Sightseeing

ANCIENT TOWN
Made bourgeois, welcoming princes

Nafplion has been inhabited since ancient times and from the middle ages through to the early 19th century Nafplio was occupied by the Byzantines, the Franks, the Venetians, the Turks and the Ottomans, eventually being recaptured by Staikopoulos in 1821 at the beginning of the revolution. Between 1821 and 1834, Nafplio was the first capital of Greece (after which Athens was assigned) and it was in Nafplion that the first prime minister Ioannis Kapodistrias was assassinated outside the Agios Spiridonas church, where the bullethole is still visible. This succession of occupations left an amazing mixture of architecture, most of which still stands and has been preserved in the old town. The Palamidi and Acronafplia fortresses meant that Nafplio was an extreme stronghold and each occupier added more to the castles. The Bourtzi castle in the harbour was built by the Venetians to keep pirates out and to protect the town from sea invaders, it is possible to visit this lovely monument by water taxi from the harbour which is probably the most photographed castle in Greece.