I admit that I’d never heard of Nafplio before planning our trip to Greece. My friend, Alexandra, recommended the town as a place that combines the charm of an old town with great museums and walking areas.
We flew to Athens and overnighted in a hotel near the bus station and then it was an easy 2 hour bus trip to Nafplio….but we also drove over the Corinth Canal, an engineering marvel that took 2500 years in the making! It’s now a 7 mile canal that avoids travel by sea around the Peloponnese peninsula but there have been many challenges in creating it….
You can find more information here: https://corinthcanal.com/?lang=en
But before it was a canal, ships were pulled across by men as shown in this video: https://youtu.be/T9kOK3QMu6Y
I managed to get a decent picture on the trip back.
Nafplio might be a quintessential Greek tourist town but it also had several good museums which gave us an introduction to culture and history. We might think of Greece as the ancient seat of democracy but they only achieved an unified country in 1832 and the shape of the country as we know today wasn’t until 1947. There is an excellent War Museum in the town and we chatted to a young man who was just about finished his compulsory one year of service (all males must serve one year between 19 and 45 years of age), he was part way through his degree in electronic engineering and was looking forward to finishing.
I was able to spend an hour or so in the FolkLore Museum and what a treat for the eyes, rich costuming, embroidery details and glorious colours…
Can you imagine a little child wearing these socks?
This might be an inspirational design for my residency!
Stylized shapes
An interesting use of gingham with lots of detailing
And an amazing introduction to Greek desserts…not Baklava as you might expect, but Orange Pie (looks like cake to me) soaked in honey with a generous dollop of ice cream!
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