Nafplio Greece

The port city of Nafplio has been an active port throughout ancient Greek history with an early mention of the city around 1350 BC, but most of its modern architecture and history was developed during the Middle Ages. The city has been ruled by the Byzantines, Franks (in AD 1212), Venetians (in AD 1388), and Turks (in AD 1540).

The city has multiple castles including Acronauplia, Palamidi, and Bourtzi. The Acronauplia is some of the best preserved older portion of the city and was the center of activity in the 13^th century.

Bourtzi was also built by the Venetians and was completed in AD 1473 in the middle of the harbor to protect against pirates.

Palamidi was constructed from AD 1686–1715 by the Venetians, but did not have a large force of soldiers and was not occupied for very long.

The city has a great playground right near the water’s edge with a good view of the Bourtzi castle in the middle of the harbor.

I was impressed with their sustainability efforts here as well.  They had a mike share program and if you look closely, you can also see a series of massive wind turbines along the ridge on the horizon.

Today the city is a tourist location with many shops filling the old town streets. We found the city to be a nice place to stay for an afternoon.  It would be interesting to spend more time here exploring the old castles.