12 January ’05, Wednesday. Nafplio’s Palamidi Fortress
The big question in town (Nafplio), is it 999, 800, or just over 700 steps ??? Well we wanted to count them, but decided to leave it to someone who really cares. I’m writing about the stairs that climb the hill from Nafplio to the Palamidi Fortress. We drove by them and made a quick decision that we were going to drive to the top of this 216m high rock that gives the support for the fortress. I’m sure whatever that figure is, it’s right. This citadel was built by the Venetians in the early 16th century and is considered a masterpiece of military architecture. The only problem with that, just after it was completed the Turks invaded and conquered. It seems that all they had to do was go through the front door, which is the same one that we walked through (although, we had to pay to get through…). There are a series of bastions within the walls of this fortress, and from what we read, are the best preserved in the Europe. We had a great time walking all the steps inside the fortress (a heck of a lot more than 999…), walking the walls, and climbing into these little doorways that turned out to be prisons. The little opening, opened into a small entry that, led to another small door that went into this cell block…SMALL, no windows, uneven floor (large and small pointed rocks), and coldddd!!! (Louise tried to shut the door when I had my back turned…). As the other fortresses and citadels we have been to since we got here in the Peloponnese, the views are fantastic, and would have made it tough for an invasion in most cases. In Nafplio, there are two other fortresses. One of them is a small island and lies about 600m off of the port of the town. We had seen enough fortresses with the one at the top of the hill, so we headed back to “Bumble Bee” and the beach for L,S & CL (lunch, sun and a chaise lounge) at seaside.
This morning we packed up, said goodbye to “Bear” and headed to Sparti (Sparta). We had a good day to travel with lots of sun and light traffic (which fortunately we have had for almost forever (I’ll probably eat my words on that one)). Again passing through lots of citrus and olive groves, mountains, and valleys. We arrived at our next campground (and it ain’t like the last one !!!) just outside of Sparti, in a little village called Mystras. After checking in and setting up, we walked out to the street. Across the street from us, is this old building that had the large doors open. I just had to see what was going on over there, so off we went. It turned out to be a small commercial company pressing olives and putting the oil into large vats. We’ll go back tomorrow and get some pictures…it was quite interesting to say the least. I don’t think they have much government and health regs to worry about…
The big question in town (Nafplio), is it 999, 800, or just over 700 steps ??? Well we wanted to count them, but decided to leave it to someone who really cares. I’m writing about the stairs that climb the hill from Nafplio to the Palamidi Fortress. We drove by them and made a quick decision that we were going to drive to the top of this 216m high rock that gives the support for the fortress. I’m sure whatever that figure is, it’s right. This citadel was built by the Venetians in the early 16th century and is considered a masterpiece of military architecture. The only problem with that, just after it was completed the Turks invaded and conquered. It seems that all they had to do was go through the front door, which is the same one that we walked through (although, we had to pay to get through…). There are a series of bastions within the walls of this fortress, and from what we read, are the best preserved in the Europe. We had a great time walking all the steps inside the fortress (a heck of a lot more than 999…), walking the walls, and climbing into these little doorways that turned out to be prisons. The little opening, opened into a small entry that, led to another small door that went into this cell block…SMALL, no windows, uneven floor (large and small pointed rocks), and coldddd!!! (Louise tried to shut the door when I had my back turned…). As the other fortresses and citadels we have been to since we got here in the Peloponnese, the views are fantastic, and would have made it tough for an invasion in most cases. In Nafplio, there are two other fortresses. One of them is a small island and lies about 600m off of the port of the town. We had seen enough fortresses with the one at the top of the hill, so we headed back to “Bumble Bee” and the beach for L,S & CL (lunch, sun and a chaise lounge) at seaside.
This morning we packed up, said goodbye to “Bear” and headed to Sparti (Sparta). We had a good day to travel with lots of sun and light traffic (which fortunately we have had for almost forever (I’ll probably eat my words on that one)). Again passing through lots of citrus and olive groves, mountains, and valleys. We arrived at our next campground (and it ain’t like the last one !!!) just outside of Sparti, in a little village called Mystras. After checking in and setting up, we walked out to the street. Across the street from us, is this old building that had the large doors open. I just had to see what was going on over there, so off we went. It turned out to be a small commercial company pressing olives and putting the oil into large vats. We’ll go back tomorrow and get some pictures…it was quite interesting to say the least. I don’t think they have much government and health regs to worry about…