Climbing 999 Steps to the Palamidi Fortress

It felt like a summer day on Thursday March 23 in Nafplio.  The high was 23C and we awoke to a blue sky and lots of sun.

View from our apartment

After breakfast, we headed out to meet Christian and Clair, the young couple we met from Winnipeg.  We decided to climb the 999 steps to Palamidi Fortress.  The Fortress stands on a 216m high outcrop of rock.  It was built between 1711-1714 by the Venetian District Governor, Agostino Sagredo, and is regarded as a masterpiece of military architecture.  Ironically, it was captured by the Turks in 1715 and remained under their control until 1822 when it was successfully stormed in one night by Greek troops, causing the Turkish garrison to surrender without a fight.  

Start of the 999 steps up to the Fortress

Palamidi Fortress is at the top of the hill

The views climbing up the hill were awesome.  We could see the old city where we are staying, the new city,  a beautiful beach on the Argolic Gulf, and white-capped mountains in the distance.  There were even a few people swimming!!

View as we started up the hill

                                                 White capped mountains in the distance

We saw a few swimmers in the water near the beach

View of the old city 

What a day! What a view!

Higher and higher

For whom the bell tolls

There are eight independent bastions within the walls of the Fortress.  The Fortress also had water reservoirs, barracks, storerooms for ammunition and food and "murder-holes", where one could shoot from without being seen.

One of the bastions

One of the few trees in front of a small chapel

May have been a storage area or a cell

One of the "murder-holes" -great view (we saw a small boat out in the water)

A picture of the blue, blue sea (Argolic Gulf)

Grasses and another bastion

Amazingly well preserved

Another lone tree on the top of the hill

Great view of sea and mountains from another bastion

Achillies Bastion

At the top of the hill in front of the Greek flag, we saw a group of Greek children singing the national anthem.

Singing the anthem in front of the flag

Another spectacular view

We climbed down and felt a real sense of accomplishment.  At the bottom of the hill, there was an appropriate sign in front of a bar.

                                                                       We did it!

We did it!!

We headed down to the port for some lunch at Karamalis Tavern, a traditional tavern established in 1966.  Alain and I shared a plate of fresh greens and a chicken souvlaki.  Christian and Clair shared a Greek salad and also had souvlakis.

Fresh greens, cooked but served cold

Clair and Christian with a huge piece of feta cheese on their Greek salad

After lunch, we decided to get gelato at a real Italian gelato shop called Antica Geleteria di Roma.  The owners are an Italian family who greet their customers with samples when they walk into the store. Only natural and local ingredients are used and it is all made on the premises.  They had great gelato and sorbetto (dairy free) flavours.

Sorbetto flavours beautifully displayed

The gelato maestro 

 The store was also full of Italian goodies.  The gelato and sorbetto lived up to its billing.

Alain with his two favourite flavours- pistachio and coffee 

With strawberry and chocolate sorbetto

After lunch, Christian and Clair took off for some more sight seeing, as they have been thinking of departing on Friday.  Alain and I wandered some more, seeking a place to have coffee.

Worry beads are a specialty of Nafplio-- lots of amber beads and incredible selection.  Fun to look  at anyway.

Lots to worry about...

We found a small cafe/bar in a narrow street.  There were swings throughout for customers to sit on if they wanted.   They were playing a 60s American music playlist.  We sat outside and Alain had a macchiato and I had a freddo espresso (espresso and ice blended, served with additional ice cubes).  We got a recommendation for dinner from some young women sitting near us.  It was a quiet time in the afternoon so we sat and enjoyed the warm weather and music for a while.

Alain with our coffees (mine is in the jar)

The inside of the cafe/bar with swings- it was a quiet time of the afternoon

We wandered around the town a bit more and then headed back to the apartment for a rest.  We met up with Christian and Clair for dinner at around 9:00 p.m. at Alaloum, the restaurant recommended by both the women at the coffee shop and our host.  The place was buzzing with locals.  The food is very fresh and there were specialties of the day.  The salads were the largest I have ever seen and wonderful.  Alain and I shared a salad with walnuts, grilled red peppers, with yogurt on the side.  We also shared a very tasty rice and beef dish with tomatoes and aubergines.  Christian and Clair shared a salad with beets, almonds and parmesan cheese as well as the beef dish.  As is the custom in Greek restaurants we were brought a dessert- this time a plate of sliced apples and honey.

Our salad

Rice with very tender beef and aubergines and tomatoes

Christian and Clair with their GIANT salad!

We had a great day in Nafplio-- the climb was spectacular, the weather perfect and it was fun meeting up with the Winnipegers, with whom we had a lot in common.  Alain and I headed back to the apartment after dinner.  Friday March 24 is our last full day in Nafplio.