Today, we left Santorini... a pretty place by any measure. The place can be packed with tourists... but the number of Greek citizens choosing to spend their touring time at Santorini is very few... hardly a Greek tourist in sight. We have flown to Athens, picked up a hire car and headed for the Peloponnese. Our first stop has been Nafplio... a small resort town around the corner from the Korinthus Canal (see picture below). This place was the first capital of Greece... during the war of independence - 1821 - 1826... but I hadn't heard of the place before today. It has a bloody history... the site of two massacres... the first of Turkish citizens when Hellenic forces won one battle... followed by the razing of the town when the Turks won a subsequent battle. (I guess that is why they made this place the capital when Hellenic forces ultimately won.) The town has three fine forts to evidence earlier periods of conflict.
Nafplio has a great feel to it. Sitting on the boadwalk down by harbour you see real Greek citizens taking their leisure. Generally, they appear to be young couples from Athens down for the weekend (its Friday evening here). We found a small restaurant offering traditional Greek food... full of Greek patrons... around 8 PM, a mandolin player and guitar accompanist rolled in an started picking out sounds of the Mediterranean.
We had planned only one night's stay in Nafplio... but there is so much history to cover, we'll need at least 3 nights.
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