Nafplio is named after Nauplios, the son of Poseidon, and is a commercially and militarily strategic city. It had a very turbulent past, having been conquered numerous times:
1204
Greek
1212
Conquered by the French
1388
Sold to Republic of Venice and becomes known as “Napoli di Romania”
1540
Taken by the Ottomans under Sultan Sulemain
1686
Surrendered back to the Venetians (combined with Germans and Poles)
1715
Conquered by the Ottomans
1821
Retaken by the Greeks and becomes the formation of Modern Greece.
Early one morning, Neil joined us for a pre-work excursion along the waterfront of Nafplio.
We drove the short distance so that Neil could easily get back for his first meeting. This is the view from where we were able to find parking.The Venetians began building the fortress of Bourtzi on the small island out in the harbour in 1470. They could close the harbour by raising chains linked on both sides of the fortress. Bourtzi housed executioners for the Palamidi Fortress from 1865 to 1935. A beautiful view but deserted. Why? Because even early in the morning, it’s already HOT and as you can see, not much shade here.Photo credit: NolanPhoto credit: NolanOf course, pictures of boats are very important!Looking back towards Palamidi Castle.View of the tower up at the Akronafplia, where we’ll eventually have lunch.A visit to the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation Museum with numerous exhibits showing Greek life over the years.
The streets of Nafplio are narrow, many are pedestrian-only, and many lead to stairs.
Giant fig tree growing in the corner.In our wanderings, we happened on this courtyard restaurant.We returned to the water multiple times as we were scoping the ice cream/gelato shops.The kids finally settled on this gelato shop. They were unimpressed with the quality of gelato from this one.XXXXXL sandal.He managed to get chocolate on his face, hands, and shirt! But Nafplio’s history came to the rescue.One of Sultan Sulemain’s projects when the Ottoman’s took the city in 1540 was to build a system of water fountains throughout the city. These still exist today, and you can still see the Arabic inscriptions on the fountains. Some of them are still functional, often just a trickle of water, but just enough to clean up or splash some water on our faces and necks to cool down.
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