boat ferry) but plenty of time to have a good look.  This really is a small fortress but it does have about 3 levels and a variety of doors and stairs to go through to explore.  Again it would have been nice to have some type of map but it really was meant to be a fortress with gunnery placements.  The rooms for those living there were also on display and really were little more than ‘cells’.  I again can not imagine them being comfortable, but then I could not imagine being an executioner either.

We returned to the dock and decided it was time for lunch.  When we got to the place we had been to yesterday for lunch we found the place packed.  The students from the field trips seemed to have decided to eat around 2 pm as well.  This place, which did have a table for us, also had tables on the plaza across the street from the restaurant so they were busy serving inside, on the tables on the sidewalk and also the tables across the street on the plaza.  With the cool breeze and spitting rain I could not imagine sitting outside for lunch, but many did.

We finished lunch too late to be able to do much more other than walk around and look at the new city since museums and public places tend to close at 2:30 during the off season.   But we both felt ready to return to our room and relax.

The Akronapflia

We visted the Akronopflia yesterday but as I researched I came across the following information which I decided to add to today’s blog.

The Akronapflia is the oldest part of the city, in fact up until the Venetians and the Franks arrived in the 13th Century, it was the city. Now, unbelievably there are two sixties-style concrete hotels on it, built by the Greek government during the dictatorship. One is presently deserted and a haven for birds and secret lovers. The other hotel is the Nafplion Palace which is actually pretty nice and boasts some of the best views of the city and the bourtzi.   As we walked up the road to the top to have a look at the Akronapflia we admired the remaining stone retaining walls with beautiful flowers growing between the rocks in flower.  The abandoned hotel is really an eye sore and I wondered at the time why it was it was allowed to fall into such a state considering the views from the hotel were incredible.  I still do not know why it was abandoned but now I understand how it came to be built on what appears to be an archaeological site.

As we reached the top we were disappointed to discover that there is nothing of significance to be seen at the top, just flat ground overgrown with grass.  The only surviving part of the Akronapflia is a few outside walls, some battlements with a few cannons and a few other small sections.  We could not see any sense of what had been there before but the views from the top really is worth the walk.