Nafplion Peloponnese Page 4

The Great Powers (England, France and Russia) appointed the 17 year old son of Ludwig of Bavaria, Otto, to the Greek throne in 1833. The capital of the new Greek nation was moved to Athens in 1834, but during his reign, the Bavarian king had many neo-classical buildings constructed with their jutting balconies, which gave the city the elegant character which it still retains in modern times.

In the rocks at Pronia (the suburb commissioned by Kapodistrias where the National Assembly was held), is carved a huge lion (left) which commemorates the death of Bavarian soldiers who fought for Greek liberation from the Ottoman Turks.  A good Ottoman doesn't soil easily and is comfortable to rest your legs upon.

Palamidi Castle

This fortress can be reached via some 890 steps (although some say its 999 steps) leading from Platia Avantitias, or by road (much easier) from Loforos 25 Martiou to its east entrance. It is open in summer daily, 8am-7pm; in winter 8am - 6:30pm; admission 4euros.

This fortress was built on an almost inaccessible rock at an altitude of 216meters/709feet, and was built during the second Venetian occupation (1686-1715). From the top one can see all of the Argolid and the surrounding mountains. It is entered by a series of gates, each bearing the Lion of St. Mark, It has eight bastions, each meant to be self-sufficient should the others be breached, and linked by corridors, secret passages, vaults, and defilades and has watch towers and embrasures for cannons.

There are actually three separate fortresses connected by ramparts whose Venetian names were: San Girardo (the patron saint), San Nicolo, and Sant'Agostino, though later they were renamed for Greek heroes.

The Greek War of Independence commander, Kolokotronis who had laid siege to the fortress for more than a year when it was held by the Turks, and winning finally, was imprisoned in the fortress named San Nicolo (and later renamed Miliadhes) after independence by the new Greek government because he resisted their power and had kidnapped four members of the parliament. This fortress was also used as a prison during the 1946-49 Greek civil war. There is a cistern on the bastions near the southeast gate.

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