Nafplion Day 2
We woke up to our own mental alarm clocks and had our sour cherry jam. It was quite good with the bread that we purchased. We packed up the remaining food the best we could and prepared to head out.
True to our plan, our morning in Nafplion started with a climb up the 900+ steps to Palamidi Castle. The castle was built way up on the hill by the Venetians in the 1700's, but was never staffed with a large amount of soldiers. The castle, even with it's prime location, fell quickly when the Ottomans came through.
There's not much left at the castle today, but there are still fortifications, several look out points over the sea, and some of the old rooms are still intact. Others are destroyed and require a little imagination! We actually reached the castle right as it opened, and for a good 30 minutes had the whole place to ourselves to walk around.
After we had climbed back down the stairs, we walked along the shore until we were close to Bourtzi Castle. This fortress, on a little island in the middle of the harbor, was built by the Venetians in 1473 and protected the city until it too was taken over by the Ottomans. When the Greeks took back the city, it was converted from a fortress to a place of execution. In the 1900's it was used for a time as a hotel.
We asked among the locals if someone would take us out to the island. One such local offered to take us for 4 euro a person, so we accepted. Another couple, seeing what we were doing, jumped on board with us and we were off. Once we got to the island fortress, the local informed us that he'd be back in about 25 minutes, and that we had to be ready to depart. I wish he had mentioned that before...
The castle, while neat to walk through, didn't really have much to offer. I was glad I went out there, but it didn't take 10 minutes to walk the entire place and see what there was to see. When the local came back, we were all ready to leave.
With that, my wife and I grabbed our things from the pension, loaded up the car, and started our journey toward Olympia.
