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Photo: FocalPoint, CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons
The first part of the Venetian fortress of Bourtzi was built around 1400, on top of a rock-island at the entrance of the port. The architect was the Venetian Antonio Gambell. During its history it has been used as a fort, as a shelter for the Greek government, as a home for unwelcome executioners, even as a hotel. Occupied by the Turks from 1715 to 1822 Today, it only takes 5 minutes to visit Bourtzi with the small boats available at the port and observe the town from the opposite side. Don’t miss it (€4 round-trip).
The water castle of Bourtzi is a Venetian castle located in the middle of the harbour of Nafplio.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
The museum is right on Syntagma Square, in a Venetian building of 1714 with impressive stone arches. It was renovated and restored internally and externally, reopening October 2008 after 5 years. It includes new showcases and exhibits, accessibility and facilities for people with disabilities, and air-conditioning. In the new multimedia hall you can see documentary films, whereas children can take part in the regular programs that take place. The most important exhibit of the museum is the impressive bronze armor suit dating back to the 13th century BC and once worn by a Mycenaean soldier. Get the full story in the multimedia hall and travel through time to the era of ancient Greece.
(18th century), on Philellinon sq, by the port.
The first parliament of the Greek nation, right south of the Syntagma Sq, earlier used as an Ottoman Jami.
(1702) where the first governor of Greece was killed, with traces of the killing bullet. The street is named after him.
PFF or PLI in Greek
The permanent exhibition at the museum is dedicated to the “Greek town – Nafplio 1822-1922”. On the ground floor, miscellaneous museum items are presented in a daring and free arrangement in order to emphasize on the multiformity of the collections, while one can also visit the new expanded museum shop.
The first Komboloi (or worry beads) Museum – said to be the only one worldwide – was founded in Nafplio in 1998 by Aris and Rallou Evangelinos, who have been collecting and studying the history of komboloi since 1958. The museum has had more than 55.000 visitors so far and the unique collection consists of approximately 1500 kombolois (from Asia Minor, Greece, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Persia, etc.) that date from 1700 to 1950 and are made of various precious and rare materials. On the ground floor there is the workshop where old kombolois are repaired and new, either original or copies of the old ones, are produced.