We are
spending a second night in Nafpoli, a lovely lively harbour which was briefly the
capital of modern Greece. It boasts three forts, one out on a little island in
the bay, and two high up overlooking the town. We walked around the one but to
reach the other meant a walk up and down 999 steps. As the temperature has been
hitting 38 degrees we decided to give that a miss.
The town has
dozens of worry bead shops and even a museum dedicated to the ‘Komboloi’ but they seem
to be a pretty chilled out bunch here. We have parked up in the main harbour
car park for 2 nights along with a few
other campers without any problem, unlike in Galatas harbour car park the other
night where we received a polite – ‘Don’t park here’ notice on our windscreen
the following morning!
We took a day
trip today to Ancient Corinth setting off early to avoid the heat and the
crowds. It’s an impressive site and the scene of many power struggles as it was
a strategic location for controlling trade between northern Greece and the
Peloponnese and between the Ionian and Aegean Seas. The ruins are split over
two sites – the lower town and Acrocorinth, towering 575m on a rocky hill only
accessible by a 4km climb. We didn’t make the exhausting trip to see the
chapels, mosques, houses and battlements contained within the 2km fortified
walls.
Instead we
rambled around the ruins and the museum of the lower site which included the
Temple of Apollo, fountains, a huge stoa, odeon, rostra and theatre.
Fountain |
Amazing carved oarsman |
More Do's & Don'ts, fences and locked gates |
1908 - Not so fussy then about climbing on the ruins! |
The museum
alone was a little treasure with all manner of artifacts including mosaics,
pottery, jewellery, bronze works, reliefs and statues. It has a much more recent
history than the objects on display though – some of which date back to
prehistoric times. In 1990 it was the scene of a robbery where the museum night
guardsman was attacked and bound up whilst 285 artifacts were stolen along with
1,000,000 drachmas. The money was to pay the staff which beggars the question
why that much cash was held on site and why a government organisation was still
paying its staff in cash – but this is Greece and cash is king here.
It was the
largest robbery from a Greek museum and unusual in that a secure museum with
catalogued artifacts was targeted rather than an unprotected unexcavated site. The
story has a happy ending though - 274 of the items including marble heads, pottery,
glass and jewellery were recovered in Miami in 1999 and finally returned to
Corinth in 2001 after diplomatic negotiations.
Last night as the sun set we watched the locals in Nafpoli sitting out with their fishing rods all along the harbour wall.
Nothing was caught but we saw some big’uns jumping out to sea. So after a trip to the local angling shop Dave is now kitted out with a line, hook and bait - I have got some sausages in the fridge though if the big one gets away!
Fishing..... or feeding the fish???? |
Hi Kath and Dave - remember me, Leslie from Bodrum and the Viva Ventura days? O memories...I caught up with you via Annie - wish I'd been in Bodrum when you visited, it would have been great to catch up after wot...27 years??? Your trip looks wonderful, fab photos, great blog. I'm in Australia for the time being, but one day hope to be back on the track, land or water.
ReplyDeleteHappy travelling,
Leslie ;-)
Hi Leslie, good to hear from you. We had a great time with Annie & Teo and found it very hard to tear ourselves away from there. But Greece is ticking a lot of boxes too! After Turkey we spent 6 months in Aus & NZ (see Memories post) - post also explains my lousy memory - 27 years ago, I'm struggling to remember last month! Enjoy your travels when you get back on them. Kath & Dave x
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