The Fortress of Palamidi, Navplion.

Wednesday, 10^th October, 2012.

We could not let a fabulous fortress go unseen so we climbed the 912 step staircase to the entrance gate.  We walked around for another hour or two up and down steps all the time around the forts.  We are feeling very fit!

The views over the town and out into the mountains were wonderful and worth the effort.

Palamidi was named after the Homeric hero Palamedes, the son of Nafplios and Klimeni.  The Venetian citadel was built between 1711 and 1714.  Palamidi consists of one single wall and encloses 7 self sufficient forts now named after Greek heroes.  The gun slits are aimed at each other in case an emery managed to penetrate the defences.

There have been two sieges in its time.  The first to the Ottamans in 1715 after only one week and again by Greek rebels in 1822 after an 18 month campaign.  Fort Andreas was the Venetian headquarters with a Lion of St. Mark over its entrance.

At the summit is an eighth fort built by the Ottomans which looks south towards Karathona beach. The forts have been well maintained and the church has been kept as it was.  The prison was horrible, two little rooms with hardly any ventilation and pure darkness.  Mostly there were steps and the ground was good for walking and only in places was the ground uneven. 

After the walk up you have to walk down the 912 steps.  Much harder on the legs.

We deserved an ice-cream and coffee for our efforts at the Italian ice-cream shop across town.

Late in the afternoon the clouds started to form over the mountains around the bay and by seven o’clock we were in the eye of a huge thunder and lightning storm with the wind coming from the north.   One minute there was no wind and the next it was blowing 40 knots plus.  For 15 to 20 minutes we were bouncing back and forth up against the quay with ten fenders being squeezed. Jim was doing his best to keep the fenders in and luckily we did not sustain any damage.  After that the wind went around to the east and although it was pouring with rain Ariel stopped being pushed against the quay.  It rained so much the roads were like rivers and the fire brigade were out pumping the water away.  The rain stopped for an hour or so and by 11.30 it was raining again just as hard but the lightning had disappeared.  Ariel had had a massive rain wash!

Thursday, 11^th October, 2012.

On our walk up to the fortress we saw where the local people go to swim and decided we would follow their example today as it is a wonderful sunny warm day.  There are small beach huts, fresh water showers and steps down from the concrete into the water.  We both swam out to one of the swimming buoys and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of both forts above us.  Unfortunately, the views are so super it is impossible to get a photograph of this wonderful scenery.

We wanted to walk the path from the beach to the old town.  It appears the path was finished and then the path was declared unsafe for walkers due to falling rocks.  As you can imagine the railings have been removed and everyone enjoys the walk.  We found the local fresh water pool and a swimming pool which are probably not used so much as we saw from the fort a huge Olympic size outdoor pool just near the harbour area.

We were in the area of the Italian ice-cream shop so it would be rude not to stop!