This page explains a Nafplio day trip. It looks at the Bourtzi castle, the general Kolokotronis, the old lordship of Argos and Nauplia, and Argos. Each hard word gets a plain definition, and the last section answers four questions. Find other trips on the Greece tours home page.
What is a Nafplio day trip?
The Nafplio day trip means going to Nafplio, a coastal city in the Peloponnese region of Greece. A day trip is an outing that ends the same day. Nafplio is the leading pick for weekend and one-day excursions.
The city lies at the edge of the Argolic Gulf, in the northeast of the Peloponnese. That gulf frames every Nafplio day trip. A gulf is a wide arm of the sea. Much of the old town lies on a peninsula. A peninsula is land with water around three of its sides.
The shape of that peninsula shelters a bay, and people made it safer by adding moles. Moles are long walls built out into the water. A bay is a spot where the coast curves around calm water. Here the land itself gives the water a natural shelter.
Marshes, which are patches of soft wet ground, once almost isolated the city from the land around it. Since the 1970s, landfill work has nearly doubled the area of dry land. Landfill means filling wet ground with earth. That larger city is the place for a Nafplio day trip today.
In the Middle Ages, the city grew into an important seaport, a town where ships dock. The Middle Ages are the period after ancient times and before modern ones. After the Greek Civil War, tourism became an important business. A civil war is a war fought inside one country.
- Capital: Nafplio is the capital of Argolis, an official area of Greece,.
- Climate: The mild and pleasant climate attracts visitors all year round.
- Visitors: Visitors for a Nafplio day trip come above all from Athens and other cities in Greece.
On the Greek mainland, Nafplio was among the first places where mass tourism grew. Mass tourism means very large numbers of people travelling to the same place. The mainland is the main body of land, not an island.
On a Nafplio day trip, what does Bourtzi add?
A Nafplio day trip gains history from Bourtzi, a Venetian castle on a small islet. A castle is a strong, walled building that soldiers hold against attack. It rests at the heart of the harbour of Nafplio, the sheltered bay where ships tie up.
The Venetians built the fortress, another word for the castle, after Mahmut Pasha left in 1473. They equipped it with cannons, which are big, heavy guns that fire iron balls. In 1699, after the Treaty of Karlowitz, they built a sturdy tower on the islet, a tiny island.
In 1821, during the Greek revolution, a fight to change who rules, 200 armed soldiers captured the castle. The castle then bombarded Nafplio, attacking the town with cannon fire. It also blocked supplies sent by an English ship to the besieged, or surrounded, Turks. That siege adds war history to a Nafplio day trip.
The Greek government twice took refuge in the castle, in 1824 and in 1827. To take refuge is to shelter from danger. King George the First ordered the castle disarmed in 1865, meaning its weapons were removed. These events give a Nafplio day trip a story about government and war.
Restoration work in the 1930s turned the castle into an early tourist centre for Greece. Back then it held a twelve-room hotel and a restaurant. A tourist centre is a place built to welcome visitors. That change added a chapter about travel to a Nafplio day trip.
- Rampart: In 1502 the south-west defences became an independent rampart, a thick wall.
- Mound: Venetian builders piled boulders into a mound, and a chain was fixed to it.
- Chain: The chain ran to the city and kept enemy ships out of the harbour.
Both businesses stayed open without a break until the Greek junta took control and closed them. A junta is a military group ruling a country. From Venetian defence to a closed hotel, Bourtzi gives a Nafplio day trip a long history.
On a Nafplio day trip, what does Theodoros Kolokotronis add?
A Nafplio day trip gains the story of Theodoros Kolokotronis, a Greek general, meaning an army commander. He was the foremost leader of the Greek War of Independence. That revolt was fought against the Ottomans, who ruled Greece at that time.
The Nafplio day trip story starts with his father, a klepht leader. A klepht was a mountain fighter against the Ottomans. He fought them in the Orlov Revolt, an uprising. In 1780 he was killed in a fight with Ottoman troops. At 15, the son was mentored by Mitros Petrovas.
In 1822 Kolokotronis routed the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Dervenakia. To rout is to beat an enemy and drive it off. That August, his guerrilla forces trapped the Ottomans in the Dervenaki Pass. Guerrillas are small bands that fight by surprise. A pass is a narrow gap between mountains.
Palamidi is a hill with steep slopes. Kolokotronis is said to have ridden his horse up those slopes. This tale adds life to the Nafplio day trip story. A statue in the town square commemorates his victory on Palamidi. To commemorate is to keep a memory alive.
Kolokotronis was charged with treason, meaning he was accused of acting against his own state. Treason is a very serious crime. He was sentenced to death, the heaviest punishment a court can give. In 1835 he was pardoned. A pardon is an official act that cancels a punishment.
- Red helmet: His signature red helmet came from his service in the British Army.
- Nickname: His nickname, O Geros tou Morea, means The Elder of Morea, an old Peloponnese name.
- Larissa castle: The castle of Larissa, a walled stronghold, overlooked the whole plain.
Kolokotronis died in Athens in 1843, one day after his son’s wedding. That date ends the Nafplio day trip story of the general. A reader planning a Nafplio day trip now knows the names, battles and dates behind his life.
On a Nafplio day trip, what does the Lordship of Argos and Nauplia add?
A Nafplio day trip comes with an old backstory: a lordship, meaning land ruled by one lord. Argos and Nauplia formed that lordship in the Morea, which lay in southern Greece. Franks, who were western Europeans, ruled the Morea then.
Argos and Nauplia were conquered in 1211 and 1212. Geoffrey of Villehardouin gave both cities to Otto de la Roche as a fief. A fief is land a lord holds from a higher lord in return for loyalty. Those dates mark the start of the story behind a Nafplio day trip.
Argos and Nauplia became the centre of a domain, meaning a territory under one ruler. The Greek lord Leo Sgouros ruled that domain. The Franks were never a large group in the southern Argolid, a Greek region. Greek and Frankish rulers both shaped the history around a Nafplio day trip.
Local Greek nobles, meaning families of high rank, bowed to Frankish rule. They kept their land and Orthodox faith, the Eastern form of Christianity. Byzantine-style churches kept being built in the area in this period. Byzantine style means the look of the Greek Christian empire of the East.
The land around Argos and Nauplia was fertile and supported farming, pastures for livestock, and vineyards. Documents from later in the 14th century say carobs, raisins, resin, cotton and linen cloth were exported. Carobs are sweet pods, and exported means sold abroad. This trade adds depth to a Nafplio day trip.
- Brienne dukes: These dukes of Athens kept the lordship even after the Catalans took Athens in 1311.
- Guy of Enghien: He inherited the lordship in 1356, meaning it came to him through family.
- Maria of Enghien: In 1388, she sold the cities of Argos and Nauplia to Venice.
The Argolic Gulf provided fisheries, meaning fishing grounds, and salt flats near Thermisi. Salt flats are shallow ground where sea water dries into salt. For a Nafplio day trip, the gulf is one more part of the background.
On a Nafplio day trip, what does Argos add?
A Nafplio day trip is tied to Argos, since Nafplio was the historic harbour of that city. A harbour is a place where ships dock. Argos is one of the oldest cities on Earth where people have lived without a break.
Behind a Nafplio day trip lies an Argos village, first settled about 7,000 years ago. That time was the late Neolithic, the last Stone Age stage. The city was renamed after Argus, a legendary king from old stories. It replaced the older name Phoronikon Asty, which meant the Citadel of Phoroneus.
A myth is an old tale about where a people or a place came from. Herodotus, a Greek historian, first wrote down the myth that Argos was the origin of the Argead dynasty. A dynasty is a family that rules for generations. This one was the royal house of Macedon.
Argos reached its greatest power under King Pheidon, who ruled in the 7th century BC. Pheidon took control of the Olympic Games away from the citizens of Elis. The Olympic Games were a sports contest of ancient Greece. Such history gives a Nafplio day trip a strong background.
Argive troops, meaning soldiers from Argos, defeated the Spartans in a hoplite battle at Hyssiae. A hoplite was a Greek foot soldier in heavy armour who fought with a spear and a shield. Sparta, another Greek city, crushed Argos at the Battle of Sepeia in 494 BC.
- Measures: King Pheidon is thought to have introduced standard weights and measures.
- Theatre: The ancient theatre of Argos had room for 20,000 spectators at once.
- Castle: The Larisa castle stands on Larissa Hill, the highest spot in the city.
Argos is the biggest city of Argolis. It has almost double the population of Nafplio, the capital of that area. A Nafplio day trip is easier to grasp once the past of Argos is clear.
Before a Nafplio day trip, which four questions get a plain answer?
A Nafplio day trip leads to a town in Argolis, a regional unit in the eastern Peloponnese. Fruit, olives and almonds grow on the plain around the town. A museum there keeps traditional costumes, and a prime minister and a poet link to it.
Which region holds the town behind a Nafplio day trip?
Argolis is a regional unit, meaning an official area of Greece, in the east of the Peloponnese peninsula. The unit has four municipalities, meaning local authorities, and Nafplio is one of them. From 1833 to 1899, a bigger unit named Argolidocorinthia held Argolis, together with Hydra and Spetses.
Which crops fill the plain around a Nafplio day trip?
A plain with rich soil, watered by people through irrigation, surrounds the city. Almonds, olives, apricots, peaches, lemons and oranges all grow on that same plain. Agriculture, which means farming, is a very important sector beside tourism. A sector is simply one branch of a country’s economy.
Which museum behind a Nafplio day trip keeps traditional costumes?
The Basil Papantoniou Foundation is a museum in Nafplion and a nonprofit, which means it seeks no profit. Ioanna Papantoniou, a stage and costume designer, set it up in 1974 to honour her late father. More than 27,000 of its items link to Greek popular culture, and traditional costumes are among them.
Which notable people link to the town behind a Nafplio day trip?
Charilaos Trikoupis led the government of Greece as Prime Minister seven times between 1875 and 1895. Eighteen people survived the first voyage around the world, and Nicolas the Greek was one of them. Nikos Karouzos was a poet, a writer of verse, who lived from 1926 to 1990.