Ralph and Karen's Tours

Like all of our destinations this trip, it was sad to leave Monemvasia. Such an amazing place filled with beauty, history, culture. But, such is the thing with road tripping, you have to keep on moving on, and with every step along the way comes an exciting new adventure.

This was no different.

We probably haven’t mentioned so far, that the temperatures have been consistently high….early mornings see temps around the 26-28 deg mark, and generally rising quite quickly and settling in the mid to high 30s. Fortunately, as many of our stops have been coastal, there is a bit of a breeze which helps and makes it more comfortable. Hasn’t stopped us doing anything though. And just gives you more reason to rehydrate with your choice of beer and wine.

Over the next few days in Nafplio, it did get up to 42 deg, but it didn’t feel like it. We are probably acclimatising…haha..also, all of our accommodations have had fabulous aircon, and similarly the car is very comfortable. Most importantly, we’ve been spending a lot of time in the water testing out as many beaches as possible.

A couple of general things while we are at it, the drivers have been fantastic. We expected lunatic driving mentalities, and crazy behaviours but it’s been far from it. Very polite, obliging and considerate. Road rules are just a talking point and speed limits non existent. The challenges have been the physical state of the roads, and the terrain. Seriously once you get off a highway (and there are not a lot of them) it’s another world all together.

Petrol is expensive. At €1.50 a litre, that equates to around AUD$2.25 a litre, so almost double what we’d pay in Australia. The saving grace is the distances between each town are relatively short, even though the time in the car is considerably longer than you’d normally expect. For example, it took us nearly 3 hours (with a break for food and a drink) to cover 88kms….but it was worth every minute.

The cost of food and drink is probably half what we pay in Australia, even taking into account the exchange rate. Cheaper even in supermarkets. While we “could” spend less in restaurants etc we’ve chosen to eat what we want where we want to take advantage of this magnificent cuisine and experience.

On average, at dinner time we are spending approx €30 which is approx AUD$45 for an entree (appetiser) to share, main meal each which is normally seafood, pork, lamb, or chicken, a HUMUNGOUS salad – normally Greek salad but there are some insane variations – bread with dips (often complimentary), 2 or 3 large bottles of local beer, half a litre of red wine, a large bottle of water. To finish, most restaurants lavish a massive plate of fresh fruit, normally watermelon and either coffee or local spirit drink on the house.

I think the most we’ve spent on a dinner was approx AUD $70, once. And it was sensational.

So as you can see the value is here for sure. North Americans are actually saving money…..based on the dinner example above, it comes in at about USD$35 for two people…insane.

Large draft beer is €2.50, large bottle €2.80, half a litre of local red wine €2.80 – these are restaurant and Taverna prices too…bottled water €1 for 1.75litre.

We went to a supermarket a couple of days ago and got two large bottles of beer, a large bottle of water, 300g salami, some cheese, a fresh tank loaf of bread, a huge packet of chips (crisps), a bottle of coke, a couple pieces of fruit and it cost €9. It’s insane.

Anyway….on the road from Monemvasia to Nafplio, and another intense but amazingly enjoyable drive. We had to head north into the mountains again, to a village called Kosmas which is just divine. Probably as high up in the mountain range as you can go. Then quite a steep spiral drive down to the coast on the other side popping out at a coastal town called Leonidio.

From there we just hugged the coastline for the next hour wanting to stop at each and every bay around each curve.

Nafplio was the original capital city of Hellas until approx 1824. It’s a gorgeous town sitting on a lovely bay in the Argolic Gulf. It was founded originally by Nafplioli, the son of Poseidon according to Greek mythology. Like a lot of Greek towns, it came under the rule of many different groups, and even today there are several alternate spellings of the town.

Originally built as a walled old town, it has grown up the surrounding mountain range to cover the increased population.

Looking over the village of the old town, and in fact the entire region is the magnificent Fortress and Castle called Palamidi. Built on the crest of the mountains immediately behind the town in the 1600s when occupied by the Venetians it has an imposing presence and was built to protect the town from advancing marauders including Pirates – or as Karen loves to say “Pee raaats”.

It’s hard to ignore, as it looks over you at all times. You can climb up into the fortress from the old town via 999 steps. Orrrrrrrrrrr……you can get a cab to drop you up there, have a great look around, check out the mesmerising views and walk down the 999 steps…we took option 2 and it was brilliant. But still quite challenging.

In the harbour there sits another beautiful fort, called Bourtzi built by the Venetians in the 1400s to again protect the town from those pesky marauders and Pee Raaats. Over the years it has served as a fortress, castle, home for the executioners from Palamidi, a luxury hotel, a restaurant…..we took a boat out to check it out, and it’s cool. They are actually turning it back into a restaurant now and it should be completed in the next 12 months

We stayed in a lovely Pensione in the Old Town that again, was exactly what we wanted. Literally in the Old Town, so we were right in the swing of things. No vehicular traffic in the Old Town at all, and every street and laneway was paved with marble. It’s gorgeous and the atmosphere is just perfect.

As usual, there is a lovely town square, where people actually do congregate in the evenings to chat, drink, watch the kids run around playing soccer. It’s lined with trees, so is shady all day and we found ourselves sitting here each evening before dinner.

There are some fabulous shops, hundreds of Taverna, all lining the tiny laneways around the town. Thanks to a recommendation from our Pensione owner, we found an OLD Taverna for dinner and it was superb. We sat for hours in a laneway, eating meze plates – small portions of a number of different dishes, like tapas. In the end, the main waiter who was probably 30 something and I had shared some fun banter with, came and sat with us quite randomly…and said “I share a beer with you”….ok dude!

So we sat till late, drinking beer that he was getting from the ice chest, talking about random stuff, including how he just travels through Europe based on the season working in pubs but his home is Nafplio. All the while he was ordering his staff around…it was great. Then we got a local spirit called Tsiporou…..which is poison. I think it makes trucks run. Do not touch this….

Oh, I bought a watch…random right? How did that even happen? But, it’s a nice watch 🙂

About 30kms away from Nafplio, are two significant archeological sites that we wanted to check out. But they were both 30 kms from Nafplio in opposite directions with no direct road between them. Never mind, we set off early before the heat set in and chose the Ancient City of Epidouris as our first stop. We were there by 8.30am and among the first to enter the site. The highlight of Epidouris and indeed considered one of the best archeological finds in all of Greece is the “Theatre” which was built in the 4th century BC. So, nearly 2,500 freaking years ago.

And it looks like it was built yesterday…..wowza. It holds 13,000 people seated in stone and marble backed benches all around the arena. They still have shows here now – in fact during this July, they have concerts on twice a week. Unfortunately the timing didn’t suit our plans.

One of the fascinating things about this theatre, is the acoustics are allegedly as good an any theatre in the world. As a test, we tried it out…I climbed to the very back rows and Karen stayed next to the stage area and we spoke to each other in normal indoor voice – not normal Ralph outdoor voice – and could hear each other as clear as day. It’s amazing. And beautiful, set among the lush surrounding forest. A definite tour highlight.

There is also a sporting arena, similar to Olympia but not as grand and other pretty well maintained temples and buildings. Crazy.

We headed across to the other site, that probably has more historical significance than most we’ve visited as it created an entire civilisation, and era in time. We got to the Ancient civilisation site of Mycenae.

Now this shit is old…and to be fair, it looks it. This area was first settled in around 1600 BC. For real?

The location was chosen specifically based on strategic defences as the hill it is built on, has 360 degree views to the ocean, to Korinth, to Athens, across the Peleponnese so no one could invade without being seen crossing the flat plains approaching the site. Brilliant.

Some of the site has been well preserved – for example the death chambers, or burial sites and the Temple and Palace that sits atop the hill for the rulers to live in.

A lot of the site was destroyed by earthquake and fire in the 4th century AD but there is enough left to get a great idea of how this civilisation first came to develop. Amazing.

By now it was early afternoon, so with the temperature climbing it was time for the daily swim. Tolo is the name of a resort village about 12kms from Nafplio, which is basically beach flop and drop. A long stretch of sandy beach, backed by apartments, hotels, restaurants, Taverna, tourist and souvenir shops etc. High in tourism…….The kind of restaurants catering to western tastes – all you can eat for €9, as long as it’s a soup, burger and scoop of ice cream and a drink of choice. We checked it out and had a very refreshing dip and enjoyed the very different scenery. It is actually a very pretty place. While it may suit some, particularly families, it’s not for us. Great to visit but……move on……

Back into Nafplio, a quick shower, nana nap and back to the old town village square to soak up the atmosphere and have pre dinner drinks again.

Unfortunately dinner that night was the only disaster we’ve had so far. Amazing waterfront location, beautiful looking restaurant, excellent extensive menu…….food was shit. Simple as that. A shame, but lesson learned..get off the main drags and pick a place crowded, and with a small menu. Carry on, nothing to see here.

So we wandered through the beautiful old town, got a gelato and enjoyed watching families still out and about with their kids after midnight. Beautiful.

While Nafplio is often regarded as one of the prettiest towns/villages in Greece, we can’t agree. It’s fabulous – we love it and there is a lot to like about it. I am a sucker for Old Towns and this one ticks the boxes. It has great elements of history with the Palamidi Fortress and the Bourtzi Fortress in the harbour and a wonderful atmosphere. Yeah, it’s pretty, beautiful even….but the prettiest in Greece? I’d challenge that.

We are coming to the end of our road trip part of the holiday. Tomorrow morning heading across to the island of Hydra, so an early start is on the cards. Looking forward to the next stage.

For more of our pics of Nafplio, Mycenae and Epidaurus just click this link