Navplion

On the way back from visiting Epidavros and ancient Mycenae we decided to stop at Navplion for a late lunch.

Two things struck us straight away; the number of palm trees and the number of castles. Both seem to be everywhere.

Our pilot book was quite off about Navplion, which is partly why we didn’t sail up there, but we thought it was really rather nice. We spent an enjoyable hour or so wandering through some of the older parts of the town – lots of small lanes and Italianate buildings. There was plenty aimed at tourists in the alleyways but there was also plenty of ‘real life’.

But we do like to look down on and over a town too so we looked upwards at the castles. About 200m above Navplion is the Palamidi Fortress. Built at the end of the second period of Venetian rule (1711-1715), according to the sign just inside the entrance, the fortress is of ‘flawless construction’. The sign continues: ‘.. the wealth of materials used and the specific formal characteristics such as its low height and the width of the walls which could withstand the force of gunpowder, incorporate the experience acquired down to the 18^th century, making the Palamidi an achievement of military architecture.’ Unfortunately, this splendid statement does not exactly tally with the earlier part of the same sign which tells of how the fortress was conquered by the invading Ottomans before it was completed and then, in November 1822, liberated by 350 elite Greek troops. Still, it’s an impressive castle nonetheless.

The castle comprises 8 (supposedly) mutually-reinforcing bastions, linked by a wall to protect the castle’s defenders from enemy fire. From the entrance gate (in the Bastion of Epameinodas) we climbed up as high as we could to get a view across the town and then walked around the walls to see all the bastions close up.

The views out from all sides of the castle were great. Interestingly though, it was from the southern side (left hand picture above) that both the Ottomans and the Greeks successfully attacked and invaded the castle. At this point, close to the Bastion of Themistocles, the fortress’ wall is quite low (though the cliffs on which the wall is built are airily high and pretty vertical). It’s probably the only place from which the castle could be taken.

Each of the bastions had a water reservoir, storerooms for ammunition and food, barracks, gunports, embrasures etc. The picture right shows the inside of one of the water cisterns.

Agios Andreas (St Andrew’s) Bastion with chapel behind the tree   

Agios Andreas Bastion was the first bastion to be completed with the others being built radially around it. Above its entry gate is a relief of a lion, symbol of Mark the Evangelist and patron of Venice, and a marble slab with the founding inscription of the Provveditore (Venetian Governor of Navplion) Agostino Sagredo. As well as the barracks, cistern, and a dungeon, Agios Andreas Bastion also houses a small church, which was originally dedicated to San Girardo, the patron saint of the Sagredo family, but which is now dedicated to Agios Andreas (St Andrew).

The castle is spread out over a large area and so seeing everything was hot work, particularly in the heat of the mid-afternoon sun. However, it is a spectacular vantage point to look down on both the town and the northern end of the Argolic Gulf and we felt it fully justified the effort.

Back at the car we hatched a plan for one final task; a trip to the supermarket to buy heavy stores. With that completed it was definitely time to head back to Porto Kheli to return the car and to take a swim.

Navplion, Greece