Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Travelling: NAFPLIO & TOLO (Greece)



Hello folks!
My holidays are over I'm afraid, and now I'm back to the routine of my everyday life.
This year because of money shortage we decided to go somewhere close to Athens. So together with my wife and the kid we visited for a few days the summer village of Tolo that lies almost 10 km away from the historical and very beautiful city of Nafplio in the Peloponnese region.
   Tolo is just a small holiday village with not much to offer, but a very beautiful seaside and a number of taverns cafe's pastry shops etc. We really enjoyed laying on the sandy beaches, swimming and playing in the sea. But further than this we didn't like the options that were given to us from the place. So almost every afternoon we were heading to Nafplio, which is really close.
   Nafplio was the first capital of Greece after the war of independence from the Ottoman Empire, therefore there are many historical monuments everywhere.The city lies on the seashore, and behind there is a small rocky mountain with a huge castle. This castle is one of my favorite places in the area, and I'm visiting it every time I have the opportunity to go to Nafplio.It's a really enormous and very impressive castle with a breathtaking view. You can reach it by climbing the 999 stairs that are curved on the rock, or by taking the road that leads to the western gate. (Well, my choice was obvious I think) :P
 Further than the castle, visitors can enjoy the beauty of the old city, with the many narrow streets filled with flowers, the very beautiful old houses, and many taverns, bars, cafe's etc.
 In my opinion it's a great pleasure for the visitor to make rounds in the streets of this historical city.
On the seafront, you can relax in one of the many cafeterias and enjoy the view of the sea and the second castle of the city, the famous "Bourtzi". The word "Boutzi" if I'm not mistaken is Turkish, and means "castle tower". And that's exactly what it is. A small tower that was used as the sea fort for the city, and later as prison. It must have been one of the most famous places all over Greece. It's impossible to visit Nafplio and not take a few pictures of Bourtzi.
  We stayed there for a few days and then we returned to Athens to continue our normal everyday life.
 It was a short but very nice and relaxing break.
 In the pictures you can see some of the places I mentioned in the post. I hope you'll find them nice.
Thank you for reading! :)

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