Greece-Nafpoli

14june- 16june 2015, Nafpoli, Greece.

Olympia to Nafpoli.

On route from Olympia to Nafpoli we made a detour to visit what is considered one of the most important archaeological sites of Greece, Myceane.

Mycenae, a fortified citadel in the northeast Peloponnese, was the largest and most important centre of the civilization which was named “Mycenaean”.

Mycenaean culture dominated mainland Greece, the Aegean islands, and the shores of Asia Minor during the late Bronze Age (1600-1100 BCE).

Through the lion gate (13^th century BC) we entered the citadel.

This relief sculpture of two lionesses or lions, is the sole surviving monumental piece of Mycenaean sculpture.

We made our way to the top unaware of what we were looking at, a guide would have been useful but there were none around and very few tourists.

The museum only imparted a little more information, the boys had little interest and the subject matter was overwhelming.

The one piece of historic information that the boys found interesting was the belief that from Mycenae, Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae and all of Archaean Greece,

 lead the expedition to Troy to recapture Helen. The boys were familiar with the movie ‘Troy’.

Myceane

We were surprised at our inability to locate the centre of Nafpoli, the first capital of Greece.

We located where our pension for the night was supposed to be, according to our GPS, but here stood another building.

We tried again on foot, now locating Althala Pension within the narrow pedestrian streets of the pretty port town.

With assistance from the staff we drove in as close as we could, the boys and I carrying as many bags through Naplion’s Old town as we could manage, while Chris parked the car at the nearby port.

From our two room accommodation we looked upon the narrow streets graced with Venetian architecture, cafes and boutiques.

With not much of the day left we sat under an impressive bougainvillea and enjoyed dinner at the traditional Greek tavern, ‘Vyzantio’ located a couple of narrow lanes from our accommodation.

Naplion’s Old town

Nafplio seemed relatively easy to explore the following day. Most of its old town was on a peninsula jutting into the Argolic gulf.
We stood and looked out at Bourtzi, a Venetian Fortress Castle on a small island, constructed in 1473 to protect the city from pirates and invaders from the sea.
Later, it was turned into a prison, today it was undergoing restoration.
Our attention soon turned to the Add to dictionary available to hire, if we perched Lachlan in the front basket we could all fit into one.
It was slightly stressful navigating a rather awkwardly manoeuvrable wide bicycle through the tight pedestrianized streets.
We took turns, I tried hard to restrain myself from being overly ‘controlling’ when Ollie and Jarvis took the wheel.

 Althala Pension.

At the end of this mainly positive ride, I headed off with Lachlan and Jarvis while Chris and Ollie took to the hills.

They were to climb the steep ascent to the spectacular citadel, the massive principal fortress of Palamidi, towering 216m above the small port of Nafplio.

Chris and Ollie ran the winding stair from the town to the fortress, 913 steps, over one thousand to the top of the fortress (locals say 999 steps).

Close to closing time they only took a quick look at the fortress. It was built by the Venetians between 1711 and 1714, and is regarded as a masterpiece of military architecture in spite of being successfully stormed in one night by Greek troops in 1822.

Fortress of Palamidi

When I had a little time to myself I took a wander, in and out of shops, down lanes, popping my head into a few churches.

The Church of Ayios Georgios took me by surprise. This 16^th century Greek orthodox church, is one of the oldest and most important churches in the city,

many great events from Greek history took place here.

The understated outside was easy to walk past but a quick backtrack took me briefly inside to view a stunning décor, richly detailed walls and ceilings, painted with copies of great Italian painters. The chandeliers were spectacular.

Dinner in Philelliion square and a final walk back through the evening lit Plateia Syntagmatos (Constitution Square) concluded our stay.

We were to now pack for an early start in the morning. We were to drive to Athens for an early flight to Crete.

Church of Ayios Georgios