13. Nafpoli
The End Approaches
Nafpoli is a lovely little seaside town that was said to be named after Nauplius, son of Poseidon and his side chick, Amymone. It has been inhabited since ancient times and ruled over by the Spartans in antiquity as well as the Byzantine, Franks, Venetians and Turks, to name a few.
A reference to the town was found on the “Aegean List” in the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III in the 14th century, BC, so the history of the town goes way back. It was also said to have been originally populated by Egyptians.
Nafpoli was also the location of the fountain of Canathus, where Hera, the queen of the gods, bathed every year to restore her virginity. Nice! I’ll bet the owners of that fountain could have made a killing selling renewed virginity licenses.
The modern town stands between the massive Venetian era fortifications, and the harbor. There are a lot of sites to see: from ancient times, the Acronauplia which was the original fortress, to Byzantine and Venetian era fortifications, churches and monuments. The Acronauplia was used at one time as a prison, but the Greek government felt the view was too good for prisoners and built a hotel there instead.
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It is a beautiful spot on the coast, great weather and just a couple of hours drive from Athens, so it’s an ideal getaway for city dwellers and tourists like me who love an historic town crouching at the feet of a vast fortress, with a sea view.
I had visited this lovely burg with Veronica last year, so we had already seen the sights. On this trip, I didn’t feel I needed to tromp around any more ancient fortifications, so I took this opportunity to take some much needed down time.
I took walks through town, around the harbor, up the hill to the fort. I decided to leave my broken suitcase in the car, so I made a lot of trips back and forth to the car for things I forgot to put in my other bag. That’s about it! Had pizza with weird stuff on it at a lovely restaurant on the water and then it was time to pack up and move out.
