Nafplio, Nafplia, Nafplion, Navplion, Nauplia: Greece: same town: many spellings
Tomorrow we climb the 999 steps to the fortress above Nafplio. The stairs
wind up and up and up the hill side. It will probably take over an hour
for me to climb it. BUT I WILL! David's knee is very painful from the climbing we have done. So I will do it on my own.... Tara and Robert are going to leave me in the dust as they are in shape and young to boot...... I don't know how much is up there but
the area looks huge from the town. It looks like a typical medieval
fortress with the cairns but I will find out when I arrive how old it is.
We are turning our noses up at anything from the 1850's now.... SO RECENT!
FOOD REPORT! We are so happy with the food and the prices. Tonight:
For dinner: David and I splurged..... We had "starters" of melted feta with
toast. Then we each had a Greek salad. then 1/2 carafe wine, then grilled octopus in lemon and wine and and mussels on the shells. and dessert of walnut cake. more wine
and two coffees: and a free after dinner drink.
We are in a motel room with marble floors and a balcony that overlooks the bay: MARBLE bath too. 40 Euro per night: it was off season: February. This was the Leto Hotel: It is a large room and really nice so we stayed two nights. We walked about 1/2 hour before we found anything open as this is a resort town and things close up for winter. The boys found this one: Tara and I found one that was about 200 euros a night.
And.... later, from the owner of the Leto Motel: we found the 999 steps did not need to be climbed. we were relieved to find that we could drive up. we were so happy .... i would have been a little
puddle at the top. (but I want to be clear that I would have made it to the top!)
We drove around the mountain to the side and drove up to the castle parking lot. We walked over to the little stand and bought some water and an apple each: There was really no one up there and we wanted to give the stand a little business. They were very happy to see us and chatted for a while while we petted their dogs.
The castle had a small admission price.
We walked around for several hours. It was amazing. Inside the castle were eight different sections or bastions. Each and every one could stand on it's own if the other sections were defeated. They all had their own water supplies, weapons and food. We tried to remember the bastions (they were labled in the castle:) Leonidas, Phokions, Uppin, Riaron, Kolokotrones .... I am not certain these are correctly spelled we scribbled them in the guide book but they are challenging to read now.... (sorry about that.) It was hard to find all of the signs for the different Bastions as the paths twisted and turned inside the walls. The castle was on top of the hill and stretched along the entire top. It overlooked the town and the wonderful bay. The bay had a couple of islands with fortresses built on them. The actual town of Nafplion was so cute...... winding streets..... nice shops...... great tavernas and restaurants. friendly people.
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The rooms had TV, telephones, air Conditioning (although we were there in February) and central heating. The rooms had marble floors and the bathroom did also. It was very clean. There were no elevators but it was not a problem for us. To get to the motel from town we had to climb several sets of stairs... kinda fun... The town itself is in a great location to explore Epidaurus and Mycenea
In the morning we had a great continental breakfast. Coffee, Tea, breads and fresh squeezed orange juice. We felt the value for this little hotel was excellent. The parking was poor: but we parked in a large lot and took our chances of a break in...
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