Sunday, April 28, 2002 12:32
Weather: Sunny, some light scattered cloud and haze.
Location: Internet cafe in Nafplion.

We got to Nafplion yesterday at about 3:35. Pascale and I walked together into town. She's travelling with the Greece Lonely Planet, which has rather more detail than my own LP, which covers all of the Mediterranean: her book has a map of downtown Nafplion and recommends more than one hotel, for example. We followed her map and found an excellent dhomatia up on a hill overlooking the old town, right below a ruined fortification wall, with a rooftop balcony that has a great view. They didn't have any single rooms left, so we agreed to split a double.

It was quite warm, so after unpacking we changed for swimming and walked over to the other side of the hill, where there is a pebble stone beach. The water was no warmer than at Finikoundas (i.e. pretty cold) but it was sunny so we had a good 20 minutes before getting out... and then were (predictably) somewhat cold. As we sat on a wall soaking up some rays, a Greek man came along and introduced himself as Constantinos, welcoming us to Nafplion. He's been working in the hotelling & tourism industry all his life, and has travelled and worked around the world. He was fluent in English and French, and gave us a quick test of our Greek, asking us if we remembered the words for life, book, love, horse, river, etc. I'm embarrassed to admit that we couldn't come up with them, though they seemed obvious once he gave us the answers: bios, biblios, eros, hippos, potamos. He regaled us with stories for a while, and then we all packed up.

Pascale and I went back to the dhomatia, and sat on the balcony. A French mother and her son, Ginette and Hugo, were eating a picnic salad, and we introduced ourselves and invited them to join us for dinner. They are ending up a weeklong trip to Greece, a 20th birthday present for Hugo. We all trouped down at 8 to a restaurant recommended by Constantinos on the main restaurant street of the old town. The whole old town is clearly geared to tourists -- signs are in English as often as Greek, and the waiters were fluent in English and French -- but we nonetheless enjoyed a good meal at a reasonable price.

This morning we said goodbye to the French, who were off for Epidaurus, where there's a famous amphitheatre, and on to Athens, to catch an early morning flight back to Paris tomorrow. Pascale and I munched the last of the small loaf of bread I'd bought for my hike in Kardamyli and set off to climb up the staircase to the Palamidi fortress, which overlooks the town. It's reported as 999 stairs, which the Lonely Planet calls "seemingly endless", though it didn't actually take us all that long to get up. The fortress is perched on a precarious, sloped plateau, and has spectacular views in all directions (except out the back, where there's a small carpark). We wandered around slowly, soaking in the atmosphere, and taking the occasional photo.

After a while, we decided it was time to get a coffee, and walked back down into the old town. At around noon, we split up, me to find (this) Internet cafe and update the diary, and Pascale to check out the bus schedule to Epidaurus and buy some food. We plan on having a lazy afternoon, doing some more swimming, and (rather than spending a day in Athens) going to Epidaurus for the day tomorrow. I'm not clear on how much longer we'll travel together, but it's very nice to have a companion, so the longer the better!
posted by Tom at 5:51 AM | link |