The Town, as We Use It

Nafplio was the first capital of modern Greece, and the old town still looks the part: stone houses, wooden balconies and lanes too narrow for a car, between the harbour and the hill.

Two Hours From Athens

• By car from AthensAbout 2 hoursPark in the public car park by the harbour, four minutes on foot from the house. The lane itself is for walking only.
• By the intercity busAbout 2 hoursFrom the bus station in Athens to the one in Nafplio, which is a ten minute walk from the house.
• From the airportAbout 2½ hoursBy bus via the city, or by hire car. We do not arrange transfers, but we will tell you which bus to take.

The Old Town in an Evening

Everything in the old town is a few minutes from the house. Walk down to the harbour at dusk and look across at Bourtzi, the little castle on its island, then up through the lanes to the main square, where the whole town comes out after dark in July and August. The ice cream is better in the lanes than on the square, and the tavernas with no menus outside are usually the good ones.

There is a path round the headland from the harbour to the beach, flat and shaded in the morning, that takes about twenty minutes. Most guests walk it every day and stop calling it a walk by the third.

Arvanitia, and the Towel Basket

The town beach is Arvanitia, a pebble cove under the cliffs, fifteen minutes on foot along the headland path. The water is clear and deep a few metres out. Take a beach towel from the basket by the front door on your way out, and drop it back in the other basket when you come in. There are always enough.

The Steps up to Palamidi

The fortress on the hill above the town is Palamidi, and the way up from the old town is a stone stair that zigzags up the cliff, and everyone in Nafplio will tell you how many steps it has, and none of them will agree, because the guidebooks say one number and the local legend says another and the people who have actually counted say a third, and Kostas, who has climbed it more times than he can remember, insists that the number changes depending on whether you are going up or coming down, which is nonsense but which he says with such conviction that guests come back at breakfast arguing about it, and then go up again the next day to check, and come back with a fourth number, so our advice is to go early, before nine, when the stair is in shade and the gate has only just opened, to take water, to stop at every bend and look back at the town getting smaller below you, and not to count at all, although you will.