Nafplio main square
Timeless space with cafes to hang out in
Thriving lanes full of souvenirs and clothes to appeal to visiting cruise liner clientele
We rolled into Nafplion on the Peloponnesse on the evening of Monday Ist May. Friends, Mandy and Barry, had been bombarding us with images of Nadplion in Greece for the last year as they had decided to spend their retirement in this lovely spot. We had visited it about 18 years ago and had a yearning to go back, which is why it is on the way to Georgia!
It had the benefits of having a fine hill fortress and a castle with city walls. After the recent unpleasantness, we had better sense than to try and drive up to the fort with the Sprinter, which was left peacefully resting in the friendly Sunset campsite in the nearby village of Tolo. Tolo itself was now an expanding, less expensive beach resort, attracting coaches of tourists from Bulgaria and Poland. It was very early in the season and the pretty beach front restaurants and bars that had survived Covid were now pretty desperate for a decent season.
We spent a couple of evenings here with Barry and Mandy who knew where to go and when! We were treated to an evening of traditional music played by a handful of friendly fishermen eating and singing.
When we had previously visited Nafplio, 18 years earlier, it was to introduce Grace (10) and Jessica (12) to the some of the many wonders of Greece, including the Parthenon in Athens, the amazing Corinth canal, and Mycenae. We included a restful stay in the tiny Byron Hotel off Nafplio’s main square. This time when we sought it out we found a nearby plaque on the wall commemorating Ioannes Kapodistrias, the first Governor of Greece in 1829 following gaining its independence from the Ottomans. Ioannis, had the personal backing of Tsar Nicolas who supported Greece in its fight for independence. Ioannis Kapodistrias had been a Senior Civil Servant in Russia prior to returning to Greece to help it set up the various institutions of independence. He remained controversial and was sadly assassinated outside the Byron Hotel which may have been close to his personal residence. His importance is now acknowledged and the assasins’ bullet hole is to be found on the wall nearby.
Steps alongside Hotel Byron
In Nafplion we had previously walked round the headland path above the sea shore and had visited both fort and castle. We wondered whether it had changed?
Me Walking round the headland with my girls some 18 years ago!
Then, Jess under the arch
Now Jim, Sonia and Barry under the arch
Grace aged 10 in Nafplion
Not a lot had changed. We are all a little older, the shops have become a little fancier and the food is still irrésistible. The shop made sandle stores are a bit swankier but it was charming then and is now apparently the most fancied place to visit in Greece according to Lonely Planet.
Back in Tolo, we camped, did our laundry, filled up the water tanks etc And the Sprinter got a wash and brush up under the olive trees.
Our last social engagement with Barry and Mandy was to visit a Greek Taverna that specialised in English Cream Teas and speciality gins! As Mae West said, ‘too much of a good thing can be wonderful’. We were sad to leave but our onward journey to Georgia beckoned.
