Wandering Epidaurus to Nafplio’s Heights

We started our next day with a walk to another coffee shop (this one called coffee berry) and grabbed some pastries at a shop called Elephant. We passed by a bakery on the way back to the AirBnB and David tried to find some anise-flavored koulourakia (a type of Greek cookie that his mom makes). They had lots of similar cookies, but nothing quite what he was looking for. We then set off for our main activity of the day - a visit to Epidaurus and the Saronic Gulf.

Epidaurus (about a 30 minute drive east from Nafplio) was a classical Greek city that was said to be the birthplace of Apollo's son, Asclepius, the healer. People would travel from far and wide during both Greek and Roman periods to visit the healing temple of Asclepius. A small city popped up to support the temple and a large theater was constructed. 

Epidaurus is high on the tourist list for this region of Greece and there are tour busses coming in from Athens every day. It wasn't that crowded when we were here (yay shoulder season). The theater, while historically well preserved due to its isolated location, has been somewhat renovated and is still used for a summer drama festival. The theater is the main attraction here by far, but there are also quite a few interesting ancient ruins, information providing context, a small museum, the ruins of a basilica, and some countryside to explore. Special props to the Australian dude who climbed to the top of the theater and said "well we know the Greeks didn't have vertigo" to Paul, before smiling at his own Dad joke and wandering off.

Our exit from America strategy is to teach English somewhere like this. ;)

A random little church we walked by in the morning.

Inside the church.

Business cat.

Playtime cat.

This is basically the same thing as a Turkish simit but is called a koulouri. Usually we saw it called a "Greek bagel."

Similar...but not quite like the ones my mom makes.

The theater at Epidaurus - it's easy to see why this is a UNESCO site, it's well preserved and maintained.

At the top of the theater looking down.

Paul at the top of the theater.

Inside the Epidaurus Museum.

There were a lot of pine trees here and they smelled amazing.

There was even a stadium here for athletic events.

From Epidaurus we drove to ancient Epidaurus. Wait, you say, weren't the theater and ruins ancient Epidaurus? Well, not quite. The site of the big theatre and UNESCO site is indeed called Epidaurus, but further east is the site of Palaia Epidauros AKA Archaia Epidauros (Αρχαία Επίδαυρος). It's a town built on top of the site of the original ancient city, and still has the remains of another smaller theater built in 400AD. It's all a bit confusing, and guidebooks even warn you not to follow the signs for ancient Epidaurus if you're going to the huge theater, which is the main attraction.

Once we arrived in ancient Epidaurus, we unfortunately saw that the Theatre of Palaia Epidauros (AKA "Small Theatre of Epidauros") was surrounded by a fence and undergoing some renovations. Luckily you could still see the site through the fence. Next we went down to the seafront, which is a quaint little harbor that was just brilliant on this bright sunny day. We had lunch at Mike's Restaurant, enjoying the sea views while listening to someone's dog bark at passing cats...incessantly. 

Our second theatre of the day.

Olives with the town in the background.

Brilliant water on the seafront.

David's lunch was melitzanes imam - which is the Greek version of the Turkish dish imam biyildi.

David looking like a movie star at lunch. 

Cat!

There were a lot of sea urchins.

On the way back to Nafplio, we saw on google maps there was a random small waterfall that only had a few reviews. We had read that during the dry season many of the waterfalls go almost completely dry, but we decided to check it out anyway (one of the benefits of having a rental car to visit middle-of-nowhere places)! We went down a tiny dirt farm road as far as we could, then hiked on a small trail into a little valley that was noticeably cooler and dark. There were little pools of water, but no flowing water, and indeed the waterfall was reduced to the tiniest trickle. Still, neat to stop at such a random site, with nobody else around. It felt like a little adventure.

Dirt road adventure? Why not!

Clear pools in the valley.

There's the waterfall!

Driving back to Nafplio, we drove straight to Palamidi Fortress, which looms above town. It was built by Venetians in the early 18th century, and at times was controlled by the Ottomans and then the Greeks. This fortress is well preserved, and we enjoyed walking around the walls and taking in the sweeping views on a brilliantly sunny late afternoon. We then drove down the hill, stopping at a Lidl grocery store before taking a break at the AirBnB.

The impressive walls towering above Nafplio.

Picturesque views.

A cute baby tortoise!

The water was impressively turquoise. 

Lots of great beautiful views to the sea.

Naplio bends around the Gulf along the outcrop behind Paul.

Looking down towards our AirBnB in Naplio. We love how compact Greek cities are!

Looking through a fortress window.

A rabbit cactus!

David at the entrance to a tunnel.

Prickly Pear cacti are invasive in Greece but were all over the Peloponnese.

We could see Larisa Castle and Argos - everything is pretty close together.

Inside the fortress.

We then walked to central Nafplio for sunset, for the third time. We relaxed and meandered along the waterfront, then had cocktails at a little bar called Hedgehog. They were really good; we had a negroni and an old fashioned. We had dinner at Mousiko Kafeneio, a small plates restaurant/bar that wasn't great despite a 4.9 rating on Google. We went back to the AirBnB to pack up for an early departure. Side note - throughout the day, Paul got several comments on his Toronto shirt. One guy said "go Blue Jays," and one woman said she was from Toronto. Paul had to explain he wasn't Canadian, but had just picked up the shirt when visiting friends. But apparently Nafplio is popular with Torontonians!

Of course David found a cat.

Diva cat wanted to be in the wedding photos.

A lil crab on the seaside rocks.

Cocktails at Hedgehog.

The Greek eye (Mati) is everywhere and jewelry featuring it was a requested gift from David's sister and mother. Don't think too hard about how this is exactly the same as the Turkish eye (Nazar). 😉

So ended our time in Nafplio. When we were planning the trip we knew that this would be a good spot to hang out for a few days, but honestly that's not doing it justice. If you only have time to visit one area of the Peloponnesian peninsula you should strongly consider this one. From the delightful center of Nafplio to the ruins of nearby bronze age Mycenae, to the Ottoman and Venetian fortresses and classical period theaters, this region has a lot to offer and is only about a two hour drive from Athens. That said, our road trip continues and we visited many more amazing areas! Up next is classical Sparta, Byzantine Mystras, and Venetian Monemvasia.