Search





Naplio & Tolo

August 14, 2007

Img_5251

The golden sun slowly set on a  charming, tiled roof  house, perched high on a small rock island in the middle of the azure sea, as we arrived and hunted for the right campsite. I hoped this was a good omen as I have always fantasized about having a little dream house like that some day. We left Delphi early in
the morning after spending a few days there and took the easy road down the mountain this time, as we headed towards the Peloponnese.

The Peloponnese is an area rich in history that some call Greece’s biggest island, which is right next to the mainland. There is a beautiful and interesting bridge near Patras that connects the Greece mainland with the Peloponnese that we had to cross to get to Nafplio. We had seen it a few times since we arrived in Greece, so it was fun to fully experience it by going over it.

The plan was to spend a few days in this area as there are many good sites nearby, but it was crowded, extremely hot and sticky with no decent internet connection, so we only stayed two days. We probably would have liked the first site we came to in the Plaka beach area, but they had no internet what so ever and we did not want to be out of touch with family at this point. We called another campsite on the beach near Tolo who swore they had internet at the campsite, but after we settled in, we found out that they did not.

Then the internet cafe that was suppose to be a few meters away was  more like 1000 meters away, but at least a sandy beach was close by. It is the kind of area that one would enjoy much more in the off season, but during a heat wave and filled with crowds, it did not make a good impression. I have heard a lot of raves about Nafplio and this area, but they must have been here at a different time of year, as we could not wait to leave.

The beach was fun for Mozart as it was the first one with big waves coming in that she could “ride” and jump over with dad. The old town of Nafplio was pretty with lots of bougainvillea and we did have a good breakfast there one morning as we walked around the old town.

Nafplio/Nafplion was the Greek capital before it was moved to Athens and was occupied by Turks and Venetians for many years as they fought for control. Many say it is one of the prettiest cities in Greece and it did have charm and beauty. There is a castle at the top of the old town, but it was much too hot to hike to the top.

The campsites at Delphi and Olympia were so much nicer, prettier, newer and with great pools to hang out in and good restaurants, that we can not help but compare this area more negatively. They were in beautiful natural  areas and felt open, resort-like and this area felt fenced in, tacky and way past its prime.

One of our happiest moments in this area was finally finding a fan for our motorhome as we had been on the hunt for one since the heat wave hit in Satorini. We saw one in a window in Nafplio as we were leaving town and DaVinci ran in and bought it out of the window for fourteen euros. You will never know how much better that made our lives!

Now even on the hottest days we can work inside if need be (with wet heads if need be, next to the fan) and on oppressively hot nights we prop our “Mr.. Cool” up on some pillows and blast that coolness right to our bodies all night long. As a California girl who loves sun but hates heat, who has spent many years now in cool, coastal San Francisco Bay area summers, this has been the hottest summer I ever remember experiencing.  In lieu of air conditioning in a hot place, happiness is a good fan and cold water !!

Img_5236

Img_5241

Img_5259

Img_5285

Img_5277

Img_5279

Img_5297

Img_5340

Img_5331

Img_5315

Img_5325

Img_5309












« previous | | next »

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00e5502a9507883300e5509d727c8834

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Naplio & Tolo:

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

The comments to this entry are closed.


Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner