[Aug. 2023] During our summer holiday in Nafplio, a historic town on the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece, the next day we went to a fortress on top of the rocky mountain towering over the town.
This Palamidi Fort is the main tourist attraction in this town.
The guidebook says that this fortress was built by the Venetian Republic from 1711 to 1714, and is considered the greatest military building of its time.
It is said to be the last major building constructed by the Republic of Venice as an overseas base.
However, in 1715, the year after it was completed, it was easily passed into the hands of the Ottoman Turks.
Much later, it is said to have played an important role in the Greek War of Independence in the early 19th century.
After all, the battle was so successful that Nafplio became the capital for a while after independence.
There are two ways to get to Palamidi Fort: by car or on foot.
If you wish to walk, you will have to climb a stone staircase that is said to have 999 steps to reach the top of the 216 metre rocky mountain.
Of course we took a taxi.
It cost €30 to go there, the driver to wait for 30 minutes, and come back.
It’s not cheap.
But I’m really glad I went.
The view was even more spectacular than I expected.
I could clearly see the topography of the area, and I could see the town of Nafplio, too.
And above all, the colour of the sea was wonderful.
The Fort Bourtzi, which we visited a few days before, looked cute as it stood alone in the sea.
There are several buildings within the fortress grounds, one of the most important being the Miltiades Bastion.
It was also used as a prison from 1840 to 1920.
When General Theodoros Kolokotronis, a hero during the War of Independence, rebelled against the government at the time and was accused of treason in 1834, he was imprisoned here.
We were so focused on the scenery that we didn’t find which building was Miltiades Bastion before we got back to the taxi when the appointed time came.
Our friend wanted to take more time to look around, so she stayed behind and came back down on foot using the stairs.
Apparently, these 999 steps were not as slippery as the slope in Monemvasia, which we had visited the day before, but she said they were scary because they were quite steep.
