Nafplion, Greece
The small port city of Nafplio is considered one of the
prettiest and most historically important towns in the country, having served
as the first capital of modern Greece after independence in the 1820s. Before that the city passed back and forth
between Venetian and Ottoman control, as evidenced by the presence of a former
mosque in town but also architecture reflecting the Venetian style on Syntagma
Square and elsewhere around the town center.
Nafplio is said to be short on sights but long on ambience. I actually
thought there was a fair amount to see in and around town for a relatively
small place.
The center of Nafplio is quite beautiful, in contrast to
many depressed looking and chaotic Greek town centers. Almost as impressive are
the three Venetian-built fortresses around the town, ranging from the small
Bourtzi on an island in the Argolid Gulf to the enormous Palamidi Fortress on a
hill about 600 feet above town. Palamidi
can be reached by stairs from Nafplio or via a somewhat roundabout road. We took the latter route and blamed our
decision on the heat, but we probably wouldn’t have walked up even if the
weather had been cooler.
I have to admit one thing I really liked about Nafplio was
its accessibility. While there have been
towns in Greece where I’ve given up on sites I was interested in seeing because
of the near impossibility of finding parking, in Nafplio there are huge lots
with free parking by the port a few blocks from the city center. If parking had been an issue, we might not
have returned to town in the morning, but the convenience enabled us to take in
two small but good museums in town – the Archaeological Museum and the local
branch of the Greek National Gallery of Art.
2025-05-23