Nafplio, what to do?
 

We are planning to spend three nights in Nafplio in late September. Need suggestions for how to plan those three days. Would it be good to take the ferry from there to islands?

Why do you go to Naflio if you don´t know what to do?
G

We spent a few days in Nafplio in May 2006 and fell in love with the town and area... it is simply beautiful. Will you have a car? We daytripped to Ancient Mycenae, Ancient Epidaurus, Ancient Corinth and Acrocorinth, and Ancient Tyrins (just outside Nafplio). We also hiked up to the Palamidi Fortress above old Nafplio. A lot of stairs but an incredible view from the top! Other ruins that we didn't make it to include Ancient Isthmia and Ancient Argos.
There are a lot of small farm stands along the road from Corinth to Mycenae to Nafplio. We stopped at one between Corinth and Mycenae and tasted several varities of honey and locally-produced wine.
If you want beach time, the nearby town of Tolo has a great beach.

Thanks, Texas Aggie. We have an Aggie son. We will have a car.

Hi rokas,

Having a car will be great :-) On the road from Nafplio to Epidaurus, you will pass two very interesting Mycenean-era ruins just off the road on your left. One is a corbeled arch bridge still in amazing condition, and another is a partially standing tholos tomb. We pulled the car off the road and explored both a bit. There is also a fascinating very old Byzantine church on your right as you are coming from Corinth and Mycenae into Nafplio. We parked the car and took a closer look. All within the walls are marble and stone fragments from much older monuments. Interesting to see the recycled building materials incorporated into something new.


I will look through my trip notes and post the name of the restaurant we really enjoyed during our stay. They had wonderful traditional Greek dishes like mousakka, but also the best appetizer I found in Greece. A roasted red pepper stuffed with herbed feta cheese.

Kathodon Gefsi Nafplio

The name of the restaurant, in the old section of town. Your hotel should be able to give you directions. After 9 or 9:30pm, there is live music (or there was in May at least). If you want to avoid the smoke, try going early around 7:30pm or 8pm and eat outside.

Thanks for you tips, I've noted the restaurant in my travel book. Smoke bothers me, I may be in trouble in Greece. Hope the weather is nice so that we can eat outside.

Most restaurants have a tiny nonsmoking area... but the smoke filters in, heavily. The best thing we did was go to meals early. Most Greeks don't show up until 9pm at the earliest, so by arriving at 8pm and eating outdoors, we missed most of the smoke. We sacrificed a bit of the ambience in not seeing all the live music, but my asthma appreciated it.

The restaurant in Nafplio had outdoor heaters and a rainproof awning so we were able to eat outdoors no matter the weather.

Great suggestions from Texas Aggie!Try to avoid the bigger restaurants directly on the promenade across from the water as they really are overpriced tourist traps. My daughter and I were in Nafplio for 3 days in March and loved the drive over from Athens and staying there. It is a delightful little city-great shopping and eating!
One of more"will always remember" moments there was a night where we were in a restaurant having dinner with just one other group at another table.It was an older group of around 14 persons in their early 70's sitting at the other table. It turned out that they were all childhood friends who show up periodically at Naflio restaurants with their spouses to celebrate each other's birthdays. They had a 3 piece musical group playing for them and as we were about to leave-it started....wine sent over,more food sent over, sharing of the birthday cake,dancing,etc. Seriously,it was like being in "My Big Fat Greek Birthday"!Our meal had started at 730PM but we left at almost midnight. My daughter was laughing so hard at "the young love" dancing and then inviting me to join them. It will always be one of those treasured Naplio moments! Enjoy and be sure to sample the countryside.

You have had lots of good advice about Naphlion so far but I will try to add just a little bit more. At first glance Naphlion is just another Greek town. You have to get through the new town until you get into the old section of town. There are three Venetian Fortresses to visit. Acronauplia is the least preserved and actually has an upscale hotel built inside the fortress. I am not sure I like the idea but it has great views. There is a promenade all along the seawall at the base of this fortress, but it is not well marked and we only found it on our third stay.The most outstanding fortress is Palamidi which stretches down the mountainside. While we too walked up to it you can access it from the rear by road which saves energy for exploring.
The third is Bourdzi out in the harbour on an island. It can be reached by a local boat from the main waterfront.

The old city is a delight to explore with narrow alleys and bougainvillea covered neoclassical buildings.

The waterfront is crowded and full of bars. We were happy to stroll this area and the photo ops are great but when it came time to sit back and really relax we tended to look into the interior of the town for exploration and dining.
I can't find my notes but our favorite restaurant is in a little alley near the marble paved central square. In English the taverna is called the Lantern but I just can't remember the Greek name. There are dozens of great tavernas situated near the central square. We always dine outdoors and although smoking can be a problem we have seldom been bothered by it.
If you would like to see our pictures of Naphlion go to:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/551991579dJbWvh

Hi

Is Mystras doable from Nafplion? I can't remember! You also have the nice beach resort of Tolon.

Mystras is about a two and a half hour drive from Naphlion. It can be done in a day trip although it will be a long day. When we did Mystras from Naphlion we went on to Monemvasia.

For our pictures of Mystras go to:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/551988174qxbTNw

stanbr:
I enjoyed your pictures. I am a Watercolor Artist wannabee and can't wait to get there to take pictures, sketch and possibly do some plein art painting.